The Royal Ballet and Opera to unveil new curtains at special gala
- Ikuko
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
The Royal Ballet and Opera will unveil new stage curtains for the main auditorium at the special gala performance, which will feature a thought-to-be-lost MacMillan and its first Akram Khan, the company said in a press release on 5th May 2026.
The new stage curtains were commissioned in November 2025 to honour King Charles III of the United Kingdom. The press release said;
"the new commission has been made possible thanks to a generous grant from the Julia Rausing Trust. Created through hundreds of hours of skilled craftsmanship by the Royal School of Needlework and Gerriets, the curtains preserve a rare and specialist art form, standing alongside ballet and opera themselves as an essential part of theatrical tradition."
The current stage curtains were installed in 1997.
The special gala will take place on 14th May 2026 at The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, the United Kingdom. The programme is curated by Kevin O’Hare and Oliver Mears to bring together The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, the Royal Opera Chorus and Jette Parker Artists.
You will be lucky if you can attend the celebratory gala.
The Royal Ballet will revisit old and present new:
Kenneth MacMillan’s Poulenc pas de deux: It was originally created for Alessandra Ferri and David Wall for a gala performance in 1984 and since assumed lost. Recently a tape containing a video of the pas de deux was found, and the duet has been restaged especially for this gala for Marianna Tsembenhoi and Harris Bell.
Akram Khan's Hunting a Whisper in the Wind: This is a new work and Khan's first creation for The Royal Ballet. It will be performed by Company Principal Francesca Hayward and Boston Ballet Principal Jeffrey Cirio, who makes his debut performance with The Royal Ballet. (My personal note: a background, Khan created Creature for Cirio when he was with English National Ballet. I have not heard about any updates to the postponed full-length work by Khan.)
Valentino Zucchetti's As One: The Royal Ballet's First Soloist is creating new work. set to the third movement of Karl Jenkins’ Palladio, to showcase the virtuosity of the younger male dancers of the company.
Marianela Nuñez performs the Rose Adage from Marius Petipa’s The Sleeping Beauty
Fumi Kaneko and Vadim Muntagirov perform the pas de deux from Le Corsaire,
Lauren Cuthbertson and Matthew Ball perform Frederick Ashton’s Méditation from Thaïs
Excerpts from Wayne McGregor’s Chroma and Justin Peck’s Everywhere We Go.
All Royal Ballet performances are conducted by Martin Georgiev.
The Royal Opera programmes will be led by Music Director Jakub Hrůša:
Freddie De Tommaso pays homage to Puccini, with a performance of ‘Ch’ella mi creda’ from La fanciulla del West.
Bryn Terfel will also celebrate his long history of Wagnerian roles with ‘Was duftet doch der Flieder’ from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
Aigul Akhmetshina performs ‘Da, chas nastal! Prostite vy, kholmy’ from Tchaikovsky’s The Maid of Orleans
Pretty Yende performs 'Je veux vivre' from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette
Simon Keenlyside performs the Prologue from Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci
SeokJong Baek performs 'Nessun dorma' from Puccini’s Turandot.
Finale from Verdi’s Falstaff will close the evening featuring soloists, members of the Jette Parker Artists Programme and the Royal Opera Chorus.
The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, which celebrates its 80th birthday, will play Dvořák’s Carnival Overture and The Sleeping Beauty Overture by Tchaikovsky.
The Royal Opera Chorus will sing Anvil Chorus from Il trovatore.