Wednesday, December 5----------After last year's introduction, New York's prestigious Metropolitan Opera has announced that it has expanded its program of live high definition digital transmissions to move theaters of a new season of opera highlights. The second season of METROPOLITAN OPERA: LIVE IN HIGH DEFINITION, will premiere on December 15 with a live broadcast of Gounod's ROMEO ET JULIETTE, performed by the opera diva Anna Netrebko and the Spanish tenor Roberto Alagna, conducted by opera superstar Placido Domingo.

The production will be the first of eight live opera transmissions that will be seen in more than 600 movie theaters, arts centers and universities in North America, Australia, Europe and Japan. This is more than triple the number of last year's sites. Tickets for the performances went on sale today via the internet and will include a New Year's Day presentation of Humperdinck's HANSEL AND GRETEL, as well as presentations of Verdi's MACBETH, Pucinnni's MANON LESCAUT, Wagner's TRISTAN AND ISOLDE, Britten's PETER GRIMES, Donizetti's LA FILLE DU REGIMENT and Puccini's beloved LA BOHEME.

For more information on the series and where it may be presented (at a theater near you, virtually anywhere around the world), log on to the website: http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast/hd_events.aspx. High definition never sounded this good........

Sandy Mandelberger, Film New York Editor