ASHLEY PAGE RETURNS TO SCOTLAND AS OPERA DIRECTOR

Former Artistic Director of Scottish Ballet, Ashley Page, will direct Gluck’s dramatic masterpiece, Orfeo ed Euridice for Scottish Opera in February and March of 2015. This new production of the opera, which features dance as a key element, is the second of four productions to be presented by the Company in a busy Spring/Summer Season.

The story is based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and his journey to

Hades to rescue his lover, Euridice - but one look from him before they reach the safety of the world above and she will be lost forever. Designer Johan Engel sand Lighting Designer Mark Jonathan have used vivid colour to create a series of dreamlike worlds on stage, reflecting Orfeo’s journey: from the fragile purity of his grief, to the threatening and sinister Underworld, and to the pastoral idyll of Elysium. Tragically, Engels died suddenly in November 2014, before audiences could see this work.

First performed in Vienna in 1762, Gluck’s music in the opera focuses on delivering dramatic effect over the vocal display that his contemporaries sought. A chorus of 20 and an ensemble of dancers help to bring his choreographic writing to life in these performances.

Originally written for a castrato, in modern times the role of Orfeo has been sung by a mezzo-soprano, here Australian Caitlin Hulcup, who returns to Scottish Opera for the first time since her highly acclaimed performances in 2009’s Così fan tutte. Lucy Hall and Ana Quintans sing Euridice and Amor, respectively.

Former Principal Conductor of Ulster Orchestra, Kenneth Montgomery OBE will conduct these performances. The music will follow Gluck’s Vienna version, but also incorporates the Dance of the Furies and the Dance of the Blessed Spirits from his later, Paris version.

Director, Ashley Page said: “I had a great time with Scottish Ballet and built up a wonderfully loyal and enthusiastic following there, so it feels right to be creating something for Scottish audiences again.

“Of course, with my dance background, there will be some elements of my directing methods that are similar to how I would work on the larger, more narrative ballets. But with Orfeo ed Euridice, the way I approach working with the singers will be more like how I would direct a play. 

My ballets have almost always had a strong sense of collaboration between the disciplines of dance, music and design, and so directing an opera with a considerable dance element seems a logical step for me to take.

Ultimately I’m planning to produce a piece of theatre which blends several strands of performance, and which tells the story clearly. I’m particularly looking forward to working with such a talented, high-calibre group of singers and dancers.”





Theatre Royal, 282 Hope Street, Glasgow Thu 19 Feb 7.15pm
Sun 22 Feb 4.00pm
Wed 25 Feb 7.15pm
Sat 28 Feb 7.15pm
Free events
Orfeo ed Euridice Unwrapped
Tue 24 Feb 6.00pm
Pre-show talk Sat 28 Feb 6.00pm
Touch Tour
Sat 28 Feb 6.00pm

Festival Theatre, 13–29 Nicolson Street, Edinburgh 
Tue 3 Mar 7.15pm
Thu 5 Mar 7.15pm
Sat 7 Mar 7.15pm
Free events
Orfeo ed Euridice Unwrapped Wed 4 Mar 6.00pm
Pre-show talk Sat    7 Mar 6.00pm
Touch Tour
Sat 7 Mar 6.00pm

Scottish Opera Five:15

Scottish Opera continue to explore new ways of making high art accessible to new audiences.

EVENT REVIEW BY MARGARET KIRK.
PUBLISHED IN THE SKINNY 04 MARCH 2009


The thrill of Scottish Opera’s Five: 15 programme lies in the proximity of the audience to the performers. More used to a large stage, their movements and emotions are exaggerated and powerful: in an intimate setting like Oran Mor, they are overwhelming. With the orchestra situated behind the stage, and the simple set almost imitating a classical Greek theatre, with two stairwells, a raised platform and a front stage, the singers are directly in front of the limited audience, bringing an immediacy to these five variable short pieces.

Then there is the excitement of experiencing a new form. The fifteen minute opera is more like a poem than a traditional epic, exploring a single theme or, as in Remembrance Day by Louise Welch and Stuart MacRae, a short story. Across the performance, sex, death, ambition and the conflict between science and religion are all briefly explored in a format that is suggestive rather than conclusive. While this is a long way from traditional opera, it opens up new possibilities of staging and engagement with an audience.

This is most effective when the subject matter is slight and allusive. David Fennessy and Nicholas Bone offer Happy Story, a series of scenes that celebrate ambition and determination, and Margaret McCartney/Gareth William’s White captures a tiny tragedy from a tangential angle. The Lightning Rod Man is clumsy and overblown, both musically and dramatically, pitching a Whitmanesque mystic against a sensible materialist, while Remembrance Day, while it considers the importance of music, sacrifices intensity for the macabre.

However the entire programme has the sense of cohesion and development that puts it above most experimental or group works. As part of Scottish Opera’s brave moves to find new audiences, Five: 15 is thought-provoking and entertaining, probing possibilities without sacrificing quality.