Your Reaction: What did you think of Les Contes d'Hoffmann in cinemas?

John Schlesinger's classic Royal Opera production was relayed live to cinemas around the world.
The great storyteller Hoffmann is losing himself to drink. His rival in love, Councillor Lindorf, claims that Hoffmann knows nothing of the heart, and so goads Hoffmann into telling the tales of his three great loves – each destroyed by a villain who bears an uncanny resemblance to Lindorf…
Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann) is the most enduring ‘serious’ opera from a composer otherwise better known for his sparkling operettas. It’s not hard to see why: Offenbach’s witty and highly melodious music finds the perfect vehicle in the Romantic, richly imaginative world of the storyteller E.T.A. Hoffmann. Offenbach adapted Jules Barbier and Michel Carré’s play, in which Hoffmann is cast as the deeply flawed teller of his own tales. The composer’s death shortly before the opera’s completion has resulted in a number of alternative versions – but this multiplicity has done nothing to dull the irresistible appeal of an opera in which music and story come together in a deeply satisfying whole.
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John Schlesinger's classic Royal Opera production was relayed live to cinemas around the world.
The live relay of John Schlesinger's classic Royal Opera production stars an impressive cast including Vittorio Grigolo, Thomas Hampson and Sonya Yoncheva.
To find out more visit the Les Contes d'Hoffmann (2016) production page.