Ainadamar: Scottish Art at its Best

By Zachary Vincent

Members of the older generations make no secret of enjoying well-dressed young people. It is a theme I have frequently encountered when viewing operas and plays with an over representation of people over sixty. The night of 12th November was no different, and the approving glances cast my way by the patrons of the Scottish Opera’s performance of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar served more to reinforce my knowledge that I was in a unique position as an under-25 operagoer than to integrate me into the fold. This said, Edinburgh is no Vienna or Milan, and a majority of the audience for that evening’s production were not in the traditional formalwear mostly unchanged since the time of Puccini. Jeans were more common than neckties, more tennis shoes than oxfords shuffling their way to the seats in the Festival Theatre. I was not to know as the curtain was rising on Ainadamar that the production would be as modern as the audience’s attire, nor that it would bring a feeling of unifying youth to both my 19-year-old self and the octogenarian gentleman sitting next to me. 

Simply put, Ainadamar was unlike any production I had ever seen. A flamenco-inspired opera under 120 minutes dealing with the life of the playwright and thinker Federico García Lorca and his former star actress Margarita Xirgu, the work’s title is from the Arabic for a “fountain of tears”. In such a short amount of time, there was a conjuring of the detailed ambiance of an Andalusian marketplace, 1930s Havana, a Franco-era execution site, and a theatre school in Uruguay years later. Dance was featured, as were glimpses of flamenco song and costume.  

Ainadamar proved to be an incredibly diverse opera, and one with stunning lyricism and a profoundly important message about speaking out and remembering in the modern age. And yet, a cursory glance at a search engine after inputting “Scottish Opera Ainadamar” would yield similar, indeed superior, details and notes. The purpose of this review is to assess how well the Scottish Opera performed in the areas of production, staging, and executing the opera and to provide the necessary advice and information for those looking to see other shows performed by the company in the future. 

Ainadamar had many strengths as performed by the Scottish Opera, but the greatest of these was the company’s use of limited resources to produce a show which felt rich and complex while never overextending itself. While it may not have the resources of, say, the Wiener Staatsoper in Vienna, clever production planning can create a show equally as stunning. Ainadamar is a prime example of the thriftiness of the Scottish Opera at its best. They used a small, very accomplished cast in lieu of a huge, ensemble and chose a production which would feel no lesser for that decision. When approaching the richness of multiple, very diverse places, complicated backdrops were replaced with atmospheric light displays and simple set pieces which could allow the performers themselves to construct the visual themes desired. A key example of this must be the execution of Lorca, which involved a rotating cross on stage demonstrating the diversity of enemies of the Franco regime while spotlighting the unifying force of religion in leading to their downfall. The humanity of the scene was the focus, not the hilly, stone-ridden setting of the tragedy. The fog, the lights, the movement, the music – it was abstract atmospherism at its finest. 

Any weaknesses the performance had were a result of geography and diversity of talent so far from the Spanish setting and South American composing of the opera. While Ainadamar was advertised as a flamenco opera, featuring traditional regional dance and song, the performance I witnessed used such components less as key features than as occasional asides. Regarding dance specifically, the flamenco character was often sacrificed for the sake of more traditional narrative storytelling, though the moments it took centre stage were fantastic to watch. These choices on the part of the opera’s production team must, though, still be understood in light of the aforementioned ‘thriftiness’ of the Scottish Opera generally. Rather than cast around for flamenco dancers, the Scottish Opera allowed their talented performers to play to their strengths and to produce not a beautiful flamenco opera, but a beautiful opera. I believe such adaptations are necessary in such a foreign setting as Scotland is from Spain and contribute to its distinctiveness as a production in Scotland, for Scotland. 

This analysis yields one overwhelming piece of advice: if the Scottish Opera puts on an opera from outside the historical, eighteenth and nineteenth century canon of works, please go to see it. What the Scottish Opera can do better than other opera companies is not to produce a lavish, glittering production of something like The Magic Flute or La Traviata, but to choose an unconventional piece like Ainadamar (which was first premiered in just 2003) for the opportunities it provides and seize upon them. After viewing Ainadamar, I have greater faith than ever in the Scottish Opera’s ability to undertake only challenges they can excel at. At its best, the Scottish Opera can use raw Scottish talent in technical engineering, directing, orchestral playing, and operatic singing to forge a unique intimacy between audience and art. Without (assumably) an astronomical budget, the Scottish Opera was able to bring tears to eyes, teach about history vital to the fabric of democracy, human rights, and art itself, all because they were willing to take a chance on a lesser-known opera. 

As the curtain fell on Ainadamar, I did not feel out of place with my non-grey hair or my suit jacket. I heard the deafening thunder of applause all around me and a woman in the row behind me wipe away a tear and say simply “how magnificent.” Magnificence is something the Scottish Opera can certainly achieve, and it can do so by choosing to perform more productions like Ainadamar. Perhaps this is the greatest lesson the Scottish Opera can teach artists practising in any medium: subject choice, stylistic integrity, and confident execution can be more important than any flashy, expensive detailing, especially when the end goal is to communicate and to inspire. Ainadamar undoubtedly did both.