Intoxicating 'L'Elisir d'Amore' Opens Met Live in HD Season Oct. 13

Anna Netrebko & Matthew Polenzani Star in Donizetti's Comic Gem, 'L'Elisir d'Amore'

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Anna Netrebko entrances the crowds as Adina in Donizetti’s comic gem, “L’Elisir d’Amore,” screening on Saturday, Oct. 13 at Potsdam’s Roxy Theater.

POTSDAM, NY (10/08/2012)(readMedia)-- The 2012-13 season of The Met: Live in HD will kick off on Saturday, Oct. 13 with a new production of Donizetti's comic gem, "L'Elisir d'Amore," starring Anna Netrebko in her second consecutive Met opening night.

Star soprano Netrebko takes center stage as Adina, the irresistible heroine of the first-ever comedy to open the Live in HD season. Matthew Polenzani, who played Alfredo in last season's "La Traviata," is Nemorino, the simple villager who wins Adina's heart with the help of a mysterious "elixir of love" that bears a suspicious resemblance to French wine.

The new production of "L'Elisir d'Amore," by Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher opened the Met's 2012-13 season to critical acclaim. Charismatic baritone Mariusz Kwiecien sings Belcore, Nemorino's swaggering rival, and Ambrogio Maestri is the potion-peddling traveling salesman Doctor Dulcamara. Italian conductor Maurizio Benini leads the performance, which features one of the most famous tenor arias in all of opera, "Una furtiva lagrima."

Anthony Tommasini from the New York Times called the production "a handsome and insightful new staging," adding that "Anna Netrebko's singing is feisty and earthy one moment, poignant and shimmering the next."

"What better way to kick off the season than with a tuneful, humane comedy that sends the audience out of the opera house smiling?" said Mike Silverman of the Associated Press. "Anna Netrebko was lovely to listen to and riveting to watch, as always. Matthew Polenzani was the triumph of the evening."

Gaetano Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amore" will screen live from the Metropolitan Opera stage at 12:55 p.m. on Oct. 13 at Potsdam's Roxy Theater. There will be an encore screening at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 21. The opera will be performed in Italian, with English subtitles. The approximate running time is three hours, including one intermission.

The 2012-13 season of The Met: Live in HD is sponsored in the North Country by SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music and J.S. Cinemas. The seventh season of the series is sure to captivate audiences, with live transmissions from the Metropolitan Opera stage beamed to silver screens in 1,900 theaters in 60 countries around the world.

All productions will be shown live worldwide on Saturdays. There will also be encore presentations offered on Sundays locally. For complete information on the season in store, visit www.metopera.org/hdlive.

In The Met: Live in HD, robotic cameras, strategically placed around and behind the stage, capture the beauty and power of live performance from striking angles, and heighten attention to both performance and production. Intermission features and English subtitles bring the stories to life.

Tickets are on sale now. Prices 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 or www2.potsdam.edu/cps/eventpgs/methd.html.

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 SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music and its award-winning opera program, 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.

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