Opera Scotland

Traviata 1981Scottish Opera

Read more about the opera Traviata

Scottish Opera's second full-scale production of Traviata was notable for a number of reasons. Firstly, Alexander Gibson had not worked on it since his years at Sadler's Wells in the fifties, when this extremely popular opera seemed to be almost permanently on tour. The Romanian soprano Nelly Miricioiu, a great singing actress, was making her British debut and on the verge of her well deserved international breakthrough. The careers of Dennis O'Neill and Malcolm Donnelly were at a similar stage, but they had grown up with the company, and it had been enjoyable watching their abilities develop during that time. Terence Sharpe was a notable exponent of the Verdi baritone repertoire with Welsh National for many years, here making his debut north of the border. Another baritone making his company debut was Alan Oke, who sang regularly with Scottish Opera for a decade. Always an excellent actor, he came to international prominence later, including performances at the Met, when he developed to sing as a tenor.

Cast details are from a programme for 14 March in the OperaScotland collection.

Further dates to be added.