UK / WEST END OPERA NEWS COVERAGE

Watch as The Royal Opera explores Puccini’s devastating tragedy about a young geisha who falls in love with an American naval officer....

An old favourite brings the passion and the pain with beautiful singing and convincing acting...

English National Opera closes its troubled, but successful, 2023-24 season with Bartok's curious compelling slice of psychodrama beautifully played by its orchestra...

In the week when an Arts Council England report lambasted the current state of opera and questioned its relevance to wider society, Charles Court Opera’s The Barber Of Seville stands as a stern rebuff to those who consider this art form to be dated and irrelevant....

Opera is not short of stories where women are violated and abandoned by the men in their lives but Leoš Janáček’s Jenůfa is an especially cruel tale....

David Alden’s double Olivier Award-winning production of Janáček’s Jenůfa returns to the London Coliseum. See first look photos!...

Albery’s revival of his Flying Dutchman simply works: with a great cast and a smooth atmosphere created by a dreamlike ship-inspired set, it all builds towards a Gesamtkunstwerk that Wagner might have enjoyed himself. A great success, all around....

It’s odd to watch an opera where the actual opera is an afterthought. At least that’s how it feels watching Simon McBurney’s The Magic Flute. His revival production sizzles with circus spectacle, high tech pageantry, and boundary breaking chutzpah. But underneath it all you’ll be hard pressed to fin...

Edward Lambert's Duchess of Padua is packed full with stunning music that brings Oscar Wilde's early melodramatic epic of love and revenge to life....

The Musicians' Union (MU) has reached an agreement with English National Opera (ENO). As a result, all planned strike and action short of strike by MU members in the orchestra at ENO have been cancelled. Learn more about the agreement here!...

The longstanding favourite is all very slick but, 37 years on, the production is showing its age...

Paul Ruder's opera, based on Margaret Atwood's celebrated novel, has, frighteningly, gained more relevance since its premiere in 2000...

Equity has announced that chorus members at the English National Opera will not strike on 1 February. The Musicians' Union will also suspend strike action while negotiations continue....

This Spring, Charles Court Opera makes a welcome return to Wilton’s with a sizzling production of Rossini’s comic masterpiece, The Barber of Seville. ...

Kenneth MacMillan's Manon is a haunting exploration of desire and sexuality, contrasting pompous extravagance with the poverty of the masses....

Members of the Musicians' Union and Equity have voted overwhelmingly in favour of potential strike action in a dispute over planned cuts to the workforce....

This February, multi award-winning actress Juliet Stevenson makes a highly anticipated return to the West End in the English National Opera’s (ENO) acclaimed operatic adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale....

This February, The Royal Opera’s Tosca returns to Covent Garden. Jonathan Kent’s staging receives its 14th revival since its premiere in 2006 and this year will showcase debut performances from several artists new to the Royal Opera House stage.   ...

Returning to the London Coliseum this February is Jonathan Miller’s much-loved production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, first staged by English National Opera (ENO) in 1987. ...

The Royal Opera House’s new production of Elektra could do with an extra pinch of Saltburn-esque depravity....

The Royal Opera has announced full casting details for their upcoming tour in Japan in 2024. Find out who will be performing in this highly anticipated event. Find out who is in the cast of the company's upcoming productions!...

From its stormy overture to the climactic finale, Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman pulls you into its depths. Tim Albery’s brooding and atmospheric production returns to the Royal Opera House Main Stage in February 2024. ...

This January, The Royal Opera presents Richard Jones' classic production of Puccini's La bohème, in its fourth revival since the 2017/18 season. Keri-Lynn Wilson and Evelino Pidò conduct three casts across the run which will see the opera's 700th performance at the Royal Opera House since its Covent...

An appeal has been launched for people to check their homes for a missing opera score by Gilbert and Sullivan. ...

The Handmaid’s Tale opera will return to the ENO in a highly anticipated production. Read more about the upcoming show including how to get tickets, and all about the new arrival....

On July 2nd, 2024 The Royal Opera House will host a free day of singing, dancing and design celebrating the UN Rights of the Child in collaboration with UNICEF. ...

“Opera often gets this kicking which it doesn’t deserve in my view,”  says Richard Davidson-Houston, the boss of Glyndebourne Opera....

Musicians' Union members in the English National Opera (ENO) orchestra and Music Staff have voted overwhelmingly in favour of potential strike action....

Equity - the performing arts and entertainment trade union – has announced that it will ballot its members in the ENO chorus on industrial action. The ballot will open on Thursday 4 January and includes the potential for strike action....

Antony McDonald's production simply oozes glamour and matches perfectly the opera’s quintessentially Romantic music. Eerie forests cast in twilight, cluttered huts, and old-fashioned costumes mix and mingle to give audiences a feeling of watching something straight out of the 19th century....

Five opera singers are holding out for a hero...

A new chamber opera based on Oscar Wilde’s rarely performed second play, The Duchess of Padua, will be presented by The Music Troupe at The Space Theatre in London from Tuesday 20 - Sunday 25 February 2024 followed by a tour to Richmond, North Yorkshire (2 March), Manchester (3 March) and Hungerford...

Sensational staging and great music sung with such passion, but are changing mores transforming how we see the sad clown and his wicked revenge?...

Get the latest news on the cast change for the production of Cavalleria Rusticana / Pagliacci. Find out who the new cast members are and when the show will be running....

London is set host the biggest opera production it's seen this century, as a groundbreaking performance of Verdi's AIDA plays three performances at the OVO Arena Wembley in March 2024....

300 years have passed since Jephtha, Handel’s Greek tragedy-infused oratorio, was heard at Covent Garden. Now a lustrous new production helmed by artistic director Oliver Mears begs the question: is it a lost classic? Or one to consign to the history books?...

Maria Callas, an extraordinary force in the world of opera, possessed a mesmerising ability to convey authentic emotion through her singing.  Her dramatic coloratura style was nothing short of a revelation, captivating audiences worldwide. ...

27 years ago, in 1997, I co-founded a theatre company with five friends. The artists and founders of Unlimited Theatre were all graduates from the Workshop Theatre at the University of Leeds who had been inspired by incredible artists who'd come before us....

​​​​​​​Celebrated performance artist Marina Abramović is very much in town: as well as a huge exhibition of her works at the Royal Academy, this “opera project” in London’s largest West End theatre sees her explore the life, works and final moments of the diva’s diva Maria Callas through music, song...

London company Gothic Opera returns to Hoxton Hall for their fifth outing and their take on French composer Robert Planquette's Rip Van Winkle....