This October, The Royal Ballet opens their 2022/23 Cinema Season with Kenneth MacMillan’s Mayerling, marking 30 years since the choreographer’s death in 1992. It will be broadcast on opening night, Wednesday 5 October 2022, to over 830 cinemas in 25 countries around the world.
Mayerling was given its premiere at the Royal Opera House on 14 February 1978, and was dedicated to the Company’s founder choreographer Frederick Ashton. The production, with its stunning designs by Nicholas Georgiadis and lighting by John B. Read, is set to John Lanchbery’s arrangement and orchestration of music by Franz Liszt. Inspired by real-life events, it tells a tale of psychological and political intrigue – of the events surrounding the murder-suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary and his mistress, Mary Vetsera. It remains, to this day, a masterpiece of storytelling, filled with potent ensemble scenes and some of the most daring and emotionally demanding pas de deux in the ballet repertory.
The live cinema relay showcases the breadth of talent in the Company. Principal dancer Ryoichi Hirano performs as Crown Prince Rudolf – a role often regarded as the ‘Hamlet’ of classical ballet, that requires the dancer to perform seven major pas de deux with five different women, and match technical prowess with real, dramatic skill. He is joined by Principal dancer Natalia Osipova as Baroness Mary Vetsera, and Principals Laura Morera, Francesca Hayward and Marianela Nuñez as Countess Marie Larisch, Princess Stephanie and Mitzi Caspar respectively. Encore screenings will run from Sunday 9 October 2022.
Our cinema programme has brought opera and ballet to audiences across the globe since 2008. For the 2022/23 Season, an astonishing 13 productions from The Royal Ballet and The Royal Opera will be broadcast to more than 1,300 cinemas from the UK all the way to New Zealand. Each broadcast offers audiences the best seat in the house, and includes exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, interviews and insights into the rehearsal process. The programme forms an integral part of our plan to secure our future, expand audiences and continue to help facilitate the vital recovery of cinema domestically and internationally.
