Music ROCK&POP Tosca
CLASSIC ITALIAN TRAGEDY TOSCA Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Fri 4, Sun 6, Tue 8, Thu 10 and Sat 12 May; Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Wed 23, Fri 25, Sun 27, Thu 31 May and Sat 2 Jun.
Described as a ‘shabby little shocker’ by one of America’s leading musicologists, Puccini’s Tosca has been a success with audiences the world over since its premiere in Rome in 1900. One production that has had particularly wide appeal is that of
master storyteller Anthony Besch, created for Scottish Opera in 1980. Subsequently staged by opera houses as far afield as New Zealand, Spain and the US, Besch’s production was revived by Scottish Opera in 2000 and then again in 2004 and now once more returns by popular demand.
This time under the direction of Jonathan Cocker, the opera is updated from the period of Napoleon’s invasion of Italy to the time of Mussolini’s brutal regime in 1940s Rome. It’s got torture, murder, suicide and intrigue, but it’s also got some of Puccini’s best known lyrical arias that leave no one unaffected.
Who better to conduct but Scottish Opera’s in-house music director, Francesco Corti, bringing his own Italian heritage to the score?
‘It’s pure Puccini and goes from tenderness to huge tension,’ he says. ‘It is big and dramatic with so much passion and absolutely drives the action on stage.’
Taking on the title role, English soprano Susannah Glanville has
already been critically acclaimed for her portrayal of the tragic opera diva Tosca in Opera North’s production three years ago. Her lover, Cavaradossi, is Spanish tenor José Ferrero and baddie
chief of police Scarpia is Robert Poulton, previously heard with Scottish Opera in The Marriage of Figaro. Company regulars Paul Carey Jones and David Morrison also return to the cast and, with over 40 in the chorus, this is Italian grand opera in truly grand style. (Carol Main)
Tuesday 8
Glasgow Ye Cronies Opera Award Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 5.30pm. £4 (£3). Student competition. Scottish Opera: Tosca Theatre Royal, 282 Hope Street, 0844 871 7647. 7.15pm. £9.50–£67. See Fri 4.
Wednesday 9 Edinburgh FREE Very Wednesday St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 226 0673. 12.15pm. See Wed 2. FREE Red Note Noisy Nights: Inventor Composer Coalition The Jam House, 5 Queen Street, 226 4380. 8pm. New music specially composed for bespoke instruments.
Thursday 10
Glasgow Scottish Opera: Tosca Theatre Royal, 282 Hope Street, 0844 871 7647. 7.15pm. £9.50–£67. See Fri 4. Edinburgh Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Beethoven’s Choral Symphony Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 228 1155. 7.30pm. £9.50–£28 (£7.50-£26; disabled £4.75–£14; children & students £5). The SCO’s 2011/12 season climaxes with Beethoven’s Music from The Ruins of Athens and the exhilarating Symphony No 9 ‘Choral’. John Storgårds conducts. FREE Mike Svoboda Reid Concert Hall, University of Edinburgh, Bristo Square, 651 3212. 8pm. Contemporary works and virtuoso improvisations for solo trombone, from a modern master.
Friday 11
Glasgow Scottish Opera Emerging Artists Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 1pm. £10.50 (£7.50). Platform for young singers, featuring Marie Claire Breen, Shuna Scott Sendall and Ross McInroy. Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Beethoven’s Choral Symphony City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £12–£26 (seniors £10–£24; children, students & unemployed £5). See Thu 10. Edinburgh RSNO: Au Revoir Stéphane Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 228 1155. 7.30pm. £11–£34. Stéphane Denève bids farewell to the RSNO with MacMillan’s Britannia, Richard Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel and Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé.
Saturday 12 Glasgow FREE Simon Nieminski St Mungo’s
Cathedral, Cathedral Square. 2.30pm. Organ recital. FREE St Giles’ at Six: David Goodenough St Mungo’s Cathedral, Cathedral Square. 2.30pm. Organ recital. Junior, Senior and Chamber Choirs Concert Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 4pm. £4 (£3). Three student choirs. Scottish Opera: Tosca Theatre Royal, 282 Hope Street, 0844 871 7647. 7.15pm. £9.50–£67. See Fri 4. RSNO: Au Revoir Stéphane Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £11–£34. See Fri 11. Edinburgh Cadenza: Concert in aid of the Friends of St Cuthbert’s St Cuthbert’s Church, 5 Lothian Road, 229 1142. 7.30pm. £8. Charity concert featuring a lighter repertoire. Edinburgh Royal Choral Union: Gloria! Greyfriars Kirk, Greyfriars Place, greyfriarskirk.com 7.30pm. £15 (£10; students & children £5). Bearsden Choir joins for pieces by Poulenc, Langlais, Bruckner and Rutter. Conductors: Michael Bawtree and Frikki Walker.
Sunday 13
Glasgow Junior Conservatoire Prize Competition for Guitar Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 2pm. £4 (£3). Student guitarists in recital. FREE Kelvingrove Sunday Organ Recitals Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Argyle Street, 276 9599. 3pm. See Sun 29. Orchestra of Scottish Opera St Andrews in the Square, 1 St Andrews Square, 559 5902. 3pm. £12 (£9). Martucci’s Giga Op 61, Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto with soloist Anthony Moffat, and Brahms’ Symphony No 2. Francesco Corti conducts. Pavel Haas Quartet and Llyr Williams City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 3pm. £15 (£13). Smetana’s forceful String Quartet No 1 and Janácek’s equally strong Quartet No 2, plus pianist Williams plays Janácek’s From an Overgrown Path for solo piano. Edinburgh FREE St Giles’ at Six: George Heriot’s Chamber Choir and Brass Ensemble St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 226 0673. 6pm. Student musicians perform choral works by Whitacre, Duruflé, Harris, Stanford and John IV of Portugal. BBC SSO: Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 228 1155. 7.30pm. £10–£26. Mozart’s much loved Clarinet Concerto features Martin Fröst as soloist and is followed by Bruckner’s popular Symphony No 7. Donald Runnicles conducts.
Opera. Worth a second look. Get £10 tix if you’re under 26. Any seat. Any performance.
Tosca 4 May-9 Jun Glasgow • Inverness • Edinburgh • Aberdeen
104 THE LIST 26 Apr–24 May 2012