Opera Scotland

Albert Herring 1965English Opera Group

Read more about the opera Albert Herring

The 1965 Edinburgh Festival presented an interesting group of five works. The foreign guest company was the Bavarian State Opera, from Munich, making its only Edinburgh appearance - their own Munich Festival tends to run around the same same time. The two pieces they brought were a beautifully cast, if conventional, staging of Così fan tutte, and the British premiere of a then little-known Strauss comedy, Intermezzo. The English Opera Group brought Albert Herring, which was just returning to the repertoire. The Festival itself mounted two operas in conjunction with the Holland Festival which was also run by Festival director Peter Diamand. These were a staging of Don Giovanni and a delightful introduction to Haydn opera, with Le pescatrici.

The studio recording conducted by the composer was made in 1964, and many of those singers now appeared on stage in Edinburgh and elsewhere, including a famous visit to Moscow in 1964. The success of these events, for an opera that had been seriously undervalued, prompted Scottish Opera to mount their own successful staging in 1966.

 

The 1965 Festival programme

The 1965 Edinburgh Festival presented an interesting group of five works.  The foreign guest company was the Bavarian State Opera, from Munich, making its only Edinburgh appearance - their own Munich Festival tends to run around the same same time.  The two pieces they brought were a beautifully cast,  if conventional,  staging of  Così fan tutte,  and the British premiere of a then little-known Strauss comedy,  Intermezzo.  The English Opera Group brought Albert Herring,  which was just returning to the repertoire. The Festival itself mounted two operas in conjunction with the Holland Festival which was also run by Festival director Peter Diamand.  These were a staging of Don Giovanni and a delightful introduction to Haydn opera,  with Le pescatrici.