Opera Scotland

Nozze di Figaro 1995Scottish Opera

Read more about the opera Marriage of Figaro

Scottish Opera’s 1994-5 season opened at the Edinburgh Festival with a new production of Fidelio. The Glasgow programme saw this joined by a new Maria Stuarda and a revival of Madama Butterfly. There was also a short group of performances of Tristan und Isolde, a carry-forward from the previous summer with some cast changes. At Christmas the entertainment was the final run of Iolanthe, with the New Year bringing an interesting new modern dress Marriage of Figaro. The last group of operas, in the spring, consisted of an unknown recent Russian work, Schnittke's Life With an Idiot, in a co-production with ENO, and a revival of La forza del destino along with further performances of Madama Butterfly.

The opening performance of Figaro was dedicated to the memory of company founder Sir Alexander Gibson, who had died on 14 January.

David Leveaux, known previously as an intelligent and thought-provoking theatre director, had enjoyed a great success the year before with his Turn of the Screw production at the Tramway. This follow-up was given in modern dress, still a relative novelty at the time, with a colour palette dominated by purple, to emphasise the hot-blooded relationships on display. Jeremy Sams' witty new translation was very welcome, with lots of cheeky rhymes. While the staging worked well. It was all beautifully acted by the principals, with no weaknesses at all, and the mix really seemed potentially quite an explosive one, with such uneasy relationships on display. Perhaps the enterprise was simply dominated by the astonishing musical quality of the cast of largely unknown soloists. Claire Rutter was a wonderful discovery as the Countess, with Lisa Milne, in her first starring part, matching her in every way. Paul Whelan and Stephen Gadd were nearly as effective, with Claire Bradshaw a superb Cherubino, while the trio of Bartolo, Basilio and Marcellina were all very well handled. In the first run Nicholas McGegan continued to show his excellent credentials in Mozart. Timothy Lole took over when the staging was toured later in the season.