Autumn opera at Covent Garden: Royal Opera productions to catch

The course of true love certainly never runs true in opera, and at Covent Garden there is an autumn of sometimes rocky, sometimes triumphant relationships.

Mozart's opera of romantic twists and turns, The Marriage of Figaro, opens the 2024/25 season, in the spectacular production by David McVicar that really captures the upstairs-downstairs atmosphere of a noble household (2-15 Sept). Also returning is the beautiful production of Verdi's La Traviata by Richard Eyre (7-21 Sept).

But it is a new production of Tchaikovsky's passionate and dramatic Eugene Onegin that will be on many opera-lovers' must-see lists. The story of a young woman who is rejected when she throws herself in her innocent at a more experienced man, who lives to regret his response, never palls. The music is breathtaking, and includes the famous letter scene, in which Tatiana writes of her desire to Onegin (24 Sept to 14 Oct).

Returning in October with a new cast is Beethoven's Fidelio, the story of a man saved by his brave young wife (9-26 Oct), then it's downstairs to the Linbury Theatre for a Leonard Bernstein double bill. Trouble in Tahiti and A Quiet Place are rarely staged, and this is a great chance to see both pieces, slices of American life, directed by Covent Garden's head of opera Oliver Mears (10-24 Oct).

Damiano Michieletto directs a new production of Offenbach's fantastical Tales of Hoffman, in which the love affairs of a poet unfold before us (7 No to 1 Dec), while Puccini's much-loved story of wintry love in Paris, La Bohème, returns in time for Christmas (13 Dec to 17 Jan).

Also over Christmas is the family opera Hansel and Gretel, in a production with a touch of Psycho....

And for those who enjoy spotting rising talent, take part with in audience requests on 13 October when artists on the Royal Opera's Jette Parker scheme present a jukebox of favourites at 2.30PM and 7.15PM.

Spoilt for choice? Culture Whisper's recommendations: Eugene Onegin, the Bernstein double bill and The Tales of Hoffman.

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Operas are sung in the original languages, with surtitles in English. For more details of all these productions, click here. Booking opens at 9AM on Wed 10 July. Some productions are screened at cinemas across London and worldwide: click here for details