Opera Scotland

Iolanta 2004Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Read more about the opera Iolanta

When Alexander Gibson founded Scottish Opera he was Principal Conductor of the SNO, and his orchestra was used to accompany operatic performances after the main winter concert season had ended. The tradition of interchange between the two organizations no longer exists, sadly, and since Gibson's era, none of the SNO/RSNO's conductors has worked with Scottish Opera while in office. Since those names include  Neeme Järvi,  Bryden Thomson,  Walter Weller,  Alexander Lazarev,  Stéphane Denève,  Peter Oundjian and  Thomas Søndergård, that has definitely been our loss.  However just occasionally the RSNO mounts concert performances of opera as part of the winter season, at least in Glasgow.

Alexander Lazarev was in his final season as Principal Conductor of the RSNO and was given the freedom to choose a work for presentation in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall's International Classical Season. This performance of Tchaikovsky's much underrated final opera was the result, with a cast led by one of the Kirov's leading sopranos.