The Scottish Opera Podcast
Welcome to The Scottish Opera Podcast
Step into the exciting world of opera with Scottish Opera's debut podcast series! Join host Jamie MacDougall, tenor and former BBC Radio Scotland presenter, as each new guest brings their unique perspective about what goes on behind the scenes at a national opera company. You’ll hear from directors and designers who dramatise these stories, conductors who interpret music new and old, and singers from international stars to our dedicated Community Chorus members.
Expect deep dives on beloved classics, previews of world premieres, and explorations of opera as a tool for education and wellbeing. With each new episode, we celebrate the talent, dedication, humanity, and creativity that makes opera special and offer new angles on this vibrant art form.
Whether you're an opera aficionado or just dipping your toe into this world, The Scottish Opera Podcast is your window into the craft, challenges, and diversity of opera today.
This podcast is produced in partnership with City of Glasgow College and supported by students on Broadcasting courses at the college, with thanks to James Wilson, Curriculum Head of Broadcasting.
The Scottish Opera Podcast
Episode four - Opera Highlights with Rebecca Meltzer and Ross Cumming
Produced by Kayleigh and Grace from the City of Glasgow College.
Presenter Jamie MacDougall chats to director Rebecca Meltzer and Baritone Emerging Artist, Ross Cumming, and about the Opera Highlights tour.
This season’s snappy, playful show by director Rebecca Meltzer and designer Kenneth MacLeod explores and celebrates Scotland’s rich landscape. The operatic snapshots, curated for the first time by Fiona MacSherry, Scottish Opera’s Head of Music, form vignettes taking place at the country’s many varied train stations – places of greetings and goodbyes, reunions and setting off on new adventures, where all walks of life can coexist and interact equally.
Singers Robert Forrest and Scottish Opera’s 2024/25 Emerging Artists Ross Cumming, Chloe Harris, and Kira Kaplan bring classic operatic excerpts by Beethoven, Bizet, Handel, Donizetti, Tchaikovsky, and more to life under the musical direction of Joseph Beesley in this original piano-accompanied production.
Alongside Opera Highlights, Scottish Opera will also run 10 secondary school workshops in Fochabers, Stranraer, Lerwick, Mid Yell, Oban, Castlebay, Tarbert, Ullapool, Thurso and Anstruther, and four community workshops on 'How to stage an opera' in Tain, Lerwick, Tarbert, and Dundee.