In most areas, the May 20 concert will be carried on PBS stations on June 1 at 9 p.m. (check local listings). But Chicago's WTTW cannot broadcast it then because of other programming timed to coincide with a fundraising drive. Originally, the station planned to broadcast the event in July, but PBS recently informed officials that the Met had made broadcasts rights available for just one week after the initial broadcast.

Previously, PBS had told WTTW that it would have a year in which to broadcast the four-and-a-half-hour special.

"If [the Met] would extend the broadcast rights, we would schedule in a heartbeat," programming director Dan Soles said.

The concert included performances by Ren_e Fleming, Kiri Te Kanawa, Deborah Voigt, Plšcido Domingo, Mirella Freni, Karita Mattila, Olga Borodina, Susan Graham, Denyce Graves, Ben Heppner, Thomas Hampson, and Ildar Abdrazakov, among other leading singers.