Music Director of The Royal Opera Antonio Pappano conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House in a concert of orchestral works on the main stage at Covent Garden. The programme includes Tchaikovsky’s Orchestral Suite no.3 and a selection of Rachmaninoff songs, for which they are joined by Georgian mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili.
The performance will take place on Friday 8 February and will also be performed in a concert at Symphony Hall, Birmingham on Sunday 10 February.
Antonio Pappano is Music Director of The Royal Opera, a position he has held since 2002. During his tenure he has conducted an extensive repertory, including works by Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Puccini, Richard Strauss, Ravel, Berg, Shostakovich and Britten, as well as the world premieres of Harrison Birtwistle’s The Minotaur (2008) and Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Anna Nicole (2011), and works for The Royal Ballet. Earlier in the 2018/19 Season he conducted Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen for the Company. This Season he also conducts new productions of Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades and Verdi’s La forza del destino for The Royal Opera.
Anita Rachvelishvili made her Royal Opera debut in 2013 as Carmen. She has since reprised this role, and also sung Azucena (Il trovatore) for the Company. Her concert appearances have included Verdi’s Requiem with Christian Thielemann at the Salzburg Festival. This season her engagements also include Dalila (Samson et Dalila), Princesse de Bouillon (Adriana Lecouvreur) and Amneris (Aida) for the Metropolitan Opera, New York.
The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House was founded in 1946 on the re-opening of the Royal Opera House after World War II. The Orchestra plays for nearly all performances given by The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet on the main stage of the Royal Opera House, under Music Directors Antonio Pappano (The Royal Opera) and Koen Kessels (The Royal Ballet). The Orchestra has performed at worldwide venues including Symphony Hall, Birmingham, Cadogan Hall, the Vienna Konzerthaus and on tour with The Royal Opera in Japan.
