Met's Broadcast of 'Roméo et Juliette' Reaches Record-Breaking Audiences

The Metropolitan Opera's "Live in High Definition" series of live satellite transmissions into movie theaters achieved record-breaking attendance in its first weekend of the new 2007-08 season. The first transmission on Saturday, December 15-Romeo et Juliette, starring Anna Netrebko and Roberto Alagna, conducted by Placido Domingo-drew a worldwide audience of 97,000. 435 venues (477 screens) in the United States and Canada sold approximately 77,000 tickets; 100 international venues (100 screens) sold an additional 20,000 tickets.

There were 88 sold-out screens in the United States, including those in major markets such as New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Chicago, and 11 performing arts centers and universities in the U.S.; 33 screens sold out in Canada. Attendance outside of North America was very strong. Twenty-five venues in Europe sold out, including locations in Germany, Austria, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, and the Czech Republic.  The performance also sold out in Puerto Rico. The performance was also transmitted into venues in Belgium, Poland, Norway, and will be in Japan and Australia on a delayed basis. Nearly 2,000 students, parents, and teachers throughout New York City attended free transmissions in their local public schools through the Met's new partnership with the New York City Department of Education and the Metropolitan Opera Guild.

During the Romeo et Juliette performance, cameras went backstage for live interviews with Netrebko and Alagna, interviewed by opera diva Renee Fleming. She also talked with Maestro Domingo at the end of the intermission; cameras followed him live from the interview straight to the pit as he gave the downbeat to the Met orchestra.

More than 600 venues worldwide will be participating in the Met's groundbreaking series during the 2007-08 season-triple the number from last year. Through this significant global expansion, Metropolitan Opera: Live in High Definition is expected to reach an audience of up to one million movie theater-goers for the entire series.

The 2007-08 HD series continues with a New Years Day presentation of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, starring Christine Schafer and Alice Coote in a new English-language production by Richard Jones, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.

Met Music Director James Levine conducts three of the operas in the series: Verdi's Macbeth starring Lado Ataneli and Maria Guleghina in a new production directed by Adrian Noble (January 12); Puccini's Manon Lescaut, starring Karita Mattila and Marcello Giordani (February 16); and Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, starring Deborah Voigt and Ben Heppner (March 22). The series also includes new Met productions of Britten's Peter Grimes, starring Anthony Dean Griffey and Patricia Racette directed by John Doyle and conducted by Donald Runnicles (March 15), and Donizetti's La Fille du Regiment, starring Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Florez in a new production directed by Laurent Pelly and conducted by Marco Armiliato (April 26). Angela Gheorghiu and Ramon Vargas star in Franco Zeffirelli's iconic production of Puccini's La Boheme, conducted by Nicola Luisotti (April 5).