Opera Scotland

Trovatore 1992Scottish Opera

Read more about the opera Trovatore

Scottish Opera’s second staging of Trovatore got off to a potentially shaky start, when there was a sudden change of musical director shortly beforehand. Richard Armstrong, at short notice, was not available for all performances, but had conducted the work many times in Wales, and gave a gloriously red-blooded account of the score. Then a new Manrico was needed, so Kenneth Collins, veteran of both Welsh National and ENO, was brought home from Australia to give a thrilling performance, undimmed by the years. For the one night he couldn’t fit in, Dennis O’Neill was available, appearing with the company for the first time since he sang roles such as Fenton and Alfredo.

The scheduled cast included Lisa Gasteen, recent winner of the Cardiff competition, as an excellent Verdian soprano, and two guests from the Bolshoi who had made a great impression when that company came to Glasgow and Edinburgh during the 1990 Year of Culture.

With all this going on, the fact that the staging didn’t really work was a matter of relatively minor importance. Tim Hatley’s monumental fortress set could be used effectively for several revivals, and those were directed by people who knew how to avoid having the chorus standing around aimlessly while soloists repeated moves in second verses that they had already done first time round.