Opera Scotland

Over half a century between visits!

Posted 20 Aug 2025

Anyone who attended the superb concert performance of Puccini's at last much admired tragedy Suor Angelica in the Usher Hall on Saturday 16 August will have been delighted by the uniformly high quality of the cast.  A succession of healthy youthful voices brought the drama to unforgetable life.

The singer who dominated the first twenty minutes of the drama was, however, unlike most of the others, not making her first appearance in Edinburgh.  The Italian mezzo Elena Zilio was, amazingly, singing her second part at the Festival.  She made her first appearance at the King's Theatre as a member of the company from the Teatro Massimo, Palermo, in 1972.  The staging of Bellini's fourth opera, La straniera, had first been seen in Palermo in 1968, when she appeared in the 'seconda donna' role of Isoletta, with one beautiful aria to deal with.  The great Renata Scotto sang the lead, and she joined most of those performers in Edinburgh four years later.

The following year Scotto and Zilio teamed up again at the Verona Arena as Mimì and Musetta in a staging of La bohème in which they were supported by the Rodolfo of Luciano Pavarotti.

This year Zilio's voice is still in amazing condition - beautiful in quality, not a trace of wobble, and clearly enunciated.  A great singing actress.  No wonder Antonio Pappano brought her to Covent Garden so often in recent years.