Met Live shows' third season starts at Potsdam's Roxy Saturday

POTSDAM -- The Met: Live in HD will return for its third season on the silver screen at Potsdam's Roxy Theater this fall, thanks to a partnership between SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music and J.S. Cinemas. For its 2010-11 series of live transmissions, the Metropolitan Opera will stage groundbreaking performances of both beloved classics and acclaimed modern works.

Two accomplished alumnae of the SUNY Potsdam Crane School of Music will be featured in this year's Metropolitan Opera season, and in the live transmissions. Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, Class of 1992, will star as Fricka in "Das Rheingold" and "Die Walküre," two parts of the company's new staging of Wagner's Ring Cycle. Superstar soprano Renée Fleming '81 will sing the role of the Countess in Richard Strauss's "Capriccio," in her first complete performance of the part. Fleming also often serves as a host for the behind-the-scenes interviews featured before the curtain goes up and during intermission for some live transmissions.

Tickets prices are the lowest available in the nation: $18 adult, $15 senior citizens, $12 students and $9 age 18 and under.

Tickets are available by calling the Community Performance Series Box Office at 267-2277, or visiting the Roxy Theater or Northern Music & Video in downtown Potsdam or the CPS Box Office in the lobby of Snell Music Theater. You can also reserve tickets online by visiting www.cpspotsdam.org.

The 2010-11 The Met: Live in HD season schedule:

• Richard Wagner's "Das Rheingold": Live transmission 1 p.m., Oct. 9; encore 1 p.m., Oct. 17

• Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov": Live transmission, noon, Oct. 23; encore, noon, Oct. 31

• Gaetano Donizetti's "Don Pasquale": Live transmission, 1 p.m., Nov. 13; encore, 1 p.m., Nov. 14

• Giuseppe Verdi's "Don Carlo": Live transmission, 12:30 p.m., Dec. 11; encore, 12:30 p.m., Dec. 12

• Giacomo Puccini's "La Fanciulla del West": Live transmission, 1 p.m., Jan. 8, 2011; encore, 1 p.m., Jan. 30

• John Adams's "Nixon in China": Live transmission, 1 p.m., Feb. 12; encore, 1 p.m., Feb. 20

• Christoph Willibald Glück's "Iphigénie en Tauride": Live transmission, 1 p.m., Feb. 26; encore, 1 p.m., Feb. 27

• Gaetano Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor": Live transmission, 1 p.m., March 19; encore, 1 p.m., March 27

• Gioachino Rossini's "Le Comte Ory": Live transmission, 1 p.m., April 9; encore, 1 p.m., April 17

• Richard Strauss's "Capriccio": Live transmission, 1 p.m., April 23; encore, 1 p.m., May 1

• Giuseppe Verdi's "Il Trovatore": Live transmission, 1 p.m., April 30; encore, 1 p.m., May 8

• Richard Wagner's "Die Walküre": Live transmission, noon, May 14; encore, noon, May 15.