Opera Scotland

Barbiere di Siviglia 2023Scottish Opera

Read more about the opera Barber of Seville

Sir Thomas Allen rarely worked with Scottish Opera during his singing career but has fortunately, at least to some extent, made up for that absence since he took to directing.  This Barber staging was his first production for the company in 2007, with a revival in 2011.  Meantime he has added three equally successful productions of Mozart operas.  All four works have roles that he appeared in frequently in the world's great houses, and he revealed his detailed knowledge of them from the inside.

As usual, he is returnng in person to supervise this revival and the team of young singers will all gain from his huge experience.  Figaro is a role he first sang with Welsh National right at the start of his career in 1971, and by 1975 he was singing it at Covent Garden and elsewhere. Simon Higlett's designs are highly effective, with an authentic Hispanic tang.

It has been a while since Scottish Opera mounted any Rossini, but Stuart Stratford has already shown that the bel canto repertoire suits him beautifully.

The Australian baritone Samuel Dale Johnson had a great success with Scottish Opera before the interruption by Covid in Le nozze di Figaro,  Pagliacci and Eugene Onegin.  He has since gained further experience in Berlin. With the exception of company debutante Simone McIntosh and new Emerging Artist Inna Husieva, the other soloists are familiar and very welcome returnees.  McIntosh, a Canadian mezzo currently working in Switzerland, made a highly positive impression in this year's Cardiff Singer of the World competition, both in the operatic section and in the song contest, where she reached the final.

The first two runs of this production were delivered in Italian.  This time the witty and idiomatic English version by the late Amanda Holden, an excellent translator, will be used, along with English supertitles.

 

A useful innovation in both Edinburgh and Glasgow is the introduction of a Sunday matinee performance, which will make life easier for patrons for whom travel can be difficult at night.

There is also a pair of mid-week matinee 'accessible performances'.  They are limited to two hours, including a 30-minute interval and have a narrator.  The events are tailored to the requirements of sufferers from dementia or Long Covid, or people unable to tolerate a full show.