This January and February, Scotland’s national opera company is out on the road again with its annual tour of operatic highlights. This year’s tour will visiting 15 venues across the nation in the Highlands, Islands, Lowlands and Borders.

Essential Scottish Opera gives audiences across Scotland a unique opportunity to enjoy some of the most famous operatic highlights, performed in an intimate setting by four singers and a pianist.

Essential Scottish Opera 2007 presents a mixture of the light-hearted and dramatic, the moving and the amusing. If you’ve never tried opera, then this is the perfect opportunity for a taster. Part of the performance’s charm is its simple staging, straightforward props and clever use of costume and lighting, allowing the audience to focus on the voices and music as each scene is created.

Derek Clark, Scottish Opera’s Head of Music said:  ‘It’s always a challenge to create the right balance of music for Essential Scottish Opera. You need a mixture of the well-known and the less familiar, dramatic highlights and lighter pieces and that’s exactly what we’ve got. It’s a great programme of thoroughly entertaining singing and there really is something for everyone.’

The 2007 programme includes famous arias from La traviata, Cosi fan tutte, The Barber of Seville, Rigoletto and La bohème alongside works by Debussy, Lehar, Rossini and Britten, with just a smattering of Gilbert and Sullivan to round things off. All this is sung by Sarah Redgwick (Soprano), Katherine Allen (Mezzo-Soprano), Adriano Graziani (Tenor) and Adam Miller (Baritone). Sarah Redgwick has previously sung with Scottish Opera in the role of Marzelline in the 2005 production of Fidelio and as Mimi in the sold-out tour of La bohè me in 2006. Katherine Allen, Adriano Graziani and Adam Miller are all making their company debuts on this tour.

Scottish Opera Staff Producer, Dafydd Burne Jones, is again directing this year’s Essential Scottish Opera and Company Repetiteur, Ian Shaw, returns as pianist.

Alex Reedijk, Scottish Opera’s General Director said: ‘I am delighted that the new year will once again see Scottish Opera out on the road with a brand new tour of Essential Scottish Opera. If you’ve not been to see Scottish Opera perform before, then I would urge you to come, as this is a superb introduction to the world of opera. If you have been before, then we look forward to welcoming you back to this terrific operatic treat’ 

Performance Diary - Essential Scottish Opera 2007 JANUARY
Tuesday 16 - Palace Theatre, Kilmarnock
Thursday 18 - Rothes Halls, Glenrothes
Saturday 20 - Clickimin Leisure Centre, Lerwick
Tuesday 23 - Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh
Thursday 25 - Birnam Arts Centre, Dunkeld
Saturday 27 - Sàbhal Mòr Ostaig, Sleat
Tuesday 30 - Astley Hall, Arisaig

FEBRUARY 2007
Thursday 1 - Glenmoriston Millennium Hall, Invermoriston
Saturday 3 - Victoria Hall, Cromarty
Tuesday 6 - Gordonstoun School, Duffus
Thursday 8 - Woodend Barn Arts Centre, Banchory
Saturday 10 - Regal Community Theatre, Bathgate
Tuesday 13 - The Cinema, Newton Stewart
Thursday 15 - The Buccleuch Centre, Langholm
Saturday 17 - Eastgate Theatre, Peebles

Tickets for all performances can be purchased online at www.scottishopera.org.uk