Opera Bohemia tour their new production of Verdi’s comic masterpiece, Falstaff to twelve venues across Scotland this summer.
Founded by Fife born baritone Douglas Nairne and Glasgow born conductor Alistair Digges, Opera Bohemia is now in its ninth year. One of the goals of the company was to try and introduce opera to a new audience, with low ticket prices, intimate and exciting productions, and shortened versions of much loved operas. They have now given one hundred and sixteen performances of fully staged operas, providing opportunities for over a hundred young professional singers and musicians in Scotland.
Falstaff was Verdi’s final opera and is based on Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor. It revolves around the unlikely protagonist, Sir John Falstaff and his farcical attempts to seduce women in order to gain access to their husbands’ wealth. The production has been put together with director Adrian Osmond and designer Kenneth MacLeod, and its cast includes former Scottish Opera emerging artists Andrew McTaggart and Hazel McBain and Opera Bohemia regulars Douglas Nairne and Catriona Clark. Accompaniment comes from The Opera Bohemia Ensemble, under the baton of Alistair Digges, and the pieces will be sung in Italian with English surtitles.
The company will also be running free workshop sessions in fourteen schools in areas to which they are touring Falstaff.
Falstaff tours to:
Gaiety Theatre, Ayr on Wed 11 Jul
Strathpeffer Pavilion on Thu 12 Jul
Town Hall, Lossiemouth on Sat 14 Jul
Arts Centre, Aberdeen on Sun 15 Jul
Theatre Royal, Dumfries on Thu 9 Aug (orchestral performance)
Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy on Tue 14 Aug (orchestral performance)
Whitehall Theatre, Dundee on Thu 16 Aug
Memorial Hall, Lanark on Fri 17 Aug (orchestral performance)
St John’s Renfield Church, Glasgow on Sun 19 Aug (orchestral performance)
Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock on Tue 21 Aug
Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling on Thu 23 Aug (orchestral performance)
St Cuthbert’s Church, Edinburgh on Fri 24 Aug (orchestral performance)