Tickets are on sale now for Scottish Opera’s Opera Highlights The Office Party, which journeys to 18 venues across Scotland this Spring.
Bringing world-class opera direct to communities, the production hits the road from 3 February to 14 March.
Telling the story of a raucous office party and a messy love triangle, it features four talented singers and a pianist and is the perfect opportunity to hear extracts from much-loved classics and lesser-known treasures.
This production is woven together with music from Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, Gounod’s Romeo and Juliette, Massenet’s Werther, Handel’s Alcina, Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus and Samuel Barber’s one-act opera, A Hand of Bridge, all sung in English.
Transforming smaller venues into a local opera house, the show travels to Glasgow, Tillicoultry, Helensburgh, Town Yetholm, Newton Stewart, Dunlop, Dalmally, Dornie, Stornoway, Gairloch, Newtonmore, Banchory, Fraserburgh, Cromarty, Orkney, Wick, Lairg and Bathgate. Scottish Opera’s extensive touring programme is one of the largest of any European opera company, ensuring performances are within reach of as many of Scotland’s dispersed population as possible.
Created specifically for Scottish Opera each season, performing in The Office Party are 2025/26 Emerging Artists soprano Kira Kaplan (Trial by Jury & A Matter of Misconduct! 2025),baritone Daniel Barrett (L’heure espagnole & The Bear 2025), tenor Connor James Smith (The Merry Widow 2025) and mezzo-soprano Alexandria Moon, who is making her Company debut. Accompanying the singers on piano is Music Director Toby Stanford, Emerging Artist Repetiteur.
The show’s Director is Emma Doherty who last worked with Scottish Opera on the Outreach & Education show, The Giant’s Harp, and was Assistant Director in 2024 on Oedipus Rex and Marx in London! Designs are by the award-winning Kenneth MacLeod, who worked on last Season’s Opera Highlights.
Emma Doherty said: ‘It was fantastic to see the audience reactions to our production this autumn, which showcases some beautiful music and deals with the themes of forbidden love and deception.
“I am looking forward to getting back into the rehearsal room with the new cast, to prepare for the spring tour. In the show, designed by the brilliant Kenneth MacLeod, audiences can expect to see four colleagues with complicated love triangles who are gearing up for their office party!’
The operatic snapshots in the Spring tour are curated by Fiona MacSherry, Scottish Opera’s Head of Music, and her choices of music make the story immediate and accessible for the audience, from teens to grandparents, opera buffs to complete newcomers.
The Spring tour follows a successful Autumn production, which visited 17 venues all over Scotland, includingEast Kilbride, Nairn, Castlebay, Lochranza, Johnstone, and Edinburgh.
Over 4000 people of all ages attended the Spring 2025 Opera Highlights tour, with audience members commenting how it was ‘wonderful that Scottish Opera comes to some of the more remote and rural areas’, bringing the show ‘to our doorstep’.
Audiences have praised the Autumn Opera Highlights tour, with one member saying they “loved every minute” of the show, and commented on the “excellent production, good acting and, of course, superb singing.”
Another “liked the ingenuity of building a story from excerpts” adding the “singing was wonderful”.
Opera Highlights is supported by Friends of Scottish Opera and JTH Charitable Trust.
Tickets are on sale now at Touring Scotland: Opera On Your Doorstep: The Office Party | Scottish Opera