S.F. Opera goes to the movies

A major new work by Philip Glass, his epic Civil War drama “Appomattox,” will be one of six San Francisco Opera productions to hit movie theaters in 2008 in a digital cinema format.

A four-year agreement with the Bigger Picture, a subsidiary of Access Integrated Technologies Inc., calls for worldwide distribution of six operas each year, beginning in early March.

It follows the opera company’s installation of a permanent, broadcast-standard video production facility that is capable of generating high-definition, multi-camera coverage of its stage productions.