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Built as a memorial to Queen Victoria's husband in 1871, the Royal Albert Hall's vast rotunda was once described by the monarch as looking like 'the British constitution'. It has been the venue for the (now BBC) Proms since 1941, despite acoustics that do orchestras few favours. The Royal Albert Hall's splendid exterior is matched by the regal red-and-gold interior which is crowned by a domed stained-glass skylight. Occasional classical concerts are held throughout the year – look out for recitals on the Willis pipe organ. Other key events in its calendar include pop and comedy gigs (including the annual Teenage Cancer Trust shows), and circus extravaganzas from the likes of Cirque du Soleil.
In addition to seasonal tours during the Proms, the RAH has launched daily Secret History Tours, which draw on a rich seam of stories about London's largest hall for hire and offer access to areas not normally open to audiences.
For a full list of events taking place at the Royal Albert Hall, check their website or click the 'book online' button.
There is a chance of rain at the Royal Albert Hall. Cirque du Soleil returns this January to perform ‘Luzia’, a show that features visual surprises (like said rain) and the company's famous acrobatics. The performance incorporates elements of light and water to bring you into an imaginary Mexico, and creates multiple faces and places on the stage. 2022 marks 25 years of Cirque du Soleil performances at Royal Albert Hall.
This review is from 2020. ‘Luzia’ returns to the Royal Albert Hall in 2022. ‘Always different, always the same’ is how the late John Peel famously described his favourite band The Fall, and it’s a description that could quite tidily be applied to Cirque du Soleil’s annual start-of-the-year stand at the Royal Albert Hall. The venue and the run-length are resolutely identical year on year, the prices resolutely astronomical, and while the directors and the show titles change, you kind of know what you’re getting: spectacular acrobatics, new-agey costumes, visuals and music, and ‘light relief’ clowning bits that make you pray for death’s tender kiss. The Daniele Finzi Pasca-directed ‘Luzia: A Waking Dream of Mexico’ conforms to most of these things, but is definitely on the stronger side. Great credit is due to composer Simon Carpentier, costume designer Giovanna Buzzi and whoever the hell designed the rain wall that steals the show in the first half, but at its best ‘Luzia’ marshals a genuinely awesome spectacle that lives up to the dreamy title. A euphorically hallucinatory world stuffed with weird creatures is given a widescreen dream-folk soundtrack with a mariachi tinge, and the capacity to turn the entire yawning space of the RAH into a canvas for the weird shapes projected by the impressive rain machine. I’m not sure you’d guess it was about Mexico if it didn’t say so in the title, but in some ways that’s good: there are no naff homages to the Day of the Dead or Frida Ka
