Leeds-based Opera North to project La petite bohème showing on building walls across England, including Nottingham

Opera North is leaving the stage and heading out into the streets this winter with two new commissions designed to be performed in the open air.

It is in response to the covid-19 pandemic, which has forced the closure of theatres across the country.

The Leeds-based company has produced a 20-minute animation of Puccini’s La Boheme, with music by the company.

La petite bohème will be projected on to walls and buildings across the cities and towns of the north of England, including Nottingham, during November.

It will be projected on to the Victoria Embankment Bandstand on Thursday, December 3, at 5pm, 6pm, 7pm, 8pm.

The following night, it can be seen on the Trent Building, University Park Campus, again at 5pm, 6pm,7pm, 8pm.

Finally, it is at the Nottingham Arboretum Bandstand on Saturday, December 5, at 5pm, 6pm, 7pm, and 8pm.

Tickets cost £5.

Be transported to a crisp, winter evening in Paris with this animated re-imagining of Act III of Puccini’s best-loved opera La bohème.

Once madly in love, Rodolfo and Mimì have fallen on hard times ­— Mimì’s illness is getting worse and Rodolfo is driven to jealousy and rage. In this famously heart-breaking act, the couple reaches breaking point. Can their love survive the harsh winter?

Matthew Robins’ unique animated retelling of Act III of La bohème captures the emotion and humour of Puccini’s classic opera.

It features a newly-recorded soundtrack by the orchestra and chorus of Opera North and four soloists. It will be sung in Italian with English subtitles.

Book a slot, wrap up warm, grab a pair of headphones supplied by Opera North and allow yourself to be immersed in this magical outdoor experience.

The event will be performed in conditions which will enable audiences to socially distance.

Tickets are limited in accordance with government guidance.

The second production is As You Are: A Soundwalk for Leeds, by South African-born cellist, composer and improviser Abel Selaocoe.

Experienced through headphones on a 40-minute walk through central Leeds, a series of transmitters will trigger each chapter of the composition, which features the Orchestra and Chorus of Opera North joined at various points by Zimbabwean mbira player Anna Mudeka, Moroccan guimbri player Simo Lagnawi, and djembe virtuoso Sidiki Dembélé from the Ivory Coast.