From Joan Sutherland to Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo to Rudolf Nureyev, the Royal Opera House has hosted plenty of larger-than-life stars. But in July the Covent Garden stage will be populated by a cartoon animal, dozens of acrobats and jugglers and a martial arts troupe.

In a remarkable departure for the theatre, it has scheduled seven performances of Damon Albarn’s “pop opera”, Monkey: Journey to the West. Positioned as part of a summer season celebrating Chinese culture, Monkey is “a fantastic piece of work”, the Royal Opera House says. A spokesman said. “It will do a terrific job of bringing in people who wouldn’t normally come here.”

Monkey, which had its premiere at the first Manchester International Festival in June last year, is Albarn’s first opera and a far cry from his musical beginnings.

The man who, with Blur, was a leading light in the Britpop movement, famously feuded with musical rivals Oasis and formed the virtual cartoon rock band Gorillaz, has now fused a 16th-century Chinese fable with the outlandish designs of Jamie Hewlett — the visual brains behind Gorillaz.

Last year the opera was described by The Times as “a piece of music theatre of the most spectacular kind”, and “an improbable combination of The Lion King, Cirque du Soleil and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”.

Audiences accustomed to the Royal Opera House’s traditional stagings of classic works are in for a surprise.

The theatre has generally stuck to established composers and trained opera singers. Monkey is by no means a conventional score and its stars are aerial acrobats, contortionists and martial artists.

Tony Hall, chief executive of the Royal Opera House, said: “We have a special summer season based around China in July and August, including the National Ballet of China and the Guangdong Acrobatic Troupe.

“In June the Royal Ballet will be in Beijing performing at the new National Centre for the Performing Arts, and we wanted to have a counterpoint to the Olympics happening at the Royal Opera House at the very end of the season.

“We thought Monkey was a fantastic piece at the Manchester International Festival and we are thrilled it’s going to come for a week here.”

Mr Hall denied that importing the work of a pop star to Covent Garden showed that the Opera House was dumbing down.

“When you look at it it was a piece of real quality, and all sorts of people from different backgrounds praised it highly.

“So when you add Monkey to the more traditional groups we have coming then I think it’s doing what the Opera House should do, which is to present international pieces from around the world. I think it’s a piece of really high quality.”

Albarn, 40, has described writing Monkey as returning to the world of classical music with which he grew up — he plays the piano, reads and writes music and has an A level in music.

“It’s difficult to stay in both camps once you’ve entered the world of themes and development,” he said last year, “and I’m not sure how I’m going to do it. In fact, I might have completely f***ed myself here.”

The composition of the music in Monkey has been compared to the way some modernist composers shuffle notes around to create a unique sound.

Speaking last year, Albarn admitted that he was a fan of artists known for their orignality. “Well, I’m very into Messiaen,” he said, “especially his ideas about modes, and I love Cage as well.”

After its visit to the Royal Opera House, Monkey is expected to tour nationwide. It has already been seen at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris, which co-commissioned the work alongside the Manchester Festival.

A recent survey undertaken by a consultancy employed by the Royal Opera House suggested that the company was failing to attract enough people in their twenties and thirties.

Albarn ... and the pop changelings

— Damon Albarn formed Blur, one of the biggest bands of the 1990s, with fellow Goldsmiths College students Graham Coxon and Dave Rowntree

— He became the world’s most successful animated pop star with his band Gorillaz, which incorporated cartoons and 3D technology into their shows

— Last year he performed a series of concerts with the supergroup The Good, the Bad and the Queen featuring Paul Simonon of the Clash, the afrobeat drummer Tony Allen and the Verve’s Simon Tong

Others who have spread their wings . . .

— Sir Paul McCartney has written several choral pieces including Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart)

— David Bowie starred in a series of fantasy films including Labyrinth

— Ronnie Wood, guitarist with the Rolling Stones, is also a gifted artist

Meanwhile ...

— Oasis have released six albums since the 1990s. The riffs and lyrics on each are remarkably similar

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