Royal Ballet & Opera 2025–26 Review: The Makropulos Case

(Photo: Camilla Greenwell) Pinching twitching nerves, Czech master Janáček’s angst-ridden “The Makropulos Case” warns of extra life. Lead role Emilia Marty’s present incarnation joins a palimpsest: Eugenia Montez, Ellian MacGregor, Ekaterina Myshkin, Else Müller and the titular Elina Makropulos. A magical elixir has sustained her for three centuries. Strife drives the aria-void work. Through strings unhinged, alarming accidentals and duplicitous {…}

Oct 29, 2025

ROH Music Director Jakub Hrůša Receives Czech Medal of Merit in the Field of Arts

(Photo credit: Lenka Hatasova) Conductor Jakub Hrůša has received the Medal of Merit in the Field of Arts from Czech President Petr Pavel. The state honor was presented on October 28, 2025, in the historic Vladislav Hall of Prague Castle during the national celebration marking the establishment of the independent Czechoslovak state. “I deeply value the highest honor of the {…}

Oct 13, 2025

Royal Ballet and Opera 2025-26 Review: Tosca (Cast B)

(The Royal Opera ©2025 Marc Brenner) By the time I got to the Royal Opera and Ballet’s new production of “Tosca” at the end of September, most of the hubbub had died down. The protests around Netrebko’s performance had withered, and her performance was acclaimed – the diva triumphant in the face of politics. So too had dissolved important questions {…}

Sep 27, 2025

Royal Ballet & Opera 2025–26 Review: Jakub Hrůša and Friends in Concert

(Photo credit: Tristram Kenton) Profane escapes scale heights heretical in offbeat tales. These contests of one-upmanship with God breed killers; lesser sinners stray with strangers. Dvořák’s unnamed “Spectre’s Bride” – the leading lady of his 1885 cantata – steals away with a dead demon. Four decades later a Chinese adventurer is robbed and killed in Bartók’s “The Miraculous Mandarin,” a {…}

Sep 16, 2025

Cast Changes: Nicky Spence Added to ‘Jakub Hrůša and Friends in Concert’

The Royal Ballet & Opera has announced a cast change for its “Jakub Hrůša and Friends in Concert” on Sept. 20, 2025. Tenor Pavel Černoch has withdrawn from the showcase due to illness. In his place, Nicky Spence will take on the tenor part in “The Spectre’s Bride.” Spence debuted with the company back in 2018-19 and has performed in {…}

Sep 10, 2025

Artist of the Week: Jakub Hrůša

(Credit: Ian Ehm) The Royal Opera House’s 2025-26 season has been in the headlines due to the return of Anna Netrebko for the first time since 2019. But the opening also marks a new era for the company as Jakub Hrůša begins his tenure as music director. He will be the fourth person in the job in 54 years and {…}

Jun 30, 2025

Czech Philharmonic Names New Music Director

Czech conductor Jakub Hrůša has been named the Czech Philharmonic’s Chief Conductor and Music Director. He will begin his tenure in September 2028, and his initial contract will be for five years, with both parties seeing the appointment as the beginning of a long-term relationship and expecting that they will wish to continue the collaboration further into the future. Hrůša {…}

Jan 18, 2025

Royal Ballet & Opera 2024–25 Review: Jenůfa

(Photo credit: © Camilla Greenwell/Royal Ballet & Opera) Pinching pitches at an apex, Janáček’s “Jenůfa” scales extremes. The opera tells of sextoness Kostelnička Buryjovka, who takes a lethal misstep to protect her stepdaughter. Persuaded Laca will agree to wed Jenůfa if she’s childless, Kostelnička drowns newborn baby Števa. Rue accrues until Kostelnička confesses. Any other art form would attribute her {…}

Dec 11, 2023

Jakub Hrůša Extends Contract with Bamberg Symphony Orchestra

Jakub Hrůša has extended his contract as Chief Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony until 2029. The contract was extended at the Bavarian State Ministry alongside Markus Blume, Bavarian Minister of State for Science and the Arts and Artistic Director Marcus Rudolf Axt. The contract extension reflects the wish of both sides to continue a flourishing artistic partnership. Hrůša began his {…}

Apr 29, 2023

Freddie De Tommaso & David Butt Philip Among Royal Academy of Music Honorees

The Royal Academy of Music has announced distinguished musicians and educators to whom honors will be conferred at its 2023 Graduation Ceremony. The school said that it will celebrate a range of artists who move music forward, including Academy alumni and associates who continue to shape the musical landscape. Among artists in the operatic world include Royal Opera Music Director {…}

Nov 30, 2022

Janacek Brno Festival 2022 Review: From The House Of The Dead & The Glagolitic Mass

(Photo: Marek Olbrzymek) Would any opera house be bold enough to present a work about the horrors of life in a gulag in which the guilty and innocent are thrown together to be abused, debased and left to die? Undoubtedly, the answer is yes! What if it were to be presented in a Christian context, in which Christ walks among {…}