Festival Cities and the Crisis

Discover how Shakespeare's plays have evolved and why they are still beloved some 400 years on.

William Shakespeare’s Sonnets are among the most beautiful and most fascinating poems ever written.

Mischievous fairies weave a web of confusion for four young lovers in the Royal Shakespeare Company's "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

Witness the creative process up close as the Royal Shakespeare Company reimagines a classic for modern times.

Power, betrayal, and love collide in Africa in this reinvigorated Shakespearean classic.

Shakespeare’s revenge tragedy is reborn as a cerebral thriller set in the 21st century, with Sir Ian McKellen playing the tormented prince.

Will the course of true love still run smooth in Russell T Davies’ fresh adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream?

A-list actors workshop the words of the Bard in a must-see documentary for all Shakespeare fans.

Two young actors embark on a road trip to get to the heart of the world’s greatest storyteller, William Shakespeare.

The famous Act 3, Scene 1 exchange between Hamlet, played by Billy Howle (The Serpent), and Ophelia, played by Mirren Mack ( Mary and George).

Haunted by grief, and with his world spinning violently out of control, Hamlet has to make some decisions: forget or remember; live or die.

Billy Howle performs Hamlet's famous ''to be or not to be.'' soliloquy.

Step behind the scenes and become a part of The Royal Shakespeare Company with exclusive access to the open rehearsal for their production of Henry VI: Part One.

The Royal Shakespeare Company's fresh and vibrant contemporary restaging of Shakespeare's dark comedy, directed by Blanche McIntyre.

Experience the Royal Shakespeare Company's five-star production of Henry VI Part Two directed by Owen Horsley.

Gregory Doran's thrilling production of Shakespeare's Richard III with the Royal Shakespeare Company featuring Arthur Hughes.

Dive into the final chapter of the Royal Shakespeare Company's gripping Henry VI trilogy, directed by Owen Horsely.

Director Erica Whyman transforms Shakespeare's emotionally charged play into a dystopian drama filled with The Handmaid's Tale-like horrors.

Kit Harington (Game of Thrones) plays the title role in Shakespeare's epic story of nationalism, war, and the intricate dance of power in Henry V.

Phillip Breen's hilarious production of The Comedy of Errors, set in the 1980s, with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Join acclaimed Shakespeare director Trevor Nunn for an intimate Shakespeare Master Class joined Dame Judi Dench, Roger Allam, and more.

The final installation of Sir Trevor Nunn’s Shakespeare masterclass featuring Dame Judi Dench, Roger Allam, and more.

Part three of Sir Trevor Nunn’s Shakespeare masterclass featuring Dame Judi Dench, Roger Allam, and more.

From Georges Bizet’s Carmen to Giuseppe Verdi’s Falstaff, Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Orchestra, Chorus, Academy’s artists and guest performers.

Ketevan Kemoklidze leads as Rosina while the orchestra plays under the magical baton of the young principal guest conductor Andrea Battistoni.

Glyndebourne’s wartime history as a home for evacuee children is the ingenious context for a new production of this unclassifiable tale.

The ‘sheer visual sophistication’ of Annabel Arden’s Barbiere serves ‘a triumphant celebration of Rossini’s musical genius

Christian Spuck brought one of Verdi’s key works to the stage with Messa da Requiem

Wild West meets Italian soul, gangsters meet cowboys. Sarah Hicks conducts The Morricone Duel with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.

Scottish Ballet’s 50th anniversary year comes to a spectacular close with the world premiere of The Snow Queen.

Michael Bublé: Tour Stop 148 presents a front row seat and exclusive backstage pass to superstar singer Michael Bublé’s visually thrilling and musically triumphant To Be Loved Tour.

Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold - an epic of gods and monsters - brought to the 21st century at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Witness the spectacle and power of Carreras, Domingo, and Pavarotti in a concert that brought opera to the masses on a starlit night in Rome.

Christian Spuck’s award-winning ballet transforms and reimagines Schubert’s Winterreise song cycle.

This production from La Scala stars opera greats Jonas Kaufmann and Erwin Schrott, with newcomer Anita Rachvelishvili making her successful debut.

Rinat Shaham is the provocative and free-spirited Carmen, while Dymtro Popov portrays Don José with a perfect mix of naivety and desire.

John Neumeier's Bach’s Christmas Oratorio confronts us with basic questions of trust, hope, faith, doubt and self-sacrifice

The ‘sheer visual sophistication’ of Annabel Arden’s Barbiere serves ‘a triumphant celebration of Rossini’s musical genius

Pinkerton returns to the US and finds a “real” wife, while Butterfly waits with unshakeable faith for him to return to the house on the harbour.

Victory makes Radamès a hero, but tangles his Ethiopian lover Aida in a dangerous royal love triangle and a very personal war.

The Royal Opera House's superb production of Saint-Saëns' opera, Samson and Delilah, directed by the multi-Olivier Award Winner, Richard Jones.

Glyndebourne's brilliant production of Handel's Giulio Cesare starring Sarah Connolly and Danielle de Niese.

Joyce DiDonato and Julia Bullock star in a bold reimagining of Handel's Theodora at The Royal Opera House.

Don Giovanni (Juan) retells Mozart's classical masterpiece as a story of the modern man's escape from himself and his demons.

Benoît Jacquot’s acclaimed film of Puccini’s opera stars Angela Gheorghiu in the title role with Roberto Alagna and Ruggero Raimondi.

Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold - an epic of gods and monsters - brought to the 21st century at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Siegfried presents an encounter not only between man and woman but between two principles

The final part of the tetralogy sees yet another broadening of the horizon.

Die Walküre - The Valkyrie - is the second opera in Wagner’s four-part epic, the Ring Cycle.

Lucia has fallen in love with Edgardo, the mortal enemy of her brother. She is ultimately broken by her unrequited love and becomes a murderess.

Based on the folktale that inspired the Little Mermaid, Dvořak’s best-known opera, ''Rusalka,'' tells the story of a nymph who wants to be human.

Götterdämmerung presents the final and apocalyptic duel between the queens Brünnhilde and Kriemhild as narrated in the epic “Song of the Nibelung."

Two young people’s search for self-identity and their meeting at the end of this opera are the hopeful elements in the story moves towards disaster.

Julia Jones conducts The Royal Opera’s spell-binding production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute with a cast including Roderick Williams as Papageno.

This production from La Scala stars opera greats Jonas Kaufmann and Erwin Schrott, with newcomer Anita Rachvelishvili making her successful debut.

Kasper Holten’s 2014 production for The Royal Opera House casts Don Giovanni as an artist who thrives on an audience enticed by his creative gifts.

Richard Jones captures the blend of tragedy and comedy in La Bohème, and provides an analysis of Puccini’s young would-be artists and their lovers.

Under the direction of Andreas Homoki, this new production of Nabucco features a first-class cast.

In Die Walküre the powerful ring continues to be the source of conflict, dictating the fate of those who desire it and those who fear it.

Lee Reynolds conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra in an innovative new production of Ravel’s opera, L’enfant et les sortilèges.

Experience Verdi’s La Traviata, the inspiration behind Moulin Rouge, lovingly staged at London’s Royal Opera House.

When the European youth chooses War above Love, Cupid decides to seek out new followers on other continents.

Laurent Pelly's expression of Berlioz's adaptation of Much Ado about Nothing as an opera comique becomes ''an elegant treatise on love and music".

Puccini’s Madama Butterfly is one of the best-known operas worldwide. The ROH stages this alluring Japanese tragedy, reminding us why it’s a favorite.

The world premiere recording of Brett Dean's new opera based on Shakespeare's best-known tragedy.

The ‘sheer visual sophistication’ of Annabel Arden’s Barbiere serves ‘a triumphant celebration of Rossini’s musical genius

A modern opera adaptation by Charles Wuorinen based on Annie Proulx’s short story.

Glyndebourne’s wartime history as a home for evacuee children is the ingenious context for a new production of this unclassifiable tale.

Deborah Warner’s beautiful and evocative production of Britten’s final operatic masterpiece.

Witty yet shot through with pain and sadness, a deeply ambivalent life in the day of masters and servants as they scheme and outwit one another

Legendary composer Philip Glass's opera "The Perfect American", imagines the final months of the life of Walt Disney.