#OurHouseToYourHouse: tonight’s Royal Opera House’s 2nd live concert and next week’s programme

2nd Concert: Saturday 20 June

Tonight is the second of the Live from Covent Garden concerts at 7.30pm BST which will be broadcast via the Royal Opera House website from Covent Garden. These are the first live performances at the Royal Opera House since the building closed its doors to the public on 17 March.

Sarah Connolly. © 2018, Jan Capinski

Die Walkure. Sarah Connolly as Fricka. © ROH, 2018. Photographed by Bill Cooper

David Butt Philip. 2017

Salome. David Butt Philip as Narraboth.© ROH. Photographed by Clive Barda

Tonight's concert includes a performance of Albert Schönberg's reduction of Gustav Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with tenor David Butt Philip, mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly and soloists of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. Principal dancer of The Royal Ballet Vadim Muntagirov will perform Frederick Ashton's Dance of the Blessed Spirits. The solo was initially created in 1978 for Anthony Dowell and is a showcase of balance and poise.

Manon. Vadim Muntagirov as Des Grieux. (C) ROH, 2014. Photographed by Alice Pennefather.

Symphonic Variations. Vadim Muntagirov. (C) ROH, 2014. Photographed by Tristram Kenton.

The Two Pigeons. Vadim Muntagirov. © ROH, 2018. Photographed by Bill Cooper.

The performance tonight and on Saturday 27 June will be available to view live and on-demand for 14 days for £4.99 per household.

3^rd Concert: Saturday 27 June

The Royal Opera's Music Director, Antonio Pappano, joined by soloists of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, will join singers from the ROH Jette Parker Young Artists programme with a programme including George Frideric Handel, Gaetano Donizetti, Gioachino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, George Gershwin and more.

First Soloists of The Royal Ballet Fumi Kaneko and Reece Clarke will perform the lyrical central pas de deux from Kenneth MacMillan's Concerto. Created in 1966, Concerto is set to Shostakovich's Piano Concerto no.2 in F. MacMillan was inspired to choreograph the concerto's slow movement after observing Royal Ballet dancer Lynn Seymour warming up at the barre, resulting in a deeply romantic and atmospheric pas de deux. This will be the first time that Kaneko and Clarke have performed this duet together. Royal Ballet pianist Kate Shipway together with soloists of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera will accompany the dancers.

Fumi Kaneko. © Andrej Uspenski.

Fumi Kaneko in Concerto, The Royal Ballet. © 2019, ROH. Photographed by Tristram Kenton.

Reece Clarke. © ROH, 2015. Andrej Uspenski.

Reece Clarke in Concerto, The Royal Ballet. © 2019, ROH. Photographed by Tristram Kenton.

Principal Matthew Ball and First Soloist Mayara Magri will perform a pas de deux from Royal Ballet Artistic Associate Christopher Wheeldon's Within the Golden Hour. First created for San Francisco Ballet, Within the Golden Hour has been part of The Royal Ballet's repertory since 2016 and was last performed by the Company as part of the 2018/19 Season. Music Director of The Royal Ballet Koen Kessels conducts.

Friday Premiere series of free online broadcasts

ROH also presents the next in the Friday Premiere series of free online broadcasts, with Wayne McGregor's Woolf Works on Friday 26 June at 7pm BST. Guest Artist Alessandra Ferri returned to The Royal Ballet in 2015 to create the role of Woolf, for which she was awarded the Critics' Circle National Dance Award for Best Female Dancer, as well as an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance. The ballet also features Sarah Lamb, Natalia Osipova, Akane Takada, Beatriz Stix-Brunell, Francesca Hayward, Federico Bonelli, Steven McRae, Edward Watson, Gary Avis, Tristan Dyer and Paul Kay. The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House is conducted by Music Director of The Royal Ballet Koen Kessels.

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.