News
Metropolitan Opera Launches Rush Ticket Program As Part of Its Campaign to Expand Its Audience
$100 Orchestra Seats Available for $20 as a Result of $2 Million Dollar Ticket Subsidy Gift from Met Board Member Agnes Varis and Karl Leichtman; Donation Underwrites 200 Discounted Orchestra Seats for Monday through Thursday Performances during the Met’s 2006-07 Season
October 2, 2006
New York, NY—In another major demonstration of support of the Met’s efforts to expand its audience, Agnes Varis, a managing director of the Met’s Board of Directors, and her husband, Karl Leichtman, have contributed $2 million to launch the Agnes Varis and Karl Leichtman Rush Tickets program. Beginning tomorrow (Tuesday, October 3) with the first performance of the season of Gounod’s Faust, the Met will provide 200 Orchestra seats—regularly priced at $100—for Monday through Thursday performances at the deeply discounted price of $20 per ticket. Tickets will be made available at the Met box office beginning two hours before curtain on the day of the performance.
In addition to funding the Met’s recent transit campaign, Dr. Varis and Mr. Leichtman also sponsored the Met’s recent Open House, in which 3,000 members of the public were able to attend the final dress rehearsal of Madama Butterfly, participate in a host of behind-the-scenes activities, and walk across the Met stage.
“The idea of an entire season of rush tickets is very exciting and meaningful. It brings the Met closer to the general public and the general public closer to the Met,” said Dr. Varis. “This first-ever Met program brings great opera within everyone’s reach and it doesn’t get better than that.”
“Agnes Varis and Karl Leichtman are generously providing the resources to help the Met broaden its audience,” said Peter Gelb, the Met’s new General Manager.
The Met’s Open House on September 22 drew thousands of people through its doors with free tickets to the dress rehearsal of Madama Butterfly, directed by Anthony Minghella and conducted by Music Director James Levine. Excited patrons began lining up beginning at midnight to receive their free tickets at 10 am the following morning. When 3,000 tickets were gone by 11:30 am, the Met offered an additional 1,700 free tickets to the final dress rehearsal of Il Barbiere di Siviglia on November 8. This event was complemented by a Madama Butterfly campaign, estimated to reach 350 million ad impressions, seen in New York during the month of September at subway entrances, on MTA and NY Waterway buses, at Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North and PATH stations, on phone kiosks in Midtown and the East Side, and on street banners along Central Park West, Seventh Avenue in Midtown, Lincoln Center, Central Park South, and Columbus Circle.
The Met’s Agnes Varis and Karl Leichtman Rush Ticket program is the next step to attracting future audiences for opera by providing inexpensive yet excellent seats to performances at the nation’s premier opera house. Purchases will be limited to two tickets per customer and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. The program does not apply to performances for which $100 tickets are no longer available. Information about availability is provided online at www.metopera.org or by calling Met Ticket Service at (212) 362-6000.
Under the new leadership of General Manager Peter Gelb, the Met has launched other initiatives to connect the company with a larger audience, including $15 tickets (formerly $26) to the Family Circle section, the new Arnold and Marie Schwartz Gallery Met to exhibit contemporary art, and exciting new media initiatives.
The Met recently announced the use of advanced distribution platforms and state-of-the-art technology to attract new audiences and reach millions of opera fans around the world. Beginning December 30, the Met will transmit six of its performances live in high-definition (HD) into movie theaters in the United States, Canada, and Europe that have been equipped with HD projection systems and satellite dishes. Following thirty-day windows, the performances will be then presented on PBS by Thirteen/WNET in the United States, beginning in January 2007, and on different television systems in other countries. The Met and SIRIUS Satellite Radio recently announced Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS, a satellite radio music channel that broadcasts at least four live performances each week during the Met’s 2006-07 season and up to 500 historic broadcasts throughout the year. In addition to the Met’s Saturday matinee radio broadcasts, heard over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network, the Met will present live streaming of opera performances on its website with support from RealNetworks®. Real will also make opera from the Met’s extensive library of radio archive broadcasts available through its award-winning Rhapsody® online music service.
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For public inquiries please contact the Met Box Office at 212-362-6000
Press Contact:
Sommer Hixson/Peter Clark
Metropolitan Opera
(212) 870-7457
shixson@metopera.org
pclark@metopera.org