Amahl and the Night Visitors 1965New Opera Group
Read more about the opera Amahl and the Night Visitors
The New Opera Group was established in Dundee on Sunday, 9 May 1965. David Duke, an actor and musical director at Dundee Rep, was the driving force behind the company. At the Rep he had been connected with many productions, including Let's Make an Opera, The Medium, Edwardian Music Hall, Salad Days and Expresso Bongo. Sadly, by the time they were preparing a staging of Marriage of Figarothe following June, he was in hospital in London and died. His successor, William Cox-Ife, conducted Figaro, but was killed in a plane crash soon after. The company did not continue.
Amahl achieved fame as an opera composed expressly for TV, but has always maintained a place in the live repertoire. Here it was paired with Wolf-Ferrari's frothy comedy Susanna's Secret, which had been seen at the 1960 Edinburgh Festival in a Glyndebourne staging.
Sets are described as having been 'constructed in the Tivoli Workshops by members of the New Opera Group'. As a working cinema it would presumably have had some kind of workshop for maintenance works. Costumes were designed and made by the New Opera Wardrobe.
