Live from the comfort of your local cinema

Berlin’s Philharmonic Hall, Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre, the New York Met — these have always been places for the theatre lover to imagine, but rarely experience.

Now, though, some of the world’s greatest performances can be enjoyed live in the comfort of major cinemas across the country, without any of the stress (and cost) of booking, flying, staying, queuing. Not only that, but you get to go backstage as well, see the scene shifters setting up the next act, spot the stars crossing to their dressing rooms, even listen in on an interview.

Yes, from an artistic point of view, Live in HD was one of the great developments of recent years, and thank the deus ex machina that Irish cinemas were ready with wiring in place and plug in hand.

The year ahead brings us a programme over which the cognoscenti can certainly croon. Once again the Met (which pioneered the original idea back in 2006) has produced a spectacular season. On Feb 8 Renée Fleming will sing her first Live in HD performance in Dvorák’s Rusalka, while Mar 1 brings the eagerly-awaited first production of Borodin’s epic Prince Igor since before the Russian revolution. Fittingly, Russian opera director Dmitri Tcherniakov will make his Met debut with this.

Massenet’s Werther arrives on Mar 15, with the stellar pairing of Sophie Koch and Jonas Kaufmann, and the well-loved La Bohème (Franco Zeffirelli’s production) on Apr 5. The Met’s music director, James Levine, returns after illness to conduct Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte on Apr 26, and the season rounds off with Rossini’s sparkling La Cenerentola, featuring the great pairing of Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flores.

The Bolshoi opened in 1825 but last season was one of the most eventful ever in the famous company’s long history, not only for the reopening of the magnificently restored theatre, but also the near-fatal attack on the company’s artistic director which forced the cancellation of their planned new production of The Rite of Spring.

In the best tradition, however, the show went on. Now we can see some superb Bolshoi performances in the months ahead. The glitteringly beautiful Jewels triptych, a tribute to the cities of Paris, New York and St Petersburg, is staged on Jan 19, while Feb 2 brings a completely new Bolshoi production, Lost Illusions, a story of student ambition, love and loss in 19th century Paris. Finally, on Mar 30 comes The Golden Age, set in a 1920s seaside town. A delightful satire, this ballet is a medley of jazz and cabaret musical parodies, frantic pace, passionate intrigue and variety of dance styles that leave you breathless.

And that’s not all. Widely regarded as the greatest symphony orchestra in the world, the Berlin Philharmonic has entered the world of HD Live too. Feb 28 Simon Rattle conducts a dramatic performance of Bach’s vivid setting of St John’s Passion — a deeply profound and moving work of extraordinary scale, range and intensity, and on Jun 18 Rattle is joined by the great Daniel Barenboim to perform Brahms’ towering first piano concerto, in a programme which also features music by Charles Ives and Richard Strauss.

The best seat in a legendary theatre for a live performance? Perhaps we can endure Facebooking, tweets, texting, if technology can also give us riches like these? Just remember the cities involved are on different time zones to us, so check the start time.

* www.classicalartsireland.com; www.omniplex.ie/cinema/cinema/cork