The Baltimore Opera Company announced Thursday that it will bring the popular Metropolitan Opera high-def, digital simulcasts, currently beamed into movie theaters across the country and around the world, to the Lyric Opera House, starting next season. This will be the first presentation of the Met’s simulcasts inside Baltimore. They are currently available at cineplexes in Abingdon and Columbia.

A grant from the Abell Foundation and an anonymous donor have enabled Baltimore Opera to secure the necessary projection and satellite equipment for the project. Company general director Michael Harrison describes the venture as "an effort to provide an affordable means of introducing younger audiences to opera and to generate additional traffic for the Lyric Opera House and other Mt. Vernon area businesses."

The Met’s simulcast series includes 11 transmissions next season, beginning with an opening night gala Sept. 22 featuring soprano Renee Fleming (pictured above), and including productions of Salome, Madama Butterfly and the recent opera by John Adams, Doctor Atomic.

Details on dates and ticket prices for the Lyric Opera presentations will be announced in July. Tickets will go on sale in August.

AP Photo of soprano Renee Fleming