Fife Opera is a semi-professional grand operacompany dating back to 1976, and based in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. It has produced over 40 full-scale productions since its inception.
At present, it is one of only a handful of companies left in Scotland today producing large-scale operas, and one of the few to routinely to play with a full orchestra, and the foremost company of its sort in Fife.
History
The company was founded in 1975 with the impetus being provided by Kirsty Adam, who was then keen to draw together a number of opera enthusiasts and singers from across the county. In 1978, the company performed Menotti'sAmahl and the Night Visitors in the 13th-century CistercianCulross Abbey.
From the outset, the musical director, Richard Galloway, insisted on auditioning everyone interested in joining, and insisted on high vocal quality and level of professionalism from company members. Despite this, for the company's first full-scale production from 1979, Bizet'sCarmen, a cast of 54 took to the stage, accompanied by a 37-piece orchestra.[1]
Fife Opera has a large proportion of younger singers, and increasingly is geared towards outreach and touring. In recent years, it has appeared annually at the Edinburgh Festival.
In 2011 the company ran a highly successful "Come and Sing" Carmen; it then performed, for the first time The Tales of Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach as its annual production in the Adam Smith Theatre in Kirkcaldy and gave a Christmas concert. 2012 saw the "Come and Sing" idea developed further with a "Come and Sing from the Shows" day in March and a "Come and Sing" Aida in May.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Fife_Opera, and is written by contributors.
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