Metropolitan Opera Breaks Box Office Record for Opening Day Ticket Sales

The Metropolitan Opera set a new record for opening day at the box office when single tickets for the 2010-11 season went on sale to the public yesterday. Total sales reached $2,653,676 (24,087 tickets) as compared to $2,505,793 (23,766 tickets) on the equivalent day last season, which was the previous record.

The company's 33-week season opens on September 27 with a new production of Wagner's Das Rheingold, conducted by James Levine, and directed by Robert Lepage. It is the first installment in the much-anticipated new staging by Lepage of the great four-part epic, Der Ring des Nibelungen. Sales for Das Rheingold were particularly strong yesterday with many performances already sold out by the end of the day.

The 2010-11 season features six more new productions, including the Ring's second part, Die Walküre, premiering April 22, as well as Boris Godunov (October 11), Don Carlo (November 22), La Traviata (December 31), Nixon in China (February 2), and Le Comte Ory (March 24). The Met is also celebrating music director James Levine's 40th anniversary with the company.

Yesterday's sales included purchases made at the box office, by telephone, and by internet at the company's web site.