Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts
| Genre | full-length live opera performances |
|---|---|
| Running time | 3.5 to 4 hours, weekly |
| Country | United States |
| Language(s) | English (Spanish in selected countries) |
| Syndicates | 300+ U.S. stations Stations in 40 countries Sirius XM Satellite Radio |
| Announcer |
Milton Cross (1931–1975) Peter Allen (1975–2004) Margaret Juntwait (2004–2014) Mary Jo Heath (2015– ) |
| Recording studio | Metropolitan Opera |
| Air dates | since 1931 |
| No. of series | 80+ |
| No. of episodes | 1,500+ |
| Website | www |
The Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts are a regular series of weekly broadcasts on network radio of full-length opera performances. They are transmitted live from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. The Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network airs the live performances on Saturday afternoons while the Met is in season, typically beginning the first Saturday in December, and totaling just over 20 weekly performances through early May. The Met broadcasts are the longest-running continuous classical music program in radio history, and the series has won several Peabody Awards for excellence in broadcasting.
The series is currently broadcast on over 300 stations in the United States, and stations in 40 countries on 5 continents. These countries include Canada, Mexico, 27 European countries, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, China, and Japan. The broadcasts are also listenable online via streaming audio; and select broadcasts and excerpts are listenable year-round on the "Met Opera on Demand" service and on the free online service Rhapsody.
The Met's radio broadcast history dates back to 1910, when radio pioneer Lee De Forest transmitted — experimentally, with erratic signal — two live partial performances from the stage of the Met, which were reportedly heard as far away as Newark, New Jersey. The first of these was a performance of Acts II and III of Tosca on January 12, 1910, starring Antonio Scotti as Scarpia. The following evening, January 13, 1910, parts of Pagliacci starring Enrico Caruso were broadcast.
The first network broadcast was heard on Friday, December 25, 1931: a performance of Engelbert Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel. The series was created as the Met, financially endangered in the early years of the Great Depression, sought to enlarge its audience and support through national exposure on network radio. In the first broadcast season only Hänsel und Gretel and Das Rheingold (February 26, 1932) were presented in their entirety; most operas were only heard partially. From the start of the 1933-34 season, complete opera broadcasts became the norm. Since 1931 most broadcasts have been of Saturday matinee performances, with only a handful of exceptions such as the opening night of the new Met, which featured a broadcast of Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra on Friday September 16, 1966.
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