Passion and Pain Combine for Bizet's 'Carmen,' at The Met: Live in HD

The Met: Live in HD Brings Back Sweeping Production of 'Carmen' on Nov. 1 at Potsdam's Roxy Theater

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Jennifer Johnson Cano as Mercédès, Anita Rachvelishvili in the title role, and Kiri Deonarine as Fraquita in Bizet’s “Carmen,” showing on The Met: Live in HD on Nov. 1.

POTSDAM, NY (10/20/2014)(readMedia)-- The Met: Live in HD will revive a popular production of Georges Bizet's "Carmen," bringing both passion and pain to the stage in this beloved classic on Nov. 1.

Richard Eyre's mesmerizing production of Bizet's steamy melodrama will return with mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili singing her signature role of the ill-fated gypsy temptress.

Aleksandrs Antonenko plays her desperate lover, the soldier Don José, and Ildar Abdrazakov is the swaggering bullfighter, Escamillo, who comes between them. Pablo Heras-Casado conducts the irresistible score, which features one beloved and instantly recognizable melody after another.

"Few operas can match Bizet's 'Carmen' for passion, jealousy, revenge and ultimate tragedy, set to stirring and glorious music, and the Met Opera's sweeping production by Richard Eyre brings it all vividly to life," the Huffington Post said. "Rachvelishvili's Carmen is full of fire and mischief, her eyes flashing as she sets about seducing Don Jose. She has a strong voice and she uses it to fine advantage to convey a woman who is free-spirited and unafraid even in the face of death."

Bizet's "Carmen" will screen live from the Metropolitan Opera stage at 12:55 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1 at Potsdam's Roxy Theater. There will be an encore screening at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 9.

The opera will be performed in French, with English subtitles. The approximate running time is three hours, 40 minutes, including intermission.

The 2014-15 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.

All productions will be shown live worldwide on Saturdays. There will also be encore presentations offered on Sundays locally. Doors open a half-hour before show time, and there is immediate seating for advance ticket holders.

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 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 SUNY Potsdam's Performing Arts Center. You can also reserve tickets online by visiting www.cpspotsdam.org.

For more information on the 2014-15 The Met: Live in HD season, visit the Metropolitan Opera website at www.metopera.org/hdlive.

For more information about SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music, please 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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