Watch Crane Alumnus Dimitri Pittas '99 in Met Live Screening of 'Otello' -- Then See Him in Concert

Crane School of Music Alumnus Dimitri Pittas '99 Takes the Stage in 'Otello,' Showing on The Met: Live in HD on Oct. 17

Related Media

Željko Lu?i? as Iago and Dimitri Pittas as Cassio in Verdi's “Otello,” showing next weekend on Met Live.

POTSDAM, NY (10/08/2015)(readMedia)-- North Country audiences will have two opportunities to see and hear a rising opera star and Crane School of Music alumnus over the next two weeks.

The acclaimed tenor Dimitri Pittas, who graduated from SUNY Potsdam in 1999, plays the role of Cassio in the current Metropolitan Opera production of Giuseppe Verdi's "Otello." The opera will screen across the globe through The Met: Live in HD, on Saturday, Oct. 17.

Just a few days later, Pittas will return to his alma mater to star in an alumni recital, alongside fellow Crane graduate Lydía Zervanos '10, soprano. The free performance will be offered on Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m. in the Sara M. Snell Music Theater at SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music. The concert will also stream live on Crane's YouTube channel. For more information, visit www.potsdam.edu/crane.

Director Bartlett Sher's season-opening new production of Verdi's masterful "Otello" probes the Moor's dramatic downfall, with an outstanding cast led by Aleksandrs Antonenko in the title role, Sonya Yoncheva as Desdemona, Željko Lu?i? as Iago and Pittas as Cassio. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the production.

Often cited as Italian opera's greatest tragedy, "Otello" is a miraculous union of music and drama, a masterpiece as profound philosophically, as it is thrilling theatrically. The opera brings to live Shakespeare's tale of "Othello," which follows the rise and fall of a great hero who can't control his jealousy.

Verdi's "Otello" will screen live from the Metropolitan Opera stage at 12:55 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17 at Potsdam's Roxy Theater. There will be an encore screening at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 25.

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

The 2015-16 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, by visiting the Roxy Theater in downtown Potsdam or stopping by the CPS Box Office in the lobby of SUNY Potsdam's Performing Arts Center. You can also reserve tickets online, at www.cpspotsdam.org/eventpgs/methd.html.

For more information on the 2015-16 season of The Met: Live in HD, 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.

###