Opera Scotland

Bohème 1967Scottish Opera

Read more about the opera Bohème

It is not clear why Scottish Opera should have mounted two separate stagings of Butterfly (1962 and 1965) before doing another Puccini opera.  Several had featured regularly in the touring repertoire of Sadler's Wells.  None had ever been seen at the Edinburgh Festival.

This Bohème production was a great success, albeit in a highly traditional form.  For the second act café scene the Scottish Opera Chorus rehearsed singing its music on the hoof so that as they walked about the stage the visual picture seemed even livelier than usual, with all the voice types mingling.  Peter Ebert's staging was revived frequently until 1984.  Roderick Brydon always had a natural way with Puccini.

George Shirley joined the company for the first time, and became a frequent visitor for many years.  The Hamburg-based Lebanese soprano Luisa Bosabalian was becoming a regular, and very welcome, guest soprano.  Joan Carlyle, a member of the Covent Garden company, was, sadly, a less frequent guest, and this season her main role was in Otello.

 

Scottish Opera's Sixth Season - 1967

The spring 1967 season of Scottish Opera opened with the excellent new production of Così fan tutte, which was joined by the company's first stagings of Das Rheingold and La bohème.  There were also revivals of Otello and Albert Herring.

The 1967 season of mainstage performances involved Perth (Theatre), Glasgow (King's Theatre),  Aberdeen (His Majesty's Theatre), and Edinburgh (King's Theatre).  For the first time the company was invited to appear at the Edinburgh Festival, with a major contribution to the Stravinsky theme.

 

The productions were: Cosi fan tutte (9 performances), Albert Herring (4), Rheingold (5), Bohème (7), Otello (5), Rake’s Progress (4) and Soldier’s Tale (6).

The complete schedule for the season was:

Perth, w/c Mon 10 Apr:  Wed 12 Cosi fan tutte;  Fri 14 Albert Herring;  Sat 15 Così fan tutte.

Glasgow, w/c Mon 1 May:  Sat 6 Rheingold.

Glasgow, w/c Mon 8 May:  Wed 10 Così fan tutte;  Thu 11 La bohème;  Fri 12 Rheingold;  Sat 13 La bohème.

Glasgow, w/c Mon 15 May:  Tue 16 Così fan tutte;  Wed 17 Otello;  Thu 18 m Così fan tutte;  Thu 18 e La bohème;  Fri 19 Albert Herring;  Sat 20 Otello.

Aberdeen, w/c Mon 22 May:  Tue 23 Rheingold;  Wed 24 Albert Herring;  Thu 25 Così fan tutte;  Fri 26 Otello;  Sat 27 La bohème.

Edinburgh, w/c Mon 29 May:  Tue 30 Otello,  Wed 31 Così fan tutte;  Thu 1 Jun La bohème;  Fri 2 Das Rheingold;  Sat 3 Otello.

Edinburgh, w/c Mon 5 Jun:  Tue 6 Albert Herring;  Wed 7 Das Rheingold;  Thu 8 m Così fan tutte; Thu 8 e La bohème;  Fri 9 Così fan tutte;  Sat 10 La bohème.

Edinburgh Festival - King's: 22, 26, 31 Aug; 8 Sep Rake’s Progress.

Edinburgh Festival - Assembly Hall: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 Sep Soldier’s Tale.

As Scottish Opera gathered strength, by its fifth year the season had therefore grown to an impressive forty performances within Scotland; three Perth; five Aberdeen; eleven Edinburgh (plus ten at the Edinburgh Festival); and eleven Glasgow.