The Royal Opera House (ROH) has announced further details of its spring-summer season, with two more operas and a summer concert from members of the Jette Parker Young Artists programme. This is in addition to Current, Rising and La clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus, Mozart, 1791), which open the season and mark the first live performances at the opera house this year, as well as previously revealed highlights.
Richard Jones’s production of Puccini’s opera of passion, friendship and heartbreak, La bohème (The Bohemians, 1896), is set to be performed on the London-based venue’s main stage to both in-person and online audiences this summer.
A favourite of the opera repertory, this revived version of Jones’s recent production involves Covid-safe adaptations to certain parts of the opera. It features beautiful, atmospheric designs by Stewart Laing and two world-class international casts which include tenors Joshua Guerrero and Rame Lahaj as Rodolfo, sopranos Anna Princeva and Simona Mihai as Mimì, sopranos Danielle de Niese and Anush Hovhannisyan as Musetta and baritones Boris Pinkhasovich and Yuriy Yurchuk as Marcello. The production will be conducted by Evelino Pidò.
The Royal Opera will also present another favourite of the repertory on ROH’s main stage this summer, with Kasper Holten’s stunning and inventive production of Don Giovanni (1787), Mozart’s great opera of seduction, betrayal and retribution.
Set designs come from Es Devlin and the production is conducted by Constantin Trinks. The two casts include bass-baritone Erwin Schrott and baritone Christopher Maltman as Don Giovanni, bass-baritones Gerald Finley and Paolo Bordogna as Leporello, sopranos Adela Zaharia and Vanessa Goikoetxea as Donna Anna, tenor Frédéric Antoun as Don Ottavio and soprano Nicole Chevalier as Donna Elvira. This production promises to explore the creative and sensual appeal of one of opera’s most elusive protagonists.
The Jette Parker Young Artists will also take to the main stage as they draw their year of study to a close with their annual summer performance. Audiences in Covent Garden and at home will have the chance to spot the stars of the future as they sing arias and excerpts from some of the greatest operas in history including Verdi’s Don Carlos (1867) and Falstaff (1893), Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia (1833) and Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette (1867).
Oliver Mears, director of the Royal Opera, commented: “As the country begins to open up again, it is with great pleasure that we present this outstanding roster of activity for the remainder of the 2020-21 season. With innovation, creativity and artistic excellence at its heart, we are proud of a programme which allows the full creative force of the company to find expression on our stages, both to live audiences in our theatre, but also to an online audience which spans the globe.”
All three productions will be performed for live audiences – socially distanced where necessary – as well as being available online for viewers around the world. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased from the Royal Opera House’s website.
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Kasper Holten’s production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni returns to the Royal Opera House this summer (Mark Douet).