Opera Bohemia to stage The Merry Widow in Thurso
THE Merry Widow is coming to Thurso next week as part of a 10th anniversary tour of Scotland by Opera Bohemia.
Franz Lehár’s operetta will be staged at Thurso High School on Tuesday, September 3, starting at 7.30pm.
In its biggest tour to date, Opera Bohemia is visiting 18 venues from the Borders to the north coast, as well as a couple of islands.
In its first 10 years the company has given 126 performances of fully staged operas all round Scotland, as well as two short tours to England. Recent productions have included Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers, Verdi’s Falstaff and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.
We're really excited to be visiting Thurso for the first time.
Opera Bohemia artistic directors and founders Douglas Nairne and Alistair Digges say they can't quite believe it has been a decade years since they began their mission of bringing live opera around Scotland and giving opportunities to young professional singers and musicians.
Douglas said: “In that time we’ve been lucky to work with so many talented performers, directors and designers. We are very grateful to everyone who has helped us along the way and to the various trusts and donors for their financial support.”
Alistair added: “We're really excited to be visiting Thurso for the first time."
One of Opera Bohemia's main aims is to introduce opera to first-time opera-goers and a younger generation in a dynamic way. In 2017 Bohemia launched its education project, taking opera workshops to schools around Scotland each year.
The workshops have received positive feedback from students and teachers across the country and are in high demand. This year the sessions involve more than 600 children across 18 schools.
The workshops are offered to schools free and are described as a fun introduction to opera and classical music. The sessions aim to challenge what is seen as an unfair stigma often attached to the art form, and also tie in with the school music curriculum.
Opera Bohemia hopes to tempt even more people to give opera a try this year with its new production of Lehár’s The Merry Widow with libretto by Viktor Léon and Leo Stein. It is the first time the operetta has been performed professionally in Scotland for over 10 years.
The new production is set in Paris in the 1930s where various suitors squabble to win the hand of the recently widowed, and very wealthy, Hanna Glawari. The work is full of Viennese melodies, including show-stoppers such as Viljah, The Merry Widow Waltz and Chez Maxim’s.
Edinburgh-born soprano Catriona Clark and Fife-born baritone Douglas Nairne sing the lead duo, with other cast members including Marie Claire Breen and Andrew McTaggart.
Director John Wilkie, who made his directorial debut with Bohemia in 2010 and who has gone onto enjoy an international career, returns to the company for this 10th anniversary tour. Alisa Kalyanova designs the 1930s-style production with choreography by Michael Scott.
Musical director Alistair Digges has put together a special arrangement for piano (Andrew Brown) and solo violin (Dániel Mészöly).
Tickets for the Thurso show are available from www.wegottickets.com and from McBeath’s Jewellers.
The tour and education project are supported by Creative Scotland, the Whitaker, David and June Gordon, JTH, Robertson, Hope Scott and McGlashan trusts and the William Mann Foundation.
