Opera

The art deco surrounds of the HMV Picture House, at the bottom of Lothian Road, provided the perfect backdrop for this Fringe production of The Seven Deadly Sins.

Valery Gergiev has been made the new Honorary President of the Edinburgh International Festival, it was announced tonight.

Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) wrote thirty six operas, all within nineteen years. Semiramide is not one of the best known, but it is performed from time to time.

There are expectations of a production from China that include wonderful costumes, graceful acting and plain scenery, and it would be a poor show if they weren’t there.

Chinese traditional opera and King Lear may seem to some a strange juxtaposition, yet this production surprisingly takes us closer to the roots of Shakespearean theatre than might be supposed.

We are in Italy with an opera company rehearsing inside a villa; singers wander outside with unpredictable consequences. The evening is divided into two acts, each with three scenes.  In each scene are sung excerpts from well known and well chosen operas and musicals. This gave the opportunity for solo parts, small groups and the entire chorus of the twenty six performers.

Puccini’s seventh opera La Fanciulla, better known to most of us as The Girl of the Golden West, had a highly acclaimed premiere at the Metropolitan Opera in 1910, conducted by Toscanini wit

A company that turns one of the city centre's churches into a Las Vegas casino would seem to be committing sacrilege.

Traditional Gaelic song and contemporary music are performed against a backdrop of vintage and modern film.

"There is something in the very name of St. Kilda, which excites expectation.  Remote and solitary, the spirit of romance appears still to dwell in the clouds and storms that separate this narrow spot from the world." From "The Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland" in letters to Sir Walter Scott by John MacCulloch (1824).

It is probably unique for the composer to take a curtain call at the premiere of an opera at the Edinburgh Festival.

This welcome return by Scottish Opera to the Edinburgh Festival after too-long an absence was better-than well received by a capacity audience, causing frequent laughter throughout Smetana's comedy of manners.

The sound of last night's exquisite performance of the Monteverdi Vespers 1610 (to use its common UK title) was dulled by the lack of resonance of the Usher Hall. This not the first time that the Hall's building has disappointed your reviewer by its poor response to Renaissance church music.