Among the art establishments currently shut down because of the COVID-19 national emergency is The Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Because of the global pandemic, they've cancelled performances up until March 31 — for the safety of both their audiences, as well as employees.
In an announcement posted to the Met Opera's website, the company has said that the value of any tickets purchased for cancelled shows will be credited to patrons' accounts, which can be used to buy tickets in the future. In addition to these refunds, the opera will also be streaming free shows.
Related | YUNGBLUD Is Livestreaming His Concert
"Each night for the duration of the closure, starting Monday, March 16, the Met will stream encore presentations from the award-winning Live in HD series of cinema transmissions on the company website for free," the website states. The first show will to be made available for streaming is the 2010 performance of Bizet's Carmen.
"We'd like to provide some grand opera solace to opera lovers in these extraordinarily difficult times," said Met General Manager Peter Gelb in a press release. "Every night, we'll be offering a different complete operatic gem from our collection of HD presentations from the past 14 years."
The "Nightly Met Opera Streams" begin at 7:30 PM beginning March 16th, and will remain available via the homepage of metopera.org for 20 hours. To see the schedule for the performances, and for more information, click here.
General Manager Peter Gelb announced today that in response to the coronavirus pandemic and the cancellation of performances, the Met will offer a nightly series of free web streams that will bring opera to audiences while the house is dark—beginning March 16 at 7:30PM ET. pic.twitter.com/M6QkDSelON
— Metropolitan Opera (@MetOpera) March 13, 2020
Photo via Getty