Opera Scotland

Zauberflöte 1971Scottish Opera

Read more about the opera Magic Flute

Scottish Opera's tour in Spring 1971 was one of its most extended and elaborate, stretching from 11 March to 12 June. There were two clear phases, the first took in Perth, Aberdeen, Newcastle and Liverpool, with the second embracing Glasgow, Edinburgh and a return to Aberdeen.

The Perth opening included the recent stagings of Magic Flute and Traviata, accompanied by the BBC SSO, with two Britten revivals, Albert Herring and Turn of the Screw. for which the pit was occupied by the Scottish Opera Chamber Ensemble. In Aberdeen the SNO joined up for the revival of the 1967 Rheingold staging, as preparation for the single Ring Cycle announced for December. In Glasgow, Albert Herring dropped out, and the season's two big new productions, Siegfried and Der Rosenkavalier, arrived.

This was the final tour of Peter Ebert’s vibrantlyly colourful production, mounted originally for the 1970 Commonwealth Games held in Edinburgh. While it looked very attractive, the sets were quite cumbersome and some of the scene changes were awkward - especially in the smaller space available in Perth. However the casts were consistently good, with only a handful of changes since the early runs - Alexandra Gordon's Queen in particular a notable arrival. Jill Gomez had missed the December week and was also unavailable for the first week of this season, but her substitute did well. Christopher Seaman, of the BBC SSO, little known as an opera conductor, had a naturally stylish way with the music.