LONDON — There's a new generation this season at the Royal Opera in London, where Jakub Hrůša took over after Antonio Pappano's 22-year reign as music director, and Speranza Scappucci became the first principal guest conductor in three decades.
Hrůša led the company’s first new staging of Puccini’s “Tosca” since 2006 and its first production of Janáček’s “The Makropulos Case” this fall while Scappucci conducted a revival of Verdi’s “Les Vêpres Siciliennes” in the rarely performed original French version. Hrůša conducts a revival of Britten’s “Peter Grimes” in May.
“Every little bit counts,” Hrůša said. “It’s almost every nonverbal gesture you do in every rehearsal leads in a sum to a successful career, if you know what I mean. I very much believe this is much more important than proclamations of fantastically sounding visions on paper.”
Pappano, 66, led Covent Garden from 2002-24, succeeding Bernard Haitink and starting as the youngest music director in the company's history. He left and became music director of the London Symphony Orchestra.
Two decades younger than predecessor
Now 44, Hrůša was born in the Czech city of Brno and studied at Prague's Academy of Performing Arts. He was chief conductor of the Prague Philharmonia from 2008-15, has been chief conductor of Germany's Bamberg Symphony since 2016-17 and is to replace Semyon Bychov as chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic in 2028-29.
He made his Royal Opera debut in 2018 leading Bizet’s “Carmen” and is to conduct three productions per season. While his primary residence is in London and he maintains a home in Prague, he stores his scores at a study in Bamberg.
“I usually go there in the way of a hermit, if you allow, alone, without family and just focused,” he said.
Scappucci, 52, grew up in Rome, attended the Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia and then The Juilliard School, thinking she would work in opera as a rehearsal pianist and coach. After assisting Riccardo Muti, she became a conductor, was music director of Belgium’s Opéra Royal de Wallonie from 2017-22 and became the first Italian woman to conduct at Milan's Teatro alla Scala.
She first led the Royal Opera in Verdi’s “Attila” in 2022 and was hired as its first principal guest conductor since Daniele Gatti from 1994-97, committing to at least one production each season and sometimes two. She is also artistic director in 2026 and 2027 MITO SettembreMusica, an annual festival in Milan and Turin.
Scappucci is among the women conductors breaking through in classical music. She frequently thinks back to Maria Borzatti, a childhood piano teacher in the Rome building where her parents still live.
“Speranza, remember, people will come and go in your life,” Scappucci recalled her saying. “You will have big loves, relationships. A boyfriend will dump you or things will work out or not work out, but music will never abandon you. It’s something that will always stay with you.”
Hrůša and Pappano plan with Covent Garden director of opera Oliver Mears, director of casting Peter Katona and associate director Netia Jones.
“I love working with Jakub because he has a great vision for the future and he’s a great musician and a really, really warm human being,” Scappucci said.
Finances play role in programming
Hrůša says his goals include “a beautiful openness of everyone to be kind of ready to do anything which feels a stimulating discovery.”
Big opera companies tend to pivot slowly, like ocean liners, with scheduling starting five years in advance. Performances, directors and co-productions with other companies are factors.
And there are practical considerations.
“Of course, the opera house has to live well financially and therefore we have to guarantee that the most favorite and beloved opera pieces which always draw attention of general public are performed regularly,” Hrůša said.
Hrůša’s selections will include Czech operas, and Scappucci’s will lean toward bel canto, Verdi and Puccini.
Scappucci also has a major upcoming work at Paris’ Opéra-Comique, where she will lead the seldom-heard French version of Donizetti’s “Lucie de Lammermoor” starting April 30, followed by the more familiar Italian “Lucia di Lammermoor” at La Scala beginning June 26.
New generation has new perspective
Carnegie Hall executive director Clive Gillinson, a former LSO head, said the change provides an opportunity for programming initiatives.
“It redefines who they are. Of course they’ll miss Tony — he’s had an extraordinary impact there,” Gillinson said. “Are there any different things one is wanting to say, wanting to do? One has to keep redefining our art and never stand still.”
While orchestras have different programs each week, by its nature, staged opera can lead to deeper relationships among cast, stage crew, singers, conductors and production teams.
“I like the idea of going in every day and being at the stagings and seeing what happens because this way you can build,” Scappucci said in a coffee shop by the opera house ahead of her first performance in her new role. “We arrive tonight at our opening night knowing that for a month we’ve done everything possible to make it the best we can.”