Royal Opera House
Bow Street, London, WC2E 9DD
Royal Opera House Tickets
Jenufa
Royal Opera House
2 1 review 2 1 review Tickets from £40.00A tale of honour, love and sacrifice, Jenůfa explores the stigma of pregnancy out of wedlock against the backdrop of a small community.
- Booking until: Saturday, 1 February 2025
- Running time: 2hr 55min. Incl. 1 Interval.
- Playing at: Royal Opera House
- Booking until: Saturday, 1 February 2025
Aida
Royal Opera House
Tickets from £98.00- Opens: Tuesday, 28 January 2025
Booking until: Wednesday, 12 February 2025 - Running time: 3hr 15min. Incl. 1 Interval.
- Playing at: Royal Opera House
- Booking until: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
Onegin
Royal Opera House
5 1 review 5 1 review Tickets from £41.00When young and sensitive Tatyana declares her love for the dashing Eugene Onegin, he coldly rejects her. He idly begins to flirt with her sister, Olga – with tragic consequences.
- Booking until: Tuesday, 25 February 2025
- Running time: 2hr 30min. Incl. 2 Intervals.
- Playing at: Royal Opera House
- Booking until: Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Festen
Royal Opera House
Tickets from £40.00Thomas Vinterberg’s cult film is transformed into a bold new opera in this world premiere by Mark-Anthony Turnage.
- Opens: Tuesday, 11 February 2025
Booking until: Thursday, 27 February 2025 - Running time: 1hr 30mins.
- Playing at: Royal Opera House
- Booking until: Thursday, 27 February 2025
Light of Passage
Royal Opera House
Tickets from £26.00Swarms of dancers will flow as a captivating unit in Crystal Pite's powerful work that cuts to the heart of the human condition. Set to Henryk Mikolai Górecki's affecting Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, this award-winning work heads to the Royal Opera House for a limited run in early 2025.
- Opens: Thursday, 20 February 2025
Booking until: Wednesday, 12 March 2025 - Running time: 1hr 30min. Incl. 1 Interval.
- Playing at: Royal Opera House
- Booking until: Wednesday, 12 March 2025
Il Trovatore
Royal Opera House
Tickets from £64.00Adele Thomas will direct this co-production with Opernhaus Zurich to capture the thrilling story of love, revenge, and fate at the iconic Royal Opera House. Hailed by the Opera Gazet as "one of the most fascinating works of Italian Gothic romanticism, Il Trovatore will run for a limited season from February 2025.
- Opens: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Booking until: Saturday, 22 March 2025 - Running time: 2hr 55min. Incl. 1 Interval.
- Playing at: Royal Opera House
- Booking until: Saturday, 22 March 2025
Turandot
Royal Opera House
Tickets from £64.00Princess Turandot has sworn that no man shall marry her unless he can correctly answer three riddles. Prince Calaf, captivated by Turandot’s beauty, takes up the challenge, determined to win her heart or die in the attempt.
- Opens: Wednesday, 19 March 2025
Booking until: Friday, 18 April 2025 - Running time: 2hr 55min. Incl. two intervals.
- Playing at: Royal Opera House
- Booking until: Friday, 18 April 2025
Carmen
Royal Opera House
2.5 2 reviews 2.5 2 reviews Tickets from £64.00Carmen is the best-known work by French composer Georges Bizet, and one of the most famous operas in the entire art form – numbers such as the Habanera and the Toreador Song have permeated the popular consciousness as little else has. The opera’s heady combination of passion, sensuality and violence initially proved too much for the stage, and it was a critical failure on its 1875 premiere. Bizet died shortly after, and never learned of the spectacular success his Carmen would achieve: the opera has been performed more than five hundred times at Covent Garden alone.
- Opens: Tuesday, 8 April 2025
Booking until: Wednesday, 2 July 2025 - Running time: 3hr. Incl. 1 interval.
- Playing at: Royal Opera House
- Booking until: Wednesday, 2 July 2025
Royal Opera House Facilities
- Air conditioned
- Bar
- Disabled toilets
- Infrared hearing loop
- Member of Q-Park scheme
- Restaurant
- Toilets
- Wheelchair/scooter access
Royal Opera House Location
Travel Information
Nearest Tube station
- Covent Garden
- Leicester Square
Nearest Rail Station
- Charing Cross
Tube lines
- Piccadilly
- Northern
Day buses
- (Aldwych) RV1, 6, 11, 13, 23, 59, 68, 87, 171, 172, 188, X68
Night buses
- (Aldwych) 6, 23, 188, N11, N13, N26, N47, N68, N87, N89, N155, N171, N551
Royal Opera House history
From the outside
The Royal Opera House is the impressive official home of the Royal Opera and Royal Ballet and features a striking pillared façade. Inside it is equally magnificent with its unusually deep stage, huge orchestra pit, horseshoe shaped seating and beautiful pale blue and gold ceiling dome.
Royal Opera House architecture and history
The Royal Opera House was built back in 1732, first named the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. Winning a coveted theatrical patent from the King, it was allowed to perform dramas, the only theatre at the time to do so apart from the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
It was built using the enormous profits from a particularly successful and popular production of The Beggar’s Opera. The composer Handel debuted many of his new musical compositions there during the 1700s and loved the venue so much he left his organ to the venue in his Will. Sadly, it was destroyed by a fire in 1808. And the piano forte, a revolutionary instrument of the times, was first heard at the Royal Opera House building in 1767.
Another fire caused considerable damage in 1857, after which the venue raised the costs of tickets to pay for restoration. This caused the famous Old Price Riots, which eventually led to entrance fees being put back down to reasonable levels!
In 1843, when the practice of restricting drama performances was finally lifted, it was renamed the Royal Italian Opera, translating many non-Italian operas into Italian. In the late 1890s it was finally renamed The Royal Opera House, adding operas from France and Germany to their repertoire.
During World War One the Royal Opera House was used as a furniture store. In the Second World War it played its part by hosting dances, as a public dance hall. After the Second World War the famous Sadler’s Wells Ballet company took over, in hand with the new Covent Garden Opera Company.
Restored beautifully at huge cost during the 1990s, today the Royal Opera House is one of the most popular performance spaces in London. It also houses a fascinating collection of operatic costumes and other collections, in an ambitious project to catalogue every single performance there since its opening in 1732.
Past shows at the Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House has staged every imaginable opera, from obscure oddities to household name operas like Carmen and La Boheme. It has also hosted stellar performances by The Mariinsky Opera, The Mariinsky Ballet, The Kirov Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, La Scala Ballet Company and any more.
Royal Opera House access
There are as many as 19 wheelchair spaces in the main auditorium, in the stalls circle, grand tier, balcony and upper amphitheatre. Plus at least one wheelchair space and companion seat for sale from 10am on the day of the performance.
Royal Opera House tickets
We’re a great destination for a wide variety of seat types and prices, with excellent availability on the full range of Royal Opera House tickets.