Edinburgh International Festival Opera Preview

There are three full blown operas and four concert performances in the 2010 Edinburgh International Festival programme.

The first is Bliss, an opera by Brett Dean and Amanda Holden based on the novel by Peter Carey,  performed by Opera Australia with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.  It was first seen at the Sydney Opera House on 12 March 2010 and this is to be its European premiere. There are just two performances at the Festival Theatre. It comes with a warning of coarse language and adult themes.

Montezuma,  with Ensemble Elyma. Written in 1755, Carl Heinrich Graun and Frederick II of Prussia explore the very complex relationship between the ambitious Cortes and the fatalistic Montezuma. Sung in Italian with English supertitles. There are three performances at the King’s Theatre.

Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin, Dubose and Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin is performed by Opéra de Lyon and sung in English. There are three performances at the Festival Theatre.

One night only concert performances at the Usher Hall are Idomeneo by Mozart by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra under Sir Charles Mackerras and Gregory Batsleer’s Scottish Orchestra Chorus. La fanciulla del West (the Girl of the Golden West) by Puccini. This is to be sung in Italian with the Orchestra of Scottish Opera and Edinburgh Festival Chorus. The Indian Queen by Purcell by The Sixteen conductor Harry Christophers.  L’heure espagnole by Ravel sung in French with RSNO under Stéphane Denève.