Marking the end of his tenure as Director of Opera at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Kasper Holten​’s anticipated new production of Wagner’s epic Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg opens on 11 March, featuring Stephen Milling as Pogner and conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano.

Kasper has recently had great success with new productions for Finnish National Opera (Der fliegende Holländer) and Teatro alla Scala (The Turn of the Screw), and, this summer, will make his debut at the Bregenz Festival directing a new Carmen.

Highly-regarded internationally, Milling returns to Covent Garden after his appearances last season as Landgraf in Tannhäuser, going on to join the New York Philharmonic and Alan Gilbert as Fafner (Das Rheingold) in concert performances this summer, before returning to the Bayreuth Festival to reprise his acclaimed interpretation of Hagen (Götterdämmerung) under Marek Janowski.