Best Covent Garden Opera and Dance this spring

By Claudia Pritchard on 26/1/2020

A fiery triple bill, a guest appearance by Scottish Ballet, and four operatic tragedies. Booking opens 9AM, Wed 29 Jan

Vladimir Jurowski conducts Janacek's opera Jenufa. Photo: Simon Jay

Jenůfa, Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House series of Janácek operas continues with the first production for nearly 20 years of the searing opera that takes its name from its central character, a young woman rejected by one man, harmed by another and let down by the woman who should protect her and her baby. Conducted by Vladimir Jurowski (pictured).

WHEN

24 Mar 2020 – 09 Apr 2020, six performances

WHERE

Royal Opera House
Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD

Scottish Ballet in Sophie Laplane's Sibilo, photo Jane Hobson

Scottish Ballet, This Is My Body, Linbury Theatre

Glasgow-based Scottish Ballet is a remarkable medium-sized company with wide horizons. Modelled on similar European troupes, its repertoire mixes established works, specially commissioned pieces, and works bought in. This rare London guest appearance includes Sophie Laplane's Sibilo (pictured).

WHEN

31 Mar 2020 – 03 Apr 2020, 19:45 Dur.: TBC one interval

WHERE

Royal Opera House
Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD

The Royal Ballet, Corybantic Games, dancers Matthew Ball, William Bracewell (c) ROH 2018 Andrej Uspenski

The Royal Ballet, Live Fire Exercise Triple Bill, ROH

Wayne McGregor’s 2011 Live Fire Exercise, set to Michael Tippet’s Fantasia Concertante on a Theme by Corelli, illustrates the choreographer’s endless fascination with science. Also danced, the Balanchine classic Prodigal Son of 1929 and Christopher Wheeldon's elegant Corybantic Games (pictured).

WHEN

02 Apr 2020 – 20 Apr 2020, 19:30 Dur.: TBC two intervals

WHERE

Royal Opera House
Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD

The town is in party mood in Cavalleria Rusticana at the Royal Opera House. Photo: Catherine Ashmore

Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci, Royal Opera House

Cav and Pag is the affectionate abbreviation for Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, two short, intense and moving operas in the great Italian verismo tradition. Ordinary lives are turned upside down by love and jealousy, in this unmissable, award-winning double bill.

WHEN

11 Apr 2020 – 02 May 2020, seven performances; 7PM start 11 April

WHERE

Royal Opera House
Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD

The Royal Ballet, The Dante Project, ROH

Choreographer Wayne McGregor (pictured) collaborates with composer Thomas Adès and artist Tacita Dean in a promising new, multimedia staging of Dante’s The Divine Comedy. Written in the 14th century, it describes the poet’s journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise and the myriad characters he meets on the way.

WHEN

06 May 2020 – 01 Jun 2020, 19:30 Dur.: TBC two intervals

WHERE

Royal Opera House
Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD

The great Swedish soprano Nina Stemme sings the title role in Strauss's Elektra

Elektra, Royal Opera House

Catch two of the greatest operatic sopranos singing today when Richard Strauss's shattering opera is staged in a new production by director Christof Loy. Swedish Nina Stemme (pictured) and Finnish Karita Mattila are the compelling double act, as a vengeful daughter and scheming mother.

WHEN

29 May 2020 – 18 Jun 2020, seven performances, no interval; live cinema relay 18 June

WHERE

Royal Opera House
Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD