The story of Cinderella is one of the best-known fairytales, and Frederick Ashton’s full-length version for The Royal Ballet has all its familiar ingredients. A downtrodden young girl, a glass slipper and a handsome prince combine to make the perfect piece of story-telling, and with a fairy godmother around, anything can happen: pumpkins become coaches, rags turn to ball gowns and there’s bound to be a happy ending. Ashton’s ballet draws together a wealth of wonderfully drawn characters, portrayed against the evocative themes and colours of Prokofiev’s great orchestral score.
 
This is a mysterious and magical fantasy world, where the comedy of Cinderella’s pantomime step-sisters – unlucky in looks and love – provides the perfect foil for the developing romance of Cinderella and the Prince. Cinderella is a family event full of the magic of not just of the fairy godmother, but of The Royal Ballet too.
 

Modern Balett Abend

La clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus), K. 621, is an opera seria composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with text after Metastasio. It was started after the bulk of The Magic Flute, the last opera that Mozart worked on, was already written (Mozart completed The Magic Flute after the Prague premiere of Tito).

Rosenkavalier, Der, an opera by R. Strauss with a libretto written for him by H. von Hofmannsthal, and published in 1911. It is the second and the most popular of the six works in which Hofmannsthal and Strauss collaborated, and was first performed at Dresden in January 1911. Its setting is Vienna in the second half of the 18th c.

The Marschallin, married straight from school to a great nobleman who spends his time hunting, has as her lover the 18-year-old Octavian, Count Rofrano, nicknamed Quinquin. While he is with her she is visited by a boorish country cousin, Baron Ochs von Lerchenau. Octavian disguises himself as a maid. Ochs has come to Vienna to marry a rich and pretty girl, Sophie, the daughter of a newly ennobled commoner, Edler von Faninal. Ochs asks the Marschallin's help in finding a suitable person to perform the indispensable ceremony of presenting to the betrothed girl a silver rose. She assures him that Count Rofrano will accept the duty. Ochs, who meanwhile takes a fancy to the supposed serving maid, is delighted.

Left alone, the Marschallin, who foresees the end of Octavian's love for her, sings a moving lament for passing youth and beauty. In the second act Octavian duly performs the ceremony of the rose, and he and Sophie von Faninal at once fall deeply in love. An altercation occurs with Ochs, whom Octavian wounds in an impromptu duel. Ochs, who is as lecherous as he is cowardly, receives a note of assignation from ‘Mariandel’, the name Octavian used when disguised as a maid. In the third act Ochs falls into a trap set for him by Octavian, who has arranged the rendezvous in an inn of dubious propriety. Octavian attends in disguise as Mariandel, the Baron is frightened out of his wits by opening trapdoors and grinning faces, and his immoral intentions revealed to the Marschallin and Faninal, whom Octavian has summoned. Octavian, casting off his disguise, receives Sophie, and the Marschallin sadly but gracefully accepts the loss of his love.

L'anima del filosofo, ossia Orfeo ed Euridice (The Soul of the Philosopher, or Orpheus and Euridice), Hob. 28/13, is an opera in Italian in four acts by Joseph Haydn, the last he ever wrote. The libretto, by Carlo Francesco Badini, is based on the myth of Orpheus and Euridice as told in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Composed in 1791, the opera was never performed during Haydn's lifetime.

After his patron Prince Nikolaus Esterházy had died in 1790, Haydn travelled to London where he received a commission to write several symphonies. The impresario John Gallini also offered him a contract to write an opera for the King's Theatre but due to a dispute between King George III and the Prince of Wales he was refused permission to stage it. As a result, the score was never completed and some music appears to be missing.

The Northern Bohemia Philharmonic Orchestra in Teplice, Conductor Charles Olivieri-Munroe. The concert is taking place under the auspices of the Ambassador of Mexico.

Performance Info

Times: 7pm

Customer must exchange voucher at: Bohemia Ticket, Na Prikope 16, Prague 1.

The O2 is set to host its first fully staged opera.

Carmen, the world's most popular opera, will take over The O2 in May 2010 for just three performances and follows on from highly successful and popular classical stagings of Carmina Burana, Andrea Bocelli and the world premiere of Ben Hur Live at the venue.

Directed by David Freeman, founder of The Opera Factory and whose previous credits include Madam Butterfly Tosca and Carmen at the Royal Albert Hall, his production of Bizet's masterpiece comes to The O2 on a grand and spectacular scale. From the very first note to the final tragic chords, this stunning in-the-round production vividly portrays the powerful story of lust, superstition and murder that passionately unravels with fatal consequences.

Carmen is presented by Raymond Gubbay and The O2 and will be performed by a superb cast of over 150 artists, including dancers, acrobats and fire-eaters. The wonderful set and fabulous costumes will bring to life the dusty atmosphere of the town square, the cool night air of the smugglers' mountain hideout and the colourful festivities outside of the bullring in Seville.

Sung in English, Bizet's unforgettable score contains some of opera's finest arias and best loved music. The rousing Song of the Toreador, the beguiling Seguidilla, the tantalising Habanera and the enchanting Flower Song - sensual music that perfectly captures the very essence of Spain. Accompanied by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gareth Hancock, this world class company of singers, musicians and artists will provide an unforgettable production of Bizet's Carmen, staged on an epic scale at The O2.

The principle roles will be shared by Cristina Nassif and Louise Poole (as Carmen) and John Hudson and Philip O'Brien (as Don Jose).

One of the world's most famous operettas, Die Fledermaus, now gets a glittering new look from the country's best small-scale opera and operetta company. Opera della Luna have earned themselves a matchless reputation, this year celebrating 15 years of acclaimed productions of Gilbert and Sullivan and Offenbach. They now turn their hand to the waltz king Johann Strauss and this most sparkling of scores.

Dr Falke was once left to wander home, drunk and dressed as a bat, by his friend Gabriel von Eisenstein. To exact his revenge he arranges for Eisenstein to attend an extremely risqué party at the home of the outrageous Russian aristocrat, Pince Orlofsky. There, Eisenstein seduces a mysterious Hungarian countess, who is in fact his own wife in disguise.

This entirely new and saucy production is directed by Jeff Clarke (with his own new translation) and designed by Gabriella Csanyi-Wills - the team that created the company's wonderful recent production of The Mikado.

An evening not to be missed by all fans of opera and lunacy!

Opera della Luna’s brand new production of Gilbert and Sullivan's first success moves the story from its quaint Victorian setting to sleepy rural Britain in the 1970s.

John Wellington Wells, the celebrated dealer in 'magic and spells', spreads chaos and havoc in an unsuspecting country village when he places a powerful aphrodisiac in the village hall teapot. The resulting revelations are indeed 'marvelous illusion, a terrible surprise!'.

Opera della Luna have earned themselves a matchless reputation, now celebrating 15 years of acclaimed productions of Gilbert and Sullivan, Offenbach and Johann Strauss touring to theatres all over the UK. Their recent production of Die Fledermaus played to sell-out houses and gained rave reviews.

Fun, funky and full of frolics, don’t miss this fresh production of what is probably the most rarely performed of all Gilbert and Sullivan’s operettas.

WWOS (West Wickham Operatic Society) return to the Churchill following their critically acclaimed productions of The Producers and The Witches Of Eastwick, to present this most daring of all musicals!

Released in 1997, The Full Monty stormed the UK Box Office becoming the most successful British screen comedy ever. As a film, The Full Monty won the Evening Standard Award for Best Film.

This adaptation won the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical and received nominations for a staggering nine Tony Awards.

All the characters, laughter and tenderness of the film that the whole world fell in love with are brought vividly to life in this triumphant stage musical.

This amateur production is presented by arrangement with Josef Weinberg Ltd on behalf of Music Theatre International of New York.

After the success of their 2009 production of Chess, Paisley Musical and Operatic Society are proud to be staging the Glasgow amateur premiere of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical The Producers.

Max Bialystock, a failed Broadway producer, together with his rather meek accountant, Leo Bloom, decide to stage a Broadway flop. They have come to the conclusion that they can make more money with a failure than they can with a success. So Max and Leo search New York for the worst script they can find. Their foolproof scheme gets complicated when their crass and totally tasteless production turns out to be a huge hit with the public.
 
Adapted from Mel Brooks' 1968 film by the man himself, this hilarious musical comedy opened on Broadway in 2001 where it won 12 Tony Awards. Featuring new music specially written by Mel Brooks for the Broadway stage, with songs including Springtime for Hitler and When You Got It, Flaunt It, he has created a laugh-a-minute musical comedy which is not to be missed.

Presented by Ravensbourne Light Operatic Society

There’s just no stopping the music!

Ravensbourne Light Operatic Society returns to the Churchill Theatre with this Broadway and West End smash hit. Footloose The Musical tells the story of city boy Ren who moves to small town America where dancing is banned.

The show is packed full of electrifying dancing and classic eighties hits including: Holding Out For A Hero, Almost Paradise, Let’s Hear It For The Boy and the title track Footloose.

Pulsating with energy this fast paced musical gets audiences on their feet.

This amateur production is presented by arrangement with Josef Weinberg Ltd on behalf of R&H Theatricals.

With this exclusive packaged hotel deal you receive a ticket for "Mixed Programme: Dances at a Gathering / The Dream" and choose your from our selection of top London hotels. After an absence of 30 years Jerome Robbins’s great work Dances at a Gathering makes an exciting return to The Royal Ballet. To solo piano works by Chopin, ten dancers explore the potential of dance itself through shifting relationships that also reflect the moods of the music’s mazurkas, waltzes and études. With virtuoso technique and individual character at the heart of its creation, every performance of Dances by The Royal Ballet will be a unique experience to savour.

There’s a strong contrast in the second work of the programme, The Dream: with Shakespeare’s story of a midsummer’s night, Mendelssohn’s delightfully delicate music and Frederick Ashton’s ever-popular choreography. In its magic world of night and within its evocative woodland setting, Oberon and Titania play their games with the unwitting mortals, while the comic confusions of love are aggravated by the mischievous Puck.

Running time: 2hrs 35 minutes | 1 Interval

CREDITS
Music: Frédéric Chopin
Choreography: Jerome Robbins
Lighting: Jennifer Tipton & John B Read
Music: Felix Mendelssohn
Choreography: Frederick Ashton
Designs: David Walker

PERFORMERS
Conductor: Paul Murphy
Orchestra: Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Dances at a Gathering
tba
The Dream
Leanne Benjamin
Alina Cojocaru
Roberta Marquez
Johan Kobborg
Steven McRae
Ivan Putrov
Edward Watson

With this exclusive packaged hotel deal you receive a ticket for "Cosi Fan Tutte" and choose your from our selection of top London hotels. Cosi fan tutte, a laughing look at the twists and turns of romantic love, was originally attacked for portraying faithless women. Some early performances were even accompanied by apologies for the frivolous plot. The story begins in a Neapolitan caf é , where two young men, Ferrando and Guglielmo, argue with the older and more skeptical Don Alfonso that their fiancées, the sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella, would never betray them. Aided by Despina, the sisters' maid, the men hatch a plot to test the women's loyalty. They disguise themselves as soldiers and woo each other's lovers, managing through various tricks to win over the initially reluctant women. As deeper feelings surface, however, the suitors become uneasy with their antics, and once the deception is unmasked, the four reunite, though who pairs up with whom remains a mystery.

With this exclusive packaged hotel deal you receive a ticket for "The Gambler" and choose your from our selection of top London hotels. This is the first time that The Royal Opera will be performing Prokofiev’s opera based on Dostoyevsky’s novel of addiction. Sung in David Pountney’s English translation, this new production brings together Music Director Antonio Pappano, charismatic director Richard Jones and designer Antony McDonald.

This is the first time that The Royal Opera will be performing Prokofiev’s opera based on Dostoyevsky’s novel of addiction. Sung in David Pountney’s English translation, this new production brings together Music Director Antonio Pappano, charismatic director Richard Jones and designer Antony McDonald.

Der Troubadour (Il trovatore) an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Leone Emanuele Bardare and Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez.

Jonathan Miller’s now-classic production, contemporary and urbane in its staging, returns. Conductor Julia Jones who recently led Così fan tutte at the Vienna State Opera to great acclaim, makes her Covent Garden debut. Be prepared for the most sublime singing and acting from a young and dynamic cast.

Running time: 3 hours 30 minutes | 1 Interval
Sung in Italian with English surtitles

Classical opera meets contemporary style in this ever-popular staging of Mozart’s operatic gem that brings its look – and its relevance – right up to date. But Jonathan Miller’s production for The Royal Opera also focuses on the timeless themes of a drama that sees two men test the loyalties of their girlfriends to breaking point. Part comedy, part tragedy, it is a wry study in love, manipulation and trust. Music by Mozart is in turn poignant and stoic, heartfelt and romantic, and includes several famous arias and ensembles you are sure to remember.

The fine cast bring out all the subtle changes of their circumstances and volatile emotional responses to the power play in which they are caught. A tour de force of opera performance, there is a Covent Garden debut for conductor Julia Jones, and a cast of well-known names for the two couples and their manipulators. A great score, a famous production and wonderful singers: this Season’s Così fan tutte is as much a ‘must see’ for opera lovers as ever.

CREDITS
Composer
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Director
Jonathan Miller

Designer
Jonathan Miller

Lighting
Jonathan Miller
John Charlton

PERFORMERS
Conductor
Julia Jones

Ferrando
Charles Castronovo

Guglielmo
Troy Cook

Don Alfonso
William Shimell

Fiordiligi
Sally Matthews

Dorabella
Nino Surguladze

Despina
Helene Schneiderman

In a dream-like atmosphere, the choreographer accompanies the passage on Earth of a princess from another world.

This artist of pure lines skilfully plays with light and subtly mixes traditional Japanese and Western music to create a fantasy world.

The fluid dance is sometimes languorous and enigmatic, sometimes swept up by the frenetic rhythms of percussion and the rolling of drums, translates moods and emotions.

Jirí Kylián has specially revisited one of his most essential creations for the Paris Opera Ballet and the stage of the Opéra Bastille.

Performance Info

Premiere 11th June @ 7.30pm

June 14th, 18th, 24th, 30th @ 7.30pm

July 2nd, 5th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 13th, 14th, 15th @ 7.30pm

June 27th @ 2.30pm

July 4th, 11th @ 2.30pm

Running Time: 1 hour 40 minutes, includes 1 interval

Customers must exchange voucher at the theatre box office at least 30 minutes prior to the performance.

Conductor and Soloist: Daniel Barenboim

A Ballet in two acts.

Choreography and Staging: Vladimir Malakhov nach Jean Coralli
Music: Friedrich Burgmüller
Sets and Costumes: Jordi Roig
Conductor: Paul Connelly

One of Donizetti’s most dramatic and affecting works, Maria Stuarda charts fact and fictional events leading to Mary Queen of Scots execution. Donizetti originally courted controversy by addressing such powerful material and the opera was initially banned.

Two exceptional singers return to Opera North, Sarah Connolly to sing Mary Queen of Scots (Romeo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Autumn 2008) and Antonia Cifrone sings  Elizabeth I (Lady Macbeth, Macbeth, Spring 2008). Both will bring charisma and drama to the lead roles of this bel canto opera.

The centrepiece of this opera is the fictional confrontation between Mary Stuart, the Catholic Queen of Scotland, and the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I. The opera builds to the moment of conflict when political, religious and romantic tensions simmer over, resulting in Mary's condemnation and eventual execution. The opera is recognised as one of Donizetti's most persuasive and powerful scores and culminates in an exceptionally affecting final scene.

Antony McDonald is well known at Opera North for his set designs and will make his directorial debut with this production, joined by the widely travelled conductor Guido Johannes Rumstadt.

Sung in Italian with English titles
Lasts approximately 2 hours 30 minutes

Gilbert and Sullivan’s witty burlesque Victorian melodrama is one of their most inventive confections.

When mild-mannered Robin Oakapple is revealed as the villainous Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, inheritor of the curse of Ruddigore (he must commit a crime everyday), his romance with the faultlessly virtuous Rose Maybud looks doomed. But his troubles really start when he proves singularly unequal to the task of fulfilling the curse, and his ancestors’ portraits begin to haunt him…

Although still in his thirties, John Wilson already has an enviable reputation as a conductor, arranger and orchestrator, with a special flair for light music. With direction by Jo Davies, whose work spans musical and spoken theatre as well as opera, and sets and costumes by distinguished designer Richard Hudson, the team will ensure that Opera North’s new production supplies a welcome Winter treat.

Sung in English
Lasts approximately 2 hours 30 minutes

Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, Rusalka is a modern-day fairytale of a water nymph who yearns to be part of the human world to earn the love of a prince. Invoking the help of a manipulative witch, she is bound by strict conditions that will lead her to discover the meaning of true love

First performed by Opera North in 2003, Olivia Fuchs’ award-winning production returns with many of its original cast, including Irish soprano, Giselle Allen as Rusalka, Susannah Glanville as The Foreign Princess and Richard Angus as The Water Sprite.  Internationally acclaimed Richard Berkeley-Steele makes his Opera North debut as The Prince.

Suffused with a haunting score, famed for Rusalka’s poignant ‘Song to the Moon,’ and conducted by Oliver von Dohnanyi, (The Bartered Bride, 1998) Rusalka offers an altogether spell-binding experience.

Sung in English
Lasts approximately 3 hours 15 minutes

Puccini’s masterpiece, La Bohème is one of the most famously melodious of all operas and is regarded as one of the top ten operas in the world.

Opera North’s production, first directed by Phyllida Lloyd, whose stage production and film of the musical Mama Mia! have created global phenomenon, returns to entertain new audiences after almost a decade.

Set in the grimy, tumultuous Paris of the 1950’s, Mimi, a consumptive seamstress and poet, Roldolfo instantly fall in love but are inevitably torn apart by Mimi’s incurable illness.

This story of impossible young love, heartbreak and regret is revived by a cast of the best young international talent, including the French soprano Anne Sophie Duprels (Madama Butterfly 2007), Turkish tenor Bülent Bezduz, Polish baritone Marcin Bronikowski and French bass Frédéric Burreau.

Opera North’s Music Director, Richard Farnes conducts.

Sung in Italian with English titles
Lasts approximately 2 hours 15 minutes

Presented by Opera North.

Così fan tutte is one of Mozart’s most remarkable creations. It all starts with a casual bet that the fiancées of two young men won’t stay faithful for a minute if put to the test. It sounds harmless enough, but cruelty is inherent in this game and there are darker forces at work. This story of trust and deception, loyalty and desire, resonates as strongly today as it did in 1789, and the score contains some of Mozart’s most dazzlingly beautiful music.

Presented by Opera North.
Conductor Andrew Parrott.
Director Tim Albery.

Sung in English.

‘It’s a triumph…this is one of the most intelligent and beautifully crafted Così’s in years.’ The Sunday Times

‘Aesthetically ravishing.’ The Guardian

‘One of the tiny number of near-flawless accounts of a Mozart opera.’ The Spectator

“Tosca combines Puccini’s glorious musical inspiration with the melodramatic vitality of one of the great Hitchcock films,” says Music Director James Levine. “From the very first bar of the piece, the opera seizes you and keeps you on the edge of your seat until the last note.” Karita Mattila, who sings the title role for the first time at the Met, says, “There are so many fascinating qualities to Tosca. At first I thought, ‘How will it feel to kill somebody on stage?’ But Tosca is like an action movie, and the drama just happens.” Luc Bondy, acclaimed for his imaginative theater and opera productions, directs. Marcelo Álvarez and Juha Uusitalo open as Cavaradossi and Scarpia, with Jonas Kaufmann, Marcello Giordani, and Bryn Terfel stepping in for later performances.

A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera and Teatro alla Scala, Milan.

Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Librettist: Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica
Sung in Italian with Met Titles in English, German and Spanish

Karita Mattila as Tosca
Photo: Brigitte Lacombe/Metropolitan Opera

Artist William Kentridge defies genres with Shostakovich’s adaptation of Gogol’s story. “The opera is about the terrors of hierarchy,” Kentridge says. “There’s a mixture of anarchy and the absurd that interests me. I love in this opera the sense that anything is possible.” The new production is conducted by definitive Shostakovich interpreter Valery Gergiev. Acclaimed baritone Paulo Szot, who won a Tony Award® for South Pacific, makes his Met debut as the man who wakes up to discover that his nose has disappeared.

Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich
Librettist: Yevgeny Zamyatin, Georgy Ionin, Alexander Preys and the composer
Sung in Russian with Met Titles in English, German and Spanish

Karita Mattila as Tosca
Photo: Brigitte Lacombe/Metropolitan Opera

James Levine conducts Berg’s modernist masterpiece. An acclaimed interpreter of the title role, Marlis Petersen returns to the Met to play the scandalous femme fatale. Anne Sofie von Otter is Countess Geschwitz and James Morris is Dr. Schön.

Composer: Alban Berg
Libretto by the composer, adapted from works by Frank Wedekind
Sung in German with Met Titles in English, German and Spanish

Karita Mattila as Tosca
Photo: Brigitte Lacombe/Metropolitan Opera

Angela Gheorghiu recreates her famous portrayal of Verdi’s most engaging heroine. Franco Zeffirelli’s production features James Valenti as Alfredo and Thomas Hampson as Germont. Leonard Slatkin conducts.

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Librettist: Francesco Maria Piave
Sung in Italian with Met Titles in English, German and Spanish

Karita Mattila as Tosca
Photo: Brigitte Lacombe/Metropolitan Opera

New king of the high Cs Juan Diego Flórez reprises his headline-grabbing performance in the comic hit from the 2007–08 season. Diana Damrau makes her Met role debut as Marie. Kiri Te Kanawa returns to the Met stage in the speaking role of the Duchess of Krakenthorp.

A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera; the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London; and the Wiener Staatsoper, Vienna

Composer: Gaetano Donizetti
Librettist: Georges Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard
Sung in French with Met Titles in English, German and Spanish

Karita Mattila as Tosca
Photo: Brigitte Lacombe/Metropolitan Opera

Anna Netrebko stars in the most popular opera in the repertory. Piotr Beczala, who signaled his arrival as a top lyric tenor in last season’s Lucia di Lammermoor, sings his first Met Rodolfo in Franco Zeffirelli’s legendary production. Gerald Finley is Marcello, opposite Nicole Cabell and Ruth Ann Swenson alternating as Musetta.

Composer: Giocomo Puccini
Librettist: Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa
Sung in Italian with Met Titles in English, German and Spanish

Karita Mattila as Tosca
Photo: Brigitte Lacombe/Metropolitan Opera

Simon Keenlyside and Natalie Dessay bring their extraordinary acting and singing skills to two of Shakespeare’s unforgettable characters. When this production, directed by Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser, opened in London at Covent Garden, The Independent called Keenlyside’s Hamlet, "a revelation - thrilling throughout.” Dessay plays the volatile Ophelia, whose extended mad scene is among the greatest in opera. Louis Langrée conducts.

Composer: Ambroise Thomas
Librettist: Michel Carré and Jules Barbier
Sung in French with Met Titles in English, German and Spanish

Karita Mattila as Tosca
Photo: Brigitte Lacombe/Metropolitan Opera

If you’re a fan of spectacular singing and great comic timing, you’ll want to see Bart Sher’s hit production twice this season, as the equally charming divas Joyce DiDonato and Diana Damrau bring their distinct interpretations to the role of Rosina. Rodion Pogossov plays the swaggering barber.

Composer: Gioachino Rossini
Librettist: Cesare Sterbini
Sung in Italian with Met Titles in English, German and Spanish

Karita Mattila as Tosca
Photo: Brigitte Lacombe/Metropolitan Opera

Mozart’s opera comes to life in Julie Taymor’s transcendent production, with a superb ensemble cast, including Nathan Gunn as the bird-catcher Papageno. This mystical fairy tale is presented in its full-length German version.

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Librettist: Emanuel Schikaneder
Sung in German with Met Titles in English, German and Spanish

Karita Mattila as Tosca
Photo: Brigitte Lacombe/Metropolitan Opera

Renowned Wagnerian Deborah Voigt sings the mystical Senta in one of the composer’s most engaging works, with Juha Uusitalo as the Dutchman.

Composer: Richard Wagner
Librettist: the composer
Sung in German with Met Titles in English, German and Spanish

Karita Mattila as Tosca
Photo: Brigitte Lacombe/Metropolitan Opera

"Carmen is about sex, violence, and racism—and its corollary: freedom,” says Olivier Award-winning director Richard Eyre. “It is one of the inalienably great works of art. It’s sexy, in every sense. And I think it should be shocking.” Angela Gheorghiu plays Carmen in her role debut. Roberto Alagna and Jonas Kaufmann share the role of the obsessed Don José, Barbara Frittoli is Micaëla, and Mariusz Kwiecien is the matador Escamillo. Olga Borodina reprises her own sultry Carmen in later performances. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts.

Composer: Georges Bizet
Librettist: Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
Sung in French with Met Titles in English, German and Spanish

Karita Mattila as Tosca
Photo: Brigitte Lacombe/Metropolitan Opera

Riccardo Muti, a champion of the Verdian tradition, makes his Met debut with one of the composer’s rousing early operas. This story of civilization’s encounter with barbarism is explored in a new production by director Pierre Audi. Some of the brightest lights in contemporary design, including Miuccia Prada and the architecture team of Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron (the 2008 Beijing Olympics “Bird’s Nest” stadium), have created the costumes and scenery. “Our approach is to stay very close to the descriptions supported by Verdi: destruction, rubble, lagoon, forest, darkness—all in a very naturalistic way,” explain Herzog and de Meuron. Ildar Abdrazakov sings the title role, joined by Violeta Urmana, Ramón Vargas, and Carlos Alvarez.

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Librettist: Temistocle Solera
Sung in Italian with Met Titles in English, German and Spanish

Karita Mattila as Tosca
Photo: Brigitte Lacombe/Metropolitan Opera

Renée Fleming stars as Rossini’s sorceress, opposite no fewer than six tenors. Mary Zimmerman returns to direct, bringing her fine-tuned theatricality to a work she describes as “a buried treasure, a box of jewels.” The fanciful story of the sorceress who enthralls men in her island prison of sensual delights, Zimmerman says, “has an epic, enchanted quality and a tremendous visual element.”

Composer: Gioachino Rossini
Librettist: Giovanni Schmidt
Sung in Italian with Met Titles in English, German and Spanish

Karita Mattila as Tosca
Photo: Brigitte Lacombe/Metropolitan Opera

Strauss’s dual gifts for groundbreaking modernity and classical elegance come together in a smart and fanciful production. The great Swedish diva Nina Stemme makes a rare appearance in the title role and Sarah Connolly as the Composer. Kirill Petrenko conducts.

Composer: Richard Strauss
Librettist: Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Sung in German with Met Titles in English, German and Spanish

Karita Mattila as Tosca
Photo: Brigitte Lacombe/Metropolitan Opera

The Met has assembled a cast of powerful voices to match Aida’s epic scale, which in this grand production uses every stage lift in the house. Violeta Urmana stars in the title role of the enslaved Ethiopian princess, with Dolora Zajick as her rival for the affections of Johan Botha’s Radamès. Conductor Daniele Gatti makes his long-awaited return.

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Librettist: Antonio Ghislanzoni
Sung in Italian with Met Titles in English, German and Spanish

Photo: Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera

Choreographer Angelin Preljocaj draws inspiration from the founding theme of Siddharta for the original new work that he is offering the Paris Opera Ballet. He revisits the saga of the one who would become the Awakened One or Buddha, bringing a personal interpretation exploring the themes of new challenges, ordeals and sacrifices in the quest for an absolute. Moving beyond mere narrative, he reveals the torments and mysteries of a long inner journey riddled with pitfalls, uncertainties and doubts. Preljocaj shares his journey with two artists with strong personalities : Bruno Mantovani, the brilliant, young French composer, whose first work this is for the Paris Opera, and Claude Lvque, the visual artist and scenographer, with his powerful ability to dream up new spaces for our time.

Performance Times

* Premiere 18th March at 7.30pm
* March 20th,23th,27th,29th,31st, April 1st,2nd,6th,7th,9th at 7.30pm
* Matinees on April 4th & 11th at 2.30pm

Running Time: 1hr 40mins

What a sense of refinement and finesse the 35 year-old Bellini possessed! This time, far from royal quarrels and feuds between famous historical characters, he finds his heroine in a small Swiss village. The modest and charming Amina is in fact a sleepwalker who, escaping from her bedroom, becomes another person as she wanders through the night. A score written in daydream where melody seems to be suspended in time and the heroine's very soul rises to the surface, and where instruments take on transparent water-colour tones. This elegiac universe is home to one of the most beautiful arias of the entire repertoire, Ah, non credea mirarti, a miracle of moonlit poetry. At the same time, Bellini portrays the cruellest of worlds our own where it is more than difficult for fragility and gentleness to make a place for themselves.

Performance Times

*Premiere Jan 25th : 7.30pm
*Jan 28th, Feb 6th, 9th, 12th 15th 18th 23rd @ 7.30pm
*Jan 31st Feb 21st @ 2.30pm

Running Time: 2hrs 40mins with 1 interval

There is nothing in the biting cruelty of the prelude, Das Rheingold, to herald the miraculous deflagration of Die Walkre. Its place in the Ring as a whole is clear: it shows us the threatened splendour of the gods and paves the way for the arrival of Siegfried, the free man, the new man. But Wagner threw himself with passion into the tale of Siegmund and Sieglinde, the cursed but sublime twins, and of Wotan and his beloved daughter Brnnhilde. Passion reigns undisputed over Die Walkre. And its power is so very greater that it passes unheeding over the difference between mortal and immortal and binds them all. The opposing forces Fricka and Hunding merely exalt the feelings and turn them into matters of life and death. Wagner had no need of mythology to create these unforgettable characters, who are nothing more than human beings carried away by the tragic surge of existence. The first act with its wounded hero, the shared cup and the sudden love lighting up the night, the irruption of spring into the dismal dwelling, the mesmerising monologues of the second act, Sieglinde's sudden bouts of madness and Siegmund's death, the rock of the Valkyrie and Wotan's farewell to Brnnhilde, the fire taking possession of the world and the music: there is perhaps no more beautiful and poignant picture-book in the history of opera than the three acts of Die Walkre.

Performance Times

6pm & 2pm

A simple E-flat major chord, austere and immutable, inaudible to our ears until now but doubtless there from all eternity. Barely perceptible at first, the sound fills out, turning around and back on itself in eddies and currents; its swell, "rolling up the reflected skies, mingled in solemn and mystic fashion the all-powerful chords of their rich music" (Baudelaire, La Vie antrieure). It may be the Rhine, but first and foremost it is the world caught in both its perpetual movement and its permanence. Wagner needed only that chord, held for the first one hundred and thirty-seven bars of the work, for the world to recreate itself before us, evoking its eternity at the same time as its ever-changing nature. At the same time it is from that fixed chord, fundamental in the true meaning of the word, that all music seems to proceed. "No one has ever written music like it", wrote Wagner, happy yet scared, to his friend Franz Liszt. The Paris Opera is presenting for the first time on the stage of Opera Bastille The Ring cycle, Richard Wagner's monument in a prologue and three days.

Performance Times

Performances begin at 2.30pm or 7.30pm

Running Time: 2 hours 20 mins

A fragment of earth floating on the sea, encircled by mist: Billy Budd takes place on board the Indomitable, an English ship of unknown origin and destination, a self-contained world lost in the infinite. Britten's sea is no pretext for a study in tone, colour or variation, nor is it Hokusai's great blue wave, nor even a threat or a refuge. It is a presence and a depth, the mystery which swallows up all pain and into which all life ultimately disappears. The young sailor Billy Budd dreamed of being an albatross, the king of birds, loved the intoxicating presence of the open sea. Press-ganged onto a warship, his innocence and beauty are delivered up to the cruelty of men there is not a single woman's voice in the opera. An arena, the Indomitable will be his prison then his tomb. Inspired by Herman Melville's last story, Billy Budd is the harsh and poignant tale of the angel's ineluctable sacrifice.

Performances

Performances begin at 7.30pm

Running Time: 3hr 8 mins

DEUXIÈME PROGRAMME
Petit/Ratmanski/Petipa
La Dame de pique
Musique Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovski (Symphonie n° 6)
Chorégraphie, livret et arrangement musical Roland Petit
Décors Jean-Michel Wilmotte
Costumes Luisa Spinatelli
Lumières Marion Hewlett

Jeu de cartes
Musique Igor Stravinsky
Chorégraphie Alexei Ratmanski
Décors et costumes Igor Chapurin
Lumières Damir Ismagilov

La Bayadère (acte III, les Ombres)
Musique Ludwig Minkus
Chorégraphie Marius Petipa
adaptée par Olga Iordan et Fedor Lopukhov
Décors et costumes d’après les maquettes originales de 1877 Times:

Première: 11th Jan 2008 @ 7.30pm
12th Jan 2008 @ 8pm
13th Jan 2008 @ 2.30pm

BALLET EN TROIS ACTES
LIVRET DE MARIUS PETIPA ET SERGUEI KHOUDEKOV

Ballet dune virtuosit tourdissante, La Bayadre est une envotante fresque orientale. Les dcors et costumes enchanteurs donnent tout leur clat cette production qui entrane vers une Inde de songe et de mystre.

Ludwig Minkus Musique
John Lanchbery Ralisation
Rudolf Noureev Chorgraphie et mise en scne daprs Marius Petipa (Opra national de Paris, 1992)
Ezio Frigerio Dcors
Franca Squarciapino Costumes
Vinicio Cheli Lumires

Les toiles, les Premiers Danseurs et le Corps de Ballet
Orchestre Colonne
Kevin Rhodes Direction musicale

Times:

Premire May 17 at 19H30
May 18,19,20,21,22,25,26,27,28,31, June 1,2 at 19H30

May 29 AT 14H30 AND 20H00

BALLET EN DEUX PARTIES
SUJET DE PATRICE BART ET DE MARTINE KAHANE

Le chorgraphe et matre de Ballet de lOpra Patrice Bart plonge dans le pass de lOpra et redonne vie la clbre statuette de Degas. Des studios de rptitions au Cabaret du Chat Noir, le ballet voque tout le parfum dune poque et les coulisses dun thtre plein de vie.

Denis Levaillant Musique
Patrice Bart Chorgraphie et mise en scne (Opra national de Paris, 2003)
Ezio Toffolutti Dcors
Sylvie Skinazi Costumes
Marion Hewlett Lumires

Les toiles, les Premiers Danseurs et le Corps de Ballet
Orchestre de lOpra national de Paris
Koen Kessels Direction musicale

Times:

Premire JUNE 26 at 19H30
PERFORMANCES ON JUNE 29,JULY 1,3,6,8,9,12,13 AT 19H30
PERFORMANCE ON JULY 4,11 AT 14H30

This iconic opera tells the story of the love affair between Mimi and the struggling writer Rodolfo. The welcome return of an audience favourite, Tony award-winning director Stewart Laing’s production presents a traditional tale in a meaningful contemporary context - the exciting modern art scene of 21st century New York.

Young artists, living and working in stark studio apartments, turn loft spaces into art galleries. When Rodolfo sees Mimi for the first time, they fall hopelessly in love - but the course of true love rarely runs smoothly. Encompassing dramatic passion and the pain of being young, poor and in love, Puccini’s whirling melodic score moves from revelry to romance as it carries the story toward its tragic conclusion.

Young Irish soprano Celine Byrne and French tenor Avi Klemberg, make their Scottish Opera débuts. Nadine Livingstone (who also takes the title role in this season’s Kátya Kabanová) sings Musetta. Scottish Opera Music Director Francesco Corti conducts.

Scottish Opera
La bohème
Giacomo Puccini

Sung in Italian with English supertitles
Revival of 2004 production

The Adventures of Mr Broucek is one of Janácek’s most vibrantly original works. Rarely presented in the UK, this is an exciting new collaboration with Opera North. The production is a first for Scottish Opera who, with Welsh National Opera, championed the composer’s work in the 1970s and 80s with an acclaimed Janácek Cycle.
 
The beer-fuelled Mr Broucek’s adventures take him through space and time: first to the moon and then to the middle of the revolution in 15th-century Prague. By turns funny, surreal, tender and thrilling, the opera is full of wonderful portraits and parodies - of artists, poets, soldiers, and the ordinary people of Janácek’s homeland.
 
The music is just as varied as Broucek’s adventures, from the extra-terrestrial sounds of the moon music, to the gorgeous orchestral interlude which transforms the action from the moon to Prague. Bagpipes and an organ add an edge to the stirringly patriotic Hussite hymns and celebrations, sung by a 40 strong chorus.
 
John Fulljames directs a superb cast including English tenor John Graham Hall and Scottish contralto Frances McCafferty, making her Scottish Opera débuts, alongside celebrated Scottish baritone Donald Maxwell.

Scottish Opera
The Adventures of Mr Broucek
Leoš Janácek

Production supported by The Alexander Gibson Circle
Sung in English with English supertitles
A new co-production with Opera North

Programme for Castleward Opera's 2009 production, Die Fledermaus.

This beautifully produced programme for Castleward Opera's 2009 summer season is available for pre-purchase and will be available for collection on the day of your performance. We're sorry, but this item is only available to Castleward Opera 2009 ticket holders.

No-one is safe in the Rome of 1800. Under Baron Scarpia corruption and suspicion hang over the city, virtue and humanity are cruelly stamped out.

The world of opera singer Floria Tosca is about to be turned upside down. She is suspicious of her lover Mario’s fidelity. Little does she realize that he is at the centre of a struggle that will lead to tragedy. Soon she herself will become the object of Scarpia’s insatiable lust and she will be forced to ask what she has done to deserve this.

Once decried as a 'shabby little shocker', Tosca has become one of the best-loved of all operas. The combination of its fast paced plot, high tension and the poignancy of the great arias Vissi d’arte and E lucevan le stelle ensure that Tosca never fails to enthrall. Michael Blakemore’s period set production Welsh National Opera of this pulsating thriller promises to set your emotions on a knife-edge.

Cast includes Alwyn Mellor as Floria Tosca, Geraint Dodd as Cavaradossi, Robert Hayward as Scarpia.

Sung in Italian with surtitles in English.

Co-production with the State Opera of South Australia.

Don José’s life was quiet, respectable and law abiding. From the moment he met Carmen his life has unravelled. He is intoxicated by her, blinded by jealousy, pursuing her across Spain and on the run. His jealousy will destroy him and if the cards are telling the truth, it will destroy Carmen too.

Bizet’s most famous creation is full to the brim with instantly recognizable music and paints a mesmerizing picture of a Spain teeming with fascinating characters. Carmen herself is one of the most charismatic and hard to resist characters in opera. For a century and a half audiences the world over have fallen in love with her. Patricia Bardon returns to this production as Carmen with Welsh tenor Gwyn Hughes Jones reprising the role of Don José.

Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser’s production for distils Bizet’s masterpiece right down to its essence.

Cast includes Patricia Bardon as Carmen, Gwyn Hughes Jones as Don José, David Soar as Escamillo, Sarah-Jane Davies as Micaëla, Henry Waddington as Zuniga, Joanne Boag as Frasquita and Carolyn Dobbin as Mercedes.

Sung in French with surtitles in English.
Co-production with Scottish Opera.

Belmonte’s lover Constanze is being held captive by Pasha Selim. If Belmonte is going to rescue Constanze he will have to get past the Pasha’s steward Osmin first. This may not necessarily sound like the premise of a comedy but The Abduction from the Seraglio is one of Mozart’s wittiest and most delightful creations.

The joyous overture suggests a boisterous sense of fun, which is carried right through to the final curtain with stratospheric arias and blissful ensembles along the way. BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Rosenblatt Recital Song Prize winner Andrew Kennedy performs the role of Belmonte.

James Robinson’s stylish production for Welsh National Opera is irresistibly entertaining, setting the opera on the Orient Express of the 1920s en route from Paris to Istanbul.

Cast includes Andrew Kennedy as Belmonte, Lisette Oropesa as Constanze, Petros Magoulas as Osmin, Claire Ormshaw as Blonde and Wynne Evans as Pedrillo.

Sung in German with surtitles in English.

A co-production of Houston Grand Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Colorado, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Minnesota Opera and Opera Pacific.

Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, to an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni, based on the play Turandot by Carlo Gozzi. It was left unfinished by Puccini at his death, and completed by Franco Alfano. The first performance, at the Teatro alla Scala, in Milan, on 25 April 1926, conducted by Arturo Toscanini, included only Puccini's music and not Alfano's additions. Later performances were of the completed score.

Turandot is a Persian word and name meaning "the daughter of Turan", Turan being the region of Central Asia which used to be a part of Persian Empire.

It is an oriental fairytale of disguised identities, riddles, ritual executions and of course powerful, triumphant love. Besides its great tenor aria Nessun dorma, the music ranges from the exotic and portentous as the moon rises at the start, through the grandeur and mysticism of Turandots riddles, to the tragic beauty of the servant girl Lis appeals to and final sacrifice for her beloved master, Prince Calaf.

Performance Info

Customers must exchange their voucher on the day of the performance.

Ticket exchange area will be announced at End of December.

The legendary, unforgettable musical, The Phantom of the Opera traces the tragic love story of a beautiful opera singer and a young composer shamed by his physical appearance into a shadowy existence beneath the majestic Paris Opera House. A newly installed state of the art digital sound system now makes Andrew Lloyd Webber’s spine-tingling score sound better than ever.

The combination of opulent sets and costumes, and fabulous special effects creates a theatrical experience not to be missed. Now entering its 24th year in London’s West End.

“Remains the most exciting musical in London” - Daily Mail

Duration: [2hr 30m]

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the staging of Phantom of the Opera, all seats may have restricted view during parts of the performance. Pillar seats in the Stalls and Royal Circle and the side seats in the Grand Circle are particularly affected.

Jerome Robbins was one of the best choregraphers of the twentieth century and his prolific works of over 66 ballets and 15 Broadway musicals are known for their innovation and experimentation.

The Palais Garnier is celebrating his life achievements this September with evenings of four ballets with the Corps de Ballet and the Orchestra de l'Opéra National de Paris.

Times:

• Premiere April 21st at 7.30pm
• April 23rd,24th,27th,28th & 30th at 7.30pm
• May 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th at 7.30pm
• May 2nd at 2.30pm

Running Time: 2hrs 20 mins

A fable, profound but with a light touch, nave and melancholy, mingling and sometimes confusing animals and humans. Leos Janacek was seventy years old and still unknown to the public at large in 1924, when The Cunning Little Vixen was first performed. Erwin Schulhoff would later remember his phenomenal vitality and the untamed youthfulness of his gaze. It is life itself that flows here, the rising sap, the endless round of the seasons, of death and birth in the shade of the same trees. The Moravian countryside, which the composer never left, becomes the vast theatre of existence. And since everything passes, the only things that matter are freedom, love given and taken and the message of the happiness of being alive. The little vixen understands this better than any human. There are things she could teach us, but she could not care less. With ineffable imagination, Janacek hears and transcribes the eternal song of the earth.

Performance Times

* Premiere June 25th at 7.30pm
* Performances on June 28th, July 1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th @ 9.30pm

An opera by Francesco Cavalli. The opera, consisting of a prologue and three acts, was first performed at Venice in the January of 1654, at the Teatro SS Giovanni e Paolo.

As the characterization of the opera as "lyrical scenes" shows, the poet offers no substantial work, but follows closely, often even word for word, Pushkin's epic tale, with which one must be fully acquainted -- as is the case with everybody in Russia -- in order to be able to follow the opera properly.

Act I.

Eugene Onegin has been called from a wild life of pleasure to his sick uncle, of whose property he takes possession after the uncle's sudden death. He has brought with him from the big city a profound satiety of all enjoyments and a deep contempt for the society of mankind in his solitary country seat. Here, however, he forms a friendship for a young fanatic, the poet Lenski.

Through him he is introduced to Larina, a woman who owns an estate. Her two daughters, Olga and Tatiana, correspond to the double nature of their mother, whose youth was a period of sentimentality in which she allowed herself to be affected like others by Richardson's novels, raved over Grandison, and followed the wild adventures of Lovelace with anxious thrills.

Life later had made her rational, altogether too rational and insipid. Olga now has become a cheerful, superficial, pleasureful silly young girl; Tatiana, a dreamer whose melancholy is increasing through reading books which her mother had once used. Lenski is betrothed to Olga. Tatiana recognizes at her first sight of Onegin the realization of her dreams. Her heart goes out to meet him and in her enthusiasm she reveals all her feelings in a letter to him. Onegin is deeply stirred by this love; a feeling of confidence in mankind that he had not known for such a long time awakens in him.

But he knows himself too well. He knows that every faculty as a husband is departing from him. And now he considers it his duty not to disappoint this maiden soul, to be frank. He refuses her love. He takes the blame on himself, but he would not have been the worldly wise man if his superiority to the simple country child had not been emphasized chiefly on this account. But Tatiana only listens to the refusal, she is very unhappy. Onegin remains her ideal, who now will be still more solitary, in spite of it.

Act II.

Tatiana's name-day is being celebrated with a big hall. Onegin goes there on Lenski's invitation. The stupid company with their narrow views about him vex him so much that he seeks to revenge himself on Lenski for it, for which he begins courting Olga. Lenski takes the jest in earnest; it comes to a quarrel between the friends Lenski rushes out and sends Onegin a challenge. Social considerations force Onegin to accept the challenge; a dueling fanatic landlord, Saretsky stirs Lenski's anger so severely that a reconciliation is not possible.

This part in Pushkin's work is the keenest satire, an extraordinarily efficacious mockery of the whole subject of dueling. There is derision on Onegin's side, too, for he chooses as his second his coachman Gillot. But the duel was terribly in earnest; Lenski falls, shot through by his opponent's bullet. (This scene recalls a sad experience of the poet himself; for he himself fell in a duel by the bullet of a supercilious courtier, Georg Anth's-Heckeren, who died in Alsace in 1895).

La Bayadère (The Temple Dancer) (Russian Баядерка - Bayaderka) is a ballet, originally staged in four acts and seven scenes.

Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The première (under the title Almaviva, or the Useless Precaution) took place on 20 February 1816 at the Teatro Argentina, Rome and though an infamous flop, The Barber of Seville has become a standard of comic opera repertory.

An opera in five acts by Composer Giuseppe Verdi.

Rodion Shchedrin composed Anna Karenina in 1972 and dedicated it to his wife, Maya Plisetskaya, who choreographed the first production of the ballet for the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre. Whatever visions of the producers, Anna Karenina is first of all, a work by Lev Tolstoy. The ballet deals solely with the main theme of Tolstoy's epic novel - the love question, Anna Karenina's existential dilemma.

She is emotionally torn between her husband, the civil servant Karenin, and her love, the charming Vronsky. With her husband she lives a proper and ethical life, a life where she enjoys the highest social regard, and a life - most importantly - with her dearest infant son. But it is also a life without any passion, a life where she is hardly more than a piece of furniture to her husband. Passion is the domain of Vronsky, but while her emotions may circumvent the social conventions - a rather daring proposition at the time - the question is whether her passionate love of Vronsky can circumvent her being a mother. Shchedrin's score is penetrating in a dramatic expression of feelings. For Tolstoy's characters do not only act out; they contemplate, question and reflect as much… The score which ideally taps into the dramatic atmosphere, renders brilliant musical characterizations and manifests emotional intensity has proved an excellent score and guide of inspiration for the creative team.

In 1975, the ballet was first seen in Lithuania. The Bolshoi's production was put on at the LNOBT stage by the same creative team including choreographers Maya Plisetskaya, Natalia Ryzhenko and Viktor Smirnov-Golovanov and designer Valery Levental. The cast was led by a Lithuanian conductor, Jonas Aleksa. One of the most innovative productions of the day, Anna Karenina fascinated the audiences with the dance of Maya Plisetskaya and Lithuanian ballet stars such like Nina Antonova and Svetlana Masaniova (Anna), Vytautas Kudzma and Raimundas Minderis (Vronsky), Voldemaras Chlebinskas and Jonas Katakinas (Karenin).

Anna Karenina returns to the LNOBT in a version created for the Royal Danish Ballet by a young choreographer Alexei Ratmansky and designer Mikael Melbye. The performers of the leading roles include Egle Spokaite, Miki Hamanaka, Nerijus Juska, Aurimas Paulauskas, Vytautas Kudzma and Evardas Smalakys.

Booking Info:

2009 Season - Times to be announced

Exciting young choreographer Jonathan Watkins creates his first new work for The Royal Ballet – and his first piece for the main stage – making for a doubly exciting debut. Also in this programme are Kim Brandstrup’s Rushes and Wayne McGregor’s Infra, both of which had their premieres in 2008, and are making welcome early returns.

Running time: 2 hours 35 minutes | 2 Intervals

One world premiere, two revivals: three cutting-edge works from The Royal Ballet. Rising talent Jonathan Watkins makes his first work for the main stage. In an optimistic strike against the modern threat of conformity, Watkins’s new ballet explores how the differences between individuals can combine to create a harmonious unity. The first revival of Kim Brandstrup’s Rushes – Fragments of a Lost Story is an engrossing contrast as it explores differing memories of an eternal love triangle. The virtuoso choreography of Wayne McGregor’s Infra is set against an LED backdrop of pedestrians by Julian Opie to reveal the depths of real relationships beneath a stark surface. McGregor’s extraordinary demands of his dancers make a fine outlet for the brilliance of the Royal Ballet dancers, and his collaboration with Opie and music by Max Richter make a great climax to an especially exciting evening of dance.

CREDITS
NEW WATKINS
Music
Graham Fitkin

Choreography
Jonathan Watkins

Set Design
Simon Daw

Costume designs
Vicki Mortimer

Lighting design
Neil Austin

RUSHES
Music
Sergei Prokofiev
Michael Berkeley

Choreography
Kim Brandstrup

Designs
Richard Hudson

Lighting design
Jean Kalman

Video design
Dick Straker

INFRA
Music
Max Richter

Choreography
Wayne McGregor

Set designs
Julian Opie

Costume designs
Moritz Junge

Lighting design
Lucy Carter

Sound design
Chris Ekers

PERFORMERS
NEW WATKINS
Conductor
Barry Wordsworth

Performers
tbc

RUSHES
Conductor
Daniel Capps

Performers
Alina Cojocaru
Leanne Benjamin
Tamara Rojo
Laura Morera
Thomas Whitehead
Carlos Acosta

INFRA
Performers
Leanne Benjamin
Lauren Cuthbertson
Mara Galeazzi
Marianela Nuñez
Edward Watson
Eric Underwood
Melissa Hamilton

With this exclusive packaged hotel deal you recieve ticket(s) to a "Arena Di Verona" event, and accommodation at the luxury hotel of your choice.

Don Carlo (Don Carlos) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with libretto by Angelo Zanardini. It was composed between 1866 and 1867 and was revised in 1872, originally being a five act opera. It was revised again between 1882 and 1883 becoming a four act opera. The original version premiered on 11 March 1867 at the Opéra in Paris and the revised version premiered on 10 January 1884 at La Scala in Milan.

Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The première (under the title Almaviva, or the Useless Precaution) took place on 20 February 1816 at the Teatro Argentina, Rome and though an infamous flop, The Barber of Seville has become a standard of comic opera repertory.

Sylvia, originally Sylvia ou La Nymphe de Diane, is a full-length ballet in two or three acts, first choreographed by Louis Mérante to music by Léo Delibes in 1876. Sylvia is a typical classical ballet in many respects, yet it has many interesting features which make it unique. Sylvia is notable for its mythological Arcadian setting, creative choreographies, expansive sets and, above all, its remarkable score.

Elektra is a one-act opera by Richard Strauss, to a German-language libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal adapted from his drama of 1903—the first of many such collaborations between composer and librettist.

An opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi with libretto by Temistocle Solera and based on the biblical story and the play by Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornu. It premiered on 9 March 1842 at La Scala in Milan.

The Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra is the oldest and most illustrious of Hungary's orchestras. It was founded in 1853 by Hungarian composer Ferenc Erkel, who led the orchestra until 1871. He was followed by Hans Richter (1871 - 1875), Sándor Erkel (1875 - 1900), István Kerner (1900 - 1918), and Ernst von Dohnányi (1919 - 1944). Since World War II, music directors have included Otto Klemperer, János Ferencsik, András Kórody, and Rico Saccani. Composers such as Liszt, Brahms, Goldmark, Mahler, Bartók, Kodály, and Dohnányi all wrote works for the orchestra. The members are chosen from among the best players at the Budapest Opera House. The orchestra performs in this opera house, where it offers one of the longest-running programs of subscription concerts in Europe (since 1853).

L’elisir d’amore (The Love Potion or The Elixir of Love) is an opera in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti, with libretto by Felice Romani. It was composed in 1832 and premiered on 12 May 1832 at the Teatro Canobbiana in Milan.

Onegin is a ballet in three acts choreographed by John Cranko to music by Tchaikovsky and from Alexander Pushkin’s narrative poem, Eugene Onegin. Onegin was premiered by Stuttgart Ballet in 1965.

La Cenerentola (Cinderella) is an opera (drama giocoso) in two acts by Gioachino Rossini, with libretto by Giacomo Ferretti, after Charles Perrault’s tale Cendrillon. It premiered on 25 January 1817 at the Teatro Valle in Rome.

La Cenerentola/Askungen
 
La Cenerentola, ossia La bontà in trionfo (Cinderella, or Goodness Triumphant) is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was written by Jacopo Ferretti, based on the fairy tale Cinderella. The opera was first performed in Rome's Teatro Valle on 25 January 1817.
 
Rossini composed La Cenerentola when he was 25 years old, following the success of The Barber of Seville the year before. La Cenerentola, which he completed in a period of three weeks, is considered to have some of his finest writing for solo voice and ensembles. Rossini saved some time by reusing an overture from La gazzetta and part of an aria from The Barber of Seville and by enlisting a collaborator, Luca Agolini, who wrote the secco recitatives and three numbers (Alidoro's "Vasto teatro e il mondo", Clorida's "Sventurata!" and the chorus "Ah, della bella incognita.") The facsimile edition of the autograph has a different aria for Alidoro, "Fa silencio; odi un rumore"; this seems to have been added by an anonymous hand for a 1818 production. For a 1820 revival in Rome Rossini wrote a bravura replacement, "La del ciel nel l'arcanno profondo". The light, energetic overture has been in the standard repertoire since its premiere as La Cenerentola.
 

A disfigured musical genius haunts the catacombs beneath the Paris Opera and exerts strange control over a lovely young soprano. Based on "Le Fantome de L'Opera" by Gaston Leroux. Score includes: "Music of the Night," "Angel of Music," "Think of Me" and the title song. Andrew Lloyd Webber's smash musicalization of the Gaston Leroux novel won the 1988 Tony Award for Best Musical.

Running Time: Two hours and 30 minutes with one 15-minute intermission

Performance Times:

Monday: 8pm

Tuesday: 7pm

Wednesday - Saturday: 8pm

Wednesday and Saturday: 2pm

Aida became one of the most renowned opera works ever. Verdi endowed the story of the Ethiopian princess Aida with fervent music. He created a musical drama full of fairy-tale fantasy yet at the same time realistically convincing. The State Opera has scored a point: its Aida will be liked The sets, by Egyptian artist Abdel Hafiz Farghali, in countless hues of the African desert, blend finely with Josef Jelneks costumes

Customer must exchange voucher at: Bohemia Ticket, Na Prikope 16, Prague 1.

With this exclusive packaged hotel deal you can choose from the range of "Phantom of the Opera" theatre tickets and choose your duration at our selection of London hotels.

Lloyd Webber's romantic musical is based on Gaston Leroux's gothic novel of life beneath the stage of the Paris Opera House. A mysterious masked man falls in love with Christine, a singer who inspires The Music of the Night.

Running Time: [2hr 30m]

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the staging of Phantom of the Opera, all seats may have restricted view during parts of the performance. Pillar seats in the Stalls and Royal Circle and the side seats in the Grand Circle are particularly affected.

One of the most visually spectacular opera stagings of recent decades, ENO's London premiere production of Philip Glass's Satyagraha broke all Company box-office records for contemporary opera when it was first seen in 2007. Instilled with breath-taking theatrical flair by Improbable's award-winning director-designer partnership of Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch, it went on to enjoy equal success at the Metropolitan Opera, New York. A mesmerisingly hypnotic musical meditation upon Mahatma Gandhi's early years in South Africa, and his spiritual progress towards the concept of non-violent protest, Glass's operatic masterpiece now returns to the London Coliseum. Alan Oke repeats his compelling central performance as the young political activist taking the first tentative steps in his lifelong search for truth.
Performed in Sanskrit with English surtitles
Original production supported by The 20/20 Group
A collaboration with Improbable
A co-production with The Metropolitan Opera, New York

9 performances. Running time: 3hrs 15mins
M. K. Gandhi Alan Oke; Miss Schlesen Elena Xanthoudakis; Mrs Naidoo Janis Kelly; Kasturbai Stephanie Marshall; Mrs Alexander Anne Mason; Mr Kallenbach Ashley Holland; Prince Arjuna Robert Poulton; Lord Krishna/Parsi Rustomji James Gower
Director Phelim McDermott; Associate Director/Designer Julian Crouch; Revival Director David Kneuss; Costume Designer Kevin Pollard; Lighting Designer Paule Constable; Video Designers Leo Warner and Mark Grimmer for Fifty Nine Productions
Please note:
Sung in Sunskrit.
No English surtitles.

Carmen is an opera comique in four acts by Georges Bizet with libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the story of the same title by Prosper Mérimée.

The opera premiered at the Opéra Comique of Paris on 3 March 1875, denounced by critics as "immoral" and "superficial".

An opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini with libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa and based on Victorien Sardou's drama, La Tosca. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900.

A beautiful square in Seville with a cigarette factory, a guard house, and a bridge. Morales and the soldiers are on guard, very bored ("Sur la place, Chacun passe").
Micala appears seeking Jos, her fianc, but is accosted by the impudent soldiers who desire her company, causing her to run away. As Jos approaches with the new guard, he and the soldiers are imitated by the street-children ("Avec la garde montante").

The cigarette girls emerge from the factory, greeted by their men ("La cloche a sonn"). Carmen appears, and all the men ask her when she will love them ("Quand je vous aimerai?"). She replies that she loves the man that does not love her in the famous Habanera. ("L'amour est un oiseau rebelle"). When asked to choose a lover, she throws a flower in front of Jos ("Carmen! sur tes pas, nous nous pressons tous!"). Jos is temporarily transfixed until Micala brings him a letter and kiss from his mother ("Parle-moi de ma mre!").

Jos longingly thinks of his home. As soon as she leaves, screams are heard from the factory and the women run out, singing chaotically ("Au secours! Au secours!"). Don Jos and his superior, Zuniga find that Carmen has been fighting with another woman, and slashed her face with a knife.

Zuniga attempts to interrogate Carmen who impudently sings a folk song, ignoring him ("Tra la la"). Zuniga instructs Jos to arrest her, and escort her to the gaol. Carmen seduces Jos with a Seguidilla ("Prs des remparts de Sville"), and convinces Jos to let her escape. Jos is arrested for letting Carmen escape.

Performance Info

Customers must exchange their voucher on the day of the performance.

Ticket exchange area will be announced at End of December.

An opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica, based on David Belasco’s play Madame Butterfly, which in turn is based on a short story by John Luther Long.

The work was made to order (commissioned by the Egyptian viceroy and opera lover Ismail Pasha) for the ceremonial opening of the Suez Canal (November 17, 1869), although Verdi only started writing it after its opening.

Verdi endowed the story of the Ethiopian princess Aida, imprisoned as a slave at the court of Egyptian pharaohs and living out her tragic amorous relationship to an Egyptian chieftain, with fervent music. He created a musical drama full of fairy-tale fantasy yet at the same time realistically convincing. Aida became one of the most renowned opera works ever.

Performance Info

Customers must exchange their voucher on the day of the performance.

Ticket exchange area will be announced at End of December.

Macbeth is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, composed originally between 1846 and 1847, although was revised between 1864 and 1865. The original libretto was by Francesco Maria Piave (with additions by Andrea Maffei), after the tragedy of the same name by William Shakespeare and the revised libretto by Charles Nuittier Alexander Beaumont. It premiered at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence on 14 March 1847 and the revised version at the Théâtre-Lyrique in Paris on 21 April 1865.

Synopsis

Prologue
A tavern in Nuremberg. The Muse appears and reveals to the audience her purpose to draw Hoffmann's attention to herself, and to make him abjure all other loves, so he can be devoted fully to her : poetry. She takes the appearance of Hoffmann's closest friend, Niklausse. The prima donna Stella, currently performing Mozart's Don Giovanni sends a letter to Hoffmann, requesting a meeting in her dressing room after the performance. The letter, and the key to the room, is intercepted by the Councillor Lindorf, who is the first incarnation of evil; Hoffmann's Nemesis. Lindorf intends to replace Hoffmann at the rendezvous. In the tavern students are waiting for Hoffmann. He finally arrives and entertain them with the legend of Kleinzach the dwarf, and his coaxed by Lindorf into telling the audience about his life's three great loves.

Act One
Hoffmann's first love is Olympia, an automaton created by the scientist Spalanzani. Coppélius, Olympia's co-maker and this act's evil incarnation, sells Hoffmann magic glasses which make Olympia appear as a real woman. Hoffmann is tricked into believing his affections are returned, to the bemusement of Niklausse, who subtly tries to warn his friend. While dancing with Olympia, Hoffmann falls on the ground and his glasses break. At the same time, Coppélius appears and tears Olympia apart, in retaliation for having been tricked out of his just dues by Spalanzani. In the middle of the crowd laughing at him, Hoffmann realizes that he was in love with an automaton.

Act Two
After a long search, Hoffmann finds the house where Crespel and his daughter Antonia are hiding. Hoffmann and Antonia loved each other, but were separated when Crespel decided to hide his daughter from Hoffmann. Antonia has inherited her mother's talent and voice, but her father forbids her to sing because of the mysterious illness from which she is suffering. He also forbids her to see Hoffmann, who is encouraging Antonia in her musical career, and is therefore a danger for her without his knowing it. But when Crespel leaves his house, Hoffmann takes advantage of the occasion to sneak into the house, and the lovers are re-united. When Crespel comes back, he receives the visit of Dr Miracle (this act's evil incarnation), who forces Crespel to let him heal Antonia. Still in the house, Hoffmann listens to the conversation and learns that Antonia may die if she sings too much. He returns to her room to make her promise to give up her artistic dreams. Antonia reluctantly accepts her lover's will. Once she is alone, Dr Miracle enters Antonia's room and try to persuade her to sing and to follow her mother's path to glory, stating that Hoffmann is sacrificing her to his brutishness and loves her only for her beauty. Having some mystic powers, he raises a vision of Antonia's dead mother and induces her to sing to death. Crespel arrives just in time to witness his daughter's last breath. Hoffmann enters the room and Crespel wants to kill him, thinking that he is responsible for his daughter's death. Nicklausse saves his friend from the old man's vengeance.

Act Three
Venice. Hoffmann falls in love with the courtesan Giulietta and thinks his affections are returned. But Giulietta is seducing Hoffmann under the orders of Captain Dapertutto, who promised to give her a diamond if she filches Hoffmann's reflection from a mirror. Schlemil (see Peter Schlemihl for the literary antecedant), a previous victim of Giulietta and Dapertutto (he gave Giulietta his shadow) wants to save Hoffmann from his foolish passion for the courtesan by killing him. He challenges the poet to a duel, but is killed. Niklausse wants to take Hoffmann away from Venice and goes looking for horses. Meanwhile, Hoffmann meets Giulietta and cannot resist her: he gives her his reflection, only to be abandoned by the courtesan, to Dapertutto's great pleasure. Hoffmann tells the evil man that his friend Niklausse will come and save him. Dapertutto prepares a poison to get rid of Niklausse, but Giulietta drinks it by mistake and drops dead in the arms of the poet.

Epilogue
The tavern in Nuremberg. Hoffmann, drunk, swears he will never ever love again, and explains that Olympia, Antonia, and Giulietta are three facets of a same person, Stella, representing respectively the young girl's, the musician's and the courtesan's side of the prima donna. When Hoffmann says he doesn't want to love anymore, Niklausse reveals himself as the Muse and reclaims Hoffmann : "Be reborn a poet! I love you, Hoffmann! Be mine!" The magic of poetry reaches Hoffmann's limb : "Beloved Muse, I am yours". At this moment, Stella, who is tired of waiting for Hoffmann to come to her rendezvous, enters the tavern and finds Hoffmann drunk. The poet tells her to leave ("Farewell, I will not follow you, phantom, spectre of the past"), and Lindorf, who was waiting in the shadow, comes forth. Niklausse explains to Stella that Hoffmann does not love her anymore, but that the councillor Lindorf is waiting for her. Some students enter the room for more drinking, while Stella and Lindorf leave together.

The Barcarolle
The most famous piece from the opera is the "Barcarolle" which is performed in the third act. This has been incorporated into many movies including Life Is Beautiful.

DURATION:
3h 40 min

Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Victorien Sardou's drama, La Tosca.

The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, commonly referred to as Romeo and Juliet, is a play by William Shakespeare concerning the fate of two young lovers who would do anything to be together. It is, perhaps, the most famous of his plays and undoubtedly the most famous love story in Western history.

Don Giovanni (also known as The Rake Punished) is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, after Giovanni Bertati’s opera Don Giovanni Tenorio, o sia Il convitato di pietra. It was composed in 1787 and premiered on 29 October at The Estates Theatre in Prague, conducted by the composer himself.

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg) is an opera in three acts, written and composed by Richard Wagner. It is one of the most popular operas in the repertory, and the longest still commonly performed today, usually taking around five hours. It was first performed at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater, Munich, on June 21, 1868. The conductor at the premiere was Hans von Bülow.

The story takes place in Nuremberg during the middle of the 16th century. At the time, Nuremberg was an Imperial Free City, and one of the centers of the Renaissance in Northern Europe. The story revolves around the real-life guild of Meistersinger (Master Singers), an association of amateur poets and musicians, mostly from the middle class and often master craftsmen in their main professions.

The Meistersingers developed a craftsmanlike approach to music-making, with an intricate system of rules for composing and performing songs. The work draws much of its charm from its faithful depiction of the Nuremberg of the era and the traditions of the Meistersinger guild. One of the main characters, the cobbler-poet Hans Sachs, is based on an actual historical figure: Hans Sachs (1494 — 1576), the most famous of the historical Meistersingers. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg occupies a unique place in Wagner's oeuvre.

It is the only comedy among his mature operas, and the only one centered on a historically well-defined time and place rather than a mythical or legendary setting. It is the only mature Wagner opera to be based on an entirely original story, devised by Wagner himself. It incorporates many of the operatic conventions that Wagner had railed against in his essays on the theory of opera: rhymed verse, arias, choruses, a ballet, and even a quintet (the celebrated Meistersinger Quintet).

Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) is an opera in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. It was composed between 1785 and 1786 and premiered on 1 May 1786 in the Burgtheater in Vienna.

"Even if you think you've seen The Phantom of the Opera before, believe me, you've never seen it like this." - Toronto Star

PHANTOM - The Las Vegas Spectacular is an all-new 95–minute production that includes every song from the original and reunites Andrew Lloyd Webber, Hal Prince and others from the show’s original creative team. This lavish production was named the “#1 show in Las Vegas” by the Las Vegas Review Journal and continues to thrill audiences night after night.

From the moment you enter the magnificent $40 million custom-built theatre, you are in the storied Paris Opera House and part of The Phantom's world and all its signature songs, lyrics, costumes, and more. With spectacular sets, new illusions and a breathtaking chandelier experience unlike anything you have ever seen, PHANTOM is a can't-miss experience that promises surprises that will astound new audiences and loyal PHANTOM fans alike, and it’s only at The Venetian. Get your tickets today!

"An only-in-Vegas thrill ride!" - USA Today

"There's no longer any reason to see this show anywhere else." - Chicago Tribune

In the inner courtyard of his place, the tetrarch Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee and Peraea by the grace of the Roman Emperor, holds the prophet Jokanaan captive and sealed off from the world. As the head of an oppositional sect, Jokanaan poses a political danger to the tetrarch. The prophet attacks the dissolute life of the rulers. But Herod, secretly in fear of the prophet, is unwilling to have him put to death.

A banquet is held in the palace. Salome, daughter of Herod’s second wife Herodias from her first marriage, flees the celebrations. When she hears the prophet’s voice, she longs to see him. She wheedles the captain Narraboth into disobeying the tetrarch’s orders and fetching the prisoner out of the cistern in which he is imprisoned. She is fascinated by Jokanaan’s stance, which seems like the antithesis of the mode of life of her own surroundings. But she knows only one way to identify with the new: that of taking sexual possession. Jokanaan refuses her advances.

Searching for Salome, Herod arrives in the courtyard with Herodias and his entourage. He asks Salome to dance for him, swearing to give her whatever she wants. After the dance, Salome demands the head of Jokanaan. The tetrarch, aghast at the prospect of execution, offers her jewels and other treasures, but finally has to fulfill his oath and her desire. The executioner brings Salome Jokanaan’s head. Salome’s bloody revenge is followed by her realization that, with Jokanaan’s death, she has destroyed herself. Herod gives the order to kill Salome.

Performances Times

* 9th Oct 09 - 8pm
* 23rd Oct 09 - 8pm
* 10th Apr 10 - 6pm
* 17th Apr 10 - 8pm
* 23rd Apr 10 - 8pm