Thirty years ago this month, on March 15, 1977, the Metropolitan Opera entered the television era with a telecast of Puccini's La Bohme starring Renata Scotto and Luciano Pavarotti and conducted by James Levine.

The Metropolitan Opera Guild celebrates that anniversary this coming Sunday, March 4, with a program titled "Legacy: Celebrating Thirty Years of the Met on Television" in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center.

Scotto herself will co-host the evening's festivities, along with fellow soprano and irrepressible personality Deborah Voigt. (Both ladies were winners of the most recent Opera News Awards.) Appearing on stage during the event will be Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb as well as longtime company stars Jessye Norman, Susanne Mentzer, and Mignon Dunn. (We're promised a few surprise guests as well.)

The centerpiece of the program, of course, will be the showing of video clips from the three-decade history of the Met's television broadcasts. Among the more than two dozen excerpts on view will be the following (* means the clip has not been seen publicly since its original broadcast):

• 1977 La Bohиme: Donde lieta usci, sung by Renata Scotto
• 1978 Otello: Dio! Mi potevi scaglier, sung by Jon Vickers *
• 1978 Don Giovanni: Non mi dir, sung by Joan Sutherland *
• 1978 Cavalleria rusticana: duet, sung by Tatiana Troyanos and Plбcido Domingo *
• 1979 Don Pasquale: Quel quardo il cavaliere, sung by Beverly Sills *
• 1979 Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny: O moon of Alabama, sung by Teresa Stratas *
• 1980 Elektra: Scene, sung by Birgit Nilsson and Mignon Dunn
• 1982 Der Rosenkavalier: Final Trio, sung by Kiri Te Kanawa, Tatiana Troyanos and Judith Blegen *
• 1985 Aida: O patria mia, sung by Leontyne Price *
• 1986 L'Italiana in Algeri: Cruda sorte, sung by Marilyn Horne *
• 1987 Dialogues of the Carmelites: Final scene, sung by Jessye Norman, Betsy Norden, Maria Ewing and chorus
• 1989 Die Walkьre: Du bist der lenz, sung by Jessye Norman, and Leb wohl, sung by James Morris
• 1992 The Ghosts of Versailles: Quartet, sung by Teresa Stratas, Renйe Fleming, Hеkan Hagegеrd and Stella Zambalis
• 1992 Falstaff: finale, with Mirella Freni, Marilyn Horne, Paul Plishka, Susan Graham, etc.
• 1999 Tristan und Isolde: Part of Act III monologue, sung by Ben Heppner
• 2000 Don Giovanni: Deh vieni alla finestra, sung by Bryn Terfel
• 2003 Ariadne auf Naxos: Es gibt ein Reich, sung by Deborah Voigt (never aired on television, or anywhere else)

After several years of dormancy, PBS's Live From the Met has been revived this season, with all six of the Saturday matinee performances simulcast into movie theaters this winter and spring being telecast on the network at a later date. "Legacy" will offer highlights from three of this season's high-definition broadcasts: The Magic Flute, I Puritani and The First Emperor.

"Legacy" is the latest in the Guild's ongoing series of events produced to inform, celebrate, pay tribute and entertain, and — most importantly — to raise funds for its educational programs. For more information, call 1-212-769-7009, or visit the Guild's web site, www.metguild.org.