Students in Fort Worth, TX, attend a Live in HD screening of Cherubini’s Medea
The Met’s dedication to opera is exemplified in our commitment to developing future generations of opera lovers. Our centerpiece for achieving this goal is the Met’s HD Live in Schools program.
Created in 2007, HD Live in Schools uses the Met’s award-winning Live in HD transmissions to bring opera to students across the nation and around the world. The goal of HD Live in Schools’ goal is to make opera more accessible to students, particularly in underserved populations, and to encourage pupils and their teachers and families to experience opera as both entertainment and education.
Students in participating schools learn about six operas each season, studying them in a historical context and understanding their meaning in today’s world. Other activities include a Virtual Honors Choir, where students from HD Live in Schools learn new arrangements of opera classics; an Opera Book Club; and virtual conversations with Met artists.
This free program has grown over the years and now serves 66 school districts in all 50 states, creating an ever-expanding network of enthusiastic young opera lovers. To date, over 175,000 students have taken part in HD Live in Schools.
Students in Denver, CO, act out a scene from Mozart’s Don Giovanni
Participating school districts receive tickets to HD Live in Schools broadcasts at local movie theaters, access to Met Opera on Demand, educator guides with curricular resources and interdisciplinary classroom activities, and access to virtual professional development workshops. Teachers also attend conferences each year to learn new strategies to teach opera in the classroom and to study the six featured operas in detail.
The cumulative effect of HD Live in Schools embodies one of the most important parts of the Met’s mission: to nurture and pass down a love of opera for future generations to enjoy.
None of this would be possible without the dedication of our supporters, many of whom have chosen to express their love of the Met through a gift in their will or other long-range plan. If you would like to make a gift in your estate plan to fund the Met’s educational programs, productions, or area of greatest need, please contact Pamela Bennett at 212.870.7388 or encoresociety@metopera.org.