The Royal Ballet and Opera is set to present Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffman” in a new production by Damiano Michieletto.
The production first made its premiere in Sydney and Venice.
In a statement, Michieletto said, “The journey of these Contes d’Hoffmann should have started right from London in 2020. The project was then stopped by Covid. But that was just the first time, as the following staging, in Sydney in 2022, was also stalled by the pandemic. Australia’s main Opera House was later able to stage it in 2023, and the show later made it to Europe, specifically to Venice, one year ago. It’s now the turn of the Royal Ballet & Opera, where the world premiere was supposed to take place. I’m happy that the show is finally making it to London, but I’m also a little sad that I won’t be able to be there: the changes of plans caused by the pandemic over the past few years have made it so that I am now busy filming my first movie, another project that has been postponed several times. I’m sending my best wishes to the theater and to all the performers for this production of ‘Les Contes d’Hoffmann,’ of which I am particularly fond of.”
The opera will be conducted by Antonello and will star tenors Juan Diego Flórez and Leonardo Caimi in the title role.
The production will also include Alex Esposito as the four villains, Julie Boulianne will sing the role of Nicklausse, Olga Pudova as Olympia, Ermonela Jaho as Antonia, and Marina Costa-Jackson as Giulietta. The production will also star Vincent Ordonneau (Spalanzani), Christine Rice (Muse and Antonia’s mother), Christophe Mortagne (Andrès/Cochenille, Frantz/Pitichinaccio), Alastair Miles (Crespel), Jeremy White (Luther), Grisha Martirosyan (Hermann/Schlémil), Ryan Vaughan Davies (Nathanaël).
“Les Contes d’Hoffmann” is set to be presented Nov. 1 through Dec. 1, 2024, and will be shown in cinemas on Jan. 15, 2025, and Jan. 19, 2025.