ROMEO AND JULIET Launches Royal Opera House's Live Cinema 2015-16 Season Today

The Royal Opera House Live Cinema Season 2015/16 is the most ambitious to date. Six ballets and six operas, including five new productions, will be screened in over 1,000 cinemas across 45 countries allowing audiences in the US to experience more opera and ballet from the Royal Opera House than ever before.

The Season opens on Tuesday, September 22nd with a live broadcast of Kenneth MacMillan's masterpiece, Romeo and Juliet. Celebrating its 50th anniversary Royal Ballet Principals, American Sarah Lamb and British Rupert Pennefather, will dance the title roles. There will also be a world premiere from The Royal Ballet in the 2015/16 Season; Carlos Acosta's production of Carmen, which will be performed as part of a quadruple bill of shorter works in November.

Highlights from The Royal Opera this Season in theaters include exciting new productions of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and opera's most enduring double-bill Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. The new Season features a line-up of international opera stars including Joyce DiDonato making her debut in Werther, Bryn Terfel, making his debut in the title role of Boris Godunov, Diana Damrau, Vittorio Grigolo and Erwin Schrott.

Alex Beard, Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House, says: "Seeing world class opera or ballet in your local cinema can be the most wonderful experience whether you're seeing it for the first time or whether you're a seasoned regular. It really is like having the best seat in the house as you get to see incredible close ups as well as the full stage action. This Season is particularly exciting with five world premieres as well as great masterpieces such as Romeo and Juliet and La traviata. We hope you will join us wherever you are for some extraordinary performances."

Arts Alliance CEO Mark Foster says: "Event Cinema is growing rapidly and as the Royal Opera House Live Cinema Season broadcasts to more and more cinemas each year, increasing numbers of people are enjoying a totally unique perspective on top-class performances, previously seen only by the select few in an auditorium. We now screen in more than 1,000 cinemas, across 45 countries, and in the past two seasons 1.5 million people have enjoyed performances from Covent Garden at their local cinema. Many of those will be experiencing opera and ballet for the first time, and Arts Alliance passionately believes that Event Cinema is the key to introducing these art forms to a culture-hungry global audience which otherwise might not have access to it."

Each screening has exclusive pre-performance and interval content including cast interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. Cinema-goers are encouraged to get involved, tweeting their questions and engaging with each other from different corners of the world.

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ROH Live Cinema Season 2015/16 includes:

TODAY, September 22, 2015

Romeo and Juliet (MacMillan/Prokofiev - The Royal Ballet)

A revival of Kenneth MacMillan's poignant and timeless ballet set to Sergei Prokofiev's score.

October 5, 2015

Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart - The Royal Opera)

A revival of David McVicar's popular 2006 staging starring bass-baritone Erwin Schrott and Romanian soprano Anita Hartig, conducted by Ivor Bolton.

November 12, 2015

Viscera/Afternoon of a faun/Tchaikovsky pas de deux/Carmen (Scarlett; Robbins; Balanchine -The Royal Ballet)

A quadruple bill comprising Carlos Acosta's brand new production of Carmen; Liam Scarlett's abstract ballet Viscera, set to Lowell Liebermann's dark and thrilling Piano Concerto; Jerome Robbins's modern ballet Afternoon of a Faun, set to Debussy's famous prelude; and George Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux set to Tchaikovsky's rediscovered music from Swan Lake.

December 10, 2015

Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci (Mascagni/Leoncavallo - The Royal Opera)

Antonio Pappano conducts Damiano Michieletto's new production of opera's most enduring double bill starring Eva-Maria Westbroek, Carmen Giannattasio, Aleksandrs Antonenko and Dimitri Platanias.

December 13, 2015

The Nutcracker (Wright/Tchaikovsky - The Royal Ballet)

The Royal Ballet's much-loved traditional production of Tchaikovsky's ballet remains a perfect Christmas treat for the family.

January 26, 2016

Rhapsody/Two Pigeons (Ashton/Rachmaninoff/Messager - The Royal Ballet)

A Frederick Ashton double bill; the witty Rhapsody, with music by Rachmaninoff, and the delicate yet comic The Two Pigeons, with music by Messager and a production including two live pigeons.

February 4, 2016

La traviata (Verdi - The Royal Opera)

Richard Eyre's traditional 1994 production of Verdi's ever-popular opera, conducted by Yves Abel, and starring Russian soprano Venera Gimadieva and Albanian tenor Saimir Pirgu

March 21, 2016

Boris Godunov (Musorgsky - The Royal Opera)

Bryn Terfel, role debut, stars in a new production of Mussorgsky's historical masterpiece, conducted by Antonio Pappano.

April 6, 2016

Giselle (Petipa/Adam - The Royal Ballet)

Peter Wright's production of Marius Petipa's classic is a tale of betrayal, supernatural spirits and love that transcends death.

April 25, 2016

Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti - The Royal Opera)

Donizetti's tragic story of family feuding is presented in a new production by Katie Mitchell, starring Diana Damrau and Charles Castronovo and conducted by Daniel Oren.

June 12, 2016

Sleeping Beauty (Tchaikovsky - The Royal Ballet)

Marius Petipa's classic 19th-century choreography is combined with newly created sections by Frederick Ashton, Anthony Dowell and Christopher Wheeldon.

June 27, 2016

Werther (Massenet - The Royal Opera)

Massenet's opera about the doomed poet Werther stars Vittorio Grigolo and Joyce DiDonato (who makes her role debut). Antonio Pappano conducts.

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The Royal Opera House - The Royal Opera House continues to lead the way in opera, ballet, music and dance in the theater and the many platforms available. These include digital downloads, DVD, Blu-ray, CD - all distributed through Opus Arte and Digital Theatre - and online streaming from the internet. The relationship with Digital Theatre allows for ROH productions to be accessed on Digital Theatre's platforms including its apps for iPhone, iPad and Samsung Smart TV. Each year the Royal Opera House Cinema Season continues to grow in size, with the 2015/16 Season screening 12 productions worldwide; six operas and six ballets with five world premieres to over 450 sites in the UK and more than 1,000 sites internationally. www.roh.org.uk

Arts Alliance - The Royal Opera House Live Cinema Season is presented in cinemas worldwide by Arts Alliance. Arts Alliance is the leading producer, financier, distributor and marketer of Event Cinema worldwide. With over 70 event cinema releases across screens around the globe, Arts Alliance develops, markets and distributes world-class shows to audiences in 4000+ screens in over 60 territories, engaging fans with the content they are most passionate about. In the fast-growing Event Cinema market, Arts Alliance presents exciting, multi-dimensional content across all genres: live opera and ballet in The Royal Opera House Live Cinema Season 2015/16, dynamic art exhibitions in Exhibition On Screen, theatre productions from Globe On Screen and the best rock & pop events including Arcade Fire: The Reflektor Tapes and One Direction: Where We Are - The Concert Film. www.artsalliance.com

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