There are 272 movie theatres around the world signed up to show performances by the Royal Ballet — including a live performance last Thursday of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland conducted by National Ballet of Canada music director David Briskin.
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
I browsed the Royal Opera House website to discover 28 cinemas in Ecuador signed up for the live performance as well as upcoming encore presentations of Alice.
This truly is a great form of outreach.
The dozens of theatres in the U.S. include places like Amelia Island, Steubenville, Provo and Billings. And, in Canada, Cineplex’s Dance Series also gets the artform into places where ballet and modern dance would otherwise both fear to tread (for financial reasons).
Briskin did a great job with Joby Talbot’s score in Toronto, and must be doing the same with the Royal Ballet, which has the colourful production on tour in the U.K. this week.
Thursday’s performance returns to participating Cineplex screens in Canada on Sunday, April 21 (details here).
This was Briskin’s first live-around-the-world conducting gig, so I asked him via email over the weekend how it felt.
“Having our performance broadcast live to cinemas around the world was a truly memorable experience,” wrote Briskin. “As a performing artist, we strive to connect with our audience through our work. The response to Alice, here in the UK, and through the National Ballet of Canada’s performances in Toronto, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. has been so overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic, that to take part in sharing this production with a world-wide audience was just thrilling.
“Because we performed to such an engaged and responsive audience inside the Royal Opera House, I never felt that we were playing to the cameras or the microphones. As we do in every performance, we give our all and hope that our efforts reach our audience. At the same time, one could feel the incredible excitement and immediacy of the performance, and by the end of the evening we knew that we had touched a lot of people, both inside the opera house and around the world.”
I keep thinking not only of all of the adult fans of opera and dance who can get to see excellent productions of ballet and opera from the comfort of a seat that’s both affordable and not too far from home, but of all the kids in smaller towns who might have their imaginations fired up by these artforms that are otherwise confined to big cities.
That really is touching a lot of people.
John Terauds
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
