Dates & Locations

In partnership with Lammermuir Festival

Loosely based on Greek mythology as told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Euripides’ The Bacchae, Strauss’ lush, bucolic score – one of his personal favourites – showcases The Orchestra of Scottish Opera in a journey of discovery, grief, and ultimately rebirth and release. The young Daphne feels at home nowhere so much as in nature. She loves the trees, sunlight, and flowers, but recoils at the idea of human romance, even when offered selflessly by her childhood friend Leukippos. Soon a mysterious stranger arrives, seeming to bring the power of the sun and to understand Daphne’s kinship with nature. When her father prepares a feast for the return of the gods, which he feels is imminent, Daphne’s otherworldly love comes up against all-too-human jealousies and struggles.

This concert staging by Emma Jenkins presents a tale of transformation, stolen innocence, and the need to stay true to one’s self, drawing on the unmistakable impressionist aesthetics (and threat) of the Germany’s Weimar Republic in the years before the opera was composed. Richard Strauss keenly felt the political and artistic upheaval of this time, and the opera remained one of his personal favourites until his death.

Kindly supported by Friends of Scottish Opera and The Scottish Opera Endowment Trust
Part of Scottish Opera's 2023/24 season