Page 1060 - Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Coverage Book 2023-24

Indulge in the high drama of some big opera productions

Nina Stemme will play Elektra at the Royal Opera House. Photograph: © Laura Stevens

Obsession and a lust for revenge: one way to kick off the new year. Elektra (12 to 30
January), Richard Strauss’s bracing adaptation of Greek tragedy to a libretto by Hugo
von Hofmannsthal, is the high-profile, high-passion event to launch the spring season
at the Royal Opera House in a new production by Christof Loy conducted by Antonio
Pappano, with two big names, Nina Stemme and Karita Mattila, heading the cast.
Set in feverish, end-of-summer Venice, Benjamin Britten’s last opera, Death in Venice,
based on Thomas Mann’s novella, is staged by Welsh National Opera (Wales
Millennium Centre, Cardiff, 7 to 9 March; touring until 11 May), directed by Olivia
Fuchs and conducted by Leo Hussain. An atmosphere of decay and infatuation is offset
by Britten’s ravishing, gamelan-inspired music.

Billed as London’s biggest opera production of the century, “staged like never before”,
Verdi’s much-loved tragedy Aida, about an Ethiopian princess in love with an enemy
Egyptian, runs for three performances at Ovo Arena Wembley (23 to 24 March). Expect
digital projections, “huge-scale” puppetry, a cast of more than 250, 578 costumes, the
60-piece Hanseatic Symphony Orchestra, the “real” scent of lotus blossoms and pine
trees and 692 square metres of fabric to create a Nile that flows into the audience.
Prepare yourself. FM

Games
Get your thumbs ready for blockbuster action