For the first time since the beginning of the live transmissions 10 years ago, the box office in Germany and Austria exceeded the limit of 1 million euro. Nearly 37.000 opera fans came to the movie theaters to witness Anna Netrebko sing “with plush, penetrating sound and affecting character” (The New York Times) as Leonora in Verdi’s Il Trovatore. Dmitri Hvorostovsky sings Count di Luna, with Yonghoon Lee as Manrico, the title character. Marco Armiliato conducts Sir David McVicar's Goya-inspired production. The season continues with Bartlett Sher’s new staging of Verdi’s masterpiece Otello, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Aleksandrs Antonenko sings the tormented Moor of Venice, with Sonya Yoncheva in her role debut as his wife, Desdemona, and Željko Lučić as Otello’s sinister rival, Iago. James Levine returns to the Met to conduct Wagner’s Tannhäuser starring Johan Botha in the title role, Peter Mattei as Wolfram and Eva-Maria Westbroek as Elisabeth. The inventive visual Artist William Kentridge stages the fourth transmission of the anniversary season, Berg’s Lulu, with Marlis Petersen in the last performance of her acclaimed interpretation of the title role. All titles from the “Met live in HD” series are available for TV, distributed by Clasart Classic.