IMPORTANT ARRIVAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR TICKET HOLDERS As the Cemetery will be closed to the general public from 5 pm, the only entrance that will be open for the performance is the one on Old Brompton Road. The Fulham Road entrance will be closed. Please note that the Old Brompton Road entrance will be open from 7:30 pm and the performance will start at 8:00 pm. This gate will then close at 8:10 pm. No latecomers will be admitted…

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ OR DOWNLOAD THE LIBRETTO IN BOTH THE ORIGINAL GERMAN AND ENGLISH.

To celebrate the bicentenary of the publication the world’s first vampire story - The Vampyre by John Polidori in 1819 - we present an evening of opera devoted to the twilit netherworld of blood-hungry shape-shifters.

Heinrich Marschner’s opera Der Vampyr (1828) was based on the play Der Vampir oder die Totenbraut (The Vampire or the Corpse Bride) (1821) by Heinrich Ludwig Ritter, which was itself based on Polidori’s original story. The opera enjoyed great popularity in the 1830s and Richard Wagner was one of its original conductors.

It tells the story of the vampire Lord Ruthven, who is informed by the Vampire Master at a Witches’ Sabbath that he must sacrifice three virgin brides within 24 hours or otherwise lose his eternal life. His unwilling accomplice in this dastardly mission is Lord Aubry, who is in love with Malwina, one of the potential victims, but is bound by a solemn oath never to reveal Ruthven’s secret identity.

This is a brand new production, created for the anniversary, by Gothic Opera.

Tickets for this event have now sold out.