Met Opera sells 2.2M tickets for HD broadcasts

[May 03, 2010]  NEW YORK (AP) -- The Metropolitan Opera has sold a record 2.2 million tickets for its nine high-definition telecasts to theaters this season, an increase of 400,000 from 2008-2009.

The company said Sunday that the Saturday broadcast of Rossini's "Armida" starring soprano Renee Fleming and tenor Lawrence Brownlee was seen by an estimated audience of 105,000 in North American and 84,000 in Europe and Latin America.

With delayed telecasts in Asia, Latin America, Oceania and South Africa, plus repeats in North America and Europe, the Met expects its "Armida" audience to reach 250,000.

The Met's HD series has sold 5 million tickets in five seasons. There will be 11 telecasts next season, beginning with Wagner's "Das Rheingold" on Oct. 9, the opening of the Robert Lepage staging to of the Ring Cycle that replaces the Met's traditional Otto Schenk production.

[Associated Press]

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