The Magic Flute, The Magic Flute Lite, The Flying Dutchman, and Simon Boccanegra coming to Nottingham Royal Concert Hall and Nottingham Theatre Royal

An unforgettable journey awaits audiences in Nottingham as a bold reimagining of a classic opera comes to the city this March.

New to the Theatre Royal this season is a reinterpretation of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, from the critically-acclaimed director/designer team Annabel Arden and Joanna Parker.

Displaced and dispossessed, the Dutchman's crew are condemned to wander the seas for eternity. Every seven years, fate offers them the chance to end this cycle of purgatory but, in a world where money, power, and bureaucracy hold sway, it remains to be seen whether they will ever find shelter and sanctuary on land.

Opera North music director Garry Walker will be conducting Wagner’s thrilling score with a cast including Robert Hayward as the Dutchman, together with Layla Claire and Edgaras Montvidas who make their Opera North debuts as Senta and Erik/ Steersman respectively.

Clive Bayley makes a welcome return to the company as Senta’s father Daland, while Molly Barker from the Chorus of Opera North takes on the role of Mary.

James Brining’s popular production of The Magic Flute also returns to the Theatre Royal after its hugely successful 2024 tour, with The Magic Flute Lite offering a shorter daytime option.

Patrick Lange and Emilia Hoving take up the baton to conduct a new cast, which includes Soraya Mafi as Pamina, Trystan Llŷr Griffiths as Tamino, Anna Dennis as the Queen of the Night and Justin Hopkins as Sarastro.

They will be joined by Emyr Wyn Jones and Pasquale Orchard who reprise the roles of Papageno and Papagena. In a first for a major UK opera company, the Thursday performance will also feature fully integrated BSL signing.

Offering the same enchanted world and beautiful music as the full-length production, The Magic Flute Lite’s special daytime performance lasts under two hours and has been created especially for families, schoolchildren at Key Stages 2–4 and audience members who prefer a more bitesize operatic experience.

Both The Magic Flute and The Magic Flute Lite will be sung in English with English subtitles.

Then in April, Nottingham Royal Concert Hall presents a concert staging of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra in the latest in Opera North’s highly regarded series of dramatic concert stagings, which has seen the company presenting some of the largest scale operas in concert halls across the country.

Featuring some of Verdi’s most dramatic and thrilling music, including the composer’s celebrated Council Chamber scene with its passionate plea for peace and unity, Opera North’s principal guest conductor Antony Hermus will conduct an exciting young cast.

Roland Wood stars as former pirate and man-of-the-people Simon Boccanegra, with Vazgen Gazaryan as Jacopo Fiesco, a leading member of the nobility and Boccanegra’s most hated rival. Italian soprano Sara Cortolezzis makes her company and UK debut as Amelia, while PJ Harris returns to Opera North to direct.

Tickets are available for all four productions now from trch.co.uk or via the Box Office on 0115 989 5555.

The Magic Flute will be performed on Thursday March 20 and Friday March 21 at 7pm, with The Magic Flute Lite performed on Thursday 20 at 11am.

The Flying Dutchman will then be performed on Saturday March 22 at 7pm, and Simon Boccanegra will be on Tuesday April 29 at 7pm.