Season 12 Of Great Performances at the Met Concludes On 9/9 PBS With CENDRILLON

Season 12 of GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET concludes Sunday, September 9 at 12 p.m. on PBS (check local listings) with Cendrillon, Massenet's operatic take on the classic fairy tale Cinderella, starring Joyce DiDonato as the titular heroine and Alice Coote as Prince Charming, alongside Kathleen Kim as the Fairy Godmother andStephanie Blythe as Madame de la Haltière.

Laurent Pelly's imaginative production takes place in a storybook kingdom, where Cendrillon is FORBIDDEN to attend the ball at the palace by her wicked step-mother, Madame de la Haltière. After her family's departure, Cendrillon's Fairy Godmother appears and gifts her with a coach, a gown and glass slippers that will hide her true identity. There is one condition: Cendrillon must depart the festivities before midnight. At the ball, an unhappy Prince Charming's mood suddenly changes when Cendrillon arrives, and the two immediately fall in love. As midnight approaches, Cendrillon hurries away, leaving behind one glass slipper. As Madame de la Haltière and her daughters complain about the mysterious beauty from the ball, Cendrillon escapes to the forest where she find's Prince Charming. After revealing her true identity to the prince, the two fall into an enchanted sleep in the woods. Awakening at home, Cendrillon begins to believe it was all a dream, until a herald announces that the prince is hosting women from all over the kingdom to try on the glass slipper left behind at the ball. Upon her arrival, Prince Charming immediately recognizes Cendrillon and the two declare their love as the kingdom hails Cendrillon as their future queen. Bertrand de Billy conducts. Ailyn Pérez hosts.

Experience Massenet's opera with Joyce DiDonato as Cinderella and Alice Coote as Prince Charming. (97/100)

Experience Massenet's Cinderella with Joyce DiDonato in the title role, Alice Coote as Prince Charming, Kathleen Kim as the Fairy Godmother, and Stephanie Blythe as Madame de la Haltière. Bertrand de Billy conducts Laurent Pelly's production. (242/250)

National: Sunday, September 9 at 12 p.m. on PBS (check local listings)

New York metro area: Sunday, September 9 at 1 p.m. on THIRTEEN

Notable Talent:

• Joyce DiDonato - Cendrillon
• Alice Coote - Prince Charming
• Kathleen Kim - Fairy Godmother
• Stephanie Blythe - Madame de la Haltière
• Laurent Naouri - Pandolfe
• Ailyn Pérez - Host

Run time: 2.5 hours

Production Credits:

• Bertrand de Billy - Conductor
• Laurent Pelly - Production, Costume Designer
• Barbara de Limburg - Set Designer
• Duane Schuler - Lighting Designer
• Laura Scozzi - Choreographer

For the Met, Gary Halvorson directs the telecast. David Frost is music producer. 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 and David Horn is executive producer.

Corporate support for GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET is provided by Toll Brothers, America's luxury home builder®. Major funding for the Met Opera presentation is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. This Great Performancespresentation is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund, The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, The Agnes Varis Trust, and public television viewers.

Great Performances at the Met is a presentation of THIRTEEN Productions LLC for WNET, bringing the best of the Metropolitan Opera into the homes of classical music fans across the United States.

WNET is America's flagship PBS station and parent company of THIRTEEN and WLIW21. WNET also operates NJTV, the statewide public media network in New Jersey. Through its broadcast channels, three cable services (THIRTEEN PBSKids, Create and World) and online streaming sites, WNET brings quality arts, education and public affairs programming to more than five million viewers each week. WNET produces and presents such acclaimed PBS series asNature, Great Performances, American Masters, PBS NewsHour Weekend and a range of documentaries, children's programs, and local news and cultural offerings. WNET's groundbreaking series for children and young adults include Get the Math, Oh Noah! AndCyberchase as well as Mission US, the award-winning interactive history experience. WNET highlights the tri-state's unique culture and diverse communities through NYC-ARTS, Theater Close-Up, NJTV News with Mary Alice Williams and MetroFocus, the daily multi-platform news magazine focusing on the New York region. In addition, WNET produces online-only programming including the award-winning series about gender identity, First Person. Through multi-platform initiatives Chasing the Dream: Poverty and Opportunity in America and Peril and Promise: The Challenge of Climate Change, WNET showcases the human stories around these issues and promising solutions. In 2015, THIRTEEN launched Passport, an online streaming service which allows members to see new and archival THIRTEEN and PBS programming anytime, anywhere: www.thirteen.org/passport.

THE METROPOLITAN OPERA is America's leading performing arts organization and a vibrant home for the world's most creative and talented artists, including singers, conductors, composers, orchestra musicians, stage directors, designers, visual artists, choreographers, and dancers. The company presents more than 200 performances each season of a wide variety of operas, ranging from early masterpieces to contemporary works. In recent years, the Met has launched many initiatives designed to make opera more accessible, most prominently the Live in HD series of cinema transmissions, which dramatically expands the Met audience by allowing select performances to be seen in more than 2,000 theaters in more than 70 countries around the world.

Image: Kathleen Kim as the Fairy Godmother and Joyce DiDonato in the title role of Massenet's Cendrillon. Credit: Ken Howard / Met Opera

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