The Orchestra of Scottish Opera
Formed in 1980, The Orchestra of Scottish Opera plays in the Company's films and productions across Scotland and beyond.
About Scottish Opera &
Scotland’s national opera company and the largest performing arts organisation in Scotland.
& Scottish Opera is Scotland’s national opera company and the largest performing arts organisation in Scotland. The 2023/24 Season marks its 61st Anniversary.
The Company’s performance repertoire ranges across five centuries, from the earliest operas to newly-commissioned world premieres. Scottish Opera collaborates with the world’s finest singers and creatives, together with The Orchestra of Scottish Opera and choruses for each opera. Recent accolades include a South Bank Sky Arts Award, a Scottish Award for New Music, Sunday Herald Culture Awards, a Herald Angel, and a 2020 RPS Award. In 2021 the Company returned to live audiences with Sir David McVicar’s new production of Verdi’s Falstaff performed in Glasgow and at the Edinburgh International Festival.
The Company tours extensively across Scotland to ensure performances are within reach of as many of the country’s very dispersed population as possible. Specially adapted 40-foot long trailers bring Pop-up Opera performances to thousands of people each year. In 2021 the Company performed nearly 200 performances of its Pop-up Opera Roadshow to socially distanced audiences of 11,014 people. This is one of the most extensive touring programmes of any European opera company and a much-valued contribution to Scotland’s cultural and artistic life, particularly in remote and island communities.
The Company’s Education & Outreach programme, which celebrated 50 years in 2021, includes an annual Primary Schools Tour, bringing children the opportunity to perform their own specially commissioned piece alongside professional singers. Around 120 schools and 9,000 pupils take part each year. Scottish Opera aims to be inclusive and affordable through availability of subsidised and free tickets, as well as performances offering audio description and specially devised shorter access performances.
The Company’s Opera On Screen productions are available to watch online. The collection includes Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Opera Highlights, Menotti’s The Telephone, and Samuel Bordoli and Jenni Fagan’s The Narcissistic Fish. The Company’s 2021 production of The Gondoliers, filmed live at Festival Theatre Edinburgh, is available on BBC iPlayer.
Scottish Opera is core funded by The Scottish Government
Scottish Opera voluntarily chooses to carry out Gender Pay Reporting in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017. Read our Gender Pay Gap Statement 2022 >>
Scottish Opera: Through The Years
1962
Founded by Sir Alexander Gibson. The new company’s first production is Puccini’s Madama Butterfly performed at the King’s Theatre, Glasgow.
1968
Performs Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring at Florence's prestigious Maggio Musicale Festival.
1969
Alexander Gibson conducts Peter Ebert's production of Berlioz’s The Trojans – the complete work in a single evening - with Janet Baker and Ronald Dowd.
1971
Performances of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle at the King’s Theatre, Glasgow.
First appearance at the BBC Proms with Acts I and III of Siegfried, featuring Helga Dernesch, Ticho Parly, Frank Egerton and David Ward with the Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Alexander Gibson.
1973
Gave performances of Tristan und Isolde and Pelléas et Mélisande at Sadler’s Wells, London.
1974
Purchases the Theatre Royal in Hope Street, Glasgow. It reopens the following year after extensive refurbishment.
1975
Billy Connolly plays the gaoler Frosch in Die Fledermaus at the gala performance marking the re-opening of the Theatre Royal on 14 October. Connolly also reprises the role in the 1979 revival.
1976
Wins the Evening Standard Award for Opera for first season in the restored Theatre Royal Glasgow.
Gives a concert performance of Falstaff at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall.
1977 - 81
Acclaimed cycle of Janáček operas co-produced with Welsh National Opera, conducted by Sir Richard Armstrong and directed by David Pountney.
1980
The Orchestra of Scottish Opera is formed.
1986
American conductor John Mauceri is appointed Music Director.
Sir Alexander Gibson becomes the Company’s first Conductor Laureate.
1987
John Mauceri conducts Olivier and Grammy Award-winning production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide.
1990
Complete performances of Berlioz's Les Troyens at the Royal Opera House, London.
Presents the world première of Scottish composer Judith Weir’s The Vanishing Bridegroom.
1992
Sir Richard Armstrong succeeds John Mauceri as Music Director.
1994
Visits Lisbon with Britten's Peter Grimes and Wagner's Tristan und Isolde.
1996
World première of James MacMillan’s Inés de Castro at the Edinburgh International Festival.
1997
The Theatre Royal auditorium is refurbished.
1999
Barclays TMA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera for productions of Macbeth and Der Rosenkavalier.
2000
Performs Verdi's Macbeth at the Vienna International Festival.
2001
European première of MacMillan’s Inés de Castro in Porto, Portugal.
2002
Barclays TMA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera for Wagner's Die Walküre and Siegfried.
2003
Five complete performances of Wagner’s Ring Cycle at the Edinburgh International Festival, Theatre Royal Glasgow and The Lowry, Salford Quays.
2004
South Bank Show Award for Best Opera for The Ring Cycle.
2005
Herald Angel Award for John Adams' The Death of Klinghoffer at the Edinburgh International Festival.
2006
Alex Reedijk is appointed General Director.
2007
Francesco Corti is appointed Music Director.
2008
Five:15, short new operas by Scottish-based artists, is launched.
First appearance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with Cinderella.
Herald Angel Award for The Two Widows at the Edinburgh International Festival.
2009
2007 production of Lucia di Lammermoor is presented at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, Russia, starring Anna Netrebko.
2016
Presents first dementia friendly opera with a specially adapted performance of The Marriage of Figaro.
2017
Pelleas and Melisande, directed by Sir David McVicar, wins UK Theatre Award for Achievement in Opera.
2011
Director Kally Lloyd-Jones wins a Herald Angel Award for The Seven Deadly Sins.
2012
World premieres of The Lady from the Sea and In the Locked Room & Ghost Patrol at the Edinburgh International Festival. The Scottish premiere of Clemency is performed.
2013
Ghost Patrol wins a Southbank Sky Arts Award for Opera.
The 50th Anniversary tour is shortlisted at the International Opera Awards, and wins The Renee Stepham Award for Best Presentation of Touring Theatre at the UK Theatre Awards.
2014
Sir Thomas Allen is appointed Music Adviser.
A four year project to transform the public spaces at Theatre Royal Glasgow is completed with new foyer spaces, heritage display, education rooms, hosting suites, rooftop terrace and box office.
2015
Stuart Stratford is appointed Music Director.
2016
Presents first dementia friendly opera with a specially adapted performance of The Marriage of Figaro.
2017
Pelléas and Mélisande, directed by Sir David McVicar, wins UK Theatre Award for Achievement in Opera.
Annual Reports
Read about Scottish Opera's activities and operations over the past year and beyond.
The Board of Scottish Opera
Read about Scottish Opera's Board members.