We’ve been busy over the summer, not just with the Proms, but in creating a new section of Bachtrack devoted to Opera and Ballet in Cinema. More and more organisations are adding their listings: this morning, the site has 11,573 forthcoming events in 39 countries!
Opera and Ballet in Cinema
We all know that going to live opera and ballet is expensive, and it can be prohibitively so if you live far away from the nearest opera house. The top opera companies know this, and there's a growing trend for them to make their productions available on the big screen. Obviously, the cost is a fraction of what you would pay for a live event, and you get a vivid experience of being in the same room as the performers. If you can't afford live opera or can't travel to the top operas, it makes compulsive viewing. The companies are doing both live screenings (the Royal Opera's Così Fan Tutte last Friday went out to over 100 cinemas in the UK, France, Italy, US and elsewhere) and also recordings of past performances.
So check out our new cinema section. We're currently showing Opus Arte's screenings around the world and we're hoping to add screenings from other major providers in the coming months.
When you're using the main "find an opera" or "find a ballet" pages, look out for one or more yellow bubbles at the top of the listing results: these will tell you if there are any cinema or on-demand listings which match your search.
Metropolitan Opera tickets now on sale
Tickets for the Met's new season are now on sale, and there's no easier way to choose what to see than to find your operas on Bachtrack and link directly through to the Met's booking pages. As ever, the Met has a star-studded line up. Bryn Terfel is Wotan on the opening night of the new season, while Joseph Calleja, Sir Thomas Allen, Roberto Alagna, Jonas Kaufmann, Plácido Domingo, Juan Diego Flórez and Vittorio Grigolo offer an exceptionally strong male line of singers ably supported by Deborah Voigt, Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, Anna Netrebko and others on the upper registers. Find the details on this link.
Deutsche Oper listings now up
If you're on this side of the Atlantic and can get to Berlin, Deutsche Oper's new season also features some of the top stars, including Joyce DiDonato, Jospeh Calleja, Jonas Kaufmann and this year's hot property Vittorio Grigolo - although you'll have to look through the listings carefully as they often have different casts for different nights of the same production. As well as the established repertoire, they are making a point of producing some lesser known operas such as Strauss's Die Liebe der Danae and Cassandra and Respighi's Marie Victoire. You'll find the listings on this link, with our usual links through to the booking pages.
More for US Visitors
Since we were last in touch, we've published listings for the San Francisco Symphony as well as two Ohio orchestras: Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Dayton Philharmonic. (You can also just search for events in Ohio).
UK Festivals
In the UK our two largest festivals are now over for the year. The Proms and Edinburgh Festival were both wonderfully supported in 2010, but here are some smaller offerings for this month: check out the Oxford Chamber Music Festival, the minority interest Malcolm Arnold Festival in Northampton, Perth’s very own Schubertiad and the little London festival of American Music.
If you're already feeling nostalgic for the Proms, you can find that we and several other people posted reviews for lots of the events on Bachtrack: you can find them on this link.
And if, after all that, you're still having trouble sleeping...
Travelodge has put on what it (dubiously) claims to be Britain’s first ever Sleep Concert. You can read David's blog entry to learn more.
Happy listening!
David and Alison Karlin
