“In June last year, the 34 members of the Scottish Opera chorus were unceremoniously sacked before going onstage to perform Puccini’s La Boheme at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre. A few weeks later, they gave their last performance and went on to try to find other work… Scottish Opera was in financial turmoil. Its annual budget of £7.4m had been spent – it needed bailing out, and fast. The opera board wanted an advance on its 2004-2005 budget from the Scottish Arts Council to pay for salaries but the Scottish Executive demanded that, in order to secure the money, Scottish Opera had to restructure – thereby axing 88 jobs. For the chorus, it was a decision that changed their lives.”