The IBC meeting in Amsterdam ended on Sept. 15, but not before bestowing its highest international honor to New York City’s Metropolitan Opera. The Met was honored for its longstanding commitment and creative initiatives to take its performances well beyond the walls of Lincoln Center via its longstanding radio and TV broadcasts--and most recently its live (and encore) HD broadcasts beamed to hundreds of movie theaters around the world.
The award was presented to the Met’s GM, Peter Gelb, in a live closed circuit transmission this week between IBC in Amsterdam and the opera house’s home at Lincoln Center in Manhattan.
The Met started its regular radio broadcasts of Saturday matinees in 1931; “Live from the Met” first aired on PBS in 1977.
In 2006, the Met began offering its opera productions live via HD television transmissions to what this year will include more than 900 movie screens in nearly 40 countries.
This season’s “The Met: Live in HD” series begins on Saturday, Oct. 10. Global corporate sponsor for the HD telecasts this year is Bloomberg News, with additional support from Toll Brothers, a home builder.
