Groundbreaking Philip Glass Opera 'Satyagraha' Comes to Met Live

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Tenor Richard Croft (center) portrays Gandhi in Philip Glass’s “Satyagraha,” screening in Potsdam through The Met: Live in HD on Nov. 19.

• Act Three of Philip Glass's opera "Satyagraha" references Martin Luther King Jr.

POTSDAM, NY (11/03/2011)(readMedia)-- The groundbreaking contemporary opera "Satyagraha," with music by Philip Glass, will screen live from the Metropolitan Opera stage in an upcoming The Met: Live in HD transmission.

The Met's visually extravagant production is back for an encore engagement. Richard Croft once again is Gandhi in Philip Glass's unforgettable opera, which the Washington Post calls "a profound and beautiful work of theater."

Glass's landmark 1980 work, set to text from the ancient Sanskrit scripture the Bhagavad Gita, is a moving account of Mahatma Gandhi's formative experiences in South Africa, which transformed him into a great leader. For this Met production, director Phelim McDermott and designer Julian Crouch use adventurous, improvisational puppetry, achieved by the Skills Ensemble, a brilliant team of aerialists, to illuminate this formative period in Gandhi's life and work.

Tenor Richard Croft brings his crystalline timbre and musical finesse to Glass's gently unfolding, chant-like music. "Satyagraha" is a co-production of the Met and English National Opera, in collaboration with Improbable.

Glass's "Satyagraha" will screen live at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 19 at Potsdam's Roxy Theater. In addition, there will be an encore transmission on Sunday, Feb. 19 at 1 p.m. as well.

Don't wait to reserve a ticket for the "Satyagraha" live screening: Because students from three Crane School of Music classes will be required to attend, few seats may remain.

The opera will be performed in Sanskrit, with the English text projected onto the stage. The approximate running time is four hours, 10 minutes, with intermission breaks.

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 Nov. 19 in the movie theater to discuss "Satyagraha" 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 2011-12 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-