Sandman / Dew Fairy
Emily Wishart (Autumn 2026)

There is something truly special about the opera arriving in town. This Season, Scottish Opera brings one of the most enchanting tales in the repertoire, and a family favourite, to 34 locations across Scotland.

Humperdinck’s Hansel & Gretel is a story that speaks to all of us: two children, lost and hungry in a darkening forest, summoning every scrap of courage and wit to outsmart a very wicked witch indeed.

This beautifully crafted five-singer production, directed by Lucy Bradley and accompanied by an intimate piano arrangement, strips the opera back to its storytelling heart. An exciting cast including many current and previous Emerging Artists and, at select venues, a local children’s chorus bring this fairy tale to life.

Whether you are a lifelong opera lover or coming along for the very first time, prepare to be enchanted.

COVER: MORGANA

CHORUS

There are worse places to find yourself trapped than Club Amnesia. Here, Alcina – performance artist extraordinaire – captivates the men who swarm around her, bending their minds, and reality, to her will. But when she meets Ruggiero, her heart finally softens. Then Ruggiero’s fiancée – disguised as a man to rescue her lost lover – arrives, and a clash of head and heart threatens to shatter the magic, hedonism, and fantasy of Alcina’s illusions.

Olivia Fuchs, director of 2025’s five-star The Makropulos Affair, transports Handel’s romantic fantasy to the vibrant, flamboyant, all-intoxicating club scene, joyfully toying with opera’s power and gender dynamics. Colourful designs by Yannis Thavoris (Marx in London! 2024) and lighting by Jake Wiltshire(Albert Herring 2024) bring this story of love, imagination, transformation, and human frailty to life.

Alcina contains some of Handel’s finest arias, from the aching ‘Verdi prati’ to the scintillating ‘Tornami a vagheggiar’. Renowned conductor Dmitri Jurowski is on the podium, and the cast includes Madeline Boreham, making her hotly anticipated Company debut in the title role; 2026/27 Emerging Artists Charlotte Clapperton, Charlotte Jane Kennedy, and Luvo Maranti; and Emerging Artist alumni Chloe Harris and Edward Jowle (both The Marriage of Figaro 2026).