'Don Giovanni,' Opera about Playboy Nobleman, Comes to Met Live

The Met: Live in HD Presents Mozart's Beloved Opera 'Don Giovanni' on Oct. 29

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Playing the title role, Mariusz Kwiecien is surrounded by adoring women in the new Metropolian Opera production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.”

POTSDAM, NY (10/13/2011)(readMedia)-- The Metropolitan Opera's new production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Don Giovanni" is the next installment for The Met: Live in HD, beaming the beloved opera from the stage to the movie screen in Potsdam on Oct. 29.

One of Mozart's most beloved operas, "Don Giovanni" blends comedy and drama as it follows the title character, a young, promiscuous nobleman who boasts of his romantic conquests across Europe.

Mariusz Kwiecien was cast to bring his youthful and sensual interpretation of Mozart's timeless anti-hero to the Met for the first time for this production, under the direction of Tony Award-winning director Michael Grandage and with Fabio Luisi conducting. Kwiecien injured his back at a recent rehearsal and has been replaced in the role by Peter Mattei for the immediate future.

"It is the first time I conducted it," Luisi said of the opera in the New York Times. "But I know this piece very well, because I love it, and I've coached it many, many times. ... It has drama; it has fun; it has a lot of subtexts; it has many different and contrasting personalities. And all of the characters take a journey. No one is the same at the end as at the beginning. What I like is that in a short time there is a lot of life."

Mozart's "Don Giovanni" will screen live at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 29, with an encore transmission at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6 at Potsdam's Roxy Theater. The opera will be performed in Italian, with English subtitles.

Crane student Jeffri Peralta will present a pre-opera talk a half-hour before all live performances this fall, including at 12:30 p.m. on Oct. 29 in the movie theater to discuss "Don Giovanni" before it airs.

In the North Country, SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music and J.S. Cinemas sponsor the 2011-12 season of The Met: Live in HD. Music-lovers and novices alike can watch the staging live from the Metropolitan stage in New York City, where high-definition cameras capture the action and the dramatic music is presented in surround sound, with English subtitles.

The Metropolitan Opera's The Met: Live in HD series has won both Peabody and Emmy Awards, and sold more than 2.6 million tickets last season, expanding to 1,600 theaters in 54 countries.

Ticket prices for the series are the lowest available in the nation: $18 for an adult, $15 for senior citizens, $12 for students and $9 for youth age 18 and under.

Tickets are available by calling the Community Performance Series Box Office at (315) 267-2277, or visiting the Roxy Theater or Northern Music & Video in downtown Potsdam or the CPS Box Office in the lobby of Sara M. Snell Music Theater. You can also reserve tickets online by visiting www.cpspotsdam.org.

For more information on the 2010-11 The Met: Live in HD season, visit the Metropolitan Opera website at www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/liveinhd/LiveinHD.aspx.

To learn more about The Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, visit www.potsdam.edu/crane.

Founded in 1886, SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music has a long legacy of excellence in music education and performance. Life at Crane includes an incredible array of more than 300 recitals, lectures and concerts presented by faculty, students and guests each year. The Crane School of Music is the State University of New York's only All-Steinway institution, and is celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2011.

-www.potsdam.edu/crane-