Royal Opera House

New English Ballet Theatre review – highs and lows in a full and varied programme

A hardworking young company showcase a range of dance styles to music including classical, rock and contemporary

Sanjoy Roy

20, Jun, 2022 @9:50 AM

Anne Howells obituary

Opera singer with a remarkable theatrical presence once described as ‘the Cleopatra of the lyric stage’

Barry Millington

05, Jun, 2022 @3:52 PM

Royal Opera stages Madama Butterfly with changes to respect Japanese culture

Revival of Puccini classic seeks to be ‘both true to the spirit of the original and authentic in its representation’

Nadia Khomami Arts and culture correspondent

05, Jun, 2022 @2:47 PM

The week in classical: Samson et Dalila; Lise Davidsen & Freddie De Tommaso with James Baillieu

Strength comes in many forms in the Royal Opera’s revelatory new Samson et Dalila; and two star singers in the ascendant hit all the high notes

Fiona Maddocks

04, Jun, 2022 @11:30 AM

Like Water for Chocolate review – Christopher Wheeldon’s delectable take on a magic-realist love story

Wheeldon choreographs Mexican novelist Laura Esquivel’s 1989 tale of food and forbidden passions into a fulfilling ballet full of buoyant movement and visually arresting coups de theatre

Lyndsey Winship

03, Jun, 2022 @10:42 AM

Samson et Dalila review – Saint-Saëns’ opera has style and a new star in SeokJong Baek

Richard Jones’ vibrant new production can’t compensate for the work’s dramatic weaknesses, but soloists and chorus alike are on top form, and conductor Antonio Pappano relishes the score’s melodiousness

Erica Jeal

27, May, 2022 @1:59 PM

The week in classical: Mavra/Pierrot lunaire; LSO/ Tilson Thomas; Gabrieli/ McCreesh

Covent Garden’s future stars make the most of a tricky double bill

Fiona Maddocks

21, May, 2022 @11:30 AM

Mavra/Pierrot Lunaire review – blancmanges, bin bags and drag as double bill probes gender

The Royal Opera’s unusual pairing of two modernist works boasts an outstanding lead in Alexandra Lowe as Pierrot Lunaire, and plenty of imaginative touches elsewhere

Tim Ashley

13, May, 2022 @11:40 AM

The week in classical: Don Pasquale; Holst’s Sāvitri

The charms of Donizetti’s comic opera continue to elude, while a Holst rarity shines in an elegant fusion of music and movement

Fiona Maddocks

07, May, 2022 @11:30 AM

Royal Ballet triple bill review – daredevil effervescence and virtuosity

Steven McRae returns from injury to the role he’d made his own in Frederick Ashton’s Rhapsody, while two other Ashton works make up an evening of playful combinations and beautifully delineated emotions

Lyndsey Winship

24, Apr, 2022 @1:18 PM

The week in classical: Lohengrin; The Paradis Files

An exemplary revival brings David Alden’s 2018 Wagner production into sharp focus. And an overlooked contemporary of Mozart’s is celebrated by Errollyn Wallen

Fiona Maddocks

23, Apr, 2022 @11:30 AM

Lohengrin review – powerful and prescient production strips Wagner’s opera of its romance

A revival of David Alden’s war-torn staging of Wagner’s early opera finds disturbing new resonance with current events; in the pit Jakub Hrůša has an unerring sense of the work’s structure

Martin Kettle

20, Apr, 2022 @12:22 PM