Priority Booking Dates
Jubilee and Founders 20 November
Benefactors 27 November
Ambassadors 4 December
Envoys 8 January
Gold 29 January
Silver 12 February
Friends 3 March
General Booking 5 March
Opera Holland Park’s 2025 Season will open on 27 May 2025 with a new production of The Flying Dutchman (sung in German), the company’s first staging of a work by Richard Wagner. Commissioned by Opera Holland Park with the generous support of the Element Hunters, and premiered in 2023, Jonathan Dove’s sensational adventure story, Itch, returns in performances by the main cast and by the 2025 cohort of Opera Holland Park Young Artists.
Last seen at Opera Holland Park in 2012, Donizetti’s haunting gothic tragedy, Lucia di Lammermoor receives a new staging, while Rodula Gaitanou’s “world class” (The Stage) 2018 production of La traviata will be revived for the second time. Co-produced with Scottish Opera and D’Oyly Carte Opera, new productions of The Merry Widow (sung in English) and a double bill of Trial by Jury and A Matter of Misconduct! complete the main stage season, together with the fifth iteration of the recital series, Opera in Song.
The Flying Dutchman (sung in German) | Opening 27 May
Opera Holland Park’s first Wagner, The Flying Dutchman will be directed by Julia Burbach and conducted by Peter Selwyn, the creative team behind the highly successful Hackney Ring Cycle, with designs by Naomi Dawson and lighting by Robert Price. Acclaimed Wagnerian Paul Carey Jones, and Eleanor Dennis make their role debuts as the Dutchman and Senta with Neal Cooper as Erik. City of London Sinfonia return for their 21st season at Opera Holland Park. Full casting will be announced later this year.
Evening performances will take place on 27, 29, 31 May, 5, 7, 12 and 14 June, all at 7.30pm.
Itch | Opening 3 June
Commissioned by Opera Holland Park and premiered in 2023, with spectacular multi-storied designs by Frankie Bradshaw, Jake Wiltshire and Jack Henry James Fox, Stephen Barlow’s “gorgeous” (The Independent) production of Jonathan Dove and Alasdair Middleton’s explosive adventure story, Itch, returns. In addition to four performances by the main cast, conducted by Matt Scott Rogers with City of London Sinfonia in the pit, Itch will also be performed by the 2025 cohort of Opera Holland Park Young Artists in their annual showcase at the Schools and Discovery Matinees. Full casting will be announced later this year.
Evening performances will take place on 3, 6, 11 and 13 June, all at 7.30pm.
The Discovery Matinee will take place on 8 June at 2pm.
The Merry Widow | Opening 19 June (Sponsored by Viking)
The first of two co-productions with Scottish Opera and D’Oyly Carte Opera, John Savournin’s new staging of Lehár’s delicious will-they-won’t-they romantic comedy will be designed by takis, whose recent credits with Opera Holland Park extend from Il segreto di Susanna (2019 and 2024) and Carmen (2022) to the 2021 redesign of the stage and auditorium. The Orchestra of Scottish Opera make their debut in the OHP pit, conducted by their music director Stuart Stratford, who returns to Opera Holland Park after many successes including the company’s lauded production of Il trittico (2013). Paula Sides and Alex Otterburn star as the ex-lovers Hanna and Danilo, on whose rekindled romance the fortune of their homeland depends. Full casting will be announced later this year.
Evening performances will take place on 19, 21, 25, 27 and 28 June, all at 7.30pm.
Trial by Jury/A Matter of Misconduct! | Opening 24 June
Directed by John Savournin and designed by takis, Opera Holland Park’s second co-production with Scottish Opera and D’Oyly Carte Opera of the 2025 Season stars Richard Suart, Kira Kaplan, Jamie MacDougall and Chloe Harris in Gilbert and Sullivan’s caustic courtroom comedy. Commissioned by Scottish Opera, Laura Attridge’s production of Emma Jenkins and Toby Hession’s contemporary satire of modern morals and political accountability receives its London premiere in this double bill, with the Orchestra of Scottish Opera conducted by Toby Hession.
Evening performances will take place on 24 and 26 June, both at 7.30pm.
Lucia di Lammermoor | Opening 18 July
Donizetti’s haunting tragedy of murder and madness receives a new production from director Cecilia Stinton and designer Neil Irish, with Michael Papadopoulos conducting City of London Sinfonia. Coloratura soprano Jennifer France, who played Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos in 2018 and the Vixen in The Cunning Little Vixen (2021), returns to Opera Holland Park to make her role debut as Lucia, alongside Morgan Pearse and José de Eça, who made their house debuts as Scarpia and Cavaradossi in the 2024 revival of Tosca, who return as Enrico and Edgardo. Also returning are former Young Artists Blaise Malaba and Ellen Pearson.
Evening performances on 18, 22, 24, 26, 30 July and 1 August, all at 7.30pm.
La traviata | Opening 19 July
Sumptuously designed by Cordelia Chisholm, with reference to the paintings of Gustave Courbet and John Singer Sargent, Rodula Gaitanou’s “dazzling” (The Guardian) 2018 production of Verdi’s portrait of first and last love in the Parisian demimonde returns. Matthew Kofi Waldren conducts City of London Sinfonia and the Opera Holland Park Chorus, with soprano Alison Langer (Nedda in Martin Lloyd-Evans’s ground-breaking 2024 Pagliacci) returning to the role of Violetta Valéry, alongside Matteo Desole (Alfredo) and Stephen Gadd (Germont). Full casting will be announced later this year.
Evening performances will take place on 19, 23, 25, 29, 31 July and 2 August, all at 7.30pm.
The Discovery Matinee will take place on 27 July, at 2pm.
Opera in Song
Established in 2021 and co-curated by Julien Van Mellaerts and Dylan Perez, the recital series returns for a fifth season, bringing established and emerging talent together to explore the contrasts and connections between art song and opera. Full details and dates will be announced early next year.
