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The Herald Scotland
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
'A real show-stopper' - Review: Suor Angelica at Perth Festival
St Ninian's Cathedral, Perth Keith Bruce four stars The three steps up to a specially-constructed performance platform created in the middle of Perth Cathedral could not compete with the grand staircase that dominated Sir David McVicar's recent Scottish Opera staging of the central opera in Puccini's Il Trittico trilogy, but they were emblematic of the more compact success of Opera Bohemia's version in partnership with Amicus Orchestra. Douglas Nairne's production makes the fullest possible use of the venue, which is a new one for the festival with more open sight-lines than St John's Kirk and ample room for the orchestra, which was placed beyond the stage, with the singers often making their entrances from behind the audience. That device made the most of the reverberant acoustic for the choruses, while the instrumentalists, under the very attentive and often exuberant baton of Alistair Digges, always sounded in focus, with well-balanced wind soloists and a rich string sound. A couple of keyboards provide crucial extra sonic colour when required. Read more With simple costuming, stylish stage blocking, and minimal props, the tragic tale of Sister Angelica, rejected by her family for falling pregnant and estranged from her son, unfolds in classic story-book fashion, much of the work done by Puccini's masterly scoring. In soprano Jenny Stafford, who covered the role for English National Opera, Bohemia have a fine new recruit to the more familiar faces in the company. Absolutely on top of the part vocally, she avoids any melodrama in a performance of affecting sincerity, her aria when she learns of the death of her child a real show-stopper. Around her the women swiftly create the impression of a strict but mutually-supportive community into which Angelica's aunt, The Princess, steps as the embodiment of moral severity. Mezzo Louise Collett's nuanced approach to that role is as impressive, the latest of a series of fine performances for the company. Sioned Gwen Davies, Cheryl Forbes and Monica McGhee add important solo voices, and the ensemble of the ten women is the production's heart, suggestive of more rehearsal time together than was probably actually available. Although it is being seen elsewhere – including a performance on the Isle of Bute on Saturday - this is a contribution to Perth Festival of the Arts truly in the tradition of the bespoke opera productions of the event's earliest years, and it should set a template for the future.
Scotsman
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
The Great Wave: Scottish Opera's Hokusai-inspired production to 'straddle fact and fantasy'
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The headline news for Scottish Opera earlier this month, while revealing its upcoming 2025-26 programme, is that the new season also marks music director Stuart Stratford's tenth year in the company's artistic hot seat. Given how critical the past decade has been for Scottish Opera - marking its reinvention following a funding crisis that seriously threatened its credibility and very existence - Stratford's success in the role is equally a measure of that comeback. General director Alex Reedijk doesn't hold back his own admiration. 'Stuart has brought so much to the company, exactly what we needed when the going was tough: great musical values, but most of all a style of leadership that makes everyone feel involved, whether artists on stage or specialists behind the scenes. He's created a really strong sense of ensemble within the company.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Scottish Opera general director, Alex Reedijk (left) with music director Stuart Stratford. | Kirsty Anderson As for Stratford's own highlights of the last few years, these chime with recent, recognisable successes. Main stage productions such as Puccini's Il Trittico (Sir David McVicar's production won Outstanding Achievement in Opera at the 2023 Critics' Circle Awards) rank highly on his list. Then again, so do the far-reaching partnership projects and inclusive community initiatives that are now equal drivers in defining Scottish Opera's artistic programming. 'Collaborative productions like [Osvaldo Golijov's] Ainadamar have been a huge success,' he says, 'leading to popular stagings in North America - Detroit, Houston and the Met, before going on to Los Angeles next year. We're very proud it was 'made in Scotland''. 'I'm also very passionate about the community style operas we've done - the circus tent Pagliacci in Paisley, Bernstein's Candide and, at last year's Edinburgh Festival, Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex. These are ongoing and now one of the flagship things we do.' Add to that Stratford's championing of rare operatic repertoire, much of it presented in concert format with the Scottish Opera Orchestra centre stage, other productions - such as Richard Strauss' Daphne - facilitated by the company's recent partnership with East Lothian's Lammermuir Festival. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Which is exactly where the 2025-26 Season kicks off: a comedic double bill in Haddington (4 September) of Ravel's L'heure espagnole and Walton's Chekhovian one-acter The Bear, later transferring to Glasgow and Edinburgh. 'These will work well together, with a common theme of infidelity,' Stratford explains. The Ravel also recognises the 150th anniversary of the composers birth. The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai But the biggest news of the new season is the world premiere in February of a major new opera, The Great Wave, by British-based Japanese composer Dai Fujikura and Scots librettist Harry Ross. The title refers to the iconic woodblock print by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai, whose story, and that of his daughter, are freely imagined. 'The subject is an actual historical figure, but the storyline straddles fact and fantasy,' says Stratford. 'Then there's the elusive charm of Fujikara's music, a mix of avant garde with distinctive Japanese simplicity and instrumental colourings.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The Great Wave marks yet another major international collaboration by Scottish Opera, this time with Japanese promoters KAJIMOTO, who will oversee future stagings in Japan. If the remainder of the main scale season amounts to a couple of revivals - the exuberant Barbe & Doucet production of Puccini's La bohème (October/November) and Sir Thomas Allen's sprightly Marriage of Figaro - these are nonetheless rich pickings from the Scottish Opera back catalogue. 'Doing Figaro in English this time will lend Sir Tom's production a fresh curiosity,' promises Reedijk. Lest serious opera fans feel short changed, there's a hint of bigger things to come in concert performances in Glasgow and Edinburgh (March) of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde featuring Annemarie Kramer as Isolde in her Scottish Opera debut. 'It's our first Wagner since 2013 and my first Tristan,' says Stratford, with a wink to the future. 'I think we're ready again to tackle these iconic Wagner works.' 'Look out for some future Verdi too,' Reedijk pitches in. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Meanwhile the groundwork for future community productions continues with the formation of a new children's chorus under the direction of Scottish Opera Chorus director Susannah Wapshott, and a new community chorus in Edinburgh arising from the success of last year's Oedipus Rex project. 'We're in a very stable position here,' insists Stratford. 'Getting to do such exciting projects is what keeps me here. I'm very optimistic about what we're doing. And about the next ten years.'
