The presentations will be on the last Thursday of September, October and November; confirmed cities so far are London, Tunbridge Wells (Kent), Brighton, Oxford, Guildford (Surrey), Harrogate (Yorkshire), Manchester and Cardiff. Tickets will be Ô£7.50.

The operas, recorded in high-definition audio and video at Glyndebourne's summer festival, will be Wagner's Tristan und Isolde (September 27), Mozart's CosÐ fan tutte (October 26) and a third work yet to be selected (November 29). If the first three cinema broadcasts are popular, according to The Times of London, more will be scheduled.

Glyndebourne general director David Pickard told The Times that the cost to the company for the broadcasts is "next to nothing," since the festival has already secured digital reproduction rights from its performers in order to produce DVDs of its productions. Artists will share in any profits, but those aren't expected to be great: "I don't think any of us is going to get wealthy from Ô£7.50 tickets," said Pickard, "but that isn't the point. We're saying to the world, 'We're proud of what we do at Glyndebourne'."