Met Opera Brings Four Live Opera Transmissions to Public School Students Around the Country for Free

The Met: HD Live in Schools, the acclaimed educational program that brings live transmissions of opera to students in 18 school districts in 13 states, kicks off its second season on Saturday, November 7, at 1:00 pm with Puccini's Turandot.

Launched in 2007 by the Metropolitan Opera in partnership with the New York City Department of Education and the Metropolitan Opera Guild, HD Live in Schools expanded nationally last year and is a key part of the company's larger public initiative introduced by General Manager Peter Gelb and Music Director James Levine to broaden the Met's audience. The program, made possible by Bank of America, offers students, parents, and educators free screenings of live, high-definition transmissions of Met performances at participating movie theaters in their communities. In addition to Turandot, the HD Live in Schools national series will include transmissions of this season's new productions of Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann (December 19), Bizet's Carmen (January 16), and Rossini's Armida (May 1).

The HD Live in the Schools program involves approximately 12,000 students, educators, and parents, including about 7,000 in New York City and another 5,000 in the other 18 school districts. The local program began earlier this season with a live transmission of Puccini's Tosca on October 10. In addition to New York City, the 18 school districts participating in the program this year are: Atlanta, GA; Bethpage, NY; Charlotte, NC; Cleveland, OH; Colorado Springs, CO; Dallas, TX; Golden, CO; Emerson, NJ; Helena, MT; Houston, TX; Jacksonville, FL; Las Vegas, NV; Memphis, TN; Nashville, TN; Reno, NV, San Antonio, TX; San Diego, CA; and Tulsa, OK.

The Met has created a specially-designed HD Live in Schools educator guide for participating teachers and administrators that includes classroom activities, musical highlights, opera synopses, accompanying audio clips, post-opera activities, and student resources - tools designed to help students become familiar with the operas before viewing the transmissions. Working with the Metropolitan Opera Guild and the New York City Department of Education, the Met provides teacher training seminars before and during the series of performances.

While many of the students and teachers involved in The Met: HD Live in Schools are studying an arts curriculum, there are a significant number of English, foreign language, and history class participants in the program.

The Met: Live in HD series, now in its fourth season, is the company's Emmy and Peabody Award-winning series of live performances transmitted in high-definition into movie theaters around the globe. Featuring the world's leading operatic artists, 2009-10 season offers nine transmissions seen in more than 1,000 theaters in 42 countries. The Met: Live in HD reached more than 1.8 million people worldwide in the 2008-09 season, effectively tripling the Met's audience.The Met's HD Live in Schools 2009-10 schedule is as follows:

Turandot - Puccini
Saturday, November 7, 2009 (1:00 pm ET)
Franco Zeffirelli's breathtaking production stars Maria Guleghina in the title role of the ruthless princess who will only marry a royal suitor who answers three riddles. As Calàf, a prince in disguise, Marcello Giordani sings the famous "Nessun dorma."

Les Contes d'Hoffmann (New Production) - Offenbach
Saturday, December 19, 2009 (1:00 pm ET)
A powerhouse team joins forces for Offenbach's psychological fantasy. Met Music Director James Levine conducts, and Tony Award® winner Bartlett Sher (South Pacific) returns to direct following the triumph of his Met Barber of Seville. Joseph Calleja sings the tour-de-force title role opposite Anna Netrebko as the tragic Antonia. Alan Held sings the demonic four villains.

Carmen (New Production) - Bizet
Saturday, January 16, 2010 (1:00 pm ET)
El?na Garan?a plays the seductive gypsy Carmen, opposite Roberto Alagna as the obsessed Don José in a new production by Richard Eyre.

Armida (New Production) - Rossini
Saturday, May 1, 2010 (1:00 pm ET)
Renée Fleming stars in Rossini's fanciful story of the sorceress who enthralls men in her island prison of sensual delights. Mary Zimmerman returns to direct, bringing her fine-tuned theatricality to a work she describes as "a buried treasure, a box of jewels."

Visit www.metopera.org/education for more information about the program.

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