Coming to a big screen near you – live opera
Wednesday 23 July 2008
Latest in News
Related stories
On Facebook
Arts & Ents blogs
Brighton Fringe 2012: laughing through the blood, sweat and tears
It has been an emotional journey. The three weeks of intense activity that make up England's larges...
Disclosure: We’d never even been to a club when we made our first single
For most of us, reaching eighteen years of age opens up a new world for exploration, spontaneity and...
Something For The Weekend in London: May 25 – May 27
With 20+ degree weather expected to last all weekend in the capital, we'd be silly not to make the m...
A season of performances from the Royal Opera House is to be screened live at cinemas in Britain and across Europe.
The autumn programme of 16 ballets and operas will be shown in at least 112 cinemas, including the Empire Leicester Square, the Vue and Odeon multiplex chains, and independent venues on the Continent.
For the price of a cinema ticket, audiences will be able to watch live shows in "full surround sound" as they are being performed in the opera house in Covent Garden, where tickets can cost £195 each.
The season starts with Mozart's Don Giovanni and includes Britten's War Requiem and Handel's Messiah. The first live ballet to be screened will be Ondine next June.
As part of the campaign to democratise the arts, the 2,000-strong audience at the Royal Opera House for the programme's opening night on 8 September will be made up of people who have never been to the opera before. They will pay between £7.50 and £30 for a seat and will be chosen by ballot. The Royal Opera House is also planning to show 3D operas and ballets at 60 cinemas next year, Tony Hall, chief executive of the ROH, said: "I hope to find a new audience and get people hooked."
A marketing campaign will promote "musical and ballet treats coming to a cinema near you" with trailers and posters before the autumn launch.
Mr Hall said: "A while ago at an outdoor screening of [Verdi's] Don Carlos in Trafalgar Square, I sat on my inflatable cushion and saw people coming and going... everyone looked relaxed, some coming with beer and some with wriggling children. I hope the same crowd comes to the cinema, and later in life, to the opera house."
Up to 63 cinemas in Britain signed up to the scheme in just three weeks as well as 49 in Europe, with many more expected to come on board in coming months.
- 1 10 best spy novels
- 2 Eurovision just doesn't get The Hump
- 3 We bought a zoo – and then they made a movie about it
- 4 It's not easy being Professor Green: The rapper, the heiress and a drama made in Chelsea...
- 5 The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (12A)
- 6 Where are our Eurovision heroes now?
- 7 River Phoenix: the final reel
- 8 More glitz on Cannes red carpet than on screen
- 9 The secret life of the red carpet
- 10 The Ten Best History Books
- 1 Mark Zuckerberg saved $111m by selling Facebook shares before stock slumped
- 2 Brazil rocked by abortion for 9-year-old rape victim
- 3 Fat? Really? Olympic hope laughs off official’s jibe – but others aren’t amused
- 4 Is Ridley Scott the most macho man in movies?
- 5 Postgraduate students are being used as 'slave labour'
- 6 'Hello mum, this is going to be hard for you to read ...'
- 7 African monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV
- 8 Exclusive dispatch: Assad blamed for massacre of the innocents
- 9 Coke reveals its secret: It may need to carry a cancer warning
- 10 French in uproar over oral sex anti-smoking posters
Experience the Heineken Hub
Get free wi-fi and exclusive i content while you enjoy a tasty pint of Heineken at participating pubs.
Can you imagine a career in teaching?
Be inspired to teach - let real teachers show you how rewarding the job can be.
Playing a game-changing role during the Games
Cisco is providing the solutions for London 2012's complex IT needs.
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Career Services
The secret life of the red carpet
Up and away – how '7 Up' went global



Comments