Opera Scotland

Porgy and Bess 2012Cape Town Opera, South Africa

Read more about the opera Porgy and Bess

This lively production by Cape Town Opera was one of the great successes of the 2009 season in Edinburgh, but received only three sold out performances (in addition to four in Cardiff and two in London). Sensible planning now brought them back to offer another chance to see it.  This time, as well as Cardiff and Edinburgh, the tour included Birmingham and Canterbury.

As before, most principal roles were double cast, but the programme gave no indication as to who would sing at any given performance. At the Saturday matinee, the company's chorus master, Albert Horne, in charge of the musical side of the tour, conducted an effectively dramatic account of the score. If anything, these singers were even better than the 2009 cast. Vital to the whole enterprise, however, as before, was the wonderful chorus, performing with total commitment.