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Best Opera 2018: divas, dramas and dates for your diary

By Claudia Pritchard on 12/12/2017

Gladrags on: a night at the opera is something special, however often you go. (And Londoners go to the opera more and more, so be ready to book on the upbeat.)
Not to be missed.... knockabout comedy at English National Opera, tragedy at the Royal Opera House, and starry nights at the city's own summer opera house, Opera Holland Park, and a short hop away at Glyndebourne, Garsington and Grange Park.
Mark these highlights on your 2018 calendar now, and scour the January sales for something sparkly...

Carmen is opera's ultimate femme fatale. Photo: Royal Opera House

Bizet's Carmen, Royal Opera House

If you love her, you are playing with fire: if you don’t love her, it’s more dangerous still. Meet Carmen, the tormenting tease in Bizet's opera of the same name, with a song on every page

WHEN

06 Feb 2018 – 16 Mar 2018, 12 performances, one at 12PM

WHERE

Royal Opera House
Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD

Angela Gheorghiu plays Tosca in some performances at Covent Garden. Photo: Catherine Ashmore

Puccini's Tosca, Royal Opera House

In Puccini's Tosca a painter and opera singer put their own lives in danger to protect rebels and each other. The great soprano Angela Gheorghiu sings Tosca at two performances

WHEN

15 Jan 2018 – 03 Mar 2018, 13 performances, including three matinees

WHERE

Royal Opera House
Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD

Tenor Nicky Spence plays a prisoner and Nikita in From the House of the Dead at Covent Garden. Photo: Robert Workman

Janáček's From The House of the Dead, Royal Opera House

Here's a first at the Royal Opera House: From the House of the Dead is the Czech composer Janáček’s final, powerful. And London will see it at last in 2018. Based on Dostoevsky's novel, it finds compassion in the most surprising place

WHEN

07 Mar 2018 – 24 Mar 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:45 PM

WHERE

Royal Opera House
Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD

Samantha Price takes on the House of Lords in the title role of Iolanthe

Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe, English National Opera, Coliseum

A riproaring comedy in music is promised by the director of One Man, Two Guv'nors. Prepare to laugh your socks off AND come away humming every tune in this light political satire

WHEN

13 Feb 2018 – 17 Mar 2018, 14 performances; times vary

WHERE

English National Opera
London Coliseum, St Martin's Lane, London, WC2N 4ES

Claudia Boyle sings the role of Violetta in La Traviata. Photo: Frances Marshall

Verdi's La Traviata, English National Opera, Coliseum

One of the most eagerly awaited events of the opera year is the first production for English National Opera by Daniel Kramer since becoming artistic director in April 2016. A society hostess finds true love, but sacrifices it

WHEN

16 Mar 2018 – 08 Apr 2018, eight performances, plus 31 March (6:30PM) and 8 April (3PM)

WHERE

English National Opera
London Coliseum, St Martin's Lane, London, WC2N 4ES

Soprano Eleanor Dennis sings the lively Fiordiligi at Opera Holland Park. Photo: Christina Raphaelle

Mozart's Così Fan Tutte, Opera Holland Park

Mozart's opera of lovers who do swapsies is given a new production at the ever-resourceful Opera Holland Park. It's country house opera without leaving town...

WHEN

31 May 2018 – 22 Jun 2018, eight performances

WHERE

Opera Holland Park
Stable Yard, Holland Park, London , W8 6LU

Dutch singer Kor-Jan Dusseljee makes his Opera Holland Park debut as The Tenor and Bacchus. Photo: Anja Veurink

Strauss's Ariadne Auf Naxos, Opera Holland Park

Richard Strauss's lush orchestration and sense of the absurd come to the fore in his tongue-in-cheek Ariadne Auf Naxos, an opera within an opera, performed for the first time in the company's history at Opera Holland Park.

WHEN

17 Jul 2018 – 27 Jul 2018, five performances

WHERE

Opera Holland Park
Stable Yard, Holland Park, London , W8 6LU

Madama Butterfly opens Glyndebourne's 2018 season. Photo: Clive Barda

Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Glyndebourne Festival Opera

The heartbreaking story of a young Japanese woman married on a whim by an American naval officer and abandoned by him is the inspiration for Puccini's ravishing opera Madama Butterfly, performed for the first time at elegant Glyndebourne

WHEN

19 May 2018 – 18 Jul 2018, times vary; 17 performances lasting four hours, including long dinner interval

WHERE

Glyndebourne
Lewes, East Sussex, BN8 5UU

Grange Park Opera is a suitably rural setting for Oklahoma!

Oklahoma!, Grange Park Opera

If you have ever looked out of the window and wanted to sing Oh What a Beautiful Morning, an evening at Grange Park Opera's Oklahoma!, is for you. Catch the hit-filled musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein in the Theatre in the Woods

WHEN

07 Jun 2018 – 07 Jul 2018, 8 performances

WHERE

Grange Park Opera
West Horsley Place, West Horsley,, Leatherhead, KT24 6AW

Louise Alder sings Pamina in Mozart's The Magic Flute at Garsington

Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Garsington Opera

Summer is not complete without a trip to Garsington Opera, where Mozart's beguiling opera Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) features Cardiff Singer of the World prize-winning soprano Louise Alder. Hear her while she's on the doorstep...

WHEN

31 May 2018 – 21 Jul 2018, 6:00 PM – 10:15 PM

WHERE

Garsington Opera
Wormsley Estate , Stokenchurch, HP14 3YG

Best Opera 2018: divas, dramas and dates for your diary

Bizet's Carmen, Royal Opera House

Puccini's Tosca, Royal Opera House

Janáček's From The House of the Dead, Royal Opera House

Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe, English National Opera, Coliseum

Verdi's La Traviata, English National Opera, Coliseum

Mozart's Così Fan Tutte, Opera Holland Park

Strauss's Ariadne Auf Naxos, Opera Holland Park

Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Glyndebourne Festival Opera

Oklahoma!, Grange Park Opera

Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Garsington Opera

Glyndebourne Festival Opera

Opera Holland Park

Garsington Opera

Grange Park Opera

English National Opera

Royal Opera House

Nicky Spence interview: the go-to tenor on opera, gardening and 'Strictly'

Michael Fabiano interview: the Royal Opera House's tenor on a mission

Opera: Passion, Power and Politics ★★★★★

Summer country house opera: a survivor's guide

Opera Holland Park 2018: book now for the best seats