Once thought of as the domain of cultural elitists, opera has garnered a more universal audience, perhaps because of the accessible Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD annual broadcasts, featuring a series of ten outstanding productions, simulcast to movie theaters on Saturday afternoons — truly live from the stage of the Gotham’s Met.

The 2017-18 season of The Met: Live in HD began (as did the season at the house) with a dazzling production of Bellini’s Norma starring Joyce DiDonato, Sondra Radvanovsky, and Joseph Calleja, a staging that was met with wide acclaim and enthusiasm.  If you had not snagged a ticket to opening night at the opera house, you still had the …

Pack up some picnic vittles and a soft chair cushion.  It is once again time for the free—as in it costs no money—eleven nights of opera (nine operas, as “Tristan und Isolde” is presented in two parts, on successive evenings, and the series kicks off with an operatic film), The Met:  Live in HD, in the Plaza at Lincoln Center. …