The latest news on performances of Opera in UK / West End.
Review: THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, Opera Holland Park
by Michael Higgs - May 28, 2025
Stormy weather and an enthusiastic audience mark Julia Burbach’s The Flying Dutchman as it proves a smashing success to open the 2025 season of Opera Holland Park....
Review: FAUST, Royal Ballet And Opera
by Michael Higgs - May 24, 2025
Celebrating its sixth revival, David McVicar’s critically acclaimed production of Faust is a spectacular success with stunning sets and costumes, a magnificent cast, and some of Gounod’s greatest music....
Review: IL BARBIÈRE DI SIVIGLIA, Glyndebourne Festival
by Aliya Al-Hassan - May 19, 2025
Opera buffa is an ever-popular genre of the art, and more than two centuries after its composition, Rossini's Il barbière di Siviglia remains one this genre's most often staged operas. The music and lyrics are pure genius, but the success of this particular opera comes from an inherent understand...
Review: PIMPINONE, Royal Ballet and Opera
by Gary Naylor - May 04, 2025
Super show that lightens a very dark subject (corecive control), but does not diminish it...
The Royal Ballet and Opera Reveals 2025/26 Season With Justin Peck and More
by Stephi Wild - April 02, 2025
The Royal Ballet and Opera launches its 2025/26 Season, unveiling an unforgettable programme of new commissions, world premieres and much-loved revivals alongside the first annual festival connecting the worlds of opera and technology. ...
Review: TURANDOT, Royal Ballet And Opera
by Michael Higgs - March 20, 2025
With plenty of colour, masks, and a mystical ambience, Andrei Șerban’s 1984 production of Turandot feels just as fresh as ever. Paired with a stellar cast on top form, it represents a great success, all around....
Review: IL TROVATORE, Royal Ballet And Opera
by Michael Higgs - February 27, 2025
An animated revival of Adele Thomas’s 2023 production, Il Trovatore strays from realism and instead focuses on a symbolic reading of this dark and gritty opera. With macabre medieval costumes, eery effects and a brilliant cast, it’s an unnerving experience....
Wesh National Opera Chorus Vote Unanimously For Further Action Short Of Strike
by A.A. Cristi - February 24, 2025
The chorus of the Welsh National Opera have voted unanimously to take further action short of strike on Thursday 27 February and Saturday 1 March, affecting shows on these dates....
Welsh National Opera Announces 2026 Performances At Birmingham Hippodrome
by A.A. Cristi - February 18, 2025
Welsh National Opera has announced its 2025/2026 Season, which will also see the Company celebrate its 80th anniversary. WNO will visit Birmingham Hippodrome in May 2026 with a brand-new production of The Flying Dutchman (Thu 7 May 2026) and the return of Blaze of Glory! (Fri 8 May 2026)....
Review: MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, London Coliseum
by Aliya Al-Hassan - February 17, 2025
And so to the final new production of English National Opera’s season; Mary, Queen of Scots, directed by Stewart Laing and conducted by Joana Carneiro. Scottish composer Thea Musgrave’s opera was last heard in London at Sadler’s Wells back in 1980, after premiering in Edinburgh in 1977, with ...
Photos: MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS At English National Opera
by A.A. Cristi - February 14, 2025
Thea Musgrave’s rarely performed Mary, Queen of Scots makes its London and English National Opera (ENO) premiere in February 2025. See first look photos of the production....
Review: FESTEN, Royal Ballet And Opera
by Alexander Cohen - February 12, 2025
Mark-Anthony Turnage has a provocative habit of turning unconventional narratives into opera...
Review: THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, London Coliseum
by Aliya Al-Hassan - February 06, 2025
Joe Hill-Gibbins’s new production of The Marriage of Figaro for English National Opera opened back in March 2020 for a single performance before Covid struck. Thankfully, nearly five years on it has been given a second life at the London Coliseum and it is a riotous delight from start to finish....
Review: AIDA, Royal Ballet and Opera
by Gary Naylor - January 29, 2025
Robert Carsen's vision is as uncompromising as ever, but the world has changed in three short years...
Interview: “It’s An Extraordinary Experience”: Conductor Ben Woodward on Buying Regents Opera and Completing Wagner’s RING CYCLE
by Erica Miner - January 24, 2025
An intrepid British fringe opera company and its dauntless conductor-arranger have taken on a bold project that has defeated any number of high-profile companies. ...
Review: JENŮFA, Royal Ballet And Opera
by Alexander Cohen - January 16, 2025
It’s a mistake to dismiss Claus Guth’s production of Janacek’s Jenůfa as symbolically overwrought and interminably grey. Look closer and you’ll discover a duality to each beguiling appearance....
Review: MARIA, in Cinemas and Streaming
by Gary Naylor - December 31, 2024
Angelina Jolie is compelling in a movie that concentrates on the misery to the exclusion of almost everything else in the diva's life...
Review: HANSEL AND GRETEL, Royal Ballet and Opera
by Gary Naylor - December 29, 2024
Macabre and spectacular, this is Christmas fare as it once was and should still be, fully trusting its audience. ...
THE GREAT GATSBY, WICKED Movie, & More Nominated For MUAHS Guild Awards
by Josh Sharpe - December 10, 2024
The Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild (MUAHS, IATSE Local 706) has announced nominations for the 12th Annual MUAHS Guild Awards, with honors going to Broadway's The Great Gatsby, Cabaret, the Wicked movie, and more....
Review: THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, London Coliseum
by Michael Higgs - December 03, 2024
Sarah Tipple brings the comedic opera to life with gloriously ridiculous period costumes, an outstanding cast and an abstract set that mirrors the plot’s absurdism with precision....
Review: THE ELIXIR OF LOVE, London Coliseum
by Alexander Cohen - November 18, 2024
Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be. That’s the hypothesis of Harry Fehr’s new iteration of The Elixir Of Love, a self-reflexive swipe on 1970s sitcoms drunk on the saccharine sentimentalism of second world war triumphalism. Pip pip. Tally ho....
Review: THE SOUND VOICE PROJECT, Royal Ballet and Opera
by Gary Naylor - November 15, 2024
Words run out, as The Voice is lost and recovered...
Review: THE TALES OF HOFFMANN, Royal Ballet and Opera
by Gary Naylor - November 08, 2024
Damiano Michieletto brings plenty of pizzazz to Offenbach's crowdpleaser, but wastes some of his on-stage talents...
Review: RIGOLETTO, London Coliseum
by Franco Milazzo - October 31, 2024
There’s no shame in pulling an old favourite from the vaults but Jonathan Miller’s 1982 gangster-themed production is firing blanks in this latest revival....
Regents Opera Adds Extra Performance of GOTTERDAMMERUNG
by Stephi Wild - October 22, 2024
After the success of Regents Opera’s first three instalments of Wagner’s Ring Cycle - Das Rheingold, Die Walküre and Siegfried, the fringe opera company eyes its performances of the final instalment and full Ring Cycle with determination....
Review: THE TURN OF THE SCREW, London Coliseum
by Gary Naylor - October 13, 2024
Isabella Bywater ratchets up the tension, as Ailish Tynan and Jerry Louth shine as the governess and her male charge. ...
Review: TROUBLE IN TAHITI and THE QUIET PLACE, Royal Ballet and Opera
by Gary Naylor - October 11, 2024
If you're a parent, brace yourself - and enjoy the glorious singing and fine music writes our critic about TROUBLE IN TAHITI and THE QUIET PLACE. ...
Review: FIDELIO, Royal Ballet and Opera
by Alexander Cohen - October 10, 2024
Tobias Kratzer’s production pulls the rug from underneath you writes BWW's critic. ...
Review: EUGENE ONEGIN, Royal Ballet And Opera
by Michael Higgs - September 30, 2024
Deservedly still Tchaikovsky’s most celebrated opera, Eugene Onegin astounds with angelic music that never ceases to amaze. This production by Ted Huffman, in his main stage Royal Opera debut, features a stellar cast with Kristina Mkhitaryan as Tatyana, Gordon Bintner as Onegin, and several choice...
Review: SUOR ANGELICA, London Coliseum
by Michael Higgs - September 30, 2024
Annilese Miskimmon reimagines the tragic tale against the backdrop of a convent in 1960s Ireland in an unsettling production with some outstanding performers that combine with Puccini's haunting score in a compelling production....
Review: BBC PROMS: PROM 68 – BRITTEN'S A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, Royal Albert Hall
by Debbie Gilpin - September 11, 2024
“What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?” More often than not, when Shakespeare is adapted into different formats, the text is largely lost but the story remains - not so in this case. Benjamin Britten and his partner Peter Pears opted to go without a librettist, instead taking Shakespeare’s ...
Review: LA TRAVIATA, Royal Ballet And Opera
by Alexander Cohen - September 09, 2024
Heavily reliant on strong vocals...
Review: THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, Royal Ballet and Opera
by Gary Naylor - September 03, 2024
Mozart, music and mayhem in a tale of an outfoxed aristocrat brought down to earth...
Review: YEOMEN OF THE GUARD, Opera Holland Park
by Franco Milazzo - August 08, 2024
Opera Holland Park close out another acclaimed season with a rollicking Yeomen Of The Guard....
Review: ACIS AND GALATEA, Opera Holland Park
by Michael Higgs - July 21, 2024
Opera Holland Park’s staging of Handel’s beloved Acis and Galatea is a smashing success that finds just the right balance between musical finesse and tongue-in-cheek comedy....
Review: IL SEGRETO DI SUSANNA / PAGLIACCI, Opera Holland Park
by Gary Naylor - July 18, 2024
Opera Holland Park delivers two short pieces - an ideal introduction to the form's unique capacity to bring emotional weight to any story...
Review: MADAMA BUTTERFLY, Royal Opera House
by Franco Milazzo - July 15, 2024
There’s a singular simplicity in Madama Butterfly that draws in audiences year after year, decade by decade like moths to a flame: a man loves and leaves a woman; she gives up everything for him. With a staging that mirrors that bare but powerful concept, Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s 2002 ...
Review: COSÌ FAN TUTTE, Royal Opera House
by Franco Milazzo - July 08, 2024
Has opera found its own Ivo van Hove? Jan Philipp Gloger’s radical production of Così fan tutte continues until 10 July....
Review: EDGAR, Opera Holland Park
by Gary Naylor - July 03, 2024
A curious opera that is beautiful and ugly all at once...
Review: TOSCA, Royal Opera House
by Franco Milazzo - July 02, 2024
Fronted by some fresh faces, Jonathan Kent’s cinematic take on the Puccini masterwork Tosca returns for its seventeenth run at Covent Garden. ...