Julie Taymor’s production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute made its big-screen debut today, when it was transmitted live in high definition to movie theaters internationally. Taymor herself caught the show at the Walter Reade Theater, before racing across the street to take a bow on the Met stage during the curtain call. Here are some photos from the New York screening and from a cinema in the arctic circle, where a theaterful of Norwegians took in the performance. More details to come!

Director Julie Taymor in the Walter Reade Theater

The Walter Reade Theater Lobby

A New York City Audience for The Magic Flute

The exterior of a theater in the arctic circle that presented The Magic Flute

A Norwegian audience for the opera screening

Niels Windfeld Lund, manager of the World Opera in Norway.

The cable trucks are parked outside the Metropolitan Opera House and set to transmit this afternoon’s live performance of Mozart’s The Magic Flute to an international audience. With minutes to go before this historic global, high-definition event, tickets are sold out in theaters across the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan. A worldwide audience of 30,000 people will share in the live big-screen experience.

The opera will be seen in approximately 100 cinemas across the globe, as well as two kabuki theaters in Japan. Future live transmissions from the Met are Bellini’s I Puritani starring Anna Netrebko (January 6), Tan Dun’s The First Emperor starring Plácido Domingo (January 13), Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin starring Renée Fleming and Dmitri Hvorostovsky (February 24), Rossini’s The Barber of Seville starring Juan Diego Flórez, Joyce DiDonato, and Peter Mattei (March 24), and Puccini’s Il Trittico featuring a stellar ensemble cast (April 28).

The Met’s new 100-minute English-language version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute hits movie theaters internationally tomorrow, Saturday December 30, at 1:30PM ET. “The Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD” is the company’s new initiative to reach a global audience using modern satellite technology. The Magic Flute is the first of six performances to be transmitted live to cinemas across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Norway, with kabuki theaters in Japan receiving the broadcasts on time-delay. Later this season, the Met will broadcast performances of Bellini’s I Puritani (January 6), Tan Dun’s The First Emperor (January 13), Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin (February 24), Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia (March 24), and Puccini’s Il Trittico (April 28). Check back here after the show for updates from around the globe!