The screenings of the performances by the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden will be shown at Cinema City venues in Budapest, Pécs, Győr and Miskolc.
The CineMaestro series has run with much success for almost a year in Poland and Israel. A similar programme has been hosted in Budapest by the Palace of Arts.
Cinema City marketing director Andrea Buda said the series does not intend to compete with the Hungarian State Opera, rather it aims to raise the profile of opera as an art. Buda recommended the series for teachers and students, for whom Cinema City offers discounted tickets and instructional materials, she added.
The series will start with five productions, of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni, Bizet's Carmen, Verdi's La Traviata, and the ballet Romeo and Juliet.
"The psychology of Le nozze di Figaro, the romanticism of Carmen, and the demonic tones of Don Giovanni show you three different faces of opera," says film director Miklós Szinetár, the patron of the CineMaestro series in Hungary, as well as an "ardent fan of opera and ballet".
The series will launch in Budapest on February 9 with a screening of The Marriage of Figaro.
Author: Éva Kelemen
