Accused of racism and antisemitism (although the latter was never proved), Walter Elias Disney (1901-1966) was the creator of the world’s largest animation studio, whose films have achieved universal fame.

The creatures of the Disney factory are animals which are systematically anthropomorphised, their human dimension contributed decisively to the image of the anodyne 'American Dream' in the interwar period.

Philip Glass has composed 24 operas and is one of the creators of American minimalism, together with La Monte Young, Steve Reich and Terry Riley. Over time, he gradually distanced himself from this aesthetic in search of simpler writing and a less complex form. The pulsing music of Glass, with its strong and insistent rhythms, has obvious correlations to rock and pop.  Not surprisingly, the composer from Baltimore often works with artists like Paul Simon, Suzanne Vega or Laurie Anderson.

The encounter between Glass and Disney seemed inevitable: both are American creators who represent the best of their respective aesthetics.

The Teatro Real opened its 2018/19 season with a new production of Faust by Charles Gounod, the version of the German legend in a grand opera format. Piotr Beczala as protagonist - the figure of relentless ambition par excellence - and Marina Rebeka sing the role of Marguerite. Àlex Ollé directs this captivating opera after his recent success of The Flying Dutchman in this theatre It will be the third time that La Fura dels Baus stages the Faustian legend.

The conductor Pablo Heras-Casado, solidarity ambassador for Ayuda en Acción, is leading the Acordes con Solidaridad initiative for the sixth consecutive year to support the most vulnerable children in Spain in the face of the consequences of COVID-19.

On this occasion, Orquesta titular del Teatro Real conducted by the main guest conductor of the Teatro Real, will perform the Coriolano Overture and the Symphony No. 7, by Ludwig van Beethoven.

The proceeds of the concert will go entirely to the response that Ayuda en Acción is giving to the emergency caused by COVID-19 in Spain. Through the program Aquí también, the NGO fights to reduce the educational gap that has been accentuated after the closure of educational centers last school year, supporting more than 11,000 children and adolescents who are at risk of social exclusion in Spain.

Das Rheingold is the first part of the colossal Der Ring des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner, and this will be the second time it is seen on the Teatro Real stage since the theatre’s reopening in 1997. Pablo Heras-Casado, Principal Guest Conductor of the Teatro Real leads a cast of renowned Wagnerians including Greer Grimsley, Sarah Connolly and Samuel Youn in Robert Carsen’s bleak vision of the story. The Canadian stage director sets the prologue of The Ring in the desolation of our polluted world, the scene where the characters in this grandiose conflict will continue to be portrayed during the coming seasons.

Three of the greatest operas of Giuseppe Verdi were inspired by the admiration he felt towards the genius of William Shakespeare: Macbeth, Otello and Falstaff, his final opera and second comedy. It is an ideal work, teaching us to take life lightly and laugh at ourselves, and it comes to the Teatro Real in a new production by the talented master in humor, Laurent Pelly. His most recent productions on this stage have been: La Fille du régiment, Hänsel und Greteland The Golden Cockerel. Daniele Rustioni conducts two markedly Spanish casts, together with the house Chorus and Orchestra.

The debut of Billy Budd in Madrid is, without doubt, was one of the most important moments of the Bicentenary of the Teatro Real.

The magnificent libretto is based on the novel with the same name by Herman Melville. The action takes place aboard a ship of the British Royal Navy, it tells the story of the sailor Billy Budd: a beautiful youth who is loyal, generous, strong, naive and kind. Billy’s physical attributes and charisma disarm the ship's master-at-arms who is incapable of controlling the situation and in the end, he sacrifices the innocent lad without compunction.

This new production by the Teatro Real, in conjunction with the Opéra national de Paris and staging by renowned Deborah Warner, is sure to be an unforgettable experience. 

Ivor Bolton, Musical Director of the Teatro Real, takes on the challenge of conducting one of Benjamin Britten’s least known operas: Gloriana. The work was a commission for the coronation of Elizabeth II, and its debut in Madrid will be on April 12. After last season’s resounding success of Billy Budd, also by Britten, the English conductor will work alongside stage producer David McVicar to present a historical and unpleasant account of Queen Elizabeth I of England.

Anna Caterina Antonacci and Alexandra Deshorties will alternate in the principal role, portraying an Elizabeth who is trapped between her obligations as a queen and her tempestuous  relationship with the ambitious Earl of Essex, Robert Devereux.

Giacomo Puccini’s last opera needs no introduction. After a 20 year absence, Turandot returns to the Teatro Real in a new production by one of the greatest stage directors of the 20th and 21st centuries: Robert Wilson, the creator of unforgettable images in The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic and Pelléas et Mélisande.

In a cast led by Nina Stemme, Gregory Kunde and Yolanda Auyanet, the Associate Musical Director of the Teatro Real, Nicola Luisotti, conducts one of the greatest operas of Italian repertory.

La traviata is presented at the Teatro Real in the unique context that we are all experiencing. The opera is presented with fewer rehearsals than normal and with a stage proposal designed to adapt to circumstances. The entire team of the Teatro Real, as well as the artists and the Titular Choir and Orchestra, take on the challenge with an enormous sense of responsibility, a lot of imagination and a great enthusiasm for taking another step towards the normalization of artistic life, encouraging the public and to the citizens to face with courage and positive spirit the new reality in which we find ourselves.

The stage director Leo Castaldi has devised a semi-staged concert version, in collaboration with the light designer Carlos Torrijos and the technical team of the Teatro Real, using elements of props, costumes and characterization from the back of the theatre.

Il pirata, one of Vicenzo Bellini’s first operas, was premiered at the Teatro all Scalla in Milán. Today’s production by Emilio Sagi can be perfectly identified with his style, and similar traits to those of Luisa Fernanda or Le Nozze di Figaro are detected. In addition, this opera that proposes a veritable vocal challenge to the singers.

It is the story of a young man with daring, rebelling against oppression and injustice, but condemned to suffer an amorous misadventure; his beloved, married by obligation to his enemy, with whom she also has a child.  The enemy in question, the embodiment of the most despotic power; duels to death, night scenes and gothic castles: all the ingredients –with small variations- could have come from so many Italian romantic operas and a good part of European literature of the period.

Perhaps because of this, The Pirate, has so often been trapped in a stereotype, that to a certain extent has cut short its history.  Indeed, all these elements are present.  But, as well, is the good work of the composer who had not yet celebrated his thirtieth birthday, and who, with this piece, begins to build the foundation of the authentic romantic melodrama, which further along will live its maximum zenith at the hands of composers such as Gaetano Donizetti and Giuseppe Verdi.

Bellini deliberately looked for an innovative style of composition and made a special effort to obtain an intimate correspondence between the music and the text. The Pirate will be the trampoline from which Bellini would achieve international success and become maestro de bel canto.

After ten years of Trojan War, Idomeneo finally returns home victorious. Some of his troops have already returned and brought with them Trojan prisoners, including Ilia, daughter of the late King Priam. Upon his return from the war, Agamemnon, another victorious Greek king, is killed by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Egisto. Elettra's brother Orestes has avenged her father's death by killing both her mother and her lover. Elettra, an orphan like Ilia, has taken refuge in Crete, where she has fallen in love with Idomeneo's son, Idamante, who has been ruling in the absence of his father.

Based on a libretto by Giovanni Badoero from Homer's Odyssey, with this work, Claudio Monteverdi reached his maturity style, characterized by greater realism in the design of the characters and also by a greater disenchantment with life, although it confers a special humanity to the loving relationship between the main hero and his wife, the maximum example of fidelity.

Like other scores by the author, the work has fascinated quite a number of composers, some of whom have edited the work for their performance. Perhaps the most celebrated of all was Hans Werner Henze, with a fantasy-filled performance that was presented at the Salzburg Festival in 1985.

This representation, with musical direction by William Christie and stage direction by Pier Luigi Pizzi, features as protagonist the baritone Kobie van Rensburg, at the forefront of a cast that also includes such prominent names as Christine Rice, Umberto Chiummo and Marina Rodríguez-Cusí .

With the collaboration of Naxos