Press Contact: Gemma Barriball
September 2026
Welsh National Opera brings Puccini’s La bohème
and a daring double-bill to Theatre Royal Plymouth
The WELSH NATIONAL OPERA returns to Theatre Royal Plymouth (TRP) with its Autumn 2026 Season featuring one of opera’s most celebrated works, a dynamic double-bill of psychological drama, and a vibrant family concert for young audiences.
The visit starts in style with Puccini’s much-loved masterpiece La bohème on Thursday 26 November, followed by an hour-long Family Concert offering a lively introduction to opera for young audiences on Friday 27 November. The run culminates with a gripping double-bill of Bluebeard’s Castle + Oedipus Rex on Saturday 28 November, bringing together two psychologically intense 20th century works.
The Autumn productions mark the first fully programmed season under Co-General Directors and CEOs, Adele Thomas and Sarah Crabtree, as they build the opera company of the future that is rooted in Wales with an international outlook.
Love and loss in La bohème
WNO brings to TRP one of the most beloved operas ever written with La bohème.
In the Latin Quarter of Paris, four young artists throw themselves into life with passion and intensity, yearning for the future while discovering friendship and first love. Set to some of opera’s most beautiful and instantly recognisable music, Puccini’s deeply moving score perfectly captures the euphoria and heartbreak of star-crossed lovers, Rodolfo and Mimì.
Directed by Floris Visser and conducted by Corinna Niemeyer, this five-star production from Glyndebourne reimagines 1930s Paris in a world of shadowy, stark monochrome. Floris’s production is a deeply moving, metaphysical take on a much-loved opera, which ruminates on the tragedy of doomed youth and the omnipotence of death.
Sung in Italian with surtitles in English and Welsh, an international cast is led by Alexia Voulgaridou (Mimì) and Carlos Cardoso (Rodolfo), alongside Navasard Hakobyan (Marcello) and Sofia Kirwan-Baez (Musetta). WNO Associate Artists Owain Rowlands and Ross Fettes take the roles of Schaunard and Colline respectively.
An unforgettable first taste of opera: WNO Family Concert
As Greek mythology enjoys a blockbuster moment following the release of The Odyssey, the WNO Family Concert returns with a programme bringing the worlds of Ancient Greece and Rome vividly to life.
Hosted by Welsh actor and presenter Elin Llwyd with director Emma Woods and soprano Eiry Price, this hour-long, high-energy concert is designed to spark the imagination of young audiences and their families, inspiring the next generation of opera lovers.
Drawing on a rich tapestry of evocative storytelling, the concert includes Beethoven’s Creatures of Prometheus overture along with arias by Lully, Handel, and Mozart, Offenbach’s exuberant Can-Can, and playful pieces like Ballo de Orsi (Dance of the Bears).
Darkness, desire and destiny: Bluebeard’s Castle + Oedipus Rex
WNO’s Autumn Season concludes in style with Bluebeard’s Castle + Oedipus Rex –two of the most psychologically intense and musically gripping masterpieces of the 20th century in one compelling evening.
Conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya and directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins with additional music from medieval composer and mystic, Hildegard Von Bingen, Bluebeard’s Castle delves into a dark world of power and fate, love and fear. This Olivier-nominated original production of Bartók’s unsettling tale was created by English National Opera.
After the interval, we journey into the ancient city of Thebes for a new, gothic and atmospheric production of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex featuring a libretto by Jean Cocteau. As a devastating plague grips the land, King Oedipus vows to discover its cause – beginning a relentless search for the truth, which leads towards a horrifying revelation.
Joining the cast as the Bard / Narrator is performer and TV personality, LJ Parkinson, whose theatre credits include the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare’s Globe and the Royal Court. They also perform internationally as the award-winning, Drag King LoUis CYfer, bringing their distinctive exploration of masculinity through theatre, live performance and cabaret.
Sung in Hungarian and Latin with surtitles on English and Welsh, the double-bill’s stellar cast also includes Nathan Berg (Bluebeard / Tireseas), Christine Rice (Judith / Jocasta) and Peter Hoare (Oedipus).
La bohème – 26 Nov
WNO Family Concert – 27 Nov
Bluebeard’s Castle + Oedipus Rex – 28 Nov
Tickets on sale now at https://theatreroyal.com/whats-on/genres/opera/