Opera Scotland

Pearl Fishers 1983Scottish Opera

Read more about the opera Pearl Fishers

Steven Pimlott's thoroughly enjoyable production opened in Newcastle in the autumn of 1981, then went on a double-cast  tour of a group of smaller theatres. The same teams continued to operate in the early months of 1982. For the autumn of that year the staging was scaled up a notch by Dafydd Burne-Jones and Tony Ellis with more experienced singers coming in.

This final group of performances, six in all, mixed the squads together, according to availability. The constant at all performances was the excellent young conductor Ian Robertson, soon to depart for California, where he spent a significant period as Chorus Master for San Francisco Opera.

The venues included London's Dominion Theatre in Tottenham Court Road - not generally associated with opera nowadays - and also Leeds Grand in February. The opera was then essentially unknown to London audiences, and the single performance also gave Messrs Gonzaga and Phillips the opportunity for London debuts. The May grouping played at Liverpool and the Perth Festival.