These shows are a true amalgam of broadcast and live performance -- and it’s both better than being there in person and not quite as good.

Saturday Morning at the Opera

It’s New to Santa Fe, and Already It’s the Place to Be

red-hot new scene in Santa Fe has flared up three times so far, on three of the most frigid mornings of the winter. To make this scene you cannot sleep late, should plan on a big breakfast or a late lunch, may wear whatever you wish, and need to be ready to kick back, hunker down and settle in for three or four hours -- or five or six, as the case may be. What is the occasion? It’s nothing less than grand opera, and it’s also live -- "Live From the Met."

Well, it’s not quite live. The performances are simulcasts of real-time matinees taking place on the stage of the famed Metropolitan Opera in New York City and beamed in high definition directly to the big screen of the Lensic Theater, as well as 600 other venues in North America, Europe, Australia and Japan.

Going to these events is somewhat comparable to watching the Super Bowl on TV, when you might have gotten a ticket to the "Big Game" itself: it’s both better than being there in person and also not as good. Not quite as good. But also better. Go figure.

Sure, nothing compares to actually occupying a seat in the Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center as the lights dim; and right here at home, nothing compares to going to a performance at our own world-class Santa Fe Opera. The ambience, the aura, the "being there" cannot really be replicated in a movie theater. But ah, with "Live From the Met," there are compensations.

The entire performance is transmitted live, so there are no instant replays or color commentary, as at the Super Bowl. Instead we get exquisite close-ups, impeccable sound and instantly comprehended subtitles -- not above or below the stage or on the back of the seat in front of you, but right there on the screen itself, to be taken in as one with the moving image. Never has opera been more accessible.

Also making the "Live From" performances eminently accessible are the ticket prices: just $22 for regular admission, $20 for seniors, $15 for students. These prices apply throughout the theater, although the Lensic seats are numbered and sold individually. By comparison, seats at the Santa Fe Opera range from $26 to $180, while at the Met, even the cheapest partial-view seats start at $27 and the primo seats in the theater will set you back $375 per!

A delightful bonus at "Live From" is instant real-time interviews with the principal performers in the same opera being shown. These principals include the tenor, soprano, conductor and director, many of them world famous -- and it’s amazing to see how immediately they can step out of, say, a horrific murder at the end of act I, take part in a chatty reminiscence about their early career just one minute later backstage, and then, totally back in character, return to the murderous trail as soon as the curtain rises on act II. Also shown behind the scenes are sets going up and down, high-tech control boards monitoring every detail down to nanoseconds, stars slumping for a moment of rest (or perhaps making funny faces at the camera), and a lot of other backstage business that real-life ticket buyers miss.

These shows are a true amalgam of broadcast and live performance -- and once again, it’s both better than being there in person and not quite as good. The Los Angeles Times called it "a new art form," and that’s pretty close to the mark. Live performances of opera, complete with subtitles, have been recorded for many years now, but watching them on your home TV is really nothing like this.

With "Live From," there is always the chance of the magical moment that has never come before -- or, conversely, an electronic break in the feed, which blackens the screen. On these very special cold mornings at the Lensic, art and life meld, in a pioneering 21st-century format.

The typical starting time for the simulcasts is 11 a.m. in Santa Fe (that’s 1 p.m. in Manhattan, 10 o’clock on the West Coast, and God only knows what hour in Tokyo, Paris, London, Sydney or wherever). True believers will show up. The usual performance is on Saturday, a weekend, and the one exception was New Year’s Day, 2008, a Tuesday.

The Metropolitan Opera began this program last year, on 200 screens worldwide. Albuquerque was included, but Santa Fe was not. An egregious omission, if you ask me. Yet now it’s been fixed, with the Lensic, the Met and the Santa Fe Opera itself collaborating to bring the connections and the technology needed to make "Live From" happen here. In total, the number of screens tripled from last year.

Five more simulcasts are set for this season, all on Saturdays, featuring operas from Puccini, Britten, Wagner and Donizetti. Already shown have been Gounod, Humperdinck and Verdi. Don’t set your hopes too high for tickets, though, for every show so far has sold out, and the rest are pretty much that way. But last-minute returns do happen, and people do still slip in the door. You can give it a try.

Thrilled by the success this year, the Lensic is exploring ways to add tape-delayed shows next season or otherwise expand the program, but such plans are premature at this point. Among other possibilities, special broadcasts for young viewers are under consideration, to help cultivate a new generation of opera lovers.

Expanding the lure of opera was, in fact, a key objective of the "Live From" program. A certain risk was involved, for by making almost-live operas available at bargain-basement rates, in a format even preferred by many audience members, the Met was chancing that its high-cost, live-performance sales would fade. At least six theaters in New York City itself are doing the simulcasts, potentially drawing down house audiences. Yet after the pioneering experiment last year, the Met’s subscription base went up 12 percent and its overall ticket sales rose by 7 percent.

Meanwhile, on certain Saturdays in Santa Fe, the somewhat graying sold-out audiences at the Lensic are clapping wildly after magnificent arias, applauding the on-screen curtain calls, and otherwise acting like they are at real-life performances from the Met. And they don’t seem to care a hoot about the difference.

You’ll find me there on these special Saturday mornings. After all, it’s the hottest ticket in town. And fortunately, I have mine.





					Table of contents Home


	These shows are a true amalgam of broadcast and live performance -- and it’s both better than being there in person and not quite as good. Saturday Morning at the Opera It’s New to Santa Fe, and Already It’s the Place to Be red-hot new scene in Santa Fe has flared up three times so far, on three of the most frigid mornings of the winter. To make this scene you cannot sleep late, should plan on a big breakfast or a late lunch, may wear whatever you wish, and need to be ready to kick back, hunker down and settle in for three or four hours -- or five or six, as the case may be. What is the occasion? It’s nothing less than grand opera, and it’s also live -- "Live From the Met." Well, it’s not quite live. The performances are simulcasts of real-time matinees taking place on the stage of the famed Metropolitan Opera in New York City and beamed in high definition directly to the big screen of the Lensic Theater, as well as 600 other venues in North America, Europe, Australia and Japan. Going to these events is somewhat comparable to watching the Super Bowl on TV, when you might have gotten a ticket to the "Big Game" itself: it’s both better than being there in person and also not as good. Not quite as good. But also better. Go figure. Sure, nothing compares to actually occupying a seat in the Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center as the lights dim; and right here at home, nothing compares to going to a performance at our own world-class Santa Fe Opera. The ambience, the aura, the "being there" cannot really be replicated in a movie theater. But ah, with "Live From the Met," there are compensations. The entire performance is transmitted live, so there are no instant replays or color commentary, as at the Super Bowl. Instead we get exquisite close-ups, impeccable sound and instantly comprehended subtitles -- not above or below the stage or on the back of the seat in front of you, but right there on the screen itself, to be taken in as one with the moving image. Never has opera been more accessible. Also making the "Live From" performances eminently accessible are the ticket prices: just $22 for regular admission, $20 for seniors, $15 for students. These prices apply throughout the theater, although the Lensic seats are numbered and sold individually. By comparison, seats at the Santa Fe Opera range from $26 to $180, while at the Met, even the cheapest partial-view seats start at $27 and the primo seats in the theater will set you back $375 per! A delightful bonus at "Live From" is instant real-time interviews with the principal performers in the same opera being shown. These principals include the tenor, soprano, conductor and director, many of them world famous -- and it’s amazing to see how immediately they can step out of, say, a horrific murder at the end of act I, take part in a chatty reminiscence about their early career just one minute later backstage, and then, totally back in character, return to the murderous trail as soon as the curtain rises on act II. Also shown behind the scenes are sets going up and down, high-tech control boards monitoring every detail down to nanoseconds, stars slumping for a moment of rest (or perhaps making funny faces at the camera), and a lot of other backstage business that real-life ticket buyers miss. These shows are a true amalgam of broadcast and live performance -- and once again, it’s both better than being there in person and not quite as good. The Los Angeles Times called it "a new art form," and that’s pretty close to the mark. Live performances of opera, complete with subtitles, have been recorded for many years now, but watching them on your home TV is really nothing like this. With "Live From," there is always the chance of the magical moment that has never come before -- or, conversely, an electronic break in the feed, which blackens the screen. On these very special cold mornings at the Lensic, art and life meld, in a pioneering 21st-century format. The typical starting time for the simulcasts is 11 a.m. in Santa Fe (that’s 1 p.m. in Manhattan, 10 o’clock on the West Coast, and God only knows what hour in Tokyo, Paris, London, Sydney or wherever). True believers will show up. The usual performance is on Saturday, a weekend, and the one exception was New Year’s Day, 2008, a Tuesday. The Metropolitan Opera began this program last year, on 200 screens worldwide. Albuquerque was included, but Santa Fe was not. An egregious omission, if you ask me. Yet now it’s been fixed, with the Lensic, the Met and the Santa Fe Opera itself collaborating to bring the connections and the technology needed to make "Live From" happen here. In total, the number of screens tripled from last year. Five more simulcasts are set for this season, all on Saturdays, featuring operas from Puccini, Britten, Wagner and Donizetti. Already shown have been Gounod, Humperdinck and Verdi. Don’t set your hopes too high for tickets, though, for every show so far has sold out, and the rest are pretty much that way. But last-minute returns do happen, and people do still slip in the door. You can give it a try. Thrilled by the success this year, the Lensic is exploring ways to add tape-delayed shows next season or otherwise expand the program, but such plans are premature at this point. Among other possibilities, special broadcasts for young viewers are under consideration, to help cultivate a new generation of opera lovers. Expanding the lure of opera was, in fact, a key objective of the "Live From" program. A certain risk was involved, for by making almost-live operas available at bargain-basement rates, in a format even preferred by many audience members, the Met was chancing that its high-cost, live-performance sales would fade. At least six theaters in New York City itself are doing the simulcasts, potentially drawing down house audiences. Yet after the pioneering experiment last year, the Met’s subscription base went up 12 percent and its overall ticket sales rose by 7 percent. Meanwhile, on certain Saturdays in Santa Fe, the somewhat graying sold-out audiences at the Lensic are clapping wildly after magnificent arias, applauding the on-screen curtain calls, and otherwise acting like they are at real-life performances from the Met. And they don’t seem to care a hoot about the difference. You’ll find me there on these special Saturday mornings. After all, it’s the hottest ticket in town. And fortunately, I have mine.