Season Previews

Season Previews from around the world

News of the Waterperry Opera Festival in 2026

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UPDATE: Waterperry Opera Festival announces thrilling 2026 programme and casting

Another vibrant season of high-quality opera in English at the stunning Waterperry House & Gardens, championing young artists, welcoming new audiences, and featuring a guest recital from Roderick Williams OBE.

Waterperry Opera Festival is delighted to announce its full programme for the 2026 Festival, a richly varied summer of opera building on the festival’s record-breaking growth and reaffirming its mission to nurture the next generation of artists while widening access to the art form. The festival returns this summer from 7-16 August, under the new leadership of Artistic Director and CEO John Savournin.

Priority Booking opens from 3rd March, with General Booking opening 31st March 2026. 

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Ellen Kent’s Farewell Opera Tour featuring Opera International Kyiv, Ukraine. this Spring

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Ellen Kent’s Farewell Opera Tour brings Madama Butterfly and Carmen to Southend’s Cliffs Pavilion

Ellen Kent at the Hackney Empire

Award-winning producer Ellen Kent returns to the Cliffs Pavilion in Southend in Spring 2026 with Opera International Kyiv, Ukraine presenting stunning classical productions of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly on Tuesday 3 March and Bizet’s Carmen on Saturday 18 April. For this 2026 tour, Ellen Kent celebrates the Farewell Opera Tour, seeing the opera company embark on its last UK tour.

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English Touring Opera’s The Gondoliers, Pagliacci and a new opera for children in Spring 2026

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English Touring Opera present debut production of Gilbert And Sullivan’s The Gondoliers alongside Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci for Spring 2026

New opera for children – Ada and the Code Crusaders – to reach thousands of students across the country 

Visiting: Sheffield, Cheltenham, London, Buxton, Norwich, Chester, Canterbury, Cambridge, Truro, and Durham from 20 March – 21 May 2026

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Briston Beacon orchestral concerts 2025-2026

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Bristol Beacon 2025/26 Orchestral Season

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra – Mark Wigglesworth (conductor) – Sir Stephen Hough (piano) – 2 October
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra – Vasily Petrenko (conductor) – 16 October
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra – Mark Wigglesworth (conductor) – Jess Gillam (saxophone) – 6 November
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra – Osmo Vänskä (conductor) – Helena Juntunen (soprano) – 20 November
Manchester Collective & The Marian Consort – 5 December
London Symphony Orchestra – Sir Antonio Pappano (conductor) – Antoine Tamestit (viola) – 13 December
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra – Mark Wigglesworth (conductor) – Elizabeth Watts (soprano) – 3 January

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Warwick Arts Centre’s Orchestral Season 2025-2026

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There’s sweeping age old European classics, stirring symphonies from the ‘New World’ and more lined up for Warwick Arts Centre’s 2025-2026 Orchestral Season.

Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason, Paul Lewis CBE and Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha join Chineke!, CBSO, RPO and more. Plus we celebrate the musicians of tomorrow with the best youth orchestras, Lunchtime Concerts and more.

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