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Royal Opera Season 2017/18


Sim

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I must say the opera looks much more interesting than the ballet for next season!

 

Details of The Royal Opera's 2017/18 Season have been announced. The full production list is as follows:

 

La bohème NEW PRODUCTION
11 September–10 October 2017, 16 June–20 July 2018
(Live in cinemas 3 October 2017)

Music: Giacomo Puccini
Director: Richard Jones
Conductors: Antonio Pappano / Paul Wynne Griffiths / Nicola Luisotti

Richard Jones directs a new production of Puccini’s passionate opera of love and death in 19th-century Paris.

  • Mimì – Nicole Car / Simona Mihai / Maria Agresta / Ekaterina Siurina
  • Rodolfo – Michael Fabiano / Benjamin Bernheim / Matthew Polenzani / Atalla Ayan
  • Marcello – Mariusz Kwiecień / Alessio Arduini / Andrei Bondarenko
  • Musetta – Nadine Sierra / Danielle de Niese / Vlada Borovko
  • Schaunard – Florian Sempey / Gyula Nagy / Duncan Rock / Rodion Pogossov
  • Colline – Luca Tittoto / Fernando Javier Radó / In Sung Sim
  • Benoît – Jeremy White
  • Alcindoro – Wyn Pencarreg

 

Die Zauberflöte
12 September—14 October 2017
(Live in cinemas 20 September 2017)

Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Director: David McVicar
Conductors: Julia Jones / Richard Hetherington

Julia Jones conducts The Royal Opera’s gorgeous production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute with two wonderful casts including Roderick Williams as Papageno and Janai Brugger as Pamina.

  • Pamina – Siobhan Stagg / Janai Brugger
  • Tamino – Mauro Peter / Tuomas Katajala
  • Papageno – Roderick Williams / Florian Sempey
  • Sarastro – Mika Kares / In Sung Sim
  • Queen of the Night – Sabine Devieilhe / Christina Poulitsi
  • First Lady – Rebecca Evans / Jennifer Davis
  • Second Lady – Angela Simkin
  • Third Lady – Susan Platts / Gaynor Keeble
  • Monostatos – Peter Bronder / Peter Hoare
  • Papagena – Christina Gansch / Haegee Lee
  • Speaker of the Temple – Sebastian Holecek / Darren Jeffery

 

Les Vêpres siciliennes
12 October–4 November 2017

Music: Giuseppe Verdi
Director: Stefan Herheim
Conductor: Maurizio Benini

Verdi’s spectacular grand opera is conducted by Maurizio Benini with a cast including Malin Byström and Rachele Stanisci, Bryan Hymel, Michael Volle and Erwin Schrott.

  • Hélène – Malin Byström / Rachele Stanisci
  • Henri – Bryan Hymel
  • Jean Procida – Erwin Schrott
  • Guy de Montfort – Michael Volle
  • Ninetta – Michelle Daly
  • Daniéli – Nico Darmanin
  • Thibault – Neal Cooper
  • Robert – Jihoon Kim
  • Mainfroid – Samuel Sakker
  • Le Sire de Béthune – Simon Shibambu
  • Le Comte de Vaudemont – Jeremy White

 

Lucia di Lammermoor
30 October–27 November 2017

Music: Gaetano Donizetti
Director: Katie Mitchell
Conductor: Michele Mariotti

Donizetti’s opera of a woman forced to breaking point is conducted by Michele Mariotti with a cast including Lisette Oropesa, Charles Castronovo and Christopher Maltman, in Katie Mitchell’s powerful production.

  • Lucia – Lisette Oropesa
  • Edgardo – Charles Castronovo / Ismael Jordi
  • Enrico Ashton – Christopher Maltman
  • Raimondo Bidebent – Michele Pertusi
  • Normanno – Andrew Tortise
  • Arturo Bucklaw – Konu Kim
  • Alisa – Rachael Lloyd

 

La Tragédie de Carmen NEW PRODUCTION
3–14 November 2017 (Wilton’s Music Hall)

Music: Georges Bizet
Director: Gerard Jones
Conductor: James Hendry

The youthful stars of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme perform Peter Brook’s radical reworking of Georges Bizet’s opera in the intimate setting of Wilton’s Music Hall.

  • Carmen – Aigul Akhmetshina
  • Don José – Thomas Atkins
  • Escamillo – Gyula Nagy
  • Micaela – Francesca Chiejina


Semiramide NEW PRODUCTION
19 November—16 December 2017

Music: Gioachino Rossini
Director: David Alden
Conductors: Antonio Pappano / Christopher Willis

Antonio Pappano conducts Rossini’s epic tragedy with a cast including Joyce DiDonato, Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, Daniela Barcellona and Lawrence Brownlee in a new production by David Alden.

  • Semiramide – Joyce DiDonato
  • Assur – Ildebrando D'Arcangelo
  • Arsace – Daniela Barcellona
  • Idreno – Lawrence Brownlee
  • Azema – Jacquelyn Stucker
  • Oroe – Bálint Szabó
  • Mitrane – Konu Kim
  • Nino's Ghost – Simon Shibambu

 

Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci
29 November 2017—13 January 2018

Music: Pietro Mascagni / Ruggero Leoncavallo
Director: Damiano Michieletto
Conductor: Daniel Oren

Catch this classic double bill of Italian opera in The Royal Opera’s Olivier Award-winning production, with Daniel Oren conducting two excellent casts.

  • Santuzza – Elīna Garanča / Anna Pirozzi
  • Turiddu – Bryan Hymel
  • Mamma Lucia – Elena Zilio
  • Alfio – Dimitri Platanias
  • Lola – Martina Belli
  • Canio – Fabio Sartori
  • Tonio – Simon Keenlyside / Roberto Frontali
  • Nedda – Carmen Giannattasio / Simona Mihai
  • Silvio – Andrzej Filończyk / Samuel Dale Johnson
  • Beppe – Luis Gomes

 

Rigoletto
14 December 2017—16 January 2018
(Live in cinemas 16 January 2018)

Music: Giuseppe Verdi
Director: David McVicar
Conductor: Alexander Joel

Alexander Joel conducts two excellent casts led by Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Dimitri Platanias in David McVicar’s acclaimed production of Verdi’s potent and tragic opera.

  • Duke of Mantua – Michael Fabiano / Ivan Magrì
  • Rigoletto – Dmitri Hvorostovsky / Dimitri Platanias
  • Gilda – Sofia Fomina / Lucy Crowe
  • Sparafucile – Andrea Mastroni
  • Maddalena – Nadia Krasteva
  • Giovanna – Sarah Pring / Kathleen Wilkinson
  • Count Monterone – James Rutherford / Darren Jeffery
  • Marullo – Dominic Sedgwick
  • Matteo Borsa – Thomas Atkins
  • Count Ceprano – Simon Shibambu
  • Countess Ceprano – Francesca Chiejina / Jacquelyn Stucker

 

Salome
8–30 January 2018

Music: Richard Strauss
Director: David McVicar
Conductor: Henrik Nánási

Malin Byström takes on the title role in Richard Strauss’s searing opera, as featured in the V&A exhibition Opera: Passion, Power and Politics.

  • Salome – Malin Byström
  • Jokanaan – Michael Volle
  • Herod – John Daszak
  • Herodias – Michaela Schuster
  • Narraboth – David Butt Philip
  • Page of Herodias – Christina Bock
  • First Jew – Dietmar Kerschbaum
  • Second Jew – Thomas Atkins
  • Third Jew – Hubert Francis
  • Fourth Jew – Konu Kim
  • Fifth Jew – Jeremy White
  • First Soldier – Levente Páll
  • Second Soldier – Alan Ewing
  • First Nazarene – Kihwan Sim
  • Second Nazarene – Dominic Sedgwick
  • Cappadocian – John Cunningham

 

The Return of Ulysses NEW PRODUCTION
10–21 January 2018 (Roundhouse)

Music: Claudio Monteverdi
Director: John Fulljames
Conductor: Christian Curnyn

The Royal Opera returns to the Roundhouse with Monteverdi’s great late work, in a new production directed by John Fulljames starring Christine Rice and Roderick Williams, sung in English.

  • Ulysses – Roderick Williams
  • Penelope – Christine Rice
  • Telemachus – Samuel Boden
  • Minerva – Catherine Carby
  • Eurycleia – Susan Bickley
  • Melantho – Francesca Chiejina
  • Eurymachus – Andrew Tortise
  • Eumaeus – Mark Milhofer
  • Irus – Stuart Jackson
  • Amphinomus – Nick Pritchard
  • Peisander – Tai Oney
  • Antinous – David Shipley

 

Tosca
15 January—3 March 2018
(Live in cinemas 7 February 2018)

Music: Giacomo Puccini
Director: Jonathan Kent
Conductors: Dan Ettinger / Plácido Domingo

Three casts, led by Adrianne Pieczonka, Angela Gheorghiu and Martina Serafin and conducted by Dan Ettinger and Plácido Domingo, star in The Royal Opera’s production of Puccini’s thriller.

  • Floria Tosca – Adrianne Pieczonka / Angela Gheorghiu / Martina Serafin
  • Mario Cavaradossi – Joseph Calleja / Riccardo Massi / Massimo Giordano
  • Baron Scarpia – Gerald Finley / Marco Vratogna
  • Spoletta – Aled Hall / Hubert Francis
  • Cesare Angelotti – Simon Shibambu
  • Sacristan – Jeremy White
  • Sciarrone – Jihoon Kim

 

Carmen NEW PRODUCTION
6 February—16 March 2018
(Live in cinemas 6 March 2018)

Music: Georges Bizet
Director: Barrie Kosky
Conductors: Jakub Hrůša / Christopher Willis

Barrie Kosky directs Bizet’s much-loved opera, with Jakub Hrůša and Christopher Willis conducting two casts led by Anna Goryachova and Gaëlle Arquez in the title role.

  • Carmen – Anna Goryachova / Gaëlle Arquez
  • Don José – Francesco Meli / Andrea Carè
  • Escamillo – Kostas Smoriginas / Alexey Markov
  • Micaëla – Anett Fritsch / Susanna Hurrell
  • Zuniga – David Soar / David Shipley
  • Frasquita – Jacquelyn Stucker / Haegee Lee
  • Mercédès – Angela Simkin / Aigul Akhmetshina
  • Le Dancaïre – Pierre Doyen
  • Moralès – Gyula Nagy / Dominic Sedgwick
  • Le Remendado – Jean-Paul Fouchécourt

 

From the House of the Dead NEW PRODUCTION
7–24 March 2018

Music: Leoš Janáček
Director: Krzysztof Warlikowski
Conductor: Teodor Currentzis

Janáček’s final work receives its Royal Opera premiere in a new production directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski, with Teodor Currentzis conducting an excellent cast including Johan Reuter and Willard W. White.

  • Alexandr Petrovic Gorjancikov – Willard W. White
  • Aljeja – Pascal Charbonneau
  • Luka Kuzmic – Štefan Margita
  • Skuratov – Ladislav Elgr
  • Šiškov/Priest – Johan Reuter
  • Prison Governor – Alexander Vassiliev
  • Big Prisoner/Nikita – Nicky Spence
  • Small Prisoner/Cook/Cekunov – Grant Doyle
  • Elderly Prisoner – Graham Clark
  • Voice – Konu Kim
  • Drunk Prisoner – Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts
  • Šapkin – Peter Hoare
  • Prisoner/Kedril – John Graham-Hall
  • Prisoner/Don Juan/Brahmin – Aleš Jenis
  • Young Prisoner – Florian Hoffmann
  • Prostitute – Rinat Shaham
  • Cerevin – Alexander Kravets

 

Macbeth
25 March—10 April 2018
(Live in cinemas 4 April 2018)

Music: Giuseppe Verdi
Director: Phyllida Lloyd
Conductor: Antonio Pappano

Antonio Pappano conducts Verdi’s opera on Shakespeare’s tragedy, with a magnificent cast including Anna Netrebko and Anna Pirozzi, Željko Lučić and Ildebrando D’Arcangelo.

  • Macbeth – Željko Lučić
  • Lady Macbeth – Anna Netrebko / Anna Pirozzi
  • Banquo – Ildebrando D'Arcangelo
  • Macduff – Yusif Eyvazov / David Junghoon Kim
  • Lady-in-waiting – Francesca Chiejina
  • Malcolm – Konu Kim
  • Doctor – Simon Shibambu

 

Coraline WORLD PREMIERE
27 March—7 April 2018 (Barbican Theatre)

Music: Mark-Anthony Turnage
Director: Aletta Collins

The world premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s opera based on Neil Gaiman’s much-loved story, in a production at the Barbican directed by Aletta Collins.

 

4.48 Psychosis
Dates TBC

Music: Philip Venables
Director: Ted Huffman

Philip Venables’s award-winning opera is inspired by Sarah Kane’s extraordinary final play.

 

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
12–27 April 2018

Music: Dmitry Shostakovich
Director: Richard Jones
Conductor: Antonio Pappano

Richard Jones’s critically acclaimed production returns after more than a decade, with Antonio Pappano conducting a cast led by Eva-Maria Westbroek in Shostakovich’s masterpiece.

  • Katerina Ismailova – Eva-Maria Westbroek
  • Sergey – Brandon Jovanovich
  • Boris Ismailov – John Tomlinson
  • Zinovy Ismailov – John Daszak
  • Sonyetka – Aigul Akhmetshina
  • Aksinya – Rosie Aldridge
  • Shabby Peasant – Peter Bronder
  • Priest – Wojtek Gierlach
  • Police Inspector – Mikhail Svetlov
  • Teacher – Thomas Atkins
  • Old Convict – Paata Burchuladze
  • Female Convict – Miranda Keys
  • Sentry – Simon Shibambu
  • Coachman/Second Workman – Hubert Francis

 

Lessons in Love and Violence WORLD PREMIERE
10–26 May 2018

Music: George Benjamin
Director: Katie Mitchell
Conductor: George Benjamin

George Benjamin conducts the world premiere of his new collaboration with Martin Crimp – a hotly anticipated work from the creators of Written on Skin, with an excellent, hand-picked cast.

  • Samuel Boden
  • Stéphane Degout
  • Jennifer France
  • Barbara Hannigan
  • Peter Hoare
  • Gyula Orendt
  • Andri Björn Róbertsson
  • Krisztina Szabó

 

Tansy Davies and Nick Drake WORLD PREMIERE
June 2018 (Printworks)

Music: Tansy Davies
Director: Lucy Bailey

The latest opera from composer Tansy Davies and librettist Nick Drake, the award-winning team behind Between Worlds.

 

Mamzer Bastard WORLD PREMIERE
June 2018

Music: Na'ama Zisser

The Royal Opera presents the world premiere of a new work by exciting young composer Na’ama Zisser, in a soundworld that thrillingly unites contemporary idioms with the music of Orthodox Hasidic Judaism.

 

Lohengrin NEW PRODUCTION
7 June—1 July 2018

Music: Richard Wagner
Director: David Alden
Conductor: Andris Nelsons

Wagner’s great romantic opera is conducted by Andris Nelsons with a cast including Klaus Florian Vogt, Kristine Opolais and Christine Goerke in a new production directed by David Alden.

  • Lohengrin – Klaus Florian Vogt
  • Elsa von Brabant – Kristine Opolais
  • Ortrud – Christine Goerke
  • Friedrich von Telramund – Thomas J. Mayer
  • Heinrich I – Georg Zeppenfeld
  • Herald – Kostas Smoriginas
  • First Noble of Brabant – Konu Kim
  • Second Noble of Brabant – Thomas Atkins
  • Third Noble of Brabant – Gyula Nagy
  • Fourth Noble of Brabant – Simon Shibambu

 

Don Giovanni
29 June—17 July 2018

Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Director: Kasper Holten
Conductor: Marc Minkowski

In Mozart’s dazzling tragicomic opera, Marc Minkowski conducts a world-class cast led by Mariusz Kwiecień with Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Pavol Breslik and Hrachuhi Bassenz.

  • Don Giovanni – Mariusz Kwiecień
  • Leporello – Ildebrando D'Arcangelo
  • Donna Anna – Rachel Willis-Sørensen
  • Don Ottavio – Pavol Breslik
  • Donna Elvira – Hrachuhi Bassenz
  • Zerlina – Chen Reiss
  • Masetto – Anatoli Sivko
  • The Commendatore – Willard W. White

 

Falstaff
7–21 July 2018

Music: Giuseppe Verdi
Director: Robert Carsen
Conductor: Nicola Luisotti

Robert Carsen’s production of Verdi’s masterful comic opera is filled with wit, humour and sheer joie de vivre.

  • Sir John Falstaff – Bryn Terfel
  • Alice Ford – Ana María Martínez
  • Ford – Simon Keenlyside
  • Nannetta – Anna Prohaska
  • Fenton – Frédéric Antoun
  • Mistress Quickly – Marie-Nicole Lemieux
  • Meg Page – Pamela Helen Stephen
  • Dr Caius – Carlo Bosi
  • Bardolfo – Michael Colvin
  • Pistol – Craig Colclough

 

Jette Parker Young Artists Summer Performance 2018
15 July 2018

The Jette Parker Young Artists return to the main stage in their annual summer performance.

 

L'Ange de Nisida in concert
18–21 July 2018

Music: Gaetano Donizetti
Conductor: Mark Elder

Opera Rara gives the world premiere of Donizetti’s opera – some of which is familiar from La Favorite – in a concert performance starring Joyce El-Khoury and conducted by Mark Elder.

  • Sylvia – Joyce El-Khoury
  • Leone de Casaldi – David Junghoon Kim
  • King Fernand of Naples – Ludovic Tézier
  • Don Gaspar – Laurent Naouri
  • Monk – Evgeny Stavinsky

 

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I thought it looked underwhelming myself (though not as disappointing as the ballet).  Apart from the Janacek (long overdue), Macbeth and Lohengrin, I'm not excited by anything. There are a few shows I'd be more interested in if they were better cast. Very disappointing that the rumoured Skelton/Bell Peter Grimes isn't happening - it crowns a serious shortage of Britten throughout Kasper Holten's tenure.

 

I don't know how these things work, but it's almost as if KH's heart wasn't really in it.

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I don't quite know why the Ring Cycle isn't included, I'd read that it was expected to be staged in 2018 and was surprised to not find it in the season announcement. And then I found it on the website. After greatly enjoying Pappano's Meistersinger I'm looking forward to his Ring. Tickets go on sale in November, nearly a year in advance which is very useful for hotel planning but I wonder whether this is usual? 

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20 minutes ago, Aruna S said:

I don't quite know why the Ring Cycle isn't included, I'd read that it was expected to be staged in 2018 and was surprised to not find it in the season announcement. And then I found it on the website. After greatly enjoying Pappano's Meistersinger I'm looking forward to his Ring. Tickets go on sale in November, nearly a year in advance which is very useful for hotel planning but I wonder whether this is usual? 

 

It's because it's at the beginning of the 2018/19 season.  Cast includes:

 

Siegfried: Stefan Vinke

Fricka: Sarah Connolly

Mime: Gerhard Siegel

Hagen: Stephen Milling

Gutrune: Emily Magee

Wotan/Wanderer: John Lundgren

Bruennhilde: Nina Stemme

Siegmund: Stuart Skelton

Alberich: Johannes Martin Kraenzsle

Loge: Alan Oke

Hunding: Ain Anger

Freia, Third Norn: Lise Davidsen

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Sad that the much loved production of Boheme is being replaced and why do we have to trudge to the Roundhouse for Ulysses, is there a policy of not showing early opera in the main house?  I totally agree with Lizbie1 concerning Britten, the exclusion of his operas is troubling.

 

Wild horses wouldn't drag me to see the RO's Lucia again and without a stellar cast I'll give the ugly production of Don Giovanni a miss too.  Semiramide and Lohengrin interest me most.

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41 minutes ago, MAB said:

why do we have to trudge to the Roundhouse for Ulysses, is there a policy of not showing early opera in the main house? 

 

Personally, I'd much rather see Monteverdi performed in the Roundhouse.  The venue is significantly more suitable for early music of this type, whose orchestration is drowned in a theatre the size of the ROH.

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1 hour ago, Aruna S said:

I don't quite know why the Ring Cycle isn't included, I'd read that it was expected to be staged in 2018 and was surprised to not find it in the season announcement. And then I found it on the website. After greatly enjoying Pappano's Meistersinger I'm looking forward to his Ring. Tickets go on sale in November, nearly a year in advance which is very useful for hotel planning but I wonder whether this is usual? 

 

It was last time around.

 

Ooh, Lohengrin :P  - and with the missus as well :) But did they really need a new production?

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4 minutes ago, alison said:

Ooh, Lohengrin :P  - and with the missus as well :) But did they really need a new production?

 

Well, the "production" they had before wasn't really a "production" at all.  It was effectively a concert with costumes, with almost no stage direction or movement, which was brought in as a temporary filler of a gap.  Instead they've been reviving it ever since...

 

Very interesting season IMO, though very short on my favourite singers.  Better boost my travel budget somehow, or I'll have potentially drastic withdrawal symptoms...

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Yup, agree with all the positive responses to Lohengrin and particularly pleased that Klaus Florian Vogt will be back on the UK stage. Also happy about the Opera Rara concert performance of L'Ange de Nisida.

Surprised at the Hvorostovsky casting since it wasn't all that long ago that we were told that his balance problems had put an end to full-on opera, although he is also slated for a couple of performances at the Liceu so hopefully all is well, and is the Netrebko Lady Macbeth the promised trade-off for her withdrawal from Norma?

The Di Donato/Barcellona double act again in Semiramide (La Donna del Lago anyone?) but can Joyce match Shagimuratova at last year's Proms?

Too many of the usual suspects, as per usual, with most of them featuring in the cinema broadcasts, it would seem, and why yet another outing for the muddled KH Don Giovanni?

I agree with Sim that overall the opera programme looks more promising than the ballet but, let's face it, that isn't saying much. Oh well, we shall see what we shall see!

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