Cultural Jet setting in HD

By Misty L. Harris

For the past few years, Opera buffs all over the world have been spoiled by the Metropolitan Opera’s HD Transmissions at local theatres. WNED-TV, as well as most public television stations across the country, has also aired several Met Operas as a part of the Great Performances Series. But these performances have never been as up close and personal as the HD Transmissions currently are. With behind the scenes footage and interviews with the artists moments before the show, it doesn’t get much better than this.

My first opera experience in HD was with Bizet’s Carmen but it wasn’t until I saw Wagner’s Das Rheingold (the first in the Ring Cycle) was I completely blown away. I was totally connected with the artists and stage. I felt as if I was apart of the production. It was, in a word, wonderful.

As the years have passed and the “kinks” have been worked out (if you have been, you know what they are), the power of HD has expanded. Performances by the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the “it’” conductor Gustavo Dudamel have recently been shown in local theatres as well as the NY Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Wishing you were Broadway bound? Never fear… they have joined the club as well. This past Spring, the Tony winning musical Memphis premiered in HD to rave reviews.


HD Transmissions have traveled across the pond as well! Enter Ballet in Cinema Stage Left. This fall, The Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, Russia, The Paris Opera Ballet, The Royal Ballet in London and more continue their partnership with the cinemas across the world to bring the beauty of this treasured art as close as possible to all of the would be ballerinas and opera divas.


As a member-listener, you know that Classical 94.5 WNED airs performances by the Met Opera every Saturday afternoon during the regular season. You also tune in throughout the course of the week to hear performances by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, NY Philharmonic and Los Angeles Symphony. You feel the music and imagine you’re in the orchestra pit or on stage holding Placido Domingo’s hand as he sings to you (maybe that’s just me). Whatever your scenario may be, I’m sure at some point you have wanted to be right there in the front row experiencing the magic as it is made in present time.

Well, this is it. This is your chance. And guess what, there’s something called the Classical 94.5 WNED Fine Arts Report that can do all the scheduling of events for you. Stay tuned to Classical 94.5 WNED this season when the curtains come up. We’ll tell you where the cultural hotspots are! What’s the weather like in Moscow in September? Who knows! Visit Paris, London, Chicago , New York and Russia without a Passport because the hottest ticket in town is in HD!