In January 2010, Douglas Nairne and Alistair Digges decided that they would create a production of Puccini’s La bohème to be performed in their home towns and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. After the overwhelming success of their initial performances, they decided to take La bohème further afield and tour around Scotland. The experience the young cast and audiences shared was very special and following feedback around the country, expressing their enthusiasm and desire to see more productions, Opera Bohemia was formed. Now in its thirteenth year, Opera Bohemia has added highly successful performances of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and Gianni Schicchi, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Verdi’s La traviata and Falstaff, Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers, Lehár’s The Merry Widow and Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, to its achievements.
Opera Bohemia has performed at over fifty venues across the country with highlights including the first opera at the new Beacon Arts Centre (Greenock) and an invitation to perform Madame Butterfly in London. The performance took place in Middle Temple and helped raise over a quarter of a million pounds for the Muir Maxwell Trust. Since then, the company has embarked on two successful English tours. 2013 saw the formation of the Opera Bohemia Ensemble, a chamber orchestra showcasing some of Scotland’s most talented young musicians. The orchestra made its first appearance at the company’s opening performances of Eugene Onegin and it continues to perform at many of the larger venues. The company also performs at various other events throughout Scotland including The Royal Highland Show and The Absolute Classics Festival.
2017 saw the company launch their education project, taking free opera workshops to hundreds of school children around Scotland. The workshops returned for each of the following seasons and continue to visit schools in the villages, towns and cities that the opera tours to.
The company celebrated its 10th anniversary with an eighteen venue tour of The Merry Widow, which was seen by four thousand people across Scotland.
Opera Bohemia exists as a registered charity, with three main goals.
To produce more operatic performances across Scotland.
To create opportunities for professional artists in all areas of opera.
To introduce opera to first time opera goers and a younger generation in a dynamic way.
Opera Bohemia Trustees: Paul Hagan (Chair), David McLellan, Isobel Ramsay
Chief Executive/Artistic Director: Douglas Nairne, Alistair Digges
“Opera Bohemia are Opera’s perfect evangelists as they sound their song around Scotland” (The Student Newspaper)
“Opera Bohemia is a small company that punches well above its weight and this production is a triumph” (Edinburgh Music Review)
“A spectacular performance… One of the most exciting new opera companies in the country” (The Herald)
“A breath of fresh air on the operatic circuit” (The Courier)
“Although this was a Fringe show, I rather got the feeling that it could have been acceptably transported up to the Queen’s Hall with an Edinburgh International Festival label.” (bachtrack.com)