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Daily Record
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Lanark set to stage opera production
Opera Bohemia will bring their performance of Tosca to the town on July 27 Lanark will host a touring opera production this weekend as Tosca is staged at the memorial hall. The performance by professional touring company Opera Bohemia takes place on Sunday, July 27, at 4pm and will star award-winning Lanarkshire soprano Monica McGhee in Puccini's famous 'tale of love, lust and deception'. It is directed by Opera Bohemia co-founder Douglas Nairne, and the group say: 'The performance is being sung in English and in Douglas Nairne's intimate new production, the drama is plunged into a world of crime and passion amidst the treacherous mafia underworld.' The tour is supported by Creative Scotland and the show is designed by acclaimed Scottish designer Kenneth McLeod. Founded in 2010 by Douglas Nairne and conductor Alistair Digges, Opera Bohemia has since staged 14 different productions at venues across Scotland, providing performance opportunities for more than 150 young professional musicians and running free workshops for schools. Opera Bohemia say: 'The company is excited to be returning to Lanark, having brought several of their productions to the Memorial Hall in the past. 'One of our main goals is to introduce opera to a new audience, as well as providing more live performances all round Scotland, and we hope this exciting new production of Tosca is just the ticket.' * Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here. And did you know Lanarkshire Live is on Facebook? Head on over and give us a like and share!
The Herald Scotland
01-06-2025
- 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.
