Opera Scotland

Kátya Kabanová 2009Scottish Opera-Go-Round

Read more about the opera Kátya Kabanová

Scottish Opera had twice before staged Janáček operas with piano accompaniment for the annual small-scale tour. After the success of Jenůfa (1986) and The Makropulos Case it was only a matter of time before the company tried Kátya.

It worked very effectiveley in this form too, with Kally Lloyd-Jones's staging building tension well. The cast included twp sopranos as Kátya. Nadine Livingstone was a familiar name. Dundee-born Joanne Boag was new, having spent a couple of seasons with Welsh National. She was a communicative actor. Michael Bracegirdle - previously seen in Perth with ETO as Vanya, here sang the longer role of Boris very effectively in his Scottish Opera debut.

2009/10 season of Scottish Opera

The season contained four full main-stage productions plus one small-scall-tour. The two works the company had never touched before were the young Rossini's frothy Italian Girl in Algiers and Leoš Janáček'a Adventures of Mr Brouček. The two revivals were an ultra-traditional Elisir d'amore and an ultra-modern Bohème. There was also  a piano-accompanied tour of a second Janáček piece, Kátya Kabanová.

There were some additional elements, however, including a third programme of new short chamber pieces under the 5:15 umbrella. There was also a 'Scenes & Arias' tour by four  young singers and a pianist, the old Essential Scottish Opera format now revised as Opera Highlights. There was a new 'Interactive Opera for 3 to 6 Year Olds', entitled Auntie Janet Saves The Planet. Two well-contrasted co-productions also featured. Music Theatre Wales brought a new chamber piece by Eleanor Alberga, Letters of a Love Betrayed, while the RSAMD joined forces with the orchestra and technical staff of Scottish Opera to mount the Scottish premiere of Prokofiev's wonderful Tolstoy adaptation War and Peace.

Scottish Opera had twice before staged Janáček operas with piano accompaniment for the annual small-scale tour. After the success of Jenůfa (1986) and The Makropulos Case it was only a matter of time before the company tried Kátya. It worked very effectiveley in this form too.