May 17 (Bloomberg) -- New York's Metropolitan Opera boosted ticket sales for the first time in six years as General Manager Peter Gelb used innovations such as $20 rush tickets for orchestra seats to appeal to new audiences.

Sales during the 2006-07 season rose 7.1 percent to 810,225, said Gelb, who succeeded Joseph Volpe in August. In all, the Met sold 83.9 percent of tickets offered for its 3,800- seat opera house at Manhattan's Lincoln Center compared with 76.8 percent last season.

Ticket prices for the public at the Met range from $15 to $220, said Met spokeswoman Sommer Hixson. The opera house also sells a limited number of aisle seats in the orchestra section to patrons or press for $295, she said.

``These numbers are a reflection of the beginning of our campaign to regain the audience and popularize opera,'' Gelb said in an interview yesterday. ``We want to sustain the art form of opera in the 21st century.''

There were 88 sold-out performances this season, up from 22 last season, Gelb said. ``Madama Butterfly,'' ``The Barber of Seville,'' ``The First Emperor,'' ``The Magic Flute'' and ``Orfeo ed Euridice'' were among the productions that sold out, he said.

Since taking over from Volpe, Gelb has expanded the Met's audience with Internet broadcasts of performances on the Met Web site and live telecasts of operas such as ``Madama Butterfly'' in Times Square on opening night.

Sales of 323,751 tickets for all high-definition broadcasts of operas in about 400 movie theaters around the world helped bolster interest in the Met, said Gelb, former president of the Sony Classical record label. The U.S. led all countries with 203,606 tickets sold, Hixson said. Tickets to live broadcasts also were sold in Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Japan, he said.

Popularizing Opera

Gelb plans to increase the number of live telecasts to 750 to 800 screens next season. The Met is currently in talks with theaters in the Netherlands, Italy and France, he said.

``By offering this broad menu of ways in which to enjoy the Met outside the Met, we're actually stimulating an interest in the Met,'' he said.

Gelb has lured performers, directors and choreographers within and outside the opera world to join its productions. Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez and soprano Anna Netrebko were big factors in boosting ticket sales, he said. Oscar-winning film director Anthony Minghella's staging of ``Butterfly'' and Isaac Mizrahi's costume design for ``Orfeo ed Euridice'' made those shows popular among ticket buyers, he said.

``The day of a Luciano Pavarotti or a Placido Domingo selling out a performance on their own is no more,'' Gelb said. ``The future of opera is going to be secured through presenting combinations of star artists, an attractive repertoire and acclaimed directors.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Cole in New York at pcole3@Bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 17, 2007 13:09 EDT