With the bitterness of winter now (hopefully) over, the promise of spring is most definitely in the air. A new season often brings a vibrant and extensive new schedule to London’s culture scene, luring you out of your hibernation with some excellent artsy activities. Curated by us for you, our spring guide covers everything from immersive dance theatre to the Jesus and Mary Chain. So don’t worry, whatever your taste, we have you covered.

Festival of New Choreography at the Royal Ballet

The Festival of New Choreography has become an essential programme on the Royal Ballet’s calendar every year. Running from the 5th to the 25th of February, this is an opportunity to see brand new works from established and up-and-coming choreographers performed by the company of the Royal Ballet.

The ‘New Works’ mixed bill boasts four world premieres on the Royal Opera House main stage in one night – Boundless by Gemma Bond, Never Known by Joshua Junker, For What It’s Worth by Mthuthuzeli November, and Twinkle by Jessica Lang.

Meanwhile, a new work by Robert Binet called Dark with Excessive Bright will also premiere. A fully immersive work, the audience will enter an environment already alive with music, light and movement, staying for a period of 45 minutes and then moving on to make way for another wave of people who enter as they exit.

The Festival of New Choreography will run from February 5th to 25th at the Royal Opera House 

Wayne McGregor at Sadler’s Wells 

Wayne McGregor returns to Sadler’s Wells this spring with two productions — Autobiography (v95 and v96) and UniVerse: A Dark Crystal Odyssey.

Autobiography (v95 and v96) is the most recent iteration of McGregor’s Autobiography, a series of unique dance portraits inspired and determined by the sequencing of McGregor’s own genetic code. In the latest version of the piece, genetic code, AI and choreography merge in a work that reimagines and makes itself anew for every performance.

UniVerse: A Dark Crystal Odyssey, reimagines Jim Henson’s cult 1982 film The Dark Crystal – a darkly fantastical epic with mythological underpinnings and ecological overtones – as a potent tale for today in its depiction of an earth in peril, torn apart by extremes and in desperate need of healing, all performed by Studio Wayne McGregor.

Autobiography (v95 and v96) is being performed on March 12th and 13th & UniVerse: A Dark Crystal Odyssey on March 15th and 16th at Sadler’s Wells

Larmes de couteau / Full Moon in March at the Royal Opera 

Two rarely performed one-act operas will appear as a double-bill at the Royal Opera House in April. Larmes de couteau is an opera by the Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů, composed in 1928 but it didn’t see a production until 1969, ten years after Martinů’s death. In this surreal opera, a young woman considers two prospective lovers. She is besotted with a hanged man, but her mother urges her to marry their neighbour, Satan. The production will be directed by Eleanor Burke.

Full Moon in March is a John Harbison chamber opera from 1977 based on the WB Yeats play of the same name. In it, a superstitious swineherd attempts to seduce a virgin queen by entering a competition to win her hand and fortune. The production will be directed by Harriet Taylor.

Larmes de couteau / Full Moon in March runs from April 26th to May 4th in the Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House

Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize at the Photographers’ Gallery

The 2024 edition of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize is back at the Photographers’ Gallery and the shortlist is as stacked as ever, including VALIE EXPORT, Gauri Gill & Rajesh Vangad, Lebohang Kganye and Hrair Sarkissian. Over its 27-year history, the Prize has become renowned as one of the most important international awards for photographers, spotlighting outstanding, innovative and thought-provoking work.

The 2024 shortlisted projects all critically engage with urgent concerns, from the remnants of war and conflict, experiences of diasporic communities and decolonisation, to contested land, heritage, equality and gender. The winner of the £30,000 prize will be announced at an award ceremony at The Photographers’ Gallery on 16th May 2024, with the other finalists each receiving £5,000.

The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize is at the Photographers’ Gallery from February 23rd to June 2nd

Yoko Ono at Tate Modern

One of the most famous conceptual artists ever, Yoko Ono is receiving her largest ever UK exhibition in February at Tate Modern. Ono is a trailblazer of early conceptual and participatory art, film, performance, as well as a celebrated musician. Spanning seven decades of the artist’s powerful, multidisciplinary practice from the mid-1950s to now, Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind will trace the development of her innovative work and its enduring impact on contemporary culture.

The heart of the exhibition will chart Ono’s radical works created during her five-year stay in London from 1966. There she became embedded within a countercultural network of artists, musicians and writers, meeting her future husband and longtime collaborator John Lennon.

Yoko One: Music of the Mind will run from February 15th to September 1st at Tate Modern

Sargent and Fashion at Tate Britain

To look at John Singer Sargent’s famed portraits is to look at their subjects as much as their outfits. A new exhibition at Tate Britain will explore Sargent’s groundbreaking role as a stylist, fashioning the image his sitters presented to the world through sartorial choices. 60 paintings will be presented alongside more than a dozen period dresses and accessories, many of which were worn by his sitters.

The exhibition will also tell the stories behind the artist’s key patrons, including nobility and influential members of the community. Collectively, Sargent’s portraits of the elite offer a compelling representation of fashionable high society at the turn of the century.

Sargent and Fashion will run from February 22nd to July 7th at Tate Britain

Mahmood at o2 Forum Kentish Town 

Mahmood first came to prominence as a contestant on the Italian version of The X Factor before representing Italy twice at the Eurovision in 2019 and 2022. Since then, he has become one of pop’s biggest superstars, a fixture of every front row at fashion week and he even walked for Burberry.

Now, the Italian icon is finally making his London debut as part of his European tour at the Kentish Town Forum in April. This show is sure to be a lot.

Mahmood performs at O2 Forum Kentish Town on April 7th

Tate McRae at Eventim Apollo

THE pop girly is making her way to London this April. Coming out of seemingly nowhere, 2023 was dominated by Tate McRae’s meteoric rise to fame. As part of her first global tour, McRae will take over the Eventim Apollo for two nights (yes, another night had to be added due to huge demand).

Tate McRae performs at the Eventim Apollo on April 22nd and 23rd

Sky Ferreira at KOKO

The elusive chanteuse herself, Sky Ferreira, will be performing a rare solo show in March at KOKO. Her debut (and, so far only) album Night Time, My Time was one of the most acclaimed pop albums of the 2010s and ever since, Ferreira has teased a sophomore release.

But it looks like it is finally happening. Her KOKO date promises a setlist of brand new tracks as well as all her classics. Can’t wait.

Sky Ferreira performs at KOKO on March 26th

The Jesus and Mary Chain at the Roundhouse

To celebrate the release of Glasgow Eyes, their first studio album since 2017’s Damage And Joy, The Jesus and Mary Chain are taking over the Roundhouse in Camden for two nights in March. East Kilbride’s prodigal sons are one of the most influential bands of their generation, pioneering shoegaze in the 80s along with My Bloody Valentine and Cocteau Twins.

Their Roundhouse gig also serves as the beginning of the brothers’ 40th anniversary world tour.

The Jesus and Mary Chain perform at the Roundhouse on March 29th & 30th

Opening Night at the Gielgud Theatre

Based on John Cassavetes’ 1977 film of the same name, Opening Night is getting the musical treatment at the Gielgud this Spring in a production devised and directed by Ivo Van Hove with songs by Rufus Wainwright. The role of Myrtle Gordon, which saw Gena Rowlands give one of her greatest-ever performances in the original film, is being played by Sheridan Smith. Joining her is Hadley Fraser, Shira Haas, Nicola Hughes and Amy Lennox.

Opening Night is playing at the Gielgud Theatre from March 6th to July 27th

London Tide at the National Theatre 

Taken from an episode in Charles Dickens’ 1865 novel Our Mutual Friend, London Tide is a story of the Thames and the events that follow after a body is pulled from its depths. Featuring several original songs by PJ Harvey and adapted by Ben Power, this romantic and propulsive thriller is a hymn to the city and the river that runs through it. It’s Dickens meets PJ Harvey, who wouldn’t want that?

London Tide is playing at the National Theatre from April 10th to June 22nd

Foam at the Finborough Theatre

An exciting new play from Harry McDonald and directed by Matthew Iliffe, Foam begins in a public lavatory in 1973 where Nicky, a skinhead, is cruising. Spanning twenty years and inspired by a true story, Foam examines the nature of identity and the consequences of right-wing extremist ideology against the backdrop of London’s skinhead and gay scenes of the 1970s and 1980s.

Foam is playing at the Finborough Theatre from March 19th to April 13th