Opera Scotland

Night at the Chinese Opera 2008Scottish Opera

Read more about the opera Night at the Chinese Opera

Scottish Opera's 2007-08 season consisted entirely of new productions, generally successful ones at that. The company was clearly still struggling financially, however. The autumn saw the start of a new relationship with the great baritone Sir Thomas Allen, who directed Il barbiere di Siviglia. The new Mozart staging was Seraglio. There was a small-scale version of Rossini's Cinderella, which toured with piano accompaniment in the autumn, then with a reduced orchestration in the spring. A Night at the Chinese Opera, the first full-length piece by Judith Weir, not yet seen in Scotland, was beautifully staged. There was also a successful new production of Verdi's Falstaff. A stimulating innovation also appeared - the first  of three runs of short new works called 5:15 - Operas Made in Scotland. The partnership with RSAMD also continued, with Eugene Onegin. There was another Highlands and Islands tour under the Essential Scottish Opera title, and the orchestra gave a group of Sunday afternoon concerts in St Andrew's in the Square.

Given the generally positive reaction to The Vanishing Bridegroom, Judith Weir's second full-length opera, it was strange that the Scottish premiere of its predecessor should be so long delayed. It was an instant success with critics and public at its introduction by Kent Opera at the Cheltenham Festival in 1987. Another excellent production and performance ensured that this outstanding piece, with its unnerving switches from tragedy to ribald humour and back, had another entirely justified success. Lee Blakely had directed Vanishing Bridegroom at the Academy with some success, so it was sensible of Scottish Opera to follow that up.