The Royal Opera House will bring Shostakovich’s first opera The Nose to the Covent Garden stage for the first time in a new production by Barrie Kosky. 

Barrie Kosky’s debut production for the Royal Opera House of Shostakovich’s opera will play for a limited run at the venue from the 20th to the

The opera’s plot centres on the mysterious disappearance of the nose of Collegiate Assessor Kovalov, and Kovalov’s frantic journey through the streets of St Petersburg to recover it. It is performed in a new English translation by British Opera Director David Pountney.

Meanwhile, the production will be conducted by Ingo Metzmacher and will include in its cast: Martin Winkler as Kovalov,  John Tomlinson, Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke,  Alexander Lewis and  Alexander Kravets.

Shostakovich was twenty when he began writing The Nose – his operatic debut. He was inspired by a tiny short story by Gogol, where a civil servant’s errant nose launches its owner on a ludicrous battle against both nose and the authorities, as bureaucratic processes break down in the face of so unusual a problem.

He completed the work within a year and during the following months gave successful performances of extracts from the opera. But it was not until 1930 when the opera was staged in full – but by which time Soviet cultural climate had turned  against works of such perceived frivolity.

But since it was rediscovered in the 1960’s, The Nose has steadily gained a strong reputation and recognition of Shostakovich’s baffling, brilliant wit.

The Nose will appear at the Royal Opera House from the 20th October until the 9th November 2016. To book tickets visit: Ticketmaster.co.uk, Discount Theatre.com, Theatre Tickets Direct.co.uk, Love Theatre.com, Theatre People.com and UK Tickets.co.uk.