Monday 23 September 2019

The Royal Opera’s new production of Donizetti’s witty will be broadcast live in cinemas all over the UK

New to and broadcast live in cinemas all over the UK from the Orkney Islands to Jersey, Damiano Michieletto’s production of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale will delight audiences with its wit and charm on Thursday 24 October at 7.30pm. For a Sunday afternoon treat, there will be an encore screening on 27 October at 2pm.

Sir Bryn Terfel who will sing Don Pasquale. Credit Rolex - Johannes Ifkovits

Don Pasquale explores themes of love, intrigue and money. Ernesto wants to marry the young widow Norina. His uncle Don Pasquale isn’t happy with this, and decides to get married himself to prevent Ernesto inheriting his fortune. Malatesta persuades Norina to disguise herself as his sister, enter a fake marriage with Don Pasquale and torment him with her capricious behaviour. Things come to a head when Don Pasquale believes his young wife is unfaithful – but what will he do next? And will he ever forgive Ernesto and Norina when he learns about their plot to trick him?

In this co-production between The Royal Opera, Opéra National de Paris and di Palermo, Welsh bass-baritone and Royal Opera favourite Bryn Terfel makes his role debut as the rich old bachelor Don Pasquale. Award- winning Russian soprano Olga Peretyatko makes her Royal Opera debut as the object of his affections, Norina, Romanian tenor Ioan Hotea sings Norina’s young lover Ernesto and Polish baritone Marius Kwiecień sings the cunning Doctor Malatesta.

The Royal Opera House cinema broadcasts offer audiences the best seat in the house, and exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and interviews. Audience members are never far from a performance at the Royal Opera House, with most people in the UK based within 30 miles of a cinema screening. As well as being shown in the UK, Don Pasquale will be broadcast to over 1,000 international cinemas in 53 countries around the world.

Don Pasquale will be broadcast live on Thursday 24 October at 7.30pm, with an encore screening on Sunday 27 October at 2pm. The opera will be sung in Italian with English surtitles. Share on social using #ROHpasquale.

The next live cinema relay will be The Royal Ballet’s Concerto/ Engima Variations/ Raymonda Act III on Tuesday 5 November at 7.15pm. For more information and to buy tickets: https://www.roh.org.uk/cinemas

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. For further information or interview requests please contact Rachel Gaston 2. To request tickets to your nearest cinema broadcast email: Hannah Last

The 2019/20 Royal Opera House Cinema Season is as follows:

• The Royal Opera’s (co-production with , Barcelona, Israeli Opera and Houston Grand Opera) o Live Tuesday 8 October 2019, encore on Sunday 13 October 2019 • The Royal Opera’s Don Pasquale (new co-production between The Royal Opera, Opéra national de Paris and Teatro Massimo, Palermo) o Live Thursday 24 October 2019, encore on Sunday 27 October 2019 • The Royal Ballet’s Concerto/ Enigma Variations/ Raymonda Act III o Live Tuesday 5 November 2019, encore on Sunday 10 November 2019 • The Royal Ballet’s Coppélia o Live from Tuesday 10 December 2019, encore on Sunday 15 December 2019 • The Royal Ballet’s The Nutcracker (recorded 2016) o From Tuesday 17 December 2019 • The Royal Ballet’s The Sleeping Beauty o Live Thursday 16 January 2020, encore on Sunday 19 January 2020 • The Royal Opera’s La bohème (co-production with , Madrid, and Lyric Opera of Chicago) o Live Wednesday 29 January 2020, encore on Sunday 2 February 2020 • The Royal Ballet’s New Marston/ New Scarlett (world premieres) o Live Tuesday 25 February 2020, encore Sunday 1 March • The Royal Opera’s Fidelio (new production) o Live Tuesday 17 March 2020, encore on Sunday 22 March 2020 • The Royal Ballet’s Swan Lake o 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) o Live Tuesday 21 April 2020, encore on Sunday 26 April 2020 • The Royal Ballet’s The Dante Project (world premiere) o Live Thursday 28 May 2020, encore on Sunday 31 May 2020 • The Royal Opera’s Elektra (new production) o Live Thursday 18 June 2020, encore 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 2019/20 cinema season, our broadcasts will reach over 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 livestreamed and on-demand content via the Royal Opera House’s official YouTube channel, which is the most subscribed YouTube channel of any arts organizations in the world.