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Is there too much high-def opera available in movie houses now? Well, not as far as the Met’s concerned, at any rate: Next year’s season will expand the number of transmissions (to 11, up from eight), the number of places to which they’re sent (including cruise ships), and variety (the opening night gala, for starters).

There are several new productions - including a new production of John Adams’s “Doctor Atomic” - and a lot of stars. Here’s the press release, with details.

The Metropolitan Opera Announces Expansion of Live, High-Definition Transmissions to Eleven in 2008-09

“The Met: Live in HD” kicks off in North America on September 22 with the Met’s Opening Night Gala performance; Series continues worldwide on October 11

Special encore performances of La Bohème in Canada, the U.S., and Europe close the current 2007-08 series on May 3, 14 and 19

New York, NY (April 22, 2008) – To meet increasing global demand, the Metropolitan Opera will expand its groundbreaking series, The Met: Live in HD, to feature 11 live transmissions during the 2008-09 season. Now seen in 600 movie theaters in 17 countries as well as aboard cruise ships across the globe, The Met: Live in HD will reach up to 800 venues worldwide next season. New countries to join the international distribution network include Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, and Ireland; new venues will be added in North America and overseas. The 2008-09 season of The Met: Live in HD will feature 11 transmissions (up from 8 in the current season), beginning with the Met’s Opening Night Gala celebration, starring soprano Renée Fleming, on September 22 (North America only). The new series will also feature live transmissions of five new productions, including one Met premiere. The Opening Night transmission will be seen in North America only; the remaining ten high-definition productions will be shown worldwide on Saturdays through May 9, 2009.

By the end of the 8-transmission series this season, the Met will have reached a total worldwide audience of close to 900,000. Countries that recently joined the network include Australia, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Poland, as well as the territory of Puerto Rico.

The Met: Live in HD is made possible by a generous grant from the Neubauer Family Foundation. Here is the complete schedule for the new season:

North America Only! Monday, September 22, 2008 OPENING NIGHT GALA (6:30 p.m. EDT / 5:30 p.m. CDT / tape delayed to 8:00 p.m. MDT / 7:00 p.m. PDT) – Opening Night Gala starring Renée Fleming in fully staged performances of scenes from three different operas: Verdi’s La Traviata (Act II), Massenet’s Manon (Act III), and the final scene from Richard Strauss’s Capriccio. Tenor Ramón Vargas and baritones Thomas Hampson and Dwayne Croft co-star. Met Music Director James Levine and Marco Armiliato conduct.

Saturday, October 11, 2008 SALOME (1:00 p.m. EDT / 12:00 p.m. CDT / 11:00 a.m. MDT / 10:00 a.m. PDT/ 17:00 p.m. UTC / 18:00 p.m. BST / 19:00 CEST) – Soprano Karita Mattila reprises her acclaimed interpretation of the title character of Strauss’s Salome, with baritone Juha Uusitalo as Jochanaan. Mikko Franck conducts.

Saturday, November 8, 2008 DOCTOR ATOMIC (1:00 p.m. EST / 12:00 p.m. CST / 11:00 a.m. MST / 10:00 a.m. PST/ 18:00 p.m. UTC / 19:00 p.m. CET) – Penny Woolcock directs the Metropolitan Opera premiere of John Adams’s Doctor Atomic, starring Gerald Finley as Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer and Sasha Cooke as his wife, Kitty, with Eric Owen and Richard Paul Fink. Alan Gilbert conducts. NEW PRODUCTION

Saturday, November 22, 2008 LA DAMNATION DE FAUST (1:00 p.m. EST / 12:00 p.m. CST / 11:00 a.m. MST / 10:00 a.m. PST/ 18:00 p.m. UTC; 19:00 p.m. CET) – Robert Lepage directs Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust, starring Marcello Giordani in the title role, with Susan Graham as Marguerite and John Relyea as Méphistophélès. James Levine conducts. (A new production reconceived in collaboration with Ex Machina for the Met, based on a co-production of the Saito Kinen Festival and Opéra National de Paris.) NEW PRODUCTION

Saturday, December 20, 2008 THAÏS (12:00 p.m. EST / 11:00 a.m. CST / 10:00 a.m. MST / 9:00 a.m. PST/ 17:00 p.m. UTC; 18:00 p.m. CET) – Renée Fleming stars in the title role of Massenet’s Thaïs, with Thomas Hampson as the monk Athanaël in John Cox’s production, which originated at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Jesús López-Cobos conducts. NEW PRODUCTION

Saturday, January 10, 2009 LA RONDINE (1:00 p.m. EST / 12:00 p.m. CST / 11:00 a.m. MST / 10:00 a.m. PST/ 18:00 p.m. UTC; 19:00 p.m. CET) – Nicolas Joël directs Puccini’s La Rondine, starring Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna in a production originally mounted by the Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Marco Armiliato conducts. (Co-production with the Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.) NEW PRODUCTION

Saturday, January 24, 2009 ORFEO ED EURIDICE (1:00 p.m. EST / 12:00 p.m. CST / 11:00 a.m. MST / 10:00 a.m. PST/ 18:00 p.m. UTC; 19:00 p.m. CET) – Stephanie Blythe and Danielle de Niese star in Mark Morris’s production of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice. James Levine conducts.

Saturday, February 7, 2009 LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR (1:00 p.m. EST / 12:00 p.m. CST / 11:00 a.m. MST / 10:00 a.m. PST/ 18:00 p.m. UTC; 19:00 p.m. CET) – Dynamic opera duo Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón star in Mary Zimmerman’s acclaimed production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. Marco Armiliato conducts.

Saturday, March 7, 2009 MADAMA BUTTERFLY (1:00 p.m. EST / 12:00 p.m. CST / 11:00 a.m. MST / 10:00 a.m. PST/ 18:00 p.m. UTC; 19:00 p.m. CET) – Cristina Gallardo-Domâs sings the title role of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly in Anthony Minghella’s stunning production. Marcello Giordani stars as Pinkerton. Patrick Summers conducts.

Saturday, March 21, 2009 LA SONNAMBULA (1:00 p.m. EDT / 12:00 p.m. CDT / 11:00 a.m. MDT / 10:00 a.m. PDT/ 17:00 p.m. UTC; 18:00 p.m. CET) – Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Flórez star in Mary Zimmerman’s new production of Bellini’s La Sonnambula, conducted by Evelino Pidò. NEW PRODUCTION

Saturday, May 9, 2009 LA CENERENTOLA (1:00 p.m. EDT / 12:00 p.m. CDT / 11:00 a.m. MDT / 10:00 a.m. PDT/ 17:00 p.m. UTC; 18:00 BST; 19:00 p.m. CEST) – Elīna Garanča stars in Rossini’s bel canto Cinderella story, La Cenerentola. Lawrence Brownlee stars as her Prince Charming, Don Ramiro. Maurizio Benini conducts.

Tickets for the 2008-09 season of The Met: Live in HD will be on sale in the U.S. and Canada beginning in August. On-sale dates vary in other countries. Tickets will be available to Met members in the U.S. and Canada during a two-week window prior to the public sale date (online purchase only). For more information, please call (212) 362-6000 or visit www.metopera.org.

All the countries that participated in the inaugural season continued in the program and 10 new countries joined the high-definition distribution network this year. Seventeen venues in France and 19 Princess Cruise Line cruise ships sailing to Australia, Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean, Cape Horn, and Egypt joined the network on April 5 for Puccini’s La Bohème. That live transmission broke previous The Met: Live in HD box office records and sold out in many locations, drawing a worldwide audience of more than 136,000 people. The final transmission of the current HD season, Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment, on Saturday, April 26, is expected to draw an audience of 110,000 in 553 venues worldwide. La Bohème will be shown in special encore presentations on Saturday, May 3, at 1:30 p.m. ET (10:30 a.m. PT) in Canada and on Wednesday, May 14 at 6:30 p.m. (all time zones) in select U.S. locations. The encore performance will be shown in Europe in select locations on Monday, May 19, at 7:00 p.m. BST (8:00 p.m. CEST).

This season, the Met launched an education program presenting live, high-definition transmissions in New York City public schools. After studying the operas in the classroom, more than 8,500 students, teachers, and parents attended live transmissions for free at five high schools—one in each of the city’s boroughs. In 2008-09, the Met’s HD in schools initiative will roll out nationally.

The Met: Live in HD is expanding the appeal and reach of opera around the world and has been met with both critical and popular acclaim. Of the inaugural transmission in December 2006, the Los Angeles Times proclaimed, “The Met’s experiment of merging film with live performance has created a new art form.” Using robotic cameras and state-of-the-art technology, The Met: Live in HD captures the onstage action from striking angles and heightens attention to the narrative elements of both performance and production. Behind-the-scenes features, live interviews with cast and crew, insightful short documentaries, and bird’s-eye views of the productions offer an unprecedented look at what goes into the staging of an opera.