Royal Opera & Royal Ballet, 2011 Season

2011 at Covent Garden launches with two much-anticipated world premieres in February: Christopher Wheeldon's first full-length storyballet, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Mark-Anthony Turnage's Anna Nicole, written by Richard Thomas (of Jerry Springer, the Opera), and dealing with the tragic modern life of a Playboy model.

The Turnage is one of eight world premieres at the Royal Opera during 2010-11, which also fields two UK premieres, five new productions and 14 revivals. The Royal Ballet listings offer eight full-length ballets and five mixed programmes. Details of all events below.

 

ROYAL OPERA

 

Autumn/Winter 2010-11

 

In February 2011 Mark-Anthony Turnage premieres his new opera for the Royal Opera, Anna Nicole, written by Richard Thomas (who wrote Jerry Springer, The Opera). Richard Jones stages it, Antonio Pappano conducts, with Eva-Maria Westbroek as Anna Nicole, the glamour model and celebrity. In the Linbury Studio Theatre there are new operas from Alexander Goehr (October), James MacMillan (May 2011) and Luke Bedford (July 2011). Several guest companies perform, including Music Theatre Wales, with Philip Glass’s In the Penal Colony (UK premiere) and the Balthasar-Neumann Ensemble under Thomas Hengelbrock with Agostino Steffani’s Niobe (UK premiere of a 300-year-old work), The Opera Group and English Touring Opera. For the Royal Opera there are new productions of Adriana Lecouvreur (by David McVicar), Tannhäuser (by Tim Albery), The Tsar’s Bride (by Paul Curran) and Cendrillon (by Laurent Pelly).

• Così fan tutte (Mozart) 10-24 September, Director Jonathan Miller | Conductor Thomas Hengelbrock | Ferrando Pavol Breslik | Guglielmo Stéphane Degout | Don Alfonso Thomas Allen | Fiordiligi Maria Bengtsson | Dorabella Jurgita Adamonyte | Despina Rebecca Evans
• In the Penal Colony (Philip Glass) NEW PRODUCTION (Linbury Studio Theatre) 15-18 September 2010 Director Michael McCarthy | Conductor Michael Rafferty | Presented by Music Theatre Wales
• Don Pasquale (Donizetti) 12-21 September Director Jonathan Miller | Conductor Evelino Pidò | Ernesto Barry Banks | Don Pasquale Paolo Gavanelli | Norina lride Martínez
• Niobe, regina di Tebe (Steffani) NEW PRODUCTION 23 September-3 October Director Lukas Hemleb | Conductor Thomas Hengelbrock | Niobe Vèronique Gens | Anfione Jacek Laszczkowski | Oreonte Lestyn Davies
• Les pêcheurs de perles (Bizet) in Concert 4-7 October Conductor Antonio Pappano | Leïla Nicole Cabell | Nadir John Osborn | Zurga Gerald Finley | Nourabad Raymond Aceto
• Promised End (Goehr) NEW PRODUCTION (Linbury Studio Theatre) 9-16 October Director James Conway | Conductor Ryan Wigglesworth | presented by English Touring Opera
• Rigoletto (Verdi) 11 October-6 November Director David McVicar | Conductor Dan Ettinger/Christopher Willis | Duke of Mantua Wookyung Kim | Rigoletto Dmitri Hvorostovsky/Paolo Gavanelli | Gilda  Eglise Gutiérrez
• L'isola disabitata (Haydn) (Linbury Studio Theatre) 26-29 October Director Rodula Gaitanou | Conductor Volker Krafft | presented by ROH Jette Parker Young Artists
• Roméo et Juliette (Gounod) 26 October-17 November Director Nicolas Joël | Conductor Daniel Oren | Roméo Piotr Beczala | Juliette Nino Machaidze/María Alejandres
• Songs From a Hotel Bedroom (Weill) (Linbury Studio Theatre) 4-6 November Director Kate Flatt | Conductor James Holmes | cast includes Frances Ruffelle
• Adriana Lecouvreur (Cilèa) NEW PRODUCTION 18 November-10 December Director David McVicar | Conductor Mark Elder | Adriana Lecouvreur Angela Gheorghiu/Angeles Blancas Gulin | Maurizio Jonas Kaufmann | Princess of Bouillon Michaela Schuster/Olga Borodina
• Tannhäuser (Wagner) NEW PRODUCTION 11 December 2010-2 January 2011 Director Tim Albery | Conductor Semyon Bychkov | Tannhäuser Johan Botha | Elisabeth Eva-Maria Westbroek | Venus Michaela Schuster
• Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck) 23 December 2010-7 January 2011 Director Patrice Caurier/Moshe Leiser | Conductor Rory Macdonald | Hänsel Christine Rice | Gretel Ailish Tynan | Witch Jane Henschel

 

Spring/Summer 2011

 

• Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini) from 18 January-8 February 2011 Director Patrice Caurier/Moshe Leiser | Conductor Rory Macdonald | cast includes Aleksandra Kurzak, Levente Molnar, John Osborn, Bruno Pratico
• Die Zauberflöte (Mozart) 1-26 February 2011 Director David McVicar | Conductor Colin Davis | cast includes Joseph Kaiser, Kate Royal, Christopher Maltman, Franz-Josef Selig
• Anna Nicole (Mark-Anthony Turnage) WORLD PREMIERE 17 February-4 March 2011 Librettist Richard Thomas | Director Richard Jones | Conductor Antonio Pappano | cast includes Eva-Maria Westbroek
• Aida (Verdi) 11 March-15 April 2011 Director David McVicar | Conductor Fabio Luisi | cast includes Micaela Carosi, Roberto Alagna, Olga Borodina
• Fidelio (Beethoven) 29 March-16 April 2011 Director Jurgen Flimm | Conductor Kirill Petrenko | Leonore Nina Stemme | Florestan Endrik Wottrich
• The Tsar's Bride (Rimsky-Korsakov) NEW PRODUCTION 14 April-2 May 2011 Director Paul Curran | Conductor Mark Elder | cast includes Marina Poplavskaya, Ekaterina Gubanova, Dmytro Popov
• Werther (Massenet) 5-21 May 2011 Director Benoit Jacquot | Conductor Antonio Pappano | cast includes Rolando Villazon, Sophie Koch
• New opera by James MacMillan WORLD PREMIERE (Linbury Studio Theatre) May 2011 Director Katie Mitchell | Conductor TBC | cast TBC
• Macbeth (Verdi) 24 May-18 June 2011 Director Phyllida Lloyd | Conductor Antonio Pappano | Macbeth Simon Keenlyside | Lady Macbeth Martina Serafin
• Tosca (Puccini) 7 June-17 July 2011 Director Jonathan Kent | Conductor Antonio Pappano | Tosca Karita Mattila/Angela Gheorghiu/Martina Serafin | Cavaradossi Marcello Giordano/Jonas Kaufmann | Scarpia Juha Uusitalo/Bryn Terfel
• Peter Grimes (Britten) 21 June-3 July 2011 Director Willy Decker | Conductor Andrew Davis | Grimes Ben Heppner | Ellen Orford Amanda Roocroft
• Madama Butterfly (Puccini) 25 June-16 July 2011 Director  Patrice Caurier/Moshe Leiser | Conductor Andris Nelsons | Cio-Cio San Patricia Racette | Pinkerton James Valenti
• Cendrillon (Massenet) NEW PRODUCTION 5-16 July 2011 Director Laurent Pelly | Conductor Bertrand de Billy | cast includes Joyce DiDonato, Ewa Podles, Eglise Gutiérrez
• New opera by Luke Bedford NEW PRODUCTION (Linbury Studio Theatre) July 2011 Director John Fulljames | Conductor TBC | cast TBC
• Voices Across The World Festival (Linbury Studio Theatre) July 2011 curated by Orlando Gough

 

ROYAL BALLET

 

Autumn/Winter 2010

 

Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice's Adventures in Wonderland premieres in February 2011, the first new full-length ballet at Covent Garden since Twyla Tharp's Mr Worldly Wise 15 years ago, It is a co-production with the National Ballet of Canada. There are three other new creations by Wayne McGregor, Kim Brandstrup and Aletta Collins (a duet for the Linbury Studio Theatre with new music by Scott Walker).

• Deloitte Ignite Festival curated by Joanna MacGregor 3-5 September
• Pleasure’s Progress (choreography William Tuckett, music Paul Englishby), 22-26 September, WORLD PREMIERE, Piazza and Linbury Studio Theatre (also touring to Lowry, Salford)
• Onegin (Cranko 1965, m Tchaikovsky arr Stolze), dreamy young girl's misplaced love, 30 September-25 October
• La Valse (Ashton 1959, Ravel)/NEW Kim Brandstrup creation / Winter Dreams (MacMillan 1991, Tchaikovsky) /Theme and Variations (Balanchine 1947, Tchaikovsky) 15-30 October
• Sylvia (Ashton 1952, Delibes), mythical huntress nymph kidnapped, 3 November-1 December
  
• Firsts (debuts by young artists, ROH2) 12-20 November
• Cinderella (Ashton 1948, Prokofiev), ash girl gets her Prince, 20 November-31 December and from 4 April 2011
• Faeries (William Tuckett), Arthur Rackham-inspired puppets and dancers, 10 December 2010-2 January 2011 (Linbury Studio Theatre)
• Tales of Beatrix Potter (Ashton 1971, Lanchbery) with Peter and the Wolf (Hart 1996, Prokofiev) 14-18 December or Les Patineurs (Ashton 1937, Meyerbeer) 20 December-10 January 2011

Spring/Summer 2011

• Giselle (production Wright, m Adam), innocence, infidelity and sublime forgiveness, 11 January-19 February 2011
• Swan Lake (Petipa/Ivanov/Dowell, Tchaikovsky), a young man's apocalyptic last day of life, 22 January-8 April 2011
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (choreography Christopher Wheeldon) WORLD PREMIERE, Lewis Carroll by a sophisticated modernist, 28 Feb-15 March 2011
• Rhapsody (Ashton 1980, Rachmaninov) / Sensorium (Marriott 2009, Debussy) / Still Life at the Penguin Café (Bintley 1988, Jeffes) 16-28 March 2011
• Manon (MacMillan 1974, Massenet arr Lucas), not-so-innocent girl gets her comeuppance, 21 April-4 June 2011
• Ballo della regina (Balanchine 1978, Verdi) / NEW Wayne McGregor / DGV (Wheeldon 2006, Nyman) 13-25 May 2011
• Scènes de ballet (Ashton 1948, Stravinsky) / Voluntaries (Tetley 1973, Poulenc) / The Rite of Spring (MacMillan 1962, Stravinsky) 28 May-11 June 2011
• Clore Studio Upstairs contemporary dance, July 2011
• The Royal Ballet tours to Japan June-July, with Mayerling, Romeo and Juliet and La Fille mal gardée
• A brief tour to Barcelona follows in July, with The Sleeping Beauty

Book online here for all Royal Opera and Royal Ballet performances or phone 020 7304 4000.
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9DD
Chief executive: Tony Hall
Music director: Antonio Pappano
Director of opera: Elaine Padmore
Director, Royal Ballet: Monica Mason