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New York's Times Square, usually humming with traffic and tourists, is to echo to the strains of Puccini this month, when the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts the opening night of its new season in the neon-lit intersection for the first time.
The free screening is part of efforts by the company to attract a new breed of opera lover and shake off the music's stuffy and exclusive image. Some 600 seats are to be set up in the normally-bustling hub for the show.
The season's September 25 opening night will see Madame Butterfly in a production by Oscar-winning Anthony Minghella and under the baton of James Levine also relayed to an outdoor audience at the Lincoln Center arts complex.
"We want to bring the Met to the heart of New York," Peter Gelb, the company's new general manager said in a statement.
"This effort is symbolic of our plans to keep the Met connected to mainstream culture and contemporary life and will help build new audiences," he added.
"Thousands will have the chance to see and hear our opening night performance who otherwise wouldn't be able to attend."
jah/ddl
AFPEntertainment-US-music-opera
AFP 151822 GMT 09 06
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