No longer booking
  • Venue Royal Opera House, London
  • Performance dates Booking to 19 July 2025
  • Running time 2 hours and 55 minutes (including one interval)
  • Age guidelines 8+

Book tickets to Il trovatore at the Royal Opera in London

Verdi’s opera of obsession and superstition returns to the Royal Opera House in 2025.

Director Adele Thomas’ production interprets this rich story of desire and an all-consuming curse.

Adele Thomas’ production lights up the stage with ‘anarchic imagination’ (Guardian), combining Hieronymus Bosch-inspired mayhem and medieval lore. Three unique casts are led by conductors Giacomo Sagripanti and Carlo Rizzi to bring Verdi’s dark and disturbing tale to energetic life.

Il trovatore runs until 19 July 2025 at the Royal Opera House in London

Background

Drama and energy

Verdi wrote Il trovatore hot on the heels of Rigoletto, and its premiere came only two months before that of La traviata. But Il trovatore, while no less popular than these other operas, is quite different. Verdi himself had suggested the source material, Antonio García Gutiérrez’s play El trovador (1836), to his librettist Salvadore Cammarano.

At the anvil

Il trovatore is probably best known for the ‘Anvil Chorus’, Azucena’s ‘Stride la vampa’ (The flame crackles!) and Manrico’s heroic ‘Di quella pira’ (The flames of the pyre). But Verdi wrote wonderful music for all four of his leads, with the aristocratic ‘Il balen del suo sorriso’ (The flashing of her smile) for the Count, and Leonora’s prayer ‘D’amor sull’ali rosee’ (On the rosy wings of love) among a host of thrilling ensembles and chorus numbers.

A DEVASTATING CURSE

Troubadour Manrico and military commander Count di Luna have become rivals vying for Leonora’s heart. Though Leonora loves Manrico, the jealous Count will do everything in his power to have her. Battles between the Count’s army and Manrico’s men ensue, and the Count and Manrico agree to a duel.

Meanwhile, haunted by a gruesome past, Azucena, Manrico’s mother, harbours a secret that affects both Manrico and the Count: years before, in a vow to avenge the murder of her mother at the hands of the aristocratic Luna family, she abducted their younger son. Will she reveal this truth, or will she see her revenge through at any cost?

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Stars and Creatives

Who is in the cast of Il trovatore?

8 July 2025
Tuesday, 7pm
Conducted by Carlo Rizzi
Cast: Riccardo Massi, Elena Stikhina, Étienne Dupuis, Clémentine Margaine, Roberto Tagliavini

9 July 2025
Wednesday, 7.30pm
Conducted by Carlo Rizzi
Cast: Gwyn Hughes Jones, Marigona Qerkezi, Juan Jesús Rodríguez, Yulia Matochkina, Roberto Tagliavini

11 July 2025
Friday, 7.30pm
Conducted by Carlo Rizzi
Cast: Riccardo Massi, Elena Stikhina, Étienne Dupuis, Clémentine Margaine, Roberto Tagliavini

12 July 2025
Saturday, 7.30pm
Conducted by Carlo Rizzi
Cast: Gwyn Hughes Jones, Marigona Qerkezi, Juan Jesús Rodríguez, Yulia Matochkina, Roberto Tagliavini

14 July 2025
Monday, 7.30pm
Conducted by Carlo Rizzi
Cast: Riccardo Massi, Elena Stikhina, Étienne Dupuis, Clémentine Margaine, Roberto Tagliavini

16 July 2025
Wednesday, 7.30pm
Conducted by Carlo Rizzi
Cast: Gwyn Hughes Jones, Marigona Qerkezi, Juan Jesús Rodríguez, Yulia Matochkina, Roberto Tagliavini

17 July 2025
Thursday, 7.30pm
Conducted by Carlo Rizzi
Cast: Riccardo Massi, Elena Stikhina, Étienne Dupuis, Clémentine Margaine, Roberto Tagliavini

19 July 2025
Saturday, 7.30pm
Conducted by Carlo Rizzi
Cast: Gwyn Hughes Jones, Marigona Qerkezi, Juan Jesús Rodríguez, Yulia Matochkina, Roberto Tagliavini

Who are the creative team of Il trovatore?

Music by Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by Salvadore Cammarano
Directed by Adele Thomas, with design by Annemarie Woods, lighting design by Franck Evin, dramaturg by Beate Breidenbach, and choreography by Emma Woods.

Important Notes

Content: This production contains themes of murder, suicide and reference to an infant death.

Language: Sung in Italian with English surtitles. Captions and translations in English will be displayed on screens above the stage and around the auditorium. Some performances also include Captions that give more details about the sound.

Venue Information

Royal Opera House , Bow Street, London, WC2E 9DD

Nearest Tube or Train: Covent Garden (Piccadilly line), Leicester Square (Piccadilly line, Northern line)

Nearest Buses: 1, 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, 15, 23, 26, 68, 76, 77a, 91, 168, 171, 176, 188, 501(southbound only), 505, 521, X68 all go to the Aldwych.

Directions

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Frequently Asked Questions

Il trovatore is playing at the Royal Opera House in London
The running time of Il trovatore is 2 hours and 55 minutes (including one interval)
The age recommendations for Il trovatore are: 8+
Yes, Il trovatore has matinee performances on the following days:

Yes. There is one 25 minute interval. The total performance time is approximately 2 hours and 55 minutes, including interval.

Acts I and II: 1 hour and 15 minutes, followed by a 25 minute interval

Acts III and IV: 1 hour and 15 minutes

No, sorry, Il trovatore has now completed its run and is no longer on sale.

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