A bittersweet blend of young love and mid-life melancholy, Richard Strauss?s charming Viennese comedy returns to the London Coliseum in David McVicar?s delightfully detailed staging, first seen in 2008.

Rejoicing in some of the composer?s most opulent orchestration and voluptuous melodies, as well as some insidiously catchy waltz tunes, Der Rosenkavalier offers a treat for fans of the female voice.

Sarah Connolly ? ?one of the glorious Octavians of our time? (Observer) ? returns as the ardent young ?Knight of the Rose?, with Sophie Bevan as the innocent Sophie. Amanda Roocroft makes her role debut as the Marschallin, the worldly ?older woman? who graciously cedes her teenage lover to a younger rival. Also returning from the acclaimed 2008 cast are Sir John Tomlinson as the sexually rampant Baron Ochs and Andrew Shore as Faninal.