Last Updated on January 6, 2026
Our Pick of the Upcoming Season
2026 is a year of change at the top of the London opera scene. The Royal Opera’s new Music Director, Jakub Hrusa, has a chance to get properly bedded in at Covent Garden, and English National Opera welcomes André de Ridder as Music Director Designate. There is also some interesting work involving new technologies as opera strives to stay relevant as a cultural force in the 21st century. So, check out our London opera previews and pick your own favourites with our help.
London Opera By Venues
Royal Opera House
With eight new productions this season alongside major revivals on the main stage and in the Linbury Theatre, the winter portion of the 2026 season leans heavily on core Italian and verismo repertoire, designed to pull in post-holiday audiences and international visitors.
Main Stage Royal Opera
Turandot
6 January–4 February 2026
Puccini’s Turandot continues across January into early February, anchoring the season’s grand opera offering before the house pivots to more varied repertoire later in the spring. We said “It has spectacle, colour, a huge chorus, instantly recognisable music and a sense of occasion that suits a festive outing …For newcomers, it is an excellent first opera.” “Andrei Serban’s vibrant production, first seen at Covent Garden in the 1980s, continues to impress with its blend of comedic ritual, evocative imagery, and dramatic force.“
La traviata
8 January – 17 February 2026
Verdi’s La Traviata returns in Richard Eyre’s production in January and February. The combination of an iconic staging and a new music director’s imprint should make this revival a key draw. We said, “Richard Eyre’s staging (directed for this revival by Dan Dooner) is simple but brilliant.”
Siegfried
17 March – 6 April 2026
Covent Garden will become a hub for the international Wagner community in late March, as Conductor Laureate Antonio Pappano and director Barrie Kosky return for the third instalment of Wagner’s Ring cycle with a new production of Siegfried. Tenor Andreas Schager makes his eagerly awaited Royal Opera debut in the title role, joined by Peter Hoare, who returns to the House as Mime. Christopher Maltman and Elisabet Strid rejoin the company following acclaimed performances in Die Walküre, appearing as Der Wanderer and Brünnhilde, respectively.
Rigoletto
25 March – 23 April 2026
Mark Elder marks his 50th year of conducting at Covent Garden by returning to the opera that launched his Royal Opera career, the same work with which he made his debut in 1976 at the age of 29. The title role is shared by Aleksei Isaev and Daniel Luis Vicente, joined by Aida Garifullina, Rosa Feola, and Robyn Allegra Parton as Gilda, with Liparit Avetisyan and Iván Ayón Rivas performing as the Duke of Mantua. We said “This is definitely a production that allows the vocalists to shine.”
Peter Grimes
5–28 May 2026
Deborah Warner’s staging of Britten’s Peter Grimes returns to the Royal Opera House in a stark, contemporary vision of a hostile seaside town and its scapegoat fisherman. Allan Clayton leads a cast including Bryn Terfel and Maria Bengtsson, with Jakub Hrusa conducting Britten’s extraordinary seascape of a score. We described it as “a Peter Grimes for our times … this production is the Royal Opera House at the top of its game.” Get a ticket!
Samson et Dalila – Saint-Saëns
13 May – 3 June 2026
Passion and betrayal ignite in Saint-Saëns’ Samson et Dalila at the Royal Opera House. A tale of forbidden desire and faith undone, it features the magnetic Dalila whose sensual allure seals Samson’s fate with the seductive “Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix”. The cast is led by SeokJong Baek and Aigul Akhmetshina, and this staging blends spectacular design and vocal brilliance, bringing biblical drama to stunning musical life. We said, “one of the best evenings of crowd-pleasing operatic entertainment I’ve seen for a long time.”
The Marriage of Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro)
4 June – 2 July 2026.
David McVicar’s hugely successful production of Mozart’s comic classic Le nozze di Figaro is back with conductor Giedre Slekyte on the podium and Alex Esposito in the lead role. Our reviewer commented, “From the first few bars of the interval to the closing number, I scarcely stopped smiling.”
I puritani – Bellini
30 June – 19 July 2026
Vincenzo Bellini’s bel canto masterpiece takes on new life in Richard Jones’s striking new production, featuring Lisette Oropesa as the devoted yet heartbreakingly fragile Elvira and Francesco Demuro as her valiant lover. Rich with dazzling coloratura and ethereal arias, Bellini’s score is full of emotion, weaving together the emotional strands of true love with the devastating ache of loss. This production also marks conductor Riccardo Frizza’s debut with The Royal Opera.
La bohème
Dates: 1 – 25 July 2026.
Richard Jones’s much-loved production returns, illuminating a Paris poised on the brink of profound change while delving into the private hopes and struggles of its Bohemian dreamers. Puccini’s glorious score, rich with soaring duets and deeply affecting arias, is performed by two outstanding casts. Conducted by Lorenzo Passerini in his debut with The Royal Opera, alongside Christopher Willis, this production promises an unforgettable evening of musical and emotional intensity. “A very solid revival of a first-class La Bohème.”
La Fille du régiment
7 – 24 July 2026.
Laurent Pelly’s exuberant production of Donizetti’s opera brings the world of military life in the Tyrolean Alps vividly to the stage, blending sharp wit, bold visual flair and even an impressively oversized tank. Yves Abel conducts a top-notch cast, with Juan Diego Flórez and Jonah Hoskins sharing the role of Tonio, and Spanish soprano Sara Blanch making her Royal Opera debut as the spirited and irresistible Marie.
Royal Opera Linbury Theatre
In parallel to the main house, the Linbury Theatre continues to function as a laboratory for smaller-scale and contemporary work.
The Turn of the Screw
26 March – 6 April
The Royal Opera’s exploration of Benjamin Britten’s oeuvre continues with The Turn of the Screw, the composer’s unsettling chamber opera that probes fear, guilt and the darker recesses of the human psyche. This new production has been conceived by Natalie Abrahami and designer Michael Levine, with Bassem Akiki conducting a cast led by Elgan Llyr Thomas in the dual roles of Prologue and Peter Quint, alongside Isabelle Peters as the Governess, Claire Barnett-Jones as Mrs Grose and Kate Royal as Miss Jessel.
Jette Parker Artists – Three Chamber Operas
1 – 9 May
The mixed bill Jette Parker Artists: Three Chamber Operas, presented in May, brings together short works by Elizabeth Maconchy, Charlotte Bray and Elena Langer, all directed and conducted by artists from the Jette Parker scheme. The programme reinforces the Linbury’s role as a vital platform for women composers.
RBO/SHIFT
4-7 June
The Royal Opera’s Associate Director, Netia Jones, curates a four-day festival exploring the shifting boundary between opera and technology. The focus for the festival is the ever-growing world of artificial intelligence.
Tickets and information regarding the Royal Opera are available here
Royal Opera House, Bow Street, London, WC2E 9DD
English National Opera at the London Coliseum
The highlight of the ENO’s upcoming season at the London Coliseum is Music Director Designate André de Ridder’s first production in the role with Kurt Weill’s Mahagonny. ENO’s commitment to reaching younger and non-specialist audiences is supported by schemes such as free tickets for under-21s.
HMS Pinafore
23 January – 7 February
We described this revival of director Cal McCrystal’s take on a Gilbert & Sullivan favourite as a “first-class, rollicking production teetering deliciously on the edge of comedic chaos.” With its tongue-in-cheek patriotism, gag-a-minute energy and on-point casting, it’s the most fun you will have in an opera house this year, unless you get very lucky…
Così fan tutte
February 6-21
Mozart’s Così fan tutte is reframed as a contemporary “relationship test” by the multi-award-winning director and Artistic Director of Improbable, Phelim McDermot,t together with set designer, Tom Pye. The creative team have transported the opera to the boardwalks of Coney Island in the 1950s, with much of the opera taking place in a fairground. With Dinis Sousa, Principal Conductor of the Royal Northern Sinfonia, on the podium, we described this co-production with the Metropolitan Opera, New York, as “a highly amusing contemporary production.”
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
February 16-20
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny tells the tale of three fugitives who find a lawless, pleasure city where everything is allowed, and survival is uncertain. Kurt Weill fuses opera with ragtime and jazz with a show featuring the famous Alabama Song, later recorded by David Bowie and The Doors. The production stars Rosie Aldridge, Kenneth Kellogg, Mark Le Brocq and Danielle de Niese as Jenny Smith. Directed by Jamie Manton with André de Ridder conducting, it’s the hot new ticket of the ENO season.
Tickets and information regarding the ENO are available here
English National Opera, London Coliseum, St Martin’s Lane, London WC2N 4ES
English Touring Opera at the Hackney Empire
Pagliacci
April 10
Art imitates life in English Touring Opera’s new production of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci.
When Canio, leader of a theatre troupe, sees his life reflected in rehearsals for an upcoming opera, he becomes convinced that his wife is having an affair. Can Canio temper his spiralling emotions, or will his jealousy get the better of him? Eleanor Burke (founder of the pioneering sustainable opera company, Green Opera) makes her directorial debut with ETO alongside ETO Music Director Gerry Cornelius.
The Gondoliers
April 11
Gilbert and Sullivan’s last great success, The Gondoliers, is a fizzing comedy of mistaken identity that marries joy and chaos with sharp satire. This new production is helmed by Liam Steel, who directed ETO’s Olivier Award-winning production of Paul Bunyan.
There is a special deal available for these ETO shows, 20% off if you book for both The Gondoliers and Pagliacci.
Hackney Empire, 291 Mare St, London E8 1EJ
Wilton’s Music Hall
Iolanthe
February 17 – 28
More G&S from the award-winning Charles Court Opera with their enchanting production of Iolanthe, a sharp satire of power, privilege and parliamentary democracy. The production is directed by G&S specialist John Savournin, who we loved in the ENO’s recent HMS Pinafore (see above) in the role of Captain Corcoran.
The Chocolate Soldier
June 23 – 27
Opera della Luna returns to Wilton’s after last year’s sell-out The Mikado with Oscar Straus’ 1908 opéra bouffe The Chocolate Soldier. With a new English book and lyrics by Jeff Clarke based on George Bernard Shaw’s classic anti-war play Arms and the Man,
Opera della Luna has created a new version of the show, restoring much of Shaw’s witty dialogue and reinstating his original characters. With new orchestral arrangements by James Widden, to be conducted by James Ham, this is the show’s first fully staged production in the UK since 1940, when its run at the Shaftesbury Theatre was cut short when the theatre was bombed.
Wilton’s Music Hall, 1 Graces Alley, London E1 8JB
We are looking forward to the next few months of opera in London. There is a beguiling mix of old favourites, operatic rarities, and a smattering of new works to look forward to. Hope to see you at some of these productions!
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