Scottish Opera has announced a programme of seated outdoor performances including a special production of Puccini’s La bohème and Pop-up Opera performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Gondoliers and a new work: The Song of the Clyde by Scottish composer Karen MacIver.
These are in addition to a live online stream on Friday 18 September of Janáček’s The Diary of One Who Disappeared as part of the Lammermuir Festival.
La bohème is given a reinterpretation inspired by the current pandemic by director Roxana Haines using an abridged score by Jonathan Dove, which involves seven soloists and a reduced orchestra, staged in the car park (under a canopy) of the company’s Edington Street Production Studios in Glasgow for five early evening performances from Saturday 5 September.
The Pop-up Opera roadshow kicks off on Friday 4 September at The Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock, with confirmed performances at Platform Theatre in Easterhouse, The Riverside Museum in Glasgow, Eden Court in Inverness, Heart of Hawick in the Borders, Edinburgh Zoo and the Museum of Flight in East Lothian and further dates and locations to be announced.
Alex Reedijk, General Director, said, "after over five months of lockdown, I am delighted that Scottish Opera can now begin to bring live singing and playing back to our audiences in Scotland. Many of them have shared with us what an exceptionally difficult time this has been, so we are delighted that we can begin to offer live performances again, even if only in reduced scale and appropriately socially distanced at present.
"As we know, the shared, live experience of entertainment brings so much pleasure to audience and performers, and, of course, it is great for everyone at Scottish Opera to be making work again."