Met Live Season Premieres with Netrebko in 'Anna Bolena'

Donizetti's Opera about the Downfall of King Henry VIII's Second Wife Screens in Potsdam on Oct. 15

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Ildar Abdrazakov as Enrico (Henry VIII) towers over Anna Netrebko in the title role in “Anna Bolena.”

POTSDAM, NY (09/29/2011)(readMedia)-- The 2011-12 The Met: Live in HD series will open with a live broadcast of "Anna Bolena," Gaetano Donizetti's opera about the ill-fated second wife of King Henry VIII. The opera will screen live at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15 in Potsdam's Roxy Theater.

Featuring Anna Netrebko in the title role, "Anna Bolena" is based on the final, tragic days of Anne Boleyn and has been a dramatic and vocal showcase for some of the greatest sopranos in operatic history. She sings one of opera's greatest mad scenes in this Met premiere production by David McVicar. Ekaterina Gubanova is her rival, Jane Seymour, Ildar Abdrazakov sings Henry VIII, and Marco Armiliato conducts.

"Anna Bolena" picks up after the affair, reformation and divorce that led to Anne Boleyn's marriage to King Henry VIII of England -- when the king's eye has already begun to wander. The opera shows her fall from power and leads up to her death sentence.

In a review of the debut Met production, the New York Observer says that the opera has "diva running deep in its DNA," adding that when Netrebko sings, "you don't want her to stop."

"Anna Bolena" will screen live at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15, with an encore transmission at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 23 at Potsdam's Roxy Theater. The opera will be performed in Italian, with English subtitles.

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-