Scottish Opera

Scottish Opera is Scotland's national opera company and the largest performing arts organisation in Scotland. It was founded by Alexander Gibson and was inaugurated with a production of Madama Butterfly at the King's Theatre in Glasgow. In 1974 Scottish Opera purchased the Theatre Royal Glasgow, which reopened in 1975 as Scotland's first national opera house. The Orchestra of Scottish Opera was founded in 1980. Notable achievements include the world premiere of James MacMillan's Ines de Castro at the 1996 Edinburgh International Festival and complete Ring cycles at the 2003 Edinburgh International Festival, which won the 2004 South Bank Show Award for Best Opera Production. Recent commissions include Five:15 Operas Made in Scotland, part of a five-year research and development project to find the next generation of opera-makers, composers and librettists. We are committed to bringing the widest possible range of opera, performed to the highest possible standards, to the maximum audience throughout Scotland and the UK; each year it performs in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness and over 50 other theatres, village halls and community centres. We also operate an extensive programme of outreach and education work which involves over 12,000 primary school children a year, as well as many other activities including adult learning and Unwrapped taster sessions. Scottish Opera's income is derived from public subsidy, box office and private and commercial support. It is funded by the Scottish Government. The Company celebrates its 50th birthday on 5 June 2012. Our 2012/13 Season marks half a century of Scottish Opera with a mix of popular favourites and lesser-known gems, as well as a celebratory concert performance of Cavalleria rusticana & Pagliacci on 5 June, and our largest ever tour of Scotland's smaller venues (visiting 50 community centres, theatres and village halls across the country) with La traviata and Opera Highlights. The Season also sees performances of New Opera 2012 - the next stage of the Company's Five:15 - Opera Made in Scotland project - as part of the Edinburgh International Festival and also in Glasgow.