Theatres - Royal Opera House

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Cosi Fan Tutte ( Royal Opera House ) - Musical

The new Royal Opera Season begins with a great audience favourite -Cosi Fan Tutte. This great comedy with an edge brings a classic score by Mozart to a witty story of deception and trust tested to its limit. Can two apparently faithful couples have their affections altered by some apparently harmless deception? Jonathan Miller's ever-popular production updates the 18th-century to today - while fashions and technology may have changed since Mozart's time, human behaviour remains as fickle and manipulative as ever. Royal Opera favourite Thomas Allen returns in a strong cast of singers under acclaimed German conductor Thomas Hengelbrock. In this most sophisticated of operas with the most sublime of scores, no-one escapes unscathed. Sung in Italian with English surtitles.

Don Pasquale ( Royal Opera House ) - Musical

There are plots and schemes below stairs, above stairs and behind closed doors! The wit and intrigue of Donizetti's domestic comedy Don Pasquale gains added piquancy in the doll's house set of Jonathan Miller's acutely observed production. The quintessentially Italian Donizetti became a major figure in French opera repertory in his day, and Don Pasquale is one of his last operas written for Paris. With its contemporary costumes and a famous on-stage slap in the face, even in 1843 the harder eternal truths behind the comedy were instantly recognizable. This cautionary tale of an elderly bachelor, his intended younger bride and her young lover is revived by The Royal Opera with a wonderful cast of soloists under the batons of Charles Mackerras and David Syrus. ?ide Mart?z plays the feisty 'bride' who gives Paolo Gavanelli as her new husband a really tough time; and all with the help of the scheming Doctor Malatesta (Jacques Imbrailo) to ensure that Ernesto (Barry Banks) gets his girl. This is an opera whose score bursts with life and lyricism and whose drama has a few surprises along the way, especially at Don Pasquale's expense. Sparkling coloratura, lyrical arias and moments of dramatic insight come together in one of the most loved of Donizetti comic operas.Sung in Italian with English surtitles.

Niobe, Regina Di Tebe ( Royal Opera House ) - Musical

This is a rare and exciting chance to experience a work by a forgotten master. Its Italian composer Steffani (1654-1728) was widely acclaimed in his own day and admired by such composers as Handel for his musicality and originality. First performed in Munich in 1688, Niobe remained neglected until 2008, when it was staged at the Schwetzingen Festival. A triumphant achievement by conductor Thomas Hengelbrock and director Lukas Hemleb, that atmospheric production is now restaged by The Royal Opera with a great specialist cast of musicians. V?nique Gens plays the title role of the Queen of Thebes who angers the gods and is punished with the death of all her children, while the male soprano Jacek Laszczkowski, as her husband Anfione, makes his debut with the Company. The Balthasar Neumann Ensemble will be the specialist orchestra for what is an unmissable event for all lovers of early opera and anyone keen to discover more about opera's perpetually enjoyable marriage of music and drama.Sung in Italian with English surtitles

Rigoletto ( Royal Opera House ) - Musical

One of Verdi's most popular operas, Rigoletto is a wonderful combination of musical and dramatic power. David McVicar's production for The Royal Opera has become a favourite, with its strong characterizations and vivid scenes. It brings together the colourful and corrupt world of the 16th-century court in Mantua and the opera's dark and violent themes, which remain just as potent today as ever. Dan Ettinger makes his Royal Opera House debut conducting a very strong cast that includes Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Paolo Gavanelli sharing the title role. With Wookyung Kim as the Duke and Eglise Guti?ez as Gilda, such famous numbers as 'La donna ?obile' and 'Caro nome' will be wonderful highlights of a Verdi score that is packed with melody and atmosphere from its opening portentous chords to its tragic conclusion.

Hansel Und Gretel ( Royal Opera House ) - Musical

What better Christmas treat for everyone than one of the most famous of all fairytales and one of the most richly tuneful of all operas. The Royal Opera brings back to the stage the beautiful and delightful production by the favourite directing team of Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier. Charles Mackerras and Rory Macdonald conduct a score that is packed with delights - the instantly memorable songs of the children, the atmospheric forest sounds, and the wonderful lilting waltz when Hansel and Gretel discover the gingerbread house. And then there's the wicked witch, with a kitchen that's maybe a bit scary for some of the youngest family members - after all, she does bake children into biscuits! But the ending is happy and the music triumphant, especially when sung by a charismatic cast to bring all the fun of the characters to life.Hansel and Gretel is a great way for everyone to enjoy the special thrill and charm of opera in live performance - whether for a seasonal family outing or the discovery of a classic work that has so much contemporary appeal.Sung in German with English surtitles.This production contains potentially disturbing images for very young or sensitive children.

Romeo Et Juliette ( Royal Opera House ) - Musical

Shakespeare's tragedy of doomed young love receives a wonderful interpretation in Gounod's opera, combining all of the drama of the well-known story and the emotional and stirring music typical of the composer of Faust. Not presented by The Royal Opera for a decade, Nicolas Jo?s production is revived with a fantastic cast conducted by French specialist Daniel Oren, and that has Piotr Beczala and Nino Machaidze/Mar?Alejandres as the star-crossed lovers. The opera is especially famous for its love duets and for such sparkling numbers as Juliette's Act I waltz song, but the whole score is full of passion, melody and excitement. With the many ensembles, choruses and characters it is a wonderful showcase for the talents of the Royal Opera Chorus and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House.Sung in French with English surtitles.

Onegin ( Royal Opera House ) - Musical

The full company of The Royal Ballet are on stage for the drama and passion of John Cranko's Onegin. At the heart of the story - taken from Pushkin's great novel Yyvgeny Onegin - are Tatiana and Onegin himself. While she blooms from provincial young girl to sophisticated St Petersburg aristocrat, he descends from high-handed indifference to overwhelming despair. There is the drama of a duel in which Onegin kills his best friend Lensky, and the tragedy this brings to Lensky's own love Olga. And there is the ultimate irony of double unrequited love - while Onegin at first spurns Tatiana, it is her rejection of him that will bring down on him the final crushing blow. Stage designs and music taken from Tchaikovsky in a specially created score bring vividly alive the world of imperial Russia to complete a ballet of colour, drama, beauty and passion

Mixed Programme-la Valse ( Royal Opera House ) - Musical

A mixed programme of sheer variety and breadth draws the wonderful potential of ballet into one great event, under the baton of Barry Wordsworth, Music Director of The Royal Ballet.Classic dance in Ashton's evocative response to Ravel's haunting La Valse, brings waves of dancers into an elegant ballroom setting. This gives way to the contemporary with the world premiere of a new work by Kim Brandstrup. Royal Ballet Principals, the music of Fran?s Couperin refracted through Thomas Ad?and film projection are brought together with Brandstrup's characteristic sense of nuance and suggestion to evoke an intense relationship tinged with the shadow of Louis XI V and Versailles.MacMillan's focus in Winter Dreams is not the narrative of Chekhov's Three Sisters, but a portrayal of the psychological passions, ambitions and sorrows of its characters. Tchaikovsky provides the music not just for this, but also for the final work, Balanchine's technical tour de force, the dazzling Theme and Variations, which brings the whole Company together for a fitting.

Sylvia ( Royal Opera House ) - Musical

Only restored in its entirety in 2004, Frederick Ashton's Sylvia at once showed itself a fine combination of all the ingredients of the best of classical ballet. The story, from Greek myth, has Sylvia at the centre of dramatic events that have a statue come to life, Sylvia's abduction by the evil hunter Orion, and her dead lover Aminta restored to life through the intervention of the god Eros. The title role - created for Margot Fonteyn - requires a technical skill and classical elegance to challenge any ballerina to the full. But the accompanying host of characters and ensembles also allow the Company the chance to draw on its full range of dance and dramatic experience.The music by Delibes, who is maybe better known today for Coppelia, is considered one of the finest of 19th-century ballet scores. It was much admired in its own day, and rightly so for its sheer variety and melodious appeal.Rich classical designs for this production were inspired by the art of Lorrain, Poussin and others to create a beautiful setting for the story. Lovely to look at and delightful to hear, Sylvia is a complete experience of classical ballet at its best.

Cinderella ( Royal Opera House ) - Musical

The combination of story, music and dance in The Royal Ballet's Cinderella is hard to beat. All the elements of the story are there: the spiteful Step-sisters, the fairy godmother, the ball, the striking clock. And at the centre is Cinderella whose rags-to-riches journey unites her with her handsome prince.Frederick Ashton created a ballet that is both demanding of its principals and full of great charm - the perfect way to enjoy some of the world's greatest dancers bringing ballet to life. There are magical moments, as when Cinderella makes her entrance to the ball and her pas de deux with the Prince. But there is also humour and character with the Step-sisters, tussling with each other as well as failing to charm anyone else.Prokofiev's music is one of the great 20th-century ballet scores, so rich in atmosphere and full of orchestral colour, a perfect complement.

Royal Opera House

Bow Street
London WC2E 9DD