Art News

Met Opera Breaks Box Office Record, Topping $2.6 Million

NEW YORK (AP).- The Metropolitan Opera has set a record for its box office opening day, selling more than $2.6 million worth of single tickets for the new season. The total, reflecting the sale of more than 24,000 tickets on Sunday, compares to $2.5 million in sales on last year’s opening day. Sales included in-person purchases, plus those made by telephone and online. The company’s 33-week season starts Sept. 27 with a new production of Richard Wagner’s “Das Rheingold” directed by Robert Lepage. It’s part of the Met’s first new version in more than two decades of the German composer’s four-part epic, “Der Ring des Nibelungen.” And Met General Manager Peter Gelb was banking on a theatrical success by hiring the Canadian director whose dazzling audio-visual techniques have been called “visionary” by hip spectators. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of his Met debut, James Levine will conduct “Das Rheingold” six times through April, starring bass-baritone Bryn Terfel and mezzo-sopr