Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

The postponed Superman the Movie in Concert will be one of the first items on the programme when the Royal Albert Hall opens for full audiences in July.

The Royal Albert Hall’s 150th anniversary celebrations will properly begin on 29 May, as audiences return to the venue for socially-distanced events. A typically eclectic programme for the first week includes family concerts led by the in-house Albert’s Band, the Royal Choral Society singing Handel’s Messiah – an annual tradition since 1876 – and events spotlighting country music and ballet.

Subject to the next stage of the government’s roadmap going ahead as planned, the Hall will then re-open to the public with full capacity from 6 July. Aside from staging three 1,000-capacity events in December, the venue has been closed to audiences since 17 March 2020.

Craig Hassall, Chief Executive of the Royal Albert Hall, said: “This has been the toughest period in the Hall’s 150-year history – and not how we ever imagined marking this remarkable milestone. But we are so excited about getting back to doing what we do best, and can’t wait to welcome audiences to the Hall to help us celebrate this anniversary in style.”

The venue will re-open on Saturday 29 May with a family concert, Albert’s Band: Back with a Bang, followed by the Messiah with the Royal Choral Society (Sun 30 May), A Country Night in Nashville (Tue 1 Jun), and the British Ballet Charity Gala (Thu 3 Jun), hosted by Darcey Bussell. Under government guidelines, 1,000 tickets will be available for each of the concerts, 20 per cent of the Hall’s usual capacity.

Full capacity events are then scheduled to resume on Tuesday 6 July with James Blunt, followed by Carmina Burana (Wed 7 July), Fauré’s Requiem from Scratch (Sun 11 Jul) and a Films in Concert presentation of Superman (Fri 16 Jul), prior to the Hall’s much-anticipated birthday show on Monday 19 July, David Arnold’s ‘A Circle of Sound’, with the acclaimed composer presenting a new commission featuring young musicians and world-famous writers.