Scottish Opera: Opera Highlights
All over the world opera houses are finding it difficult to persuade opera lovers to come back to the opera house. I checked the other day at Covent Garden for their new and well received production of ‘Rigoletto’ and it’s still possible to get tickets for most nights. This is no doubt due to the fact that many opera goers are older and feel vulnerable to Covid. Well I can report that there is no such fear stopping opera fans in Musselburgh as there was a very full house for the Scottish Opera autumn show at the Brunton Theatre. The audience were all fully masked for the one-hour performance, which I have to admit is not the most pleasant experience, particularly if like me you wear spectacles which tend to mist up. It’s also worth noting that a one-hour straight through show with masks is not the same as a two-hour show with an interval and a chance to chat about the singers. Still this doesn’t seem to deter Scottish audiences as the show is selling out all over Scotland.
The highlights show is a slick 15-aria programme with four singers and a pianist and some minimal props and stage directions to provide a seamless musical one-hour journey. The arias chosen were interesting and varied and included some less well-known pieces. There was a slight problem following them in the audience as the house lights were extinguished, so it was impossible to follow the programme and there were no surtitles; circumstances that also make it difficult for your reviewer to take notes! Despite that the audience appeared to enjoy applauding warmly between arias.
The programme opened with a quartet, giving us a chance to meet all the singers and of course the pianist and music director Fiona MacSherry who was very much in charge. The quartet was a rarity ‘Over the dark blue waters’ from ‘Oberon’ by Weber. This is a rather slight piece, (sometimes there is a reason operas are rarely done), but it did give us a chance to hear all the singers and it was enough to suggest that some singers were a little stronger than others. This was confirmed in later arias, such as the second aria where Lea Shaw, making her Scottish Opera debut, sang ‘Ombra mai fu’, the famous Handel aria from ‘Serse’. Funnily enough I have just reviewed Lea Shaw at the Edinburgh Festival’ where she was one of the singers being coached by Thomas Quasthoff in his Masterclass. She showed then that she had a fine voice, and she confirmed it tonight with a soulful performance of the Handel aria slumped next to the piano. Lea comes from the US but has been at the Conservatoire in Glasgow since was 16, has gained her Masters in Opera and is now making her way in the opera world, so I think we can claim her as Scots! The next aria ‘Deh, vieni alla finestra‘ (Oh, come to the window) from Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’ showcased the baritone voice of Russian Alexey Gusev, who was a Scottish Opera emerging artist in 2018/19. He has a rich colourful voice and is not a bad actor. Alexey has already sung a number of roles with Scottish Opera and has a bright future.
The third singer Welsh soprano Meinir Wyn Roberts featured as Susanna from ‘Figaro’ in the aria ‘Via resti servita’ and although not as powerful as Lea Shaw her voice had a sweet tone. Finally young Scottish tenor Glen Cunningham, also making his Scottish Opera debut, sang very appropriately (since he is from the Highlands) an aria from Bizet’s opera based on Walter Scott’s ‘The Fair Maid of Perth’. It’s a young voice and will I’m sure mature in depth and colour. There were 15 arias in total with some better known than others, ending with the quartet ‘The Champagne Song’ from ‘Die Fledermaus’. With an encore the concert took just over an hour which is probably as much as you want to be masked up for, and it certainly got a very warm reception from the full house. We we’re back at the opera, but it wasn’t quite back to normal – still, after a year of lockdown we were happy to be there!
