BP Big Summer Screens 2014

Join us at the greatest FREE opera and ballet open-air events of the summer!

The BP Summer Big Screens are the perfect way to introduce friends and family to the Royal Opera House and to world-class opera and ballet. Come early to get a good spot and relax into the festival feel. Featuring exclusive backstage films, competitions and live interaction, these screenings bring the best performances live to your home town absolutely FREE!

The 2014 season will feature three of the most popular operas.

20th May: La traviata
Violetta gives up her glamorous (but far from respectable) lifestyle when she finds true love with Alfredo. However, Alfredo’s father begs her to renounce his son, the only man who’s ever truly cared for her. Can she survive this blow? Discover one of Verdi’s most passionate, moving and melodious operas, and prepare to be moved to tears by his glorious music and by our wonderful cast, featuring some of the greatest singers of today.

15th July: La bohème
One freezing Christmas Eve, a struggling poet meets a beautiful, fragile young woman who will change his life forever… Let yourself be carried away by the emotional power of The Royal Opera’s exquisite and realistic production of La bohème. Immerse yourselves in the colourful artists’ quarter in 19th-century Paris, where every moment is precious, and paying the rent is the last thing on anyone’s mind. If you’ve never been to an opera before, this is the ideal place to start. Puccini’s magical, heart-tugging music, performed by a superb cast, is guaranteed to captivate you – you may even find you know some of the opera’s wonderful melodies.

17th September: Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an embittered court jester who’ll poke fun at anyone his handsome and lecherous young master abuses; until he finds that he and his treasured, trusting daughter have become the Duke’s latest victims. Verdi’s full-blooded score is dramatically and musically thrilling, packed with one great tune after another. Even if you’ve never been to an opera before, you’ll instantly recognize the Duke’s jaunty ‘La donna è mobile’, one of the best known of all tenor arias. Join us for this dark, thrilling tale of seduction, trickery and bloody revenge, in David McVicar’s arresting production.