Italians and Germans alike desire an American debut at the Met. Well, their operas do, anyway. The Metropolitan Opera Association manages The Metropolitan Opera company, which presents more than 200 performances every year in its residence at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The Met is known for performing most works in their original languages and for producing regular Saturday radio broadcasts, which are aired throughout North America and in South America, Europe, and the Asia/Pacific region. In association with sponsors, the Met makes video and CD recordings of the performances and distributes them worldwide. The Met was founded in 1883.