(Photo: Camilla Greenwell) The Puccini opera where he gets the girl. But is she worth having? Is HE? The more I see Puccini’s final opera, “Turandot,” the more I’m left wondering if, had he not expired before its completion, he might have taken a long hard look at it and elected to make some seriously drastic, if not complete, changes. {…}
(Credit: Sim Canetty-Clarke) The Royal Ballet and Opera has announced the commission of new Main Stage curtains for the Royal Opera House, to be unveiled in May 2026. The project is produced in collaboration with specialists Gerriets and the Royal School of Needlework. The new curtains will replace the set installed in 1999, which by the time of deinstallation will {…}
(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 {…}
(Credit: Royal Ballet and Opera) The Royal Ballet & Opera is set to collaborate with British designer Paul Smith this Christmas. The commercial partnership is designed to be both “financially impactful and artistically meaningful.” The alliance will see Smith take over the RBO’s Paul Hamlyn hall with his specially-designed Christmas tree, which is inspired by the “behind-the-scenes artistry that brings {…}
(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 {…}
(© Beyond The Image Media) The Royal Ballet & Opera has announced a major cast change for “I Vespri Siciliani.” The company revealed that Marina Rebeka has withdrawn from performances of the opera due to illness. In her stead, Joyce El-Khoury will perform the role of Hélène in all performances except for the one on Oct. 3, 2025. For that {…}
The Royal Ballet and Opera has announced its 2025-26 cinema season which will feature nine productions screened across 1,500 cinemas around the world. Here is a look at the operas on the slate. “Tosca” is fist on the slate with Music Director Jakub Hrůša and Oliver Mears leading a new production of “Tosca.” Anna Netrebko, Freddie De Tommaso, and Gerald {…}
The Royal Ballet and Opera’s (RBO) new opera co-created by and for young people, “The Wish Thief,” premieres July 12. The Youth Opera Company aims to amplify creative new voices and give younger audiences more opportunities to experience the world of opera. The research and development process for the production first began in 2022 with an open call to creatives {…}
(Photo: Marc Brenner/Royal Ballet & Opera) Entombing doom in monochrome, director Robert Carsen’s 2022 production of “Aïda” buries its protagonists before they’re dead. Façades of forced conformity define it – popping through parades of khaki uniforms, authentic footage of exploding bombs and regimented training. A fictitious flag that features stars and stripes across red, white and blue confirm its commentary {…}
(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 {…}
The Royal Ballet and Opera and The Metropolitan Opera are joining forces for their cinema seasons. The collaboration will increase each company’s reach to hundreds more cinemas in new markets. RBO’s cinema partner, Trafalgar Releasing, will broadcast The Met’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” to a larger number of screens in the UK. Fathom, the Met Opera’s cinema partner in the {…}
