November 2024 marks 100 years since the death of Giacomo Puccini, one of opera’s most popular composers. Scottish Opera is offering audiences at Usher Hall in Edinburgh and Glasgow Royal Concert Hall a magnificent journey through beloved arias and ensembles from Puccini’s operas.
The Company’s Music Director Stuart Stratford presents this carefully curated selection of highlights, which includes some of Puccini’s most famous works, such as La bohème, Manon Lescaut and Tosca.
Audiences can also enjoy a taster of his earlier compositions including Le villi and Edgar, as well as glorious excerpts from underappreciated masterpieces such as La fanciulla del West, and his final, unfinished opera Turandot.
This gala performance promises to be an unforgettable evening celebrating a century of passion, drama, and exquisite music that has captivated audiences worldwide, including here in Scotland.
This concert is an ideal opportunity for anyone not familiar with Puccini — whose music is frequently incorporated into popular culture, including films and musicals — as well as seasoned operagoers.
Stuart Stratford conducts an exceptional cast of international talent including soprano Sinéad Campbell Wallace (known for her stunning portrayal of diva Floria Tosca in Tosca 2019), tenor Mykhailo Malafii (performing the role of Cavaradossi in Lviv National Opera’s Tosca this October) making his Company debut and baritone Roland Wood, who in 2023 brought depth and nuance to the complex characters of Michele and Gianni Schicchi in the Company’s award- winning production of Il trittico. They are accompanied on stage by The Orchestra of Scottish Opera.
Soprano Kira Kaplan, one of Scottish Opera’s Emerging Artists for the 2024/25 Season, who was in the Company’s recent production of Albert Herring, also joins the cast, along with tenor Fraser Simpson (La traviata 2024).
‘This concert is big, passionate sections from one of opera’s greatest composers, sung by a first-rate cast, including Sinéad Campbell Wallace and Roland Wood,” said Stuart Stratford who curated The Puccini Collection with Scottish Opera’s Head of Music, Fiona MacSherry.
“Puccini’s music has stood the test of time, and this concert is a tremendous opportunity to see these brilliant singers onstage with a full orchestra, and mark the centenary of this iconic composer’s death, which is on 29 November this year,
‘You’ll hear huge excerpts from Tosca and La bohème, and sections from Manon Lescaut and La fanciulla del West, among other arias and interludes. Whether you are looking to relive your Italia 90 moment, or discover even more about the great Italian master, it promises to be an evening of unforgettable treasures.’
A Rich History of Puccini in Scotland
The work of Puccini has a special place in the history of Scottish Opera: the Company’s very first production was Madama Butterfly in 1962. More recently, the Company’s staging of Il trittico received an International Opera Award Nomination, and won Outstanding Achievement in Opera at the Critics’ Circle Awards 2023.
Other notable Scottish Opera productions of Puccini’s work include a contemporary La bohème outdoors in the car park of its Edington Street Production Studios in Glasgow during the pandemic, a new Madama Butterfly by Sir David McVicar in 2000, director Anthony Besch’s legendary staging of Tosca (first performed in 1980 and revived nine times since then), and it was in the Company’s 2010 concert staging of La fanciulla del West that acclaimed soprano Susan Bullock first performed the role of Minnie.
Puccini’s music also helped Scottish Opera mark its 60th Anniversary. In 2022, the Company commissioned a custom made gin from Biggar Gin, called Suonare, featuring a red label with die-cut holes which when removed and placed in a music box played ‘Un bel di’ from Madama Butterfly, a favourite of Scottish Opera’s founder, Sir Alexander Gibson.
This rich history with Puccini’s works demonstrates Scottish Opera has developed a deep understanding and appreciation for the composer’s music.
The Puccini Collection was originally performed in Dundee in December 2021, under pandemic conditions. The Dundee Courier praised the concert as ‘a perfect tribute to a man whose melodies are to die for.’
To book your tickets, visit www.scottishopera.org.uk/shows/the-puccini-collection/
The Puccini Collection is supported by Friends of Scottish Opera and The Scottish Opera Endowment Trust.
Following the success of Daphne in 2023, the Opera in Concert series is rounded off for the 2024/25 Season, with The Strauss Collection in March, which features some of the finest pieces Richard Strauss ever wrote, with music from Ariadne auf Naxos, Arabella, and Der Rosenkavalier.
The first half moves between a clash of artistically opposed theatre troupes in Ariadne to a nostalgic Viennese romance complete with disguises and mistaken identities in Arabella. The second half captures the highlights of Der Rosenkavalier’s three acts, following two colliding love stories with all the complications and grandeur of human relationships.
Stuart Stratford conducts The Orchestra of Scottish Opera through these lush sound worlds. The all-star cast includes sopranos Helena Dix and Rhian Lois (La bohème 2020), mezzo-soprano Hanna Hipp (Kátya Kabanová 2019), and baritone Roland Wood (Oedipus Rex 2024), all making the most of Strauss’ astounding understanding of the human voice.
The Puccini Collection cast and creative team
Conductor Stuart Stratford
Soprano Sinéad Campbell Wallace
Tenor Mykhailo Malafii
Baritone Roland Wood
Soprano Kira Kaplan
Tenor Fraser Simpson
The Puccini Collection performance diary
Usher Hall, Edinburgh 22 November 2024, 7.30pm
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall 23 November 2024, 7.30pm
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