Opera Scotland

Mastersingers of Nuremberg 2006Edinburgh International Festival

Read more about the opera Meistersinger von Nürnberg

The 2006 Edinburgh International Festival was the last under the distinguished direction of Brian McMaster, though his skills in achieving a fascinating balance of music, theatre, dance and opera were undiminished. Undoubtedly the hottest tickets were for Claudio Abbado's final operatic performances in Edinburgh, in Die Zauberflöte. The Opéra de Lyon made a welcome return with Peter Stein's production of Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa and a double-bill of two Weill pieces, The Lindbergh Flight and The Seven Deadly Sins. The Festival mounted the world premiere of Stuart MacRae's first opera, The Assassin Tree, in a co-production with Covent Garden. In addition, three operas appeared in concert - Elektra to open and Mastersingers to close. Between those came a revelatory performance of Rossini's Lady of the Lake.

Brian McMaster brought his masterful reign to a close with a concert performance of one of his favourite works. Inevitably, the Edinburgh Festival Chorus made a huge impact in the final scene. The cast included several great performers singing these roles for the first time, such as Jonas Kaufmann and Toby Spence. The list of mastersingers was also rather special, including John Mitchinson and Jeffrey Lawton (both former Tristans), as well as Phillip Joll (an ex-Wotan), John Shirley-Quirk, Richard Van Allan (his farewell performance), Glenville Hargreaves, William Kendall, and John Robertson, a veteran of Scottish Opera's staging, though now singing a different master.