Experience world-class Royal Opera & Ballet productions from London’s Covent Garden and The Sydney Opera House. 

IL TRITTICO
ROYAL OPERA HOUSE
MARCH 9, 10, 11 & 14

This is The Royal Opera's first complete presentation of Puccini's Il trittico since 1965.Leading director Richard Jones staged his witty, darkly comic realization of Gianni Schicchi for The Royal Opera in 2007, and here he completes the trio. Royal Opera Music Director Antonio Pappano will conduct. Il trittico ('the triptych'), unveiled at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, in 1918, represented an operatic departure. Instead of a single evening-length narrative, Puccini offered three contrasting one-act works. Il trittico reached Covent Garden in 1920, but has rarely been performed there complete. Sung in Italian with English subtitles.

DIRECTOR: Richard Jones
CONDUCTOR: Antonio Pappano
CAST: Lucio Gallo, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Aleksandrs Antonenko, Alan Oke, Jeremy White, Irina Mishura, Ji-Min Park, Ermonela Jaho, Anna Larsson, Irina Mishura, Lucio Gallo, Ekaterina Siurina, Francesco Demuro and Royal Opera Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
APPROX DURATION: 3 hours and 6 minutes (excluding intervals)

ROMEO & JULIET
THE ROYAL BALLET
APRIL 13, 14, 15 & 18

Romeo and Juliet was Kenneth MacMillan's first full-evening ballet, and, from its premiere in 1965, has been one of The Royal Ballet's signature works, popular all over the world. At the beginning of the ballet MacMillan's crowd scenes teem with life and colour. It's a pleasure to be able to follow the characters created by members of the corps de ballet as they portray the townspeople, market traders and servants of the rival Montagues and Capulets. However, once Romeo and Juliet meet, everything else on stage can only be scenery for their story. Three great pas de deux: the meeting in the ballroom, the balcony scene and the morning after the wedding, eloquently convey the narrative: adolescent shyness and fascination; the headlong rush of love declared, and the grief of parting. The final scene in the tomb, a pas de deux with a lifeless partner, is devastating. The Royal Ballet has performed Romeo and Juliet well over 400 times, yet each performance is subtly different. Every pairing in the title roles brings fresh nuances to the young lovers' characters, while the wealth of supporting roles, from the exuberant trio of harlots in the town square to the murderous rage of Tybalt, offers scope for dancers throughout the Company. Nicholas Georgiadis's earthy Renaissance designs, with some of the original details recently restored, are the perfect backdrop.

MUSIC: Sergey Prokofiev
CONDUCTOR: Barry Wordsworth
CHOREOGRAPHER: Kenneth MacMillan
CAST: Sergei Polunin and Lauren Cuthbertson
APPROX DURATION: 2 hours 12 minutes (Plus intermission)

RIGOLETTO
ROYAL OPERA HOUSE
MAY 4, 5, 6 & 9

In Rigoletto, Verdi charts the fate of his larger-than-life charactiers - the tormented jester trying to avenge himself on his heartless playboy employer the Duke of Mantua, who has carelessly seduced Rigoletto's innocent daughter Gilda - in music of immense theatrical punch and instant memorability. Based on Victor Hugo's controversial play, Le Rois'amuse, Verdi's 1851 tragedy caused one of his many rows with the censors before its Venetian premiere. Following a few minor compromises, the work triumphed locally, then internationally. The score's most celebrated highlights – the Duke's 'Questa o quella' and 'La donna e mobile', Gilda's 'Caro nome', and the famous quartet (which Hugo believed actually improved on his play at that point in the action) – are among the best known set- pieces in all opera. First seen in 2001, David McVicar's production teems with life and colour and, with Tanya McCallin's period costumes and Michael Vale's starkly effective sets, it provides an ideal frame for Verdi's exploration of love, emotional betrayal and the darkest revenge.

DIRECTOR: David McVicar
CAST: Dimitri Platanias, ZhengZhong Zhou, Ekaterina Siurina, Gianfranco Montresor, Vittorio Grigolo, Elizabeth Sikora, Pablo Bemsch, Andrea Hazell, Jihoon Kim, Nigel Cliffe, Louise Armit, Christine Rice
APPROX DURATION: 2 hours 13 minutes (Plus intermission)

LA FILLE MAL GARDEE
ROYAL OPERA HOUSE
JUNE 1, 2, 3 & 6