Scottish Opera: Il Trovatore at Festival Theatre

Opera at its grandest, Verdi’s Il trovatore hasn’t been seen on the Scottish Opera stage since 2001. Dark and menacing, Peter Watson’s production gives this monumental story the space it deserves. The stark, brooding lines of Tim Hatley’s imposing set stand in impressive contrast to the blood and thunder of Verdi’s score, and provide a majestic backdrop for a cast and chorus of over 50.

A gypsy woman is discovered in the castle of the Count di Luna, crouched over the cradle of his youngest son. When the boy falls ill, she is burned at the stake for witchcraft. Her daughter, crazed with grief, snatches the child intending to kill him, but in her madness, throws her own son onto the fire. Years later, she has brought the Count’s son up as her own and he and his elder brother, unaware of their relationship, are rivals for the beautiful Leonora. Jealousy, revenge, love and hate collide as the opera crashes towards its inexorable conclusion.

Verdi’s score is packed with a dizzying succession of full-blooded melodies, from the thrilling Anvil Chorus and Manrico’s stirring ‘Di quella pira’ to the spine-tingling Miserere. The cast includes some of the UK’s finest singers, including Roland Wood (Werther 2013), Anne Mason (Der Ring des Nibelungen 2004) and Matthew Best (Tosca 2005), leading British soprano Claire Rutter (Turandot 2014) and renowned Welsh tenor Gwyn Hughes Jones. Tobias Ringborg (Rigoletto 2011, Così fan tutte 2009) conducts.
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