ROH Autumn 2021 opera and ballet

After just short of two seasons of stop-start performances caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Royal Opera House is all set to get back to business with a full programme of opera and ballet to be performed to capacity audiences.

Tickets go on sale to the general public at 9 am on Tuesday, 24 August – early booking is advisable.

Here are Culture Whisper's selections for the autumn 2021 period:

OPERA
The house re-opens on 13 September with Rigoletto, Verdi's powerful tale of seduction and revenge gone horribly wrong. Here's our full preview.

Czech composer Leoš Janáček's opera Jenufa, combining crystalline music with deep emotions, opens on 26 September. Read more here.

A treat for all the family at Christmas, Wolf Witch Giant Fairy opens in the Linbury Theatre on 10 December and runs through the festive period. Billed as 'a wild folk opera of music, mischief and magic' you can find all the details in our preview here.

BALLET
A couple of hardy-perennials sandwich the top event of the season, the much-delayed premiere of Wayne McGregor's new mega-work.

The ballet season opens on 5 October with Kenneth MacMillan's masterful and deeply emotional treatment of Romeo and Juliet.

Wayne McGregor's daring and ambitious new work, The Dante Project, is the choreographer's translation to the stage of Dante's The Divine Comedy and has its premiere on 14 October. Here's our full preview.

The most Romantic of all ballets, Giselle, returns to Covent Garden, opening on 4 November.

And finally, as Christmas approaches the whole family starts looking forward to The Nutcracker. The Royal Ballet's glorious production of this seasonal ballet runs from 23 November to 8 January 2022.