Tales of Hoffmann at the Eye with the Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House Live from London will return to the City’s Eye Cinema next Tuesday at 6.15pm, with the lavish production of Offenbach’s masterpiece Les Contes d’Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann).

Created by Academy Award-winning film director John Schlesinger, this production which is being transmitted live via satellite, brings alive a 19th-century world of romance, comedy, mystery and menace.

There’s a cast of extraordinary tales of clockwork dolls, magical glasses, ghostly voices and sensual courtesans – and at the centre of all is the vivid imagination of the drunken Romantic poet Hoffmann.

Played by the young tenor Vittorio Grigolo – Hoffman is compelled to tell the story of his lovers who, he believes, have been stolen by a succession of arch villains. Superb baritone Thomas Hampson performs all four villains.

The music includes the famous Barcarolle, while the showpiece numbers are perfect vehicles for the vocal virtuosity of Sofia Fomina as the clockwork doll, Olympia, Christine Rice as the courtesan, Giulietta, and Sonya Yoncheva as Hoffmann’s last love, Antonia.

For further information or to book, log onto www.eyecinema.ie  or call 091 780078.