RBO Live: The Magic Flute (Cert TBC)

Princess Pamina has been captured. Her mother, the Queen of the Night, tasks the young Prince Tamino with her daughter’s rescue. But when Tamino and his friendly sidekick, Papageno, embark on their adventure, they soon learn that when it comes to the quest for love, nothing is as it really seems. Guided by a magic flute, they encounter monsters, villains, and a mysterious brotherhood of men – but help, it turns out, comes when you least expect it.

Mozart’s fantastical opera glitters in David McVicar’s enchanting production. A star cast including Lucy Crowe (replacing Julia Bullock) as Pamina, Amitai Pati as Tamino, Huw Montague Rendall as Papageno, Kathryn Lewek as the Queen of the Night, and Soloman Howard as Sarastro, led by French conductor Marie Jacquot in her Covent Garden debut.

OPERA
Music – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Conductor– Marie Jacquot
Sung in German with English subtitles

RBO Live: Siegfried (Cert 15 TBC)

Raised by a scheming dwarf and unaware of his true family origins, a young man embarks on an epic journey. Soon, destiny brings him face-to-face with a shattered sword, a fearsome dragon and the cursed ring it guards, and a Valkyrie forced into enchanted slumber…

Moments of transcendent beauty and heroic triumph sparkle in the third chapter of Wagner’s Ring cycle, brought to life under Barrie Kosky’s inspired eye following his spectacular Das Rheingold (2023) and Die Walküre (2025). Andreas Schager, in his much-anticipated debut with The Royal Opera, stars as Siegfried’s titular hero, alongside Christopher Maltman’s towering Wanderer, Peter Hoare’s treacherous Mime and Elisabet Strid’s radiant Brünnhilde. Antonio Pappano conducts, drawing out the unspoken tensions and ethereal mysticism of Wagner’s dynamic score.

OPERA
Music – Richard Wagner
Conductor– Antonio Pappano
Sung in German with English subtitles

RBO Live: Giselle (Cert TBC)

The peasant girl Giselle has fallen in love with Albrecht. When she discovers that he is actually a nobleman promised to another, she kills herself in despair. Her spirit joins the Wilis: the vengeful ghosts of women hell-bent on killing any man who crosses their path in a dance to the death. Wracked with guilt, Albrecht visits Giselle’s grave, where he must face the Wilis – and Giselle’s ghost.

Peter Wright’s 1985 production of this quintessential Romantic ballet is a classic of The Royal Ballet repertory. Set to Adolphe Adam’s evocative score and with atmospheric designs by John Macfarlane, Giselle conjures up the earthly and otherworldly realms in a tale of love, betrayal and redemption.

BALLET
Music – Adolph Adam – Edited by Lars Payne
Choreography– Marius Petipa after Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot

 

RBO Live: Woolf Works (Cert TBC)

Virginia Woolf defied literary conventions to depict rich inner worlds – her heightened, startling and poignant reality. Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor leads a luminous artistic team to evoke Woolf’s signature stream of consciousness writing style in this immense work that rejects traditional narrative structures. Woolf Works is a collage of themes from Mrs Dalloway, Orlando, The Waves and Woolf’s other writings. Created in 2015 for The Royal Ballet, this Olivier-award winning ballet triptych captures the heart of Woolf’s uniquely artistic spirit.

BALLET
Music – Max Richter
Choreography– Wayne McGregor

RBO Live: La Traviata (Cert TBC)

At one of her lavish parties, celebrated Parisan courtesan Violetta is introduced to Alfredo Germont. The two fall madly in love, and though hesitant to leave behind her life of luxury and freedom, Violetta follows her heart. But the young couple’s happiness is short-lived, as the harsh realities of life soon come knocking.

As intimate as it is sumptuous, La traviata features some of opera’s most famous melodies, and is a star vehicle for its leading soprano role sung by Ermonela Jaho. In director Richard Eyre’s world of seductive grandeur, the tender and devastating beauty at the centre of Verdi’s opera shines bright.

OPERA
Music – Giuseppe Verdi
Conductor – Antonello Manacorda
Sung in Italian with English subtitles.

Royal Ballet & Opera Live: The Nutcracker (U)

The magician Herr Drosselmeyer needs to save his nephew. Hans-Peter has been transformed into a Nutcracker; the only way to save him is for the Nutcracker to defeat the Mouse King and find a girl to love and care for him. A flicker of hope comes in the form of the young Clara, whom Drosselmeyer meets at a Christmas party. With some magic, a cosy Christmas gathering turns into a marvellous adventure.

Peter Wright’s The Nutcracker has enchanted audiences since its 1984 premiere by the Company. Featuring Tchaikovsky’s most familiar melodies and brought to life by Julia Trevelyan Oman’s exquisite designs, The Nutcracker is sure to be a festive firecracker for all ages.

BALLET
Music – Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
Choreography – Peter Wright after Lev Ivanov

Royal Ballet & Opera Live: Cinderella (Cert TBC)

Stuck at home and put to work by her spoiled Step-Sisters, Cinderella’s life is dreary and dull. Everything changes when she helps a mysterious woman out…With a little bit of magic, she is transported into an ethereal new world – one where fairies bring the gifts of the seasons, where pumpkins turn into carriages, and where true love awaits.

This enchanting ballet by The Royal Ballet’s Founding Choreographer Frederick Ashton is a theatrical experience for all the family and will transport you into an ethereal world where a sprinkling of fairy dust makes dreams come true.

BALLET
Music – Sergey Prokofiev
Choreography – Frederick Ashton

RBO Live: La Fille Mal Gardée (12A)

Lise, the only daughter of Widow Simone, is in love with the young farmer Colas, but her mother has far more ambitious plans for her. Simone hopes to marry her off to Alain, the son of the wealthy proprietor Thomas. Desperate to marry Colas rather than Alain, Lise contrives to outwit her mother’s plans.

65 years after its premiere, The Royal Ballet presents Frederick Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée. This affectionate portrayal of village life combines exuberant good humour and brilliantly inventive choreography in what is undoubtedly Ashton’s love letter to the English countryside. La Fille mal gardée whisks us away into pastoral bliss with Ferdinand Hérold’s cheerful score and Osbert Lancaster’s colourful designs.

BALLET
Music – Ferdinand Hérold
Choreography – Frederick Ashton

RBO x Met Live: La Sonnambula (Cert TBC)

Following triumphant Met turns in Roméo et Juliette, La Traviata, and Lucia di Lammermoor, Nadine Sierra summits another peak of the soprano repertoire as Amina, who sleepwalks her way into audiences’ hearts in Bellini’s poignant tale of love lost and found. In his new production, Rolando Villazón—the tenor who has embarked on a brilliant second career as a director—retains the opera’s original setting in the Swiss Alps but uses its somnambulant plot to explore the emotional and psychological valleys of the mind. Tenor Xabier Anduaga returns after his acclaimed 2023 Met debut in L’Elisir d’Amore, co-starring as Amina’s fiancé Elvino, alongside soprano Sydney Mancasola as her rival, Lisa, and bass Alexander Vinogradov as Count Rodolfo. Riccardo Frizza takes the podium for one of opera’s most ravishing works.

OPERA
Music – Vincenzo Bellini
Conductor – Riccardo Frizza
Sung in Italian with English subtitles.

The Royal Ballet & Opera: Tosca (15)

In war-torn Rome, Floria Tosca and Mario Cavaradossi live for each other and for their art. But when Cavaradossi helps an escaped prisoner, the lovers make a deadly enemy in the form of Baron Scarpia, Chief of Police. At the mercy of Scarpia’s twisted desires, Tosca is forced to make a horrific bargain: sleeping with the man she hates in order to save the man she loves. Can she find a way out?

A star-studded cast includes soprano Anna Netrebko performing the role of Tosca, tenor Freddie De Tommaso as Cavaradossi, and bass-baritone Gerald Finley as Scarpia, with Music Director of The Royal Opera Jakub Hrůša conducting his first new production in the role. An alternative, modern-day Rome provides the backdrop for Oliver Mears’ unmissable, gripping new production of Puccini’s thriller.

OPERA
Music – Giacomo Puccini
Conductor – Jakub Hrůša
Sung in Italian with English subtitles.