Met HD opera simulcasts move into more cinemas
Last Updated: Thursday, August 9, 2007 | 2:28 PM ET
CBC Arts
New York's Metropolitan Opera is expanding its live high-definition simulcasts in cinemas after a successful launch last December.
Canadian cinema chain Cineplex is to add 40 new screens to the program, which involved live broadcasts in 2006-7 of operas such as The First Emperor and Mozart's The Magic Flute.
With the increase, the coming season of high-definition simulcasts will be available on 100 screens in Canada.
The Met has struck a deal with a group of U.S. cinema chains to add 100 new screens, raising the total to 400.
The first season of simulcasts reached 325,000 audience members around the world, the Met reported in a press release Wednesday.
The series launched in December 2006 and was an immediate success, with opera fans lining up to get tickets.
Cinemas, hard-pressed to fill the house for first-run movies, embraced the new technology and new screens were added to accommodate demand.
For the 2007-8 season the Met plans to offer advance ticket purchase.
The coming season includes the operas:
- Dec. 15: Gounod's Roméo et Juliette starring Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón, and conducted by Plácido Domingo.
- Jan. 1: Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, starring Christine Schäfer and Alice Coote in a new English-language production by Richard Jones, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.
- Jan. 12: Verdi's Macbeth, starring Lado Ataneli in a new production directed by Adrian Noble, conducted by James Levine.
- Feb. 16: Puccini's Manon Lescaut, starring Karita Mattila and Marcello Giordani.
- March 15: Britten's Peter Grimes, starring Anthony Dean Griffey and Patricia Racette in a new production directed by John Doyle and conducted by Donald Runnicles.
- March 22: Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, starring Deborah Voigt and Canadian tenor Ben Heppner.
- April 5: Puccini's La Bohème, starring Angela Gheorghiu and Ramón Vargas in Franco Zeffirelli's production conducted by Nicola Luisotti.
- April 26: Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment starring Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Flórez in a new production directed by Laurent Pelly and conducted by Marco Armiliato.
In Canada, tickets cost $17.95 in advance or $19.95 on the same day. Children's tickets are $14.95.
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