The Royal Opera House has announced its 2019-20 Season featuring some of the greatest singers in the world in 17 new productions of both ballet and opera. For this article, we will only focus on opera performances.

Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” opens the 2019-20 season with Erwin Schrott in the title role alongside Roberto Tagliavini, Malin Byström, Christine Rice. Daniel Behle, Emanuele D’Aguanno, Louise Alder, Lars Woldt, and Leon Košavić. The revival is conducted by Hartmut Haenchen.

Performance Dates:  Sept. 16–Oct. 10, 2019

Juan Diego Flórez and Isabel Leonard team up once more for Massenet’s “Werther“ in Benoit Jacquot’s production with Edward Gardner conducting. Jacques Imbrailo and Heather Engebretson round out the cast.

Performance Dates: Sept. 17–Oct. 5, 2019

Joyce DiDonato sings the title role in Handel’s “Agrippina.” Barrie Kosky directs a new production which also stars Franco Fagioli, Lucy Crowe, Iestyn Davies, Gianluca Buratto, Andrea Mastroni, Eric Jurenas, and José Coca Loza.

Maxim Emelyanychev conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Performance Dates:  Sept. 22–Oct. 11, 2019

Jessica Cottis conducts Gerald Barry’s “The Intelligence Park” in a new production by Nigel Lowery. The opera stars Michel de Souza, Adrian Dwyer, Stephen Richardson, Rhian Lois, Patrick Terry, and Stephanie Marshall.

Performance Dates: Sept. 25–Oct. 4, 2019

Evelino Pidò conducts Damiano Michieletto’s new production of Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale.” The opera is headed by Bryn Terfel in the title role alongside Olga Peretyatko in her house debut, Ioan Hotea, and Mariusz Kwiecień.

Performance Dates: Oct. 14-Nov. 2, 2019

The Royal Opera continues the season with “Zauberland: An encounter with Schumann’s  ‘Dichterliebe.'” The new work will be directed by Katie Mitchell and will showcase Matthew Crimp and composer Bernard Foccroulle’s 16 new songs that are performed alongside Robert Schumann and Heinrich Heine’s ‘Dichterliebe.’

The work stars Julia Bullock and pianist Cédric Tiberghien with actors Ben Clifford, Natasha Kafka, David Rawlins, and Raphael Zeri.

Performance Dates: Oct. 15–18, 2019

Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte“ returns to the Royal Opera with Benjamin Hulett and Elsa Dreisig as Tamino and Pamina alongside Vito Priante who portrays Papageno. The Queen of the Night will be performed by  Tuuli Takala and Christina Poulitsi, while Sarastro will be Andreas Bauer Kanabas and Stefan Cerny.

Performance Dates: Nov. 1-27, 2019

David McVicar’s directs a new production of Britten’s “Death in Venice” with Mark Elder conducting a cast that includes Mark Padmore, Gerald Finley, and Tim Mead.

Performance Dates: Nov. 21–Dec. 6, 2019

Gregory Kunde, Ermonela Jaho, and Carlos Álvarez star in Verdi’s “Otello“ with Antonio Pappano conducting.

Performance Dates: Dec. 9–22, 2019

The Royal Opera returns to Japan in September 2019 for the first time since 2015. Antonio Pappano will conduct Otello at NBS from September 14 to September 23 as well as Faust from September 12 to September 22.

Verdi’s “La Traviata“ returns to the stage with five sopranos singing the title role. Hrachuhi Bassenz, Dinara Alieva, Kristina Mkhitaryan, Vlada Borovko, and Aleksandra Kurzak sing the role of Violetta while  Liparit Avetisyan, Rame Lahaj, Ho-Yoon Chung, and Frédéric Antoun alternate as Alfredo. Simon Keenlyside, Gabriele Viviani, Željko Lučić, and George Petean share the role of Germont and Daniel Oren, Francesco Ivan Ciampa, and Maurizio Benini alternate at the pit.

Performance Dates: Dec. 17, 2019-March 23, 2020
Main Stage

Sonya Yoncheva, Simona Mihai, Eleonora Buratto, and Nicole Car alternate in the lead role in Puccini’s “La Bohème.“ Emmanuel Villaume, Ariane Matiakh, and Marco Armiliato conduct Richard Jones’ production which also stars Charles Castronovo, Jonathan Tetelman, and Piotr Beczała as Rodolfo, Andrzej Filończyk, Andrei Bondarenko, and Łukasz Goliński as Marcello and Aida Garifullina, Vlada Borovko, and Georgia Jarman as Musetta.

The cast is filled in by Gyula Nagy, Alessio Arduini, Duncan Rock, Peter Kellner, Fernando Radó and Krzysztof Bączyk.

Performance Dates: Jan. 10-May 27, 2020

Gerald Barry’s “Alice’s Adventures Under Ground” gets a world premiere with Thomas Adès and Finnegan Downie Dear conducting the production by Antony McDonald.

The opera stars Claudia Boyle and  Jennifer France as Alice, while Allison Cook and Clare Presland will portray the Red Queen. The White Queen will be sung by Hilary Summers and Carole Wilson and the Mad Hatter will be portrayed by Sam Furness and Nicky Spence.

Performance Dates: Feb. 4-9, 2020

Handel’s “Susanna” will get a new production by Isabelle Kettle with Patrick Milne conducting artists from the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme. The opera stars Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, Patrick Terry, Yaritza Véliz, April Koyejo, Michael Mofidian, Andrés Presno, and Blaise Malaba.

Performance Dates: March 5–14, 2020

Jonas Kaufmann stars in a new production of Beethoven’s “Fidelio.” Tobias Kratzer directs the production with Antonio Pappano conducting a cast that also includes Lise Davidsen, Georg Zeppenfeld, Simon Neal, Amanda Forsythe, and Robin Tritschler.

Performance Dates: March 1–17, 2020

Claus Guth directs a new production of Janáček’s “Jenůfa.” Vladimir Jurowski conducts a remarkable cast that includes Asmik Grigorian, Karita Mattila, Allan Clayton, Pavel Černoch, and Elena Zilio.

Performance Dates: March 24 March–April 9, 2020

Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana“ and Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci“ return to the Royal Opera with two fantastic casts. First Yonghoon Lee, Liudmyla Monastyrska, Dimitri Platanias, and Josè Maria Lo Monaco star in Mascagni’s work, and then Roberto Alagna, Dimitri Platanias, Aleksandra Kurzak, Bogdan Baciu, and Mikeldi Atxalandabaso take on “Pagliacci.”

Daniel Oren conducts.

Performance Dates: April 11 April–May 2, 2020

Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde“ returns Michael Weinius and Ricarda Merbeth in their Royal Opera debuts. Semyon Bychkov conducts the cast, which also stars Franz-Josef Selig, Ruxandra Donose, and Johan Reuter.

Performance Dates: April 27-May–11, 2020

Nina Stemme, Sara Jakubiak, Karita Mattila, Christof Fischesser, and Joseph Kaiser star in Strauss’ “Elektra“ with Antonio Pappano conducting. Christof Loy directs the new production.

Performance Dates: May 29-June 18, 2020

Natalie Abrahami direct a new production of Britten’s “The Turn of the Screw” with Finnegan Downie Dear conducting.

Performance Dates: June 3–13, 2020

Nadine Sierra and Venera Gimadieva sing Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor.” Giacomo Sagripanti conducts the Katie Mitchell production which also stars Vittorio Grigòlo and Saimir Pirgu as Edgardo, Artur Ruciński and Igor Golovatenko as Enrico, and In Sung Sim and Evgeny Stavinsky as Raimondo.

Performance Dates: June 13–July 8, 2020

Dan Ettinger and Antonio Pappano conduct Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” with Lianna Haroutounian and Ermonela Jaho showcasing their signature Cio-Cio San interpretations.

Gianluca Terranova and Marcelo Puente are Pinkerton while Gerald Finley takes on Sharpless. The cast is rounded out by Enkelejda Shkoza and Elizabeth DeShong as Suzuki.

Performance Dates: June 22-July 17, 2020

Verdi’s “Don Carlo“ returns to the Royal Opera with Michael Fabiano in the title role; Hibla Gerzmava as Elisabetta; Mariusz Kwiecień and Plácido Domingo sharing the role of Posa; Elīna Garanča and Ruxandra Donose alternating Eboli; Ferruccio Furlanetto in his signature Filippo; and Taras Shtonda as the Grand Inquisitor. Richard Farnes conducts.

Performance Dates: June 29-July 19, 2020

The season concludes with Puccini’s “Tosca“ starring Anna Netrebko, Brian Jagde, and Bryn Terfel. Antonio Pappano conducts the star-studded cast.

Performance Dates: July 6–15, 2020