Coming to a big screen near you – live opera

Matthew Bourne on his new work The Picture of Dorian Gray By Arifa Akbar, Arts Correspondent 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... [read full story]