The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: The Metropolitan Opera announces next season’s schedule “Met Live in HD” broadcasts – which cuts back from 12 to 10 productions.

By Jacob Stockinger

The Metropolitan Opera has announced the next season (2013-14) of “Live From the Met in HD” broadcasts, which are shown in cinemas around the world, including at the Eastgate (below) and Point cinemas in Madison.

It is an impressive lineup for the series that, according to The Met, gets transmitted via satellite to 1,900 theaters in 64 countries and has sold more than 12 million tickets since it began in 2006.

But nobody is saying why the season has been cut back from 12 to 10 after two years of expanding, if I recall correctly. Maybe the market can only bear so much. Or maybe it is the budget.

There will be one a month except for two in October and April.

Also, if I recall correctly, the whole program has been a great moneymaker for the Met. So I am not sure why the program was cut back. Maybe it just has to do with impressive new productions and only so much time to stage them in.

Also to look forward to is the return of conductor and Met artistic director James Levine (below top) after a hiatus of two years due to ill health. He will conduct Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte,” Verdi’s “Falstaff” and Alban Berg’s “Wozzeck.” Also, “Two Boys,” a new opera commissioned by the Met from composer Nico Muhly (below bottom), will be featured.

As always, the season opens Oct. 5 with a bang – in this case, Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” with superstar soprano Anna Netrebko (below right).

And there are a lot of other top-name singers and conductors who will be involved.

Here are the official announcements:

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/news/press/releases/2013-14-season/

http://www.metoperafamily.org/en/news-and-features1/press-releases/releases/2013-14-Live-in-HD/

Here is a link to the series’ home website:

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/liveinhd/1314

And here are some other stories about the regular Met season and the HD season that offer some analysis and other details:

http://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/the-met-live-in-hd-announces-2013-14-season

And here is another, featuring world-famous opera (and food) expert Fred Plotkin (below), who writes the blog “Operavore” and is a 1978 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison:

http://www.wqxr.org/#!/blogs/operavore/2013/feb/26/analysis-metropolitan-operas-2013-14-season/