Turning tips into memories

Opera at Covent Garden: all the shows this season

By Claudia Pritchard on 2/8/2019

Mozart, Handel, Britten, Donizetti – and a new opera for all the family

Don Giovanni has his eye on the bride in Mozart's opera. Photo: Bill Cooper

Mozart's Don Giovanni

The names of Don Giovanni's conquests are scribbled over the set of Mozart's opera in a production revived at the Royal Opera House that takes a fresh look at the balance of power between the characters.Directed by Kasper Holten.

WHEN

16 Sep 2019 – 10 Oct 2019, eight performances, times vary. Running time: 3hr 30min

WHERE

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

Werther, as staged at the Royal Opera House in 2016. Photo: Bill Cooper

Massenet's Werther

A woman marries sensibly, but a man from her past returns, and she is torn between head and heart, in Jules Massenet's churning opera, beautifully staged.

WHEN

17 Sep 2019 – 05 Oct 2019, six performances

WHERE

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

Joyce DiDonato sings the title role in Agrippina. Photo: Simon Pauly

Handel's Agrippina

One of the highlights of the year so far was a Barbican concert performance of Handel's political power-games opera Agrippina. Now many of the same artists re-unite for a new staged production of the opera that promises to be the hottest opera ticket in town. With Joyce DiDonato (pictured).

WHEN

23 Sep 2019 – 11 Oct 2019, six performances

WHERE

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

The Intelligence Park is a comedy about the making of opera

Gerald Barry's The Intelligence Park, Linbury Theatre

In Gerald Barry's hilarious modern opera, an 18th-century composer is in the throes of a new piece, but his wife is living a rather operatic life of her own offstage... A comedy about making music, with counter-tenor Patrick Terry playing a flirty castrato.

WHEN

25 Sep 2019 – 04 Oct 2019, six performances

WHERE

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

A bright new production of Don Pasquale comes to the Royal Opera House in October

Donizetti's Don Pasquale

Baritone Bryn Terfel takes a big step in his illustrious career when he returns to the Royal Opera House this autumn. In the title role of this comic opera, he plays a jealous bachelor whose eyes are on his nephew's bride.

WHEN

14 Oct 2019 – 02 Nov 2019, seven performances; 12pm start on Sat 26 Oct

WHERE

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

Death in Venice is set in the city at a dangerous time. Photo: Maggie Owen

Britten's Death in Venice

Benjamin Britten's opera is based on the same novel that inspired the much-loved film. In this tragic piece, an ageing writer with a creative block goes to Venice and becomes obsessed with a beautiful boy. A new production with a star cast.

WHEN

21 Nov 2019 – 06 Dec 2019, five performances

WHERE

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

Mortals and mystical beings meet in The Magic Flute at Covent Garden

Mozart's The Magic Flute

A power struggle between two might forces, or a knockabout pantomime? Mozart's last opera The Magic Flute can be unpacked in endless ways, and in this production at the Royal Opera House, the ever-reliable David McVicar combines drama, comedy and wonderment.

WHEN

01 Nov 2019 – 27 Nov 2019, nine performances; one interval

WHERE

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

The Lost Thing combines music, dance and video

Jules Maxwell's The Lost Thing, Linbury Theatre

Family opera with dance for Christmas, based on Shaun Tan's enchanting book. When a little boy alights on a curio in the sand, it's unlike anything else in his collection. But no grown-up wants to know where it belongs...

WHEN

07 Dec 2019 – 04 Jan 2020, 28 performances, at 2:15PM and 7:15PM on most days

WHERE

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