In partnership with Lammermuir Festival
Jules Massenet’s sumptuous opera sits against the backdrop of the French Revolution and Robespierre’s infamous Reign of Terror.
Massenet’s soaring, sweeping melodic lines heighten emotions that are, despite the melodrama of the setting, rooted in the complications of very human relationships.
Thérèse finds herself at a crossroad. She is caught between her husband, a revolutionary representative, and her former lover, a deposed nobleman and her husband’s close friend. As the three are drawn inextricably together, revolutionary fervour rises, and Thérèse’s affairs of the heart become matters of life and death.
★★★★ 'The sound was quite simply magnificent, with an opulent bass and crystalline woodwind, beautifully conducted by Stuart Stratford.'
– The Arts Desk on The Miserly Knight & Mavra concert 2022
Music Director Stuart Stratford curates Scottish Opera’s concert programme, introducing audiences to work he is passionate about. Thérèse, a heart wrenching work of French Romanticism, can be heard at St Mary’s Church in Haddington as part of the Lammermuir Festival, and Perth Concert Hall – giving audiences two brilliant and unique chances to experience Jules Massenet’s lush orchestration and dramatic love triangle. If you have not yet experienced the stunning acoustics of Perth Concert Hall, Thérèse provides the perfect opportunity.
Kindly supported by Friends of Scottish Opera and The Scottish Opera Endowment Trust
Scottish Opera returns to the festival with a semi-staged performance of an exciting operatic rarity. Massenet’s Thérèse (1907) is a passionate two-act opera set in the French Revolution and its combination of heady romanticism and verismo theatricality makes for an intensely dramatic evening. Thérèse is torn between duty and love, and her fateful choice drives the opera inexorably towards its tragic denouement. The title role is taken by one of today’s most exciting singers – Justina Gringyté. This is almost certainly the Scottish premiere of Thérèse – a must for all opera lovers!
