Aussie talent is well represented at Covent Garden thanks to director Barrie Kosky and new principal artist, Samuel Sakker.

Young Australian tenor Samuel Sakker has been appointed as a company principal with the UK’s Royal Opera, it was announced today, as the world famous company unveiled its 2016/17 season. Sakker will be in extremely good company at Covent Garden, with Jonas Kaufmann and Anna Netrebko – two of the most accomplished singers in the world – appearing on the billing, with both artists due to deliver role debuts.

Jonas Kaufmann

In September, Netrebko will sing the title role in Bellini’s Norma, in a new production from Spanish director Àlex Ollé – his first for the Royal Opera. It will be conducted by Royal Opera music director, Sir Antonio Pappano, who has renewed his contract with the company until 2020. Next June, Kaufmann will lead an all-star cast in a new production of Verdi’s Otello, also under the baton of Pappano, directed by Keith Warner, who is perhaps best known for his Olivier Award-winning 2002 staging of Berg’s Wozzeck, and his Ring Cycle, both for the Royal Opera.

Australian talent is becoming an increasingly important element at Covent Garden and three notable artists feature in the upcoming season. Firebrand director Barrie Kosky will present a new production of Shostakovich’s dark satire, The Nose, which will star Bayreuth regular, Austrian bass-baritone Martin Winkler and seasoned British baritone John Tomlinson, as well as a number of artists from the Royal Ballet.

Samuel Sakker

While he may not be not shouldering any major roles next season, Sakker will be put to good use nonetheless, appearing in supporting roles in six productions. These include Verdi’s Il Trovatore in the role of Ruiz, Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier as the Major Domo, La Traviata in the role of Gastone de Letorières, Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg as Ulrich Eisslinger, Turandot as Pang, and in the world premiere of Thomas Adés’s highly anticipated new opera, The Exterminating Angel.

Fellow Australian and Jette Parker Young Artist, Emily Edmonds, will also feature in 2016/17’s season, appearing in 3 productions, including the role of Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly. 

Full details of the Royal Opera’s 2016/17 season are available now.