Monday, January 25, 2010

Cape Fear area opera aficionados and new opera goers alike who missed the sold-out Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD performance of Carmen on Jan. 16 will have a second chance to see the critically-acclaimed production of this popular opera at 1 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 21 in Lumina Theater at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Presented at UNC Wilmington as part of the full 2009-10 season of Met Opera: Live in HD performances, the Carmen live telecast set a viewing record. More than 240,000 people watched the performance in 40 countries and on 1,000 screens. While the Feb. 21 showing will not be live, it will provide the exact same experience for viewers.

This is the Metropolitan Opera's fourth season of the Peabody Award-winning Met Opera: Live in HD series, featuring live high definition transmissions to big screens throughout the United States and Canada. Until this season, local opera fans had to travel to either Raleigh or Myrtle Beach to view the Live in HD performances. UNCW is the first university in North Carolina to offer this special programming.

Other upcoming Met Opera: Live in HD performances include Verdi's Simon Boccanegra at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, featuring legendary tenor Placido Domingo in the title role, and an encore performance of Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 30.

Carmen, by Georges Bizet, is one of the most popular operas of all time. Carmen "is about sex, violence and racism—and its corollary: freedom," says Olivier Award-winning director Richard Eyre about his new production. "It is one of the inalienably great works of art. It's sexy, in every sense. And I think it should be shocking."

Elina Garanca plays the seductive gypsy of the title in her role debut, opposite Roberto Alagna as the obsessed Don José.

For more information or to register to attend the Feb. 21 performance or any Met Opera: Live in HD performances, go to www.uncw.edu/metopera or call 910.962.3195.

Media contact:
Dana Fischetti, media relations manager, 910.962.7259 or fischettid@uncw.edu