#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.
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.
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.
3rd 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.
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.
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
