The Royal Opera's lavish production of Offenbach's masterpiece, is a favourite with audiences. Created by Academy Award-winning film director John Schlesinger, this production brings alive a 19th-century world of romance, comedy, mystery and menace.

At the centre of these extraordinary tales of clockwork dolls, magical glasses, ghostly voices and sensual courtesans is the vivid imagination of the drunken Romantic poet Hoffmann. Charismatic young tenor Vittorio Grigolo is Hoffmann – compelled to tell the story of his lovers who, he believes, have all been stolen by a succession of arch villains. Superb baritone Thomas Hampson performs all four villains.

APPROXIMATE RUNNING TIME 3 HOURS 30 MINUTES, INCLUDING TWO INTERVALS. SUNG IN FRENCH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES