The 2015/16 Royal Opera House Season Has Been Announced
For full details of all ROH events visit http://www.roh.org.uk/events
The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet and visiting companies will stage more than sixty works during 2015/16 and twelve productions from Covent Garden – six operas and six ballets – will be relayed live to more than 1,500 cinemas in 35 countries as part of the ROH Cinema Season.
Opera and Music
The Royal Opera’s Season will feature eight new productions on the Covent Garden main stage – Orphée et Eurydice by Hofesh Shechter and John Fulljames, Morgen und Abend by Graham Vick, Cavalleria rusticana & Pagliacci by Damiano Michieletto, L’Étoile by Mariame Clément, Boris Godunov by Richard Jones, Lucia di Lammermoor by Katie Mitchell, Oedipe by Àlex Ollé, and Il trovatore by David Bösch. Four of these directors are new to Covent Garden. Two world premieres will be performed – 4.48 Psychosis (based on playwright Sarah Kane’s final play) and Morgen und Abend – as well as three London premieres – The Last Hotel, Pleasure and In Parenthesis.
The strand of programming inspired by the theme of Orpheus that began in January 2015 with Monteverdi’s Orfeo at the Roundhouse continues with three productions inspired by the same myth – Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice on the ROH main stage, Luigi Rossi’s Orpheus at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, and Little Bulb Theatre and Battersea Arts Centre on Tour’s Orpheus in the Linbury.
Four Royal Opera productions will be staged at external venues – Gerald Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest at New York’s Rose Theater and the Barbican in London; Keith Warner’s aforementioned production of Luigi Rossi’s Orpheus at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse; and Mark Simpson’s Pleasure and Philip Venables’s 4.48 Psychosis, both at the Lyric Hammersmith. In some cases these relationships with other venues will enable us to stage pieces that would have been shown in the Linbury Studio Theatre during its period of closure for the Open Up project.
Continuing the ROH’s partnership with the BBC, BBC Radio 3 will broadcast 11 productions from the main stage over the course of the Season.
Music Director Antonio Pappano will conduct two new productions (Cavalleria rusticana & Pagliacci, Boris Godunov), a revival of Werther and a symphonic concert with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. He will also lead The Royal Opera on a previously-announced tour to Japan.
This Season, the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation has offered a grant to The Royal Opera to further the careers of emerging artists. The grant, used over a period of 3-5 years, will enable promising young singers to take on cover roles where The Royal Opera may not normally be able to have a cover in place.
Ballet and Dance
The Royal Ballet’s Season will feature four world premieres including Frankenstein, a first full-length narrative ballet by Liam Scarlett; new one-act ballets from Wayne McGregor and Christopher Wheeldon, and a new production of Carmen from Carlos Acosta. The 2015/16 Season will be the first time the entire Royal Ballet choreographic team will present new works.
There is another chance to see recent works from Wheeldon and McGregor with revivals of The Winter’s Tale and Raven Girl. Classic works also feature with Romeo and Juliet being staged in its 50th anniversary year, and the much-requested return to the repertory of Frederick Ashton’s The Two Pigeons. Other choreographers whose work will be performed include George Balanchine, Alastair Marriott and Jerome Robbins.
Before the Linbury Studio Theatre closes for improvements as part of the Open Up project, visiting companies including Cas Public and Royal New Zealand Ballet will stage works. In addition, Alessandra Ferri will perform in Chéri, a specially-created work choreographed and directed by acclaimed US choreographer Martha Clarke, while Will Tuckett’s piece about the life and loves of Elizabeth I comes to the intimate space with Zenaida Yanowsky and Carlos Acosta in the lead roles.
A series of choreographic opportunities will encourage and nurture new talent. Charlotte Edmonds, who choreographed The Indifferent Beak for Deloitte Ignite 2014, will join the Company as part of the new Young Choreographer Programme. She will be mentored by Wayne McGregor and create new work over the course of 12 months. In addition, Draft Works will appear as a series of short, informal performances throughout the Season. – a platform where dancers of The Royal Ballet can create new short choreographic pieces – and the Aud Jebsen Young Dancer Programme will return.
The Season will be Koen Kessels’s first as Music Director of The Royal Ballet, succeeding Barry Wordsworth who becomes Principal Guest Conductor. 2015/16 will conclude with an international tour to Japan.
ROH cinema
The 2015/16 Live Cinema Season will see a total of 12 Royal Opera House productions relayed live to more than 1,500 cinemas in over 35 countries. The screenings include six Royal Opera and six Royal Ballet productions.
Romeo and Juliet, 22 September 2015 at 7.15pm Kenneth MacMillan’s famous production for The Royal Ballet
Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, 5 October 2015 at 6.45pm in David McVicar’s production for The Royal Opera, conducted by Ivor Bolton and the case includes Erwin Schrott and Anita Hartig
Viscera (Liam Scarlett) / Afternoon of a Faun (Jerome Robbins) / Tchaikovsky pas de deux George Balanchine / Carmen (new choreography from Carlos Acosta), The Royal Ballet, 12 November 2015 at 7.15pm
Cavalleria rusticana (Mascagni) & Pagliacci (Leoncavallo) 10 December 2015 at 7.15pm in new productions for The Royal Opera by Damiano Michieletto, conducted by Antonio and cast includes Eva-Maria Westbroek, Dimitri Platanias, Aleksandrs Antonenko and Carmen Giannattasio
The Nutcracker, 16 December 2015 at 7.15pm in Peter Wright’s production for The Royal Ballet
Rhapsody & The Two Pigeons, 26 January 2016 at 7.15pm in Frederick Ashton’s productions for the Royal Ballet
Verdi’s La traviata, 4 February 2016 at 6.45pm in Richard Eyre’s vintage production for The Royal Opera, conducted by Yves Abel and cast includes Venera Gimadieva and Saimir Pirgu
Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, 21 March 2016 at 7.15pm in Richard Jones’s new production for The Royal Opera, conducted by Antonio Pappano and cast includes Bryn Terfel, Kostas Smoriginas and John Tomlinson
Giselle, 6 April 2016 at 7.15pm, The Royal Ballet, choreography by Marius Petipa (after Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot)
Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, 25 April 2016 at 7.15pm in Katie Mitchell’s new production for The Royal Opera, conducted by Daniel Oren, cast includes Diana Damrau and Charles Castronovo
Frankenstein, 18 May 2016 at 7.15pm, new choreography by Liam Scarlett for The Royal Ballet
Massenet’s Werther, 27 June 2016 at 7.15pm, in Benoît Jacquot production for The Royal Opera, conducted by Antonio Pappano and cast includes Vittorio Grigolo and Joyce DiDonato