Mr Wolf to distribute Royal Opera House season

Live opera and ballet from the Royal Opera House (ROH) is to be distributed worldwide by Arts Alliance Media, beginning in September this year.

The exclusive long-term agreement was secured by Mr Wolf, a new alternative production and distribution outfit backed by Arts Alliance Ventures.

Mr Wolf will be ROH Cinema’s exclusive overall partner on a global basis and will work with its sister company, Arts Alliance Media, to handle worldwide sales and distribution, live transmission of the events from London, and global marketing services.

More2Screen will continue to handle sales for UK independent cinemas and selected overseas territories.

The 2013/14 Royal Opera House Live Cinema Season comprises five live operas and five live ballets.

The season opens with Turandot on September 17 and the first live ballet is a new production of Don Quixote, choreographed by Carlos Acosta on October 16.

Other highlights of the season include new opera productions of Les Vêpres siciliennes in November, Parsifal in December, and Don Giovanni in February 2014, and The Winter’s Tale, a new full-length ballet by Christopher Wheeldon to be staged in April 2014.

Each performance will be streamed live to more than 1,000 cinemas worldwide.

Alfred Chubb, CEO of Mr Wolf said: “Our aim is to help the ROH Live Cinema Season to continue to grow in stature and to bring the pick of its greatest productions to opera and ballet fans all over the world.”

Alastair Roberts, managing director of Royal Opera House Enterprises said: “We have seen a real increase in demand for The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet in cinemas over the past couple of years and so we are really excited to be working with Mr Wolf, Arts Alliance Media and More2Screen who will help us reach even larger audiences in the UK and around the world through this new partnership.”