New York's Metropolitan Opera has tripled the number of venues to which it will beam its live, high-definition opera broadcasts this season, officials announced, along with the upcoming lineup.
More than 600 venues across North America, Australia, Europe and Japan are signed up this year to host the Saturday afternoon simulcasts, the opera company said in a statement Tuesday.
This season, organizers are projecting that the entire eight-opera series will reach up to one million viewers around the globe, watching from theatres, performing arts venues, colleges and public schools.
The Manhattan-based opera company also announced on Tuesday the lineup of 2007-2008 productions it will showcase, beginning in December with a much-anticipated performance of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette starring singers Roberto Alagna and Anna Netrebko as the tragic lovers. Opera great Placido Domingo will conduct.
Canadian Ben Heppner will also be featured in a March performance of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, co-starring Deborah Voigt.
Also playing are:
- Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel;
- Verdi's Macbeth;
- Puccini's Manon Lescaut;
- Britten's Peter Grimes;
- Donizetti's La Fille du Regiment
Franco Zeffirelli's production of Puccini's La Bohème, featuring Angela Gheorghiu and Ramon Vargas, will wrap up the series in April.
Introduced in Dec. 2006, the Met's first season of simulcasts reached 325,000 audience members around the world. The program quickly drew long queues of fans and many cinemas extended the broadcasts to additional screens.
Italians join in
Perhaps inspired by the Met initiative, Italian organizers have also announced a plan to beam opera performances from Milan's La Scala, La Fenice in Venice and the Maggio Musicale in Florence to more than 60 theatres across the U.S.
The Italian program will include Verdi's La Traviata, Puccini's Rondine and Zeffirelli's version of Verdi's Aida.
Unlike the New York company, the Italian productions will not be offered live and will air at different times in each participating theatre.
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