‘Love cannot kill: it brings new life.’

On a starlit night in Nagasaki, these are the words spoken by American naval officer Pinkerton to young geisha Cio-Cio-San. But as they both learn, words and promises carelessly spoken can have indelible consequences.

With a score that includes Butterfly’s aria, 'Un bel dì, vedremo' (‘One fine day’) and the ‘Humming Chorus’, Giacomo Puccini’s opera is entrancing and ultimately heart-breaking. Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s exquisite production takes inspiration from 19th-century European images of Japan.

Princess Aida has been kidnapped: a valuable prize in a war between Egypt and Ethiopia. Meanwhile, the ambitious soldier Radames wrestles with his feelings for her. As they draw closer together, each must make an agonizing choice between their loyalty to home, and their love for each other.

In this new production, director Robert Carsen situates Verdi’s large-scale political drama within a contemporary world, framing its power struggles and toxic jealousies in the apparatus of a modern, totalitarian state. Royal Opera Music Director Antonio Pappano conducts Verdi’s glorious, monumental score.

The Royal Ballet’s dazzling Principals lead an evening not to be missed, their sparkling talents a perfect fit for a diamond anniversary. Celebrating the 60^th anniversary of The Friends of Covent Garden, this programme recognises the amazing support of all ROH Friends past and present.

The showcase will demonstrate the breadth and diversity of The Royal Ballet’s repertory in classical, contemporary and heritage works. It will also include world premieres of short ballets by choreographers Pam Tanowitz, Joseph Toonga and Valentino Zucchetti as well as The Royal Ballet’s first performance of For Four by Artistic Associate Christopher Wheeldon and a performance of George Balanchine’s Diamonds.

A modern Mexican classic of magic realism provides the basis for The Royal Ballet’s new full-length work, reuniting Artistic Associate Christopher Wheeldon with the creative team who transformed Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Winter’s Tale into dance, composer Joby Talbot and designer Bob Crowley.

The ballet is inspired by Laura Esquivel’s novel – a captivating family saga where the central character’s emotions spill out through cooking to influence everyone around her in startling and dramatic ways. In this co-production with American Ballet Theatre, Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra also acts as musical consultant for Talbot’s newly commissioned score, and Wheeldon has worked closely with Esquivel to reshape her richly layered story into an entertaining and engrossing new ballet.

In the court of Princess Turandot, suitors who fail to solve her riddles are brutally killed. But when a mysterious Prince answers one correctly, suddenly he holds all the power – and a glorious secret. When life hangs in the balance, can love conquer all?

Puccini’s score is rich in musical marvels (featuring the famous aria ‘Nessun dorma’), while Andrei Serban’s production draws on Chinese theatrical traditions to evoke a colourful fantasy tableau of ancient Peking. Antonio Pappano conducts Anna Pirozzi in the title role and Yonghoon Lee as Calaf

Servants Figaro and Susanna are filled with excitement on their wedding day, but there’s a hitch: their employer, the Count Almaviva, has dishonourable intentions of his own towards the bride-to-be.

With more twists than a page boy’s stockings, the story of Mozart’s comic opera will surprise and delight you at every turn. Come for the music and stay for the cross-dressing hilarity, all unfolding over the course of one crazy, topsy-turvy day in the Almaviva household. Royal Opera Music Director Antonio Pappano conducts a truly international cast in David McVicar’s timeless production.

Passions run high as Manrico and the Count di Luna compete for the affections of Leonora. Little do they know, Manrico’s mother Azucena has been keeping a terrible secret for decades. Soon a curse from the past will rise up from the ashes with devastating implications for them all.

Starring Ludovic Tézier and Jamie Barton, Adele Thomas’s energetic staging sets Verdi’s tale in a Hieronymus Bosch-inspired universe of medieval superstition. Antonio Pappano conducts Verdi’s dramatic score, which features the famous ‘Anvil’ chorus.