Met's Rush Tickets Program Announces Online Sales Only, 2014-15 Season

The Met's Rush Tickets program will move entirely online in its ninth season, 2014-15, allowing expanded, more democratic access to prime Met tickets for $25. As in past seasons, Rush Tickets will be available for every performance in the Met season, with the exception of the Opening Night and New Year's Eve galas; a total of 219 performances of 26 operas. Moving the Rush Tickets program online is part of the Met's continuing mission to further develop the opera audience by broadening access to the company's performances.

Rush Tickets will be distributed via a lottery system. Prospective ticket buyers can log on to the Met website the evening before a performance they would like to see to enter. Winners will receive an email by 12 p.m. the day of the performance, and will be able to purchase up to two $25 tickets up until 2 hours before curtain time. Weekend winners will be notified on Fridays. To make the tickets as accessible as possible, the same individual can only win tickets once per week.

Rush Tickets are one of numerous initiatives the Met has launched in recent seasons to make opera more accessible to the general public. Regular Met tickets are available at a range of prices, beginning at just $25. The company's other audience-building programs include the award-winning The Met: Live in HD series, which transmits live Met performances to movie theaters in 68 countries around the world; free live simulcasts of each season's Opening Night performance to both Lincoln Center Plaza and Times Square; open dress rehearsals for three productions each season; abridged, English-language performances of operas during the holiday season; free web-based audio streaming of one Met performance each week; a nationwide opera education program at the grade school level; and MetOpera Students, a program that offers ticket discounts and exclusive events to college and graduate students.

The Rush Tickets program, initiated in 2006 by Dr. Agnes Varis and her husband, Karl Leichtman, is supported by generous grants from the Agnes Varis Trust; Mr. and Mrs. Richard S. Braddock; Betsy and Ed Cohen; Judith-Ann Corrente and Wim Kooyker; Jane and Jerry del Missier; Marina Kellen French; Gramma Fisher Foundation, Marshalltown, Iowa; the Hermione Foundation, Laura Sloate, Trustee; Marlene Hess and James Zirin; Karen and Kevin Kennedy; Ambassador and Mrs. Nicholas F. Taubman; Richard S. Tedlow; Mrs. Bert S. Turner; Robert L. Turner; Barbara Walters; and Ann Ziff. Additional support has been provided by The Russell Berrie Foundation, Betsey and Alan D. Cohn, and an Anonymous Donor.

Please visit www.metopera.org for more information on the Rush Tickets program and the Met's 2014-15 season.

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