Thousands of Toronto opera lovers who have turned the Metropolitan Opera's HD series into a huge hit at select Cineplex theatres will be delighted by the lineup for 2008-09.

There will be 11 simulcasts next year (compared to eight this past year), starting with a star-studded opening night on Monday, Sept 22. That will be followed by 10 Saturday afternoon HD presentations.

Among the directors will be Canada's Robert Lepage, who is staging the Berlioz opera The Damnation of Faustto be seen in HD on Nov. 22.

Other name directors include Mark Morris, who is staging Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice (Jan 24). And the late Anthony Minghella is represented with his spectacularly well-received production of Madama Butterfly (March 7).

The season features the world premiere of John Adams's Doctor Atomic (Nov. 8), about the development of the A-bomb.

Also included in the series: Salome (Oct. 11); Massenet's Tha??s, originally done for the Lyric Opera of Chicago (Dec. 20); La Rondine (Jan. 10); Lucia di Lammermoor (Feb. 7); La Cenerentola (May 9) and La Sonnambula (March 21).

Tickets go on sale in August.

And here's something Toronto should be proud of: one of the wizards Met boss Peter Gelb has contracted to make these productions work on the big screen is Barbara Willis Sweete, one of the founding partners of Rhombus Media.

While their partner, Niv Fichman, concentrates on epic movies like the adaptation of the Nobel Prize-winning book Blindness, Sweete and Larry Weinstein are still devoting themselves to arts documentaries.

Gelb had worked with her previously, and enlisted her to handle the HD telecast of Hansel and Gretel as well as Tristan and Isolde in the 2007-08 lineup.

And, in the 2008-09 season, Sweete's workload is likely to be expanded to four productions.

Sweete and Fichman were among the small crowd celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Music Garden on Sunday afternoon, along with their celebrated collaborator Yo-Yo Ma.

This perfect gem is one of the few triumphs to be found on Toronto's troubled waterfront. This year's free concerts, on Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons, start in late June and run through mid-September.

Toronto owes a big thank you to philanthropist James Fleck, who was instrumental in its creation and in keeping it afloat since 1999.

Wouldn't it be sensational if our waterfront were dotted with any number of cultural wonders like this? Dream on.

And when, we ask hopefully, can we expect to see that marvelous square at Harbourfront Centre where, for five years, we have showcased an ugly parking lot?

There's still no sign of the transformation, announced with much fanfare several years ago.

Here is another sign of Toronto's opera mania: sold-out performances have become the norm for the Canadian Opera Company since moving into its new home at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

This spring, Opera Atelier has joined the club. Its sublime production of Idomeneo at the Elgin Theatre set a record for ticket sales, with more than 95 per cent of the seats occupied.

And the final performance was sold out.

Now what? Watch for news of a return engagement in the near future.

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