Opera Scotland

Bohème 1997Scottish Opera

Read more about the opera Bohème

For Scottish Opera, the great importance of the 1996-97 season is that it saw the premiere of Inés de Castro, the first full-length opera by James MacMillan. It had been over a decade since the company had last launched a new work - Harper's Hedda Gabler in 1985. The success of the opening at the Edinburgh Festival was deserved, and it was as well received during the main autumn season. That contained six other full-scale productions: Idomeneo, Trovatore, Bohème, Fledermaus, Samson and Delilah and Cunning Little Vixen. The Opera-Go-Round small-scale tour was an enjoyable staging of Così fan tutte. There was also a bonus in December, with an enjoyable series of concerts around the country under the title The Scottish Opera Collection.

This extensive tour of seventeen performances was among the most consistently satisfying revivals of the excellent and atmospheric Moshinsky production. Stephen Clarke was a talented conductor, at the time head of Scottish Opera's music staff, and able to produce quiet and sweet-toned playing when required, unlike his recent predecessors with this work. Most of the young British cast were talented singing actors, notably Ian Storey and Roderick Williams. They had both toured the country in an Opera-Go-Round staging in the autumn of 1995, but were now clearly embarked on careers of major importance.