Opera Scotland

Valkyrie 2002Edinburgh Players Opera Group

Read more about the opera Walküre

During this period there can be little doubt that the Ring project that had the limelight in Scotland was the Scottish Opera cycle being built up in conjuction with the Edinburgh Festival.  However the Edinburgh Players Opera Group had started their own project in 2001,  Already the nucleus of a team of regular participants was visible, assembling for a long weekend in Portobello Town Hall.  The Canadian Siegmund had been Scottish Opera's Froh in Rheingold, and would go on as the cover Siegfried in Götterdämmerung.

Elaine McKrill spent most of her career on the continent, but she did sing some short Wagner roles at Covent Garden.  In the Scottish Opera Ring in preparation at this time, with cycles to come in 2003, she sang Gutrune.  Neil Howlett had been viewed almost as a Verdi specialist during his long career with ENO, but he had latterly taken on some Wagner parts.  Here, as Wotan, he was paired with his wife, Carolyn Hawthorn, singing Fricka and Siegrune.