The Metropolitan Opera’s series of live performances The Met: Live In HD will expand is theatrical run this season.

The live transmissions will expand by 300 theatres into 1,500 and will encompass Egypt, Portugal, and Spain under the network of 46 participating countries.

One hundred of the additional theatres are being added in the US, raising the total number of theatres there to 620 this season. The countries with the biggest increase of include Canada with 35 new sites, Germany on more than 60, and the United Kingdom on 30.

The new season will feature 12 satellite transmissions beginning on October 9 with the Met’s new production of Das Rheingold, directed by Robert Lepage and conducted by James Levine.

During the previous 2009-10 season more than 2.4million Live In HD tickets were sold worldwide for nine transmissions, effectively tripling the Met’s paying audience.

By adding three transmissions this season, as well as the 300 additional theaters to its global network, the Met expects to break all of its previous attendance records.

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