Woolf and Pappano at the ROH

The Royal Opera House announced its plans for the the 2014/15 season this morning. On the dance side, there are enticing propositions from Wayne McGregor, who's creating a full-length work for The Royal Ballet based on Virginia Woolf's output, with a new score by Max Richter. There are also new one-act works from Hofesh Shechter, who's this year's Brighton Festival Guest Director, and in-house favourite Liam Scarlett. It's a season in which old and new sit happily side by side, with the core classical rep and the Ashton and MacMillan heritage tended to with equal care by Kevin O'Hare.

More proud, perhaps, is the tone of The Royal Opera's announcement. ‘This season’, the press release reads, ‘The Royal Opera celebrates Music Director Antonio Pappano’, whose tenure has been extended until 'at least the end of 2017'. That date would mark 15 years since Pappano's arrival, the same length of service as predecessors Colin Davis and Bernard Haitink, though Pappano has made his presence considerably more felt than either of them.

Next season is no exception, as he takes the tiller for a revival of Turnage's Anna Nicole, a new I due Foscari (with Domingo), Loy's drear, existential Tristan und Isolde, a new Andrea Chénier – returning to Covent Garden for the first time in 20 years – a new King Roger, brand new at the ROH, and a new Guillaume Tell. It's certainly an exciting list of productions, but some may wonder whether Pappano is really a master of as many trades as such a broad range would claim.

Elsewhere, 19th-century Italian opera dominates, though there are are tantalising offers from other areas, not least a new Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny and the house debut of Austrian director Martin Kušej with a new production of Idomeneo. Across the season, casting is universally strong, including bumper names for a to John Copley's 1974 production of La bohème and Bryn Terfel in Der fliegende Holländer under Andris Nelsons. Other exciting conductors include Marc Minkowski for Idomeneo and ENO's new music director Mark Wigglesworth for the Weill. All in all, it's a well rounded season, balancing the books with standard repertoire in revivable productions, while offering rarities and exciting international talent. Click here for more information.

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