Production of Bizet's Carmen Premieres on THIRTEEN'S Great Performances at the Met

Richard Eyre, the renowned British director of theater and film, explores the passionate drama of Bizet's Carmen and the power of her desires in his new production at the Metropolitan Opera, which premieres on THIRTEEN'S Great Performances at the Met series. "Her sexuality is a life force, it's a defining force," he explains. "Carmen is about sex, violence, and racism-and its corollary: freedom." As for her portrayal of the free spirited gypsy, El?na Garan?a says, "You don't get to develop productions of Carmen from scratch too often. Carmen is defined by her unwillingness to settle. She is constantly searching and never satisfied. It may be sex or, more broadly, approval by men. It could also just be a zest for life, and in that she is uncompromising." Under the baton of acclaimed young Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Garan?a is joined by Roberto Alagna as the obsessed soldier Don José, Barbara Frittoli as his devoted girlfriend Micaëla, and Teddy Tahu Rhodes as the toreador Escamillo. Hosted by celebrated American soprano Renée Fleming, Carmen airs on Great Performances at the Met in primetime on THIRTEEN Thursday, May 13 at 9 p.m. and on PBS stations around the country on Sunday, May 16 at noon (check local listings).

Great Performances at the Met is a presentation of THIRTEEN in association with WNET.ORG - one of America's most prolific and respected public media providers.

With more than 30 years of experience, Eyre is one of the world's most respected directors of stage and screen. From 1988-1997, he served as artistic director of Britain's Royal National Theatre. While at the National, Eyre produced more than 100 productions and directed 27 plays, including Guys and Dolls (Olivier, Evening Standard, and Critics Circle Awards for Best Director); Richard III with Ian McKellen, Tom Stoppard's The Invention Of Love (Evening Standard Award); King Lear with Ian Holm (winner of Evening Standard, Olivier and Critics Circle Awards) which he also directed for BBC TV and WGBH (Peabody Award); Amy's View with Judi Dench, and Absence of War, which he also directed for BBC TV. Eyre's film credits include the Oscar-winning Iris, featuring Judi Dench and Kate Winslett, as well as The Ploughman's Lunch, Stage Beauty, Notes on a Scandal, and most recently The Other Man. On Broadway, he has directed Vincent in Brixton, The Crucible, and the long-running Mary Poppins. He was knighted in 1997. Carmen is Eyre's third opera production, having previously directed La Traviata for the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and Le Nozze di Figaro at the Aix-en-Provence Festival.

Great Performances at the Met: Carmen is the seventh of 10 productions airing during the 2009-2010 season. The performance is sung in French with English surtitles. Eyre makes his Met Opera debut directing the new production, as does set and costume designer Rob Howell. Peter Mumford designs the lighting; Christopher Wheeldon creates the choreography for the new staging.

Great Performances is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, public television viewers and PBS. Corporate support for Great Performances at the Met is provided by Toll Brothers, America's luxury home-builder®.

Visit Great Performances Online at www.pbs.org/gperf for additional information on this and other Great Performances programs. For the Met, Mia Bongiovanni and Elena Park are Supervising Producers, and Louisa Briccetti and Victoria Warivonchik are Producers. Peter Gelb is Executive Producer. For Great Performances, Bill O'Donnell is Series Producer; David Horn is Executive Producer.

About WNET.ORG

New York public media company WNET.ORG is a pioneering provider of television and web content. The parent of Thirteen, WLIW21 and Creative News Group, WNET.ORG brings such acclaimed broadcast series and websites as Great Performances, Worldfocus, Nature, American Masters, Charlie Rose, Wide Angle, Secrets of the Dead, Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, Visions, Consuelo Mack WealthTrack,Wild Chronicles, Miffy and Friends, and Cyberchase to national and international audiences. Through its wide range of channels and platforms, WNET.ORG serves the entire New York City metro area with unique local productions, broadcasts, and innovative educational and cultural projects. In all that it does, WNET.ORG pursues a single, overarching goal - to create media experiences of lasting significance for New York, America, and the world. For more information, visit www.wnet.org.

About the Met

Under the leadership of General Manager Peter Gelb and Music Director James Levine, the Met has a series of bold initiatives underway that are designed to broaden its audience and revitalize the company's repertory. The Met has made a commitment to presenting modern masterpieces alongside the classic repertory, with highly theatrical productions featuring the greatest opera stars in the world.

The Met's 2010-11 season, which celebrates Maestro Levine's 40th anniversary with the company, will feature seven new productions, including two company premieres: John Adams's Nixon in China and Rossini's Le Comte Ory. The other new productions are Wagner's Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, and Verdi's Don Carlo and La Traviata.

Building on its 78-year-old international radio broadcast history - heard over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network - the Met uses advanced media distribution platforms and state-of-the-art technology to reach audiences around the world.

The Emmy and Peabody Award-winning The Met: Live in HD series returns for its fifth season in 2010-11 with eleven transmissions, beginning and ending with the first two installments of Wagner's epic Der Ring des Nibelungen (Das Rheingold on October 9 and Die Walküre on May 14) in a new production directed by Robert Lepage. The Met recently introduced Met Player, a new subscription service that makes much of its extensive video and audio catalog of full-length performances available to the public for the first time online, and in exceptional, state-of-the-art quality. Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM Radio broadcasts both live and rare historical performances; the Met on Rhapsody on-demand service offers audio recordings; and the Met presents free live audio streaming of performances on its website once every week during the opera season with support from RealNetworks®.

The Met has launched several audience development initiatives, including Open House dress rehearsals, a popular rush ticket program, reduced ticket prices, Gallery Met, and an annual Holiday Series presentation for families. For more information, please visit: www.metopera.org.

Remaining broadcast premieres on Great Performances at the Met are scheduled as follows (Please check local PBS listings):

Sunday, June 20, 12pm

SIMON BOCCANEGRA - Plácido Domingo sings the baritone title role of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra for the first time in his Met career, in Giancarlo del Monaco's production. Adrianne Pieczonka, Marcello Giordani, and James Morris star. James Levine conducts.

Sunday, July 18, 12pm

HAMLET - Simon Keenlyside and Marlis Petersen headline the Ambroise Thomas opera based on Shakespeare's play, in a new production directed by Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser. With Jennifer Larmore, Toby Spence, and James Morris. Louis Langrée conducts.

Sunday, August 22, 12pm

ARMIDA - Renée Fleming plays Rossini's vengeful sorceress in this opera's Met premiere, directed by Mary Zimmerman. The cast of multiple tenors includes Lawrence Brownlee, John Osborn, José Manuel Zapata, Barry Banks, and Kobie van Rensburg. Riccardo Frizza conducts.