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.
Another of those little known operas which turn out to be a great deal better than expected. This was Tchaikovsky's attempt at a historic epic in the style of Musorgsky, and it really works very well. It does help to have a penetrating intelligence like that of Peter Stein directing matters, but musically it was excellent too.
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