Building on a longstanding broadcast alliance, New York's Metropolitan Opera and PBS are teaming up for a series of six opera telecasts to be presented by Thirteen/WNET in HD with Dolby 5.1 surround sound. For the first time prior to the PBS debut, the opera productions are also being shown in movie theaters across North America and Europe, again using Dolby audio technology. The multiplatform distribution approach is designed to bring the full opera experience to a broader audience.
The six performances earmarked for the series represent the most comprehensive coverage of the Met's season. The first telecast of the 2007 series was Julie Taymor's English-language production of Mozart's "The Magic Flute," described as a family-friendly, 100-minute version of the classic three-hour show. This approach is in keeping with the Metropolitan Opera's new mission, to present opera as a contemporary art form. Other operas in the series will include works by Tchaikovsky, Rossini and others. Performers in the series include Anna Netrebko, Placido Domingo and Juan Diego Florez, among many others.
For more information, visit www.dolby.com and www.thirteen.org.