And, what's more, if you keep on your toes and book early, you can be part of the socially-distanced audience present at the Royal Opera House!
But we're getting ahead of ourselves! Exciting as it is to have the Christmas ballet back, The Nutcracker is only one show in the ROH's jam-packed autumn programme of ballet and opera; and there's much to look forward to, not least in opera, where a cornucopia of new works is promised, including the world's first hyper-reality opera!
For many of the shows a socially-distanced audience will take their places in the auditorium, but the vast majority of the shows will be live streamed and available to view online for a period afterwards.
In chronological order, and starting with OPERA, here's the programme:
Saturday 17 October – Under the umbrella title of 4/4 this programme is made up of four short operas
Apollo and Daphne - Handel's opera is directed by Olivier Award nominee Adele Thomas and will star Alexandra Lowe and Jonathan McGovern.
Adele Thomas in rehearsal for Berenice © ROH 2019. Photo: Clive Barda
Frankenstein!! - Gruber’s irreverent opera will see one of the most sought-after singers of his generation, Allan Clayton, take to the stage, directed by multi-Olivier Award-winning director Richard Jones.
Knoxville Summer 1915 – Soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, one of the shining stars of recent ROH programmes, will perform Barber's opera, directed by Antony McDonald.
Phaedra – leading British mezzo-soprano Christine Rice stars in Britten’s final masterpiece, directed by theatre and opera specialist Deborah Warner.
Online tickets for this programme are on sale now: click here to book.
Tickets to watch live in the auditorium will go on sale soon – Watch This Space!
Saturday 24 October – Two works showcasing emerging British and female talents under the joint title New Dark Age:
The Knife of Dawn – a one-person chamber opera by one of Britain’s most exciting young composers, Hannah Kendall, directed by Ola Ince, conducted by Natalie Murray Beale and featuring baritone Peter Brathwaite.
A New Dark Age – Katie Mitchell will present a brand-new music drama piece showcasing works by female composers, including Missy Mazzoli, Anna Meredith and Anna Thorvaldsdottir.
Online tickets for this programme are on sale now: click here to book.
Tickets to watch live in the auditorium will go on sale soon – Watch This Space!
26 – 31 October – Meet the Artists Week
A virtual and live week of performances, relying on the participation of at home audiences to pick the finalists of the programme that will mark the week's culmination.
As well, the ROH will broadcast three main stage short Female Monodramas, sung by Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, Stephanie Wake-Edwards and Alexandra Lowe.
On Thursday, 29 October live audiences will be able to attend a recital at the Linbury Theatre.
Tickets will be available soon – Watch This Space!
20 and 22 November – Handel's Ariodante
Composed to be performed at the first Royal Opera House theatre in 1735, and not performed at Covent Garden since, Handel's opera will be presented in a concert performance. The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House will play alongside Paula Murrihy, Chen Reiss, Gerald Finley and Sophie Bevan
Tickets will be available soon – Watch This Space
27 and 29 November – Verdi's Falstaff
The Royal Opera, Falstaff, Bryn Terfel as Sir John Falstaff © ROH 2018. Photo: Catherine Ashmore
The celebrated bass-baritone Bryn Terfel will reprise the tour de force titular role of Verdi's last opera, under the baton of ROH Music Director Antonio Pappano.
Tickets will be available soon – Watch This Space!
28 November onwards – Current, Rising
Perhaps the most intriguing offering of the ROH's Autumn programme, Current, Rising is billed as the world's first hyper-reality opera. Composed by Samantha Fernando and inspired by the liberation of Ariel at the end of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, It'll be performed at the Linbury Theatre and allow audiences to experience a multi-sensory, fully immersive 360-degrees opera.
This work is for live audiences only, ie, it will not be streamed.
Tickets will be available soon – Watch This Space!
BALLET
November 2020
The Royal Ballet: Live
The Royal Ballet, Within the Golden Hour. Ryoichi Hirano and Lauren Cuthbertson © ROH 2019. Photo: Tristram Kenton
The Royal Ballet presents two live performances featuring a selection of excerpts from traditional and contemporary classics. Each evening will close with a one-act ballet. The first programme will feature Kenneth MacMillan's show-stopping Elite Syncopations.
DATES: 4,5,6,7 November at 7pm
TICKETS: £10 - £65
PUBLIC BOOKING OPENS: 27 OCTOBER
The second live programme will end with Christopher Wheeldon's truly unmissable Within the Golden Hour, with costumes by Jasper Conran
DATES: 0,11,12,13,14 November at 7pm
TICKETS: £10 - £65
PUBLIC BOOKING OPENS: 27 OCTOBER
December – The Nutcracker
There will be live performances of a Covid-adapted The Nutcracker on the Covent Garden stage this Christmas. See separate preview.
SEE ALSO ROYAL OPERA HOUSE AUTUMN DATES
AND ROYAL OPERA HOUSE AUTUMN/WINTER CINEMA SEASON
AND ROYAL BALLET BACK ON STAGE
| What | Royal Opera House Autumn Online and In-house |
| Where | Royal Opera House, Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD | MAP |
| Nearest tube | Covent Garden (underground) |
| When |
17 Oct 20 – 31 Dec 20, Starting Times and Dur. vary according to programme |
| Price | £TBC |
| Website | https://www.roh.org.uk/ |
