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The Royal Opera’s La bohème broadcast live in cinemas this January


La bohème, Act II (2018)

The Royal Opera’s La bohème will be broadcast live in cinemas on Wednesday 29 January at 7.45 pm with an encore screening on Sunday 2 February at 2 pm.

La bohème explores the love affair between the penniless poet Rodolfo and the seamstress Mimì, contrasting it with the more light-hearted affair between the painter Marcello and the singer Musetta.

Mimì is gravely ill with tuberculosis and she and Rodolfo decide to separate so that Mimì can find a wealthier lover to provide her with the care she needs. They are reunited in Mimì’s final hours when she returns to the only man she ever loved.

©2018 ROH. Photographed by Catherine Ashmore

©2018 ROH. Photographed by Catherine Ashmore

Director Richard Jones’s wonderful production of La bohème, revived by Julia Burbach, captures both the opera’s humour and its tragedy, while Stewart Laing’s eye-catching designs bring 19th-century Paris to life, particularly in Act II with its dazzling shopping arcades and café. The score is one of Puccini’s finest, with highlights including Rodolfo and Mimì’s Act I arias and love duet, Act II’s Christmas choruses and the heartbreaking final scene in which Mimì and Rodolfo are reunited. The fantastic cast include America tenor Charles Castronovo (Rodolfo) and Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva (Mimì), along with Polish baritone Andrzej Filończyk as Marcello, Russian soprano Aida Garifullina in her Royal Opera debut as Musetta, Hungarian baritone, and former Jette Parker Young Artist, Gyula Nagy as Schaunard and Slovakian bass Peter Kellner as Colline. French conductor Emmanuel Villaume conducts.

The Royal Opera House cinema broadcasts offer audiences the best seat in the house, and exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and interviews presented by Clemency Burton-Hill. Audience members are never far from a performance at the Royal Opera House, with most people in the UK based within thirty miles of a cinema screening. As well as being shown in the UK, The Sleeping Beauty will be broadcast to more than 1,000 cinemas in 53 countries around the world.


The 2020 Royal Opera House Cinema Season is as follows:

  • The Royal Ballet’s The Sleeping Beauty

    • Live Thursday 16 January 2020, encore on Sunday 19 January 2020

  • The Royal Opera’s La bohème (co-production with Teatro Real, Madrid, and Lyric Opera of Chicago)

    • Live Wednesday 29 January 2020, encore on Sunday 2 February 2020

  • The Royal Ballet’s The Cellist (world premiere)/Dances at a Gathering

    • Live Tuesday 25 February 2020, encore on Sunday 1 March 2020

  • The Royal Opera’s Fidelio (new production)

    • Live Tuesday 17 March 2020, encore on Sunday 22 March 2020

  • The Royal Ballet’s Swan Lake

    • Live Wednesday 1 April 2020, encore on Sunday 5 April 2020

  • The Royal Opera’s Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci (co-production with La Monnaie, Brussels, Opera Australia and Göteborg Opera)

    • Live Tuesday 21 April 2020, encore on Sunday 26 April 2020

  • The Royal Ballet’s The Dante Project (world premiere)

    • Live Thursday 28 May 2020, encore on Sunday 31 May 2020

  • The Royal Opera’s Elektra (new production)

    • Live Thursday 18 June 2020, encore on Sunday 21 June 2020


About the Royal Opera House Live Cinema Season

The Royal Opera House celebrates 11 years of live cinema broadcasts in 2019, leading the way in delivering world-class opera and ballet around the world. In the 2020 Cinema Season, our broadcasts will reach more than 1,600 cinemas in more than 53 countries worldwide.

The Royal Opera House has seen huge growth in the influence of independent cinemas in the UK, now collectively accounting for almost half of our network. In addition to being shown in 600 UK cinemas, our productions regularly broadcast to over 1,000 cinemas internationally through our partnership with Trafalgar Releasing.

Audiences are also able to access a vast array of live-streamed and on-demand content via the Royal Opera House’s official YouTube channel, which is the most subscribed YouTube channel of any arts organisation in the world.


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