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The Latest Breaking News from the Royal Opera House

Shock and awe: our critics pick their best live classical events of 2025

Turnage’s Festen at the Royal Opera House swept all before it, but there was plenty of extraordinary new music, exhilarating performances and triumphs of talent, commitment and resourcefulness across the UK this year. We pick our best moments

The Guardian - UK

Ariodante review – dysfunctional royals and designer dresses in Handel with a disjunct

There’s a top-notch cast and detailed work from all involved in Jetske Mijnssen’s production that reframes Handel’s opera as a modern family psychodrama.

The Guardian - UK

Royal Opera House announces change after more than 10,000 performances

IN FULL

The Independent UK

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Royal Opera House commissions new stage curtains to honour the King

The curtains will be crafted in collaboration with renowned specialists Gerriets and the Royal School of Needlework and are due to be unveiled in May.

Evening Standard

King Charles honoured with significant gesture by Royal Opera House

A new set of curtains, crafted in collaboration with renowned specialists, will be unveiled in May

The Independent UK

The Makropulos Case review: Ausrine Stundyte is magnetic in exhilarating – and funny – Janáček staging

Katie Mitchell’s production wittily reinvigorates Janáček’s story of an immortal woman, via toxic masculinity and dating apps. Jakub Hrůša’s conducting draws out the music’s colours and the cast are uniformly strong

The Guardian - UK

The Sicilian Vespers at the Royal Ballet and Opera House review: Joyce El-Khoury is outstanding

4/5 Daniel Dooner’s revival of the Stefan Herheim production of Verdi’s opera is a timely call to stand up to tyranny

Evening Standard

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The Sicilian Vespers review – plot and theatrical panache collide in Verdi’s Parisian reinvention

Stefan Herheim’s production of this fascinating work battles with hollowness and ambiguities despite an impressive debut from Speranza Scappucci as principal guest conductor

The Guardian - UK

Royal Opera House accused of 'legitimising' the Russian war on Ukraine by casting Anna Netrebko

The Ukrainian ambassador to the UK said Anna Netrebko is ‘a cultural instrument legitimising killings in Ukraine’

Evening Standard

Art and politics are not the same thing – but the Anna Netrebko case shows what happens when they collide

The arts and politics are bound to mix, but they are not the same thing. In the cold war, Soviet artists performed in the west. Should the Russian soprano, who has condemned the Ukraine invasion, be blocked from singing in London?

The Guardian - UK

Holding opera and Anna Netrebko to account for Putin’s war crimes

Letters: Readers respond to an article by Martin Kettle in which he says the Royal Opera House is making a mistake by hosting the Russian soprano

The Guardian - UK

As Putin’s bombs fall on Ukraine, the Royal Opera House had a call to make about Anna Netrebko. It made the wrong one

The Russian soprano says she has condemned the war and has no affinity with this Kremlin. But hosting her still seems unwise, says Guardian columnist Martin Kettle

The Guardian - UK

Royal Ballet and Opera urged to drop Russian soprano with Putin links

Exclusive: MPs and Ukrainian artists sign letter saying Anna Netrebko is ‘symbol of cultural propaganda for a regime responsible for war crimes’

The Guardian - UK

The Royal Ballet and Opera must reconsider its invitation to Anna Netrebko

Letters: The Russian singer is symbol of cultural propaganda for a regime that is responsible for serious war crimes in Ukraine, say co-signatories including Sergiy Kyslytsya, Andriy Kurkov, Helen Clark and Alex Sobel MP

The Guardian - UK

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Euronews

UK’s Royal Ballet and Opera cancels 2026 Israel show after staff protest on Gaza stance

The Royal Ballet and Opera has cancelled a planned 2026 performance of Puccini’s 'Tosca' at the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv, after 182 staff signed a letter condemning the organisation's stance on Gaza.

The National (Scotland)

Activists challenge theatre over Ukraine support after Palestine flag snatched

The Royal Opera House is facing criticism after a staff member removed a Palestinian flag from a cast member during a curtain call, prompting…

The Guardian - UK

Cast member displays Palestinian flag at end of Royal Opera House performance

Flag held up during curtain call for Il Trovatore, with attempts to remove it resisted

Evening Standard

Royal Opera House chaos as privately-educated 'queer dance artist' unfurls Palestinian flag on stage

The incident involving cast member Daniel Perry took place during the curtain call of Il Trovatore on Saturday night

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Evening Standard

Pretty Yende on the raw power of music: ‘opera is literally soul food’

The soprano is singing the lead role of Semele this year, and her star is on the rise. She chats to India Block about getting in character and growing into her voice

Evening Standard

Angela Hartnett at the Royal Opera House: Beloved chef to replace Piazza restaurant

Call it a meeting of two national treasures, says Sam Wilson

The Guardian - UK

Faust review – darkly gothic production turns Gounod’s opera into boisterous Les Mis

The 1860s French setting mixes panache and musical charm as Faust sells his soul to Méphistophélès and seduces Marguerite

The Guardian - UK

‘Touching the soul is all that matters!’ The outrageous genius of Barrie Kosky and his Wagner phantasmagoria

He put Carmen in a gorilla suit and had Das Rheingold’s Erda represented by an 82-year-old naked woman. What are the the director’s plans for his edge-of-the-seat Die Walküre?

The Guardian - UK

Turandot review – with high energy, mighty voices and delicacy, epic staging feels newly minted

Andrei Serban’s 1984 production of Puccini’s final opera is meticulously revived with Sondra Radvanovsky and SeokJong Baek both stellar in the central roles. In the pit, Rafael Payare brings care and lightness to the score

The Guardian - UK

‘We fell in love with the ballet and with her’: why 184-year-old Giselle keeps us swooning

The role has inspired the world’s best ballerinas and her story is as popular as ever – whether revived, reimagined or deconstructed. Dancers explain the appeal of Giselle

The Guardian - UK

The week in classical: Il Trovatore; Total Immersion: Symphonic Electronics; Mad Song; Jerusalem Quartet – review

A fearless Agnieszka Rehlis leads a Verdi revival that will leave you rattled, while an electroacoustic extravaganza dives into tech and a viola steals the show in a Shostakovich celebration

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