issue 09. - Scottish Opera

Theatre Royal making Great ProgressScottish Opera’s plans for building newpublic spaces for the Theatre Royalcontinue to run as planned and on time.The ‘advance works’ – required toensure the theatre can continue tooperate while building work is ongoing– were completed mid-December. Thedemolition of the Café Royal and officesabove will continue throughout Januaryto make way for a new building which willhouse spacious new foyers and greatlyimprove facilities and access.Audience members for performancesof Werther in February will notice somechanges inside the theatre too, with thetemporary loss of the cloakroom and thebox office moving to the Hope Streetfoyer area.£10.3 million has now been raisedtowards the target of £11.45 million. TheScottish Government, Creative Scotland,the Heritage Lottery Fund, GlasgowCity Council and an array of trusts andfoundations have all supported theproject, as well as support from individualdonors.An auction of memorabilia from thetheatre, and props and costumesfrom Scottish Opera, held at McTear’sAuction House on 23 October, raised£15,000.If you’d like to support the creation ofthis amazing building, please contactRita Cummings, Theatre Royal CampaignManager, on 0141 242 0615 or e-mailrita.cummings@scottishopera.org.uk.Artist’s impression by Brian AllenMcOpera Orchestra for Hire© Colin HattersleyThree GenerationsOnstage withScottish Opera© Felicity OsmondPlayers from The Orchestra of ScottishOpera have won an award from CooperativeDevelopment Scotland to helpthem set up a players’ co-operative.Marketing themselves as Music CooperativeScotland, they will be availableto play for a full range of events during theweeks when they are not contracted towork with Scottish Opera.Katie Hull, the assistant leader of theorchestra, is a committee member of thenew co-operative. She says, ‘We will be ableto market ourselves as a full orchestra forhire but we can also cater for events likeweddings where people may require just anindividual musician, such as harp or trumpet,or a small group such as a string quartet.’Scottish Opera General Director AlexReedijk supports the orchestra in its newventure. He says, ‘We welcome theirinitiative in putting together this fledglingco-operative. We wish it every success andwill support them whenever we can.’Music Co-operative Scotland has set upa mini-series of orchestral concerts atSt Andrew’s in the Square, a venue withwhich The Orchestra of Scottish Opera andGlaswegian audiences are already familiar,on the afternoons of 3 and 17 March and19 May. Tickets are available from the RoyalConservatoire of Scotland box office on0141 332 5057.For more information on Music Co-operativeScotland, e-mail info@mcopera.com.With his appearance in Werther, eightyear-oldElliott Osmond becomes thethird generation of his family to tread theboards with Scottish Opera. Elliott, whoattends Shawlands Primary School, willbe playing one of Le Bailli’s children.He follows in the footsteps of his mother,Felicity Osmond, the Company’s Headof Individual Giving, who, as FelicityHammond, sang the roles of Papagena(1998), Barbarina/Susanna (1999) andGretel (2000). His grandfather, RoryHammond, sang in the chorus duringthe Company’s first decade.Elliott’s father, Adrian, a former staffproducer with Scottish Opera, is directingthe 2013 Opera Highlights tour.scottishopera.org.uk Brio Issue 09 Spring 201313