It’s official. The numbers are in, and the Met’s first HD transmission of the season, Roméo et Juliette starring Anna Netrebko and Roberto Alagna, had an international audience of nearly 97,000 — making it the biggest live alternative cinema event ever. The performance was shown on 477 screens in the U.S., where the transmission sold 77,000 tickets. The 100 screens internationally garnered another 20,000 in ticket sales.

Needless to say, Met General Manager Peter Gelb was pleased. “The success of Saturday’s HD transmission is an indication that the public’s interest in these global events is building,” he said. “And the demand for tickets to our transmissions parallels the increase in attendance to the opera house in the first third of the performance season. More people are interested in opera today, which is great news for the Met.”

The 2007-08 HD season continues on New Year’s Day, with Richard Jones’s new production of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, sung in English.

This entry was posted by Matt Dobkin on Monday, December 17th, 2007 at 2:34 pm and is filed under The HD Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.