This Week’s Featured Database: Met Opera on Demand, from the Metropolitan Opera.
Find it: http://pid.emory.edu/f85vz or visit our databases page and search met opera.
Description/focus: Delivers streamed video and audio of Metropolitan Opera productions. Includes HD videos of operas from the “Live in 
HD” series of movie-theater transmissions (available after their transmission dates), videos shown on public television (1977-2014), and radio-broadcast performances dating back to 1936. All videos are subtitled.
Start with this hint: From the home page you can use the “View Catalog By” box to filter for all the videos in HD, or use the search box to search titles, performers, and composers.
Why you should know this database: This offers convenient access to world-class performances captured live. It’s a great way to explore opera as an art form, study individual works, productions, and performers, or just enjoy a compelling musical and theatrical experience.
How this will help researchers: These live recordings document over 500 Met productions. They provide a rich resource for investigating musical and dramatic aspects of opera performance, such as a conductor’s or director’s conception of a work, a singer’s realization of a role, and set and costume design. The HD videos include the interviews and commentaries from the original transmissions.
Whom should I contact if I have a question?: If you would like more information about this database or a demonstration for a class, contact music librarian Joyce Clinkscales (libjm01 [at] emory [dot] edu).
This blog series from Emory’s Robert W. Woodruff Library is intended to give you a brief introduction to databases that you may not know and provide you with some tips to get you started.