Live in HD: Metropolitan Opera New York

For a night at the opera with a difference, try the brilliant cinema screenings live from the Metropolitan Opera New York, at cinemas across London.

Now established for 15 years, the Live in HD relays convey all the excitement of attending a live performance with the bonus of going backstage and peeking at the artists and stage crew at work.

This year's relays have just begun with Giordano's passionate and twisting romance Fedora, and there are six more productions ahead, some of them new, some of them revivals of acclaimed stagings.

When the curtain goes up, there are opera-lovers comfortable not only in London but in the cinemas of 70 countries worldwide, from Norway in the north to Uruguay in the south. Take your seat at a London relay, and you are joining 350,000 other music-lovers. Fedora marked the 150th such relay, with 30 million tickets sold to date. Everything about opera at the Met is BIG!


Der Rosenkavalier is relayed live in HD from the Met on Saturday 15 April. Photo: Karen Almond

Before the overture, the scene is set by expert commentators, between acts you can look down on stage hands transforming the sets, and in the interval, when there is time for a quick bite, singers chat about their roles. It all adds up to a fascinating experience, viewed as if from the best seats in the famous opera house at the Lincoln Center, with illuminating close-ups of the world's greatest singers.

Next up is Wagner's Lohengrin, newly staged at the Met for the first time in 17 years. Polish tenor Piotr Bczała and sopranos Tamara Wilson and Christine Goerke star as a mysterious knight, a falsely accused noblewoman and a sorceress (Saturday 18 March).

Verdi's Falstaff follows (Saturday 1 April). The comedy based on Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor stars baritone Michael Volle in the title role of this revival of Robert Carsen's staging, with gorgeous costumes by Brigitte Reiffenstuel.

There is chance to see another great production revived when Carsen's staging to Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier stars the great soprano Lise Davidsen as the Marschallin and Isabel Leonard as Octavian, the young lover she releases (Saturday 15 April).


Tim Yip's set for a new production of Lohengrin, relayed live from the Met on Saturday18 March

A brand new opera, set in the tense world of boxing, Terence Blanchard's Champion, is relayed live on Saturday 29 April. Singers include Latonia Moore, Stephanie Blythe, Ryan Speedo Green and Eric Owens, and there promises to be some spectacular choreography.

Two Mozart operas close the season. On Saturday 20 May, Ivo van Hove's new production of Don Giovanni is screened. The cast includes Federica Lombardi (Donna Anna), Ana María Martínez (Donna Elvira), Peter Mattei (Don Giovanni) and Adam Plachetka (Leporello).

And finally, on Saturday 3 June, Mozart's Der Zauberflöte brings down the curtain in a new production by Simon McBurney. The strong cast includes Erin Morley (Pamina), Kathryn Lewek (Queen of the Night), Lawrence Brownlee (Tamino) and Thomas Oliemans (Papageno).

With tickets around the £35 mark, Live in HD is a great way to see great opera between live performances at London's own opera houses, and many of the artists will be familiar to the capital's audiences.