First the Met at movie houses destroyed the live New York audience. Now, Gelb admits, his big idea has eaten itself.
From an interview with El Pais (Spain):
‘When I took the position in 2006, I launched The Met: Live in HD, which broadcasts operas live to cinemas around the world. As soon as the pandemic began, I felt that the Met had a public duty and a responsibility. We immediately started transmitting a free nightly stream of an opera every single night.
‘We even created what we called our At-Home Gala: we connected opera singers who were all in lockdown in their various apartments and houses around the world. I produced this from my home using Skype.
‘However, after the pandemic, entertainment habits have changed, and fewer people go to cinemas. Our audience globally is about 55% of what it was before the pandemic. We still have a significant audience. We reached countries across eleven time zones, but whereas we used to have over 400,000 viewers per broadcast, now we have around 200,000.’
That is some downfall. Opera at the movies is a gimmick that has outlived its time.
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