The Royal Opera House Announces 2015-2016 Season, Featuring MORGEN UND ABEND, LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR, and More

The 2015/16 Royal Opera House Season has been announced.

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'Étoileby 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 andBattersea 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.

Director of Music 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.

View full details of the 2015/16 Royal Opera Season

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 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 withZenaida 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 Kevin O'Hare and 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.

View full details of the 2015/16 Royal Ballet Season

What are you most looking forward to during the 2015/16 Season?

Booking for the 2015/16 Season opens to Friends of Covent Garden on 16 June 2015 for autumn dance productions and 17 June 2015 for autumn opera productions. General booking for Autumn Season performances opens on 14 July 2015.

Photo Credit: The Royal Opera House auditorium © ROH / Sim Canetty-Clarke Courtesy of the ROH

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