London opera and classical music: April highlights

Baroque household names and contemporary classics, timeless favourites and shocking new productions: here's your guide to the must-see London classical music and opera this month

Madama Butterfly, Royal Opera House

Puccini’s tragic opera Madama Butterfly is a jewel in the crown of the Royal Opera House. This production, first staged in 2003, continues to offer one of the most ravishing spectacles at Covent Garden.

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WHEN
23 Mar 2017 – 25 Apr 2017, 11 performances; times vary
WHERE
Royal Opera House
Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD

Holy Week Festival, St John's Smith Square

St John's Smith Square has become the place to go for atmospheric Christmas music, and now, for the first time, there is to be a festival of music suitable for Holy Week and Easter.

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WHEN
09 Apr 2017 – 15 Apr 2017, times vary, 20 events
WHERE
St John's Smith Square
30 Smith Square, London , SW1P 3HF

London Handel Festival 2017

Every year the festival of all things George Frideric Handel celebrates not only the composer's vast and engaging output, but also his practice of encouraging new young performers.

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WHEN
18 Mar 2017 – 24 Apr 2017, Times vary, 41 events
WHERE
St George's, Hanover Square
The Vestry, 2A Mill Street, Mayfair, London , W1S 1FX

Bach's Coffee Cantata, Charterhouse

Blue hair, peacock mask, double-dealing .... it's not the usual image of JS Bach, but his Coffee Cantata is a little light relief from his more familiar sacred music. And three performances in the London Handel Festival will also admit Culture Whisper readers to the ancient Charterhouse.

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WHEN
On 11 Apr 2017, Times vary: performances at 2pm, 4.30pm and 7pm
WHERE
The Charterhouse
Charterhouse Square, London, EC1M 6AN

The Exterminating Angel, Royal Opera House

Thomas Adès is one of the most innovative and exciting contemporary composers, and all eyes will be on the British premiere of his new opera, The Exterminating Angel. A cultivated, glamorous in-crowd gathers in an elegant setting, but the evening takes a terrible turn.

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WHEN
24 Apr 2017 – 08 May 2017, six performances; 7pm start 6 May
WHERE
Royal Opera House
Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD

Pop-Up Opera, I Capuleti e i Montecchi

Many composers rose to the challenge of setting Shakespeare's great dramas to music, but few were as successful as Bellini, whose operatic Romeo and Juliet, I Montecchi e i Capuletti, is being staged by Pop-Up Opera.

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WHEN
07 Mar 2017 – 05 Apr 2017, Times vary, six performances, various venues

John Adams's Doctor Atomic, Barbican Hall

What went through the minds of the team that created the first atomic bomb? That's the question that this sage composer addresses in his important work from 2005, in a concert performance at the Barbican.

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WHEN
On 25 Apr 2017, 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
WHERE
Barbican Centre
Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS
TRY CULTURE WHISPER
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