Tony Hall
Chief Executive, Royal Opera House
London is renowned throughout the world for the breadth and quality of its arts and culture. There's everything you could imagine from the very best opera and ballet, to superb art galleries, museums, theatre, concerts, outdoor events, gigs and historic buildings.
I'm very fortunate to work at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, an iconic theatre in one of London's greatest landmarks. One of the things I enjoy most is being able to take a look backstage. It's always inspiring and it's always a hive of industry. Almost everything from hats and jewellery to props, costumes and wigs are made in the building, and there's a constant energy on stage with technical rehearsals, scenery being moved and preparations being made for the curtain to go up every night on another wonderful opera or ballet performance.
Why not take a backstage tour and see for yourself our dancers working hard in the ballet studio, and craftsmen in their workshops creating all that's required to bring the magic alive on stage?
Visitors may equally enjoy just wandering at their leisure around the building and seeing the variety of costumes and photographs that we have on display. There's also a lovely amphitheatre bar and terrace for a good coffee and a great view of the London skyline. We have regular free lunchtime concerts and recitals and, of course, our performances on the main-stage six nights a week and other events in our Linbury Studio Theatre and Clore Studio Upstairs.
Great artists over the years such as Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, Pavarotti and Domingo have graced the stage at Covent Garden. This Season, we see Angela Gheorghiu and Jonas Kaufmann singing amongst a host of international singers and Alina Cojocaru, Tamara Rojo, Carlos Acosta and The Royal Ballet's newest Principal, Sergei Polunin, each bringing their unique and world-beating talents to our audiences.
To make sure you get the most out of your London visit, do come along to the Royal Opera House and have a look for yourself. All our activities are detailed on our website - www.roh.org.uk We look forward to seeing you there.
