Royal Opera chief puts big screen arts in the park

The Royal Opera House is to bring its art to the masses with performances relayed on to big screens around Britain.

The first of these performances will take place in May at Victoria Park in Tower Hamlets, east London. Thousands will be able to see the Royal Ballet in Romeo and Juliet.

If that proves a success, the experiment will be repeated outside London. Talks are also taking place for cinemas to screen Royal Opera House performances free of charge.

The initiatives are part of a strategy to market the ROH nationally and internationally. They have been prepared by Tony Hall, the company's executive director, who moved to the role last year from the BBC, where he was head of news and current affairs.

Speaking exclusively to The Independent, he said his plans also included offering the public the opportunity to have online chats with stars including Placido Domingo and Darcey Bussell.

Far more live television transmissions of opera and ballet are planned. Many of these will take place on BBC4, the corporation's new digital culture channel.

Further initiatives on ticket prices are also being prepared for later in the year. Since taking over Mr Hall has insisted that half of all tickets on sale must be priced below £50 – top prices are £150.

He has also increased the profile of the education department and appointed the former Royal Ballet star Deborah Bull to run the studio theatres – aiming to attract young and multi-ethnic audiences for challenging new works. At the other end of the spectrum Friday afternoon tea dances for pensioners in the Floral Hall are encouraging a new audience to set foot inside the opera house.

Mr Hall said yesterday: "We have to stand for excellence on the main stage and at the same time get that excellence to as many people as we can. I have spent a lot of time working on how we can improve on that. Partly, it's about price, but it's also about developing our partnership with the BBC. The first night of Rigoletto this season was seen by 2,200 people in the House, 3,000 in the Piazza and 900,000 on BBC2.

"This autumn one of our big new productions will be an operatic adaptation of Sophie's Choice, directed by Trevor Nunn and conducted by Simon Rattle. I hope that will be transmitted on BBC4.

"The big screen in Victoria Park can be the start of something new. Over the coming year I hope to be taking our performances to people outside London through these park relays – and I am talking to a cinema chain. I come from the North-west myself and I am adamant that the Royal Opera and Royal Ballet should not just be seen in the South-east."

Mr Hall has introduced a new system in which there is three-year planning for finance as well as artistic matters. The ROH aims to show a surplus this year.

The Royal Opera House also made new appointments to its board yesterday. These include the advertising and marketing expert Frank Lowe, chief executive of the Lowe group, who will help with worldwide branding. Other new appointments include the playwright and critic Bonnie Greer and the educationist Margaret Maden, who will advise on increasing further the company's educational work.