I SO agree with your correspondent John F Hart (letters, May 24) about Scottish Opera's seeming inability to stage operas as conceived by the librettist and composer. One suspects that it does not do that because it would be so much easier to compare and contrast the calibre of performances.

Also, it really should advertise in advance if it intends to meddle, so that those of us who lack erudition and sophistication can appreciate the subtle nuances of performances pregnant with symbolism. Opera is too expensive for us to be expected to accept blindly the whims of the self-styled cognoscenti, not least given their track record. After the ghastly gothic grey of Pelleas and Melisande, we had hoped that La Bohème would have been staged pre-Streptomycin.

One of the best La Bohème productions we have seen was staged by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the then Royal Scottish Academy of Music. It was staged traditionally.

A week after Scottish Opera's La Bohème we attended Die Fledermaus at the Royal Conservatoire. We had anticipated a frothy and light-hearted operetta, but alas found that the contagion had spread. It was disingenuous of the Conservatoire to inform patrons only at the door of the auditorium that the performance contained "strong language and adult themes". There was no offer to refund the tickets of those who would have rather not proceeded. On the basis of The Herald's five-star review, we invited friends to join us. They are no longer speaking to us.

Mrs Y Sim,

3 Mac Nicol Court, East Kilbride.

JOHN F Hart seems to have missed the point with the new production of La Bohème. The context of this production is described clearly in the notes on page 6 by the designer and the director.

A present-day tourist in Paris has a fantasy experience taking her into the past, a past where Puccini's characters inhabit their Paris. In her fantasy, she joins in but at the conclusion of the story, she is not lying dead in the garret, but has left the story to return to her real present day life.

I thought the production was terrific, the set design magnificent. The Parisian accordion player provided a delightful interlude during the final scene change, reminding us where it was all happening.

The production beautifully enhanced the superb singing, aided by great work in the orchestra pit.

Allan Macintyre,

14 Lennox Avenue, Stirling.