Athena Cinema to screen encores of the latest season of ‘The Met: Live in HD’ at The Ridges Auditorium

The 2023-2024 season of “The Met: Live in HD” has now been added to The Athena Cinema’s schedule of screenings taking place at The Ridges Auditorium.

In recent years, these Met opera performances have been transmitted live to local audiences at the cinema on Court Street. The opera performances are presented by Ohio University Performing Arts & Film with support from Associate Professor Emeritus of Classics and World Religions George Weckman, the College of Fine Arts and the Arts For OHIO program. 

“The Met: Live in HD” is the Metropolitan Opera’s Peabody Award-and Emmy Award-winning series of opera performances transmitted live from the stage of the Met into movie theaters worldwide. The season features nine live transmissions starring the greatest artists in opera.

The Athena Cinema on Court Street is currently undergoing structural repairs, and the theater staff members have been working on a temporary solution to bring the performances to town. 

For the upcoming events, staff members have been working with the distribution team to bring encores to The Ridges Auditorium until they can resume the live transmissions in house at the theater.  To execute this plan, the performances will be recorded and shipped to Athens, to be screened about two weeks after their live productions at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

Athena Cinema Encore Schedule

The Live in HD season will begin on Nov. 4 with an encore screening of "Dead Man Walking" and continues with "X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X" (Dec 2), "Florencia en el Amazonas" (Dec. 23), "Nabucco" (Jan. 20), and "Carmen" (Feb. 10). These will all be presented as encores at the Ridges Auditorium. 

The Athena hopes to resume live transmissions on Court St. with "La Forza del Destino" (March 9), "Roméo et Juliette" (March 23), "La Rondine" (April 20), and "Madama Butterfly" (May 11). All performances will be Saturday matinees from the Met stage. 

Ticket prices are $20 general admission, senior $18, children under 12 years of age $8. Thanks to Arts For OHIO, tickets to “The Met: Live in HD” are available to OHIO students in a limited number and first-come, first-serve basis. Students must have a valid student ID. 

The full season with the select screening dates as well as access to the Athena Cinema’s online ticketing can be found on the Athena Cinema’s website.