Icicle Creek Center for the Arts to Present THE MET: LIVE IN HD Series, 10/5-5/10

Icicle Creek Center for the Arts Announces New Opera Series, "Icicle Creek Presents The Met: Live in HD" at Snowy Owl Theater on its campus in Leavenworth.

Superb technology and design of the Snowy Owl Theater create an unprecedented opportunity to bring world-class opera to the Wenatchee Valley, courtesy of a partnership with one of the world's most-renowned opera companies, the Metropolitan Opera. Icicle Creek Center for the Arts is pleased to announce the launch of the inaugural Icicle Creek Presents The Met: Live in HD opera season, featuring industry-leading High Definition satellite feed in 60-channel surround sound in the comfort of the Snowy Owl Theater.

Ten magnificent operas will be broadcast live on the day of their world-wide releases. The lineup includes fan favorites such as La Boheme and Tosca, as well as lesser-known titles, and features four brand-new productions. Whether a seasoned opera connoisseur or a freshly-minted fan, there is something to please everyone in the series.

Each show will be broadcast live on Saturday mornings at 9:55 a.m.; selected shows will also be re-broadcast in an encore presentation at 7:00 p.m. (see below for full schedule). The operas are full presentations, with fabulous sets and costumes, and some of the world's greatest voices.

Tickets will be offered for morning and selected evening performances from $10-$25 per show. A full season's pass ($200) allows unlimited viewing, and a "Pick-Six" option ($125) allows patrons to choose their six favorite titles. Pass-holders may attend either screening time. The season will commence with a special opening night celebration on Saturday, October 5, when tickets will be $35 and include a dessert buffet at intermission. Tickets go on sale at icicle.org on August 21, 2013.

This ground-breaking program was launched by the Met in 2006 to reinvigorate opera and reach out to a broader public. Opera performances are transmitted live in HD to movie theaters and venues around the world. From its inaugural season the series enjoyed critical acclaim and global box office success, attracting an audience of more than 325,000 attendees across the globe. The broadcasts are currently seen in 64 countries in over 1,900 theaters; this year, Snowy Owl Theater joins that group.

2013-14 Schedule:

October 5 - EUGENE ONEGIN (Tchaikovsky) - a New Production of Tchaikovsky's interpretation of the classic Pushkin novel about a St. Petersburg dandy, written entirely in verse and exploring the deadly inhumanity of social convention. Tchaikovsky set the tome to music in 1879 and the work remains one of the most widely performed operas today.

Airing: 9:55 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. (Grand Opening Celebration)
Run Time: 3:45

October 26 - THE NOSE (Shostakovich) - A charming tale of a Russian bureaucrat who awakes one morning to learn that his nose has assumed the form of a domineering officer who steadfastly outdoes him by gaining a higher role in the bureaucracy. Various exploits and adventures ensue as he tries to get his nose back. William Kentridge's dazzlingly innovative production returns to the Met for the first time since its sold-out premiere in 2010.

Airing: 9:55 a.m.
Run Time: 2:15

November 9, 2013 - TOSCA (Puccini) - Puccini's enduring favorite entails a sweeping, dramatic tale of murder, lust, and political intrigue, and contains some of Puccini's best-known lyrical arias. The first of two Puccini works this season, the power of its score and the inventiveness of its orchestration have been widely acknowledged. The dramatic force of Tosca and its characters continues to fascinate both performers and audiences, and the work remains one of the most frequently performed operas.

Airing: 9:55 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Run Time: 3:35

December 14, 2013 - FALSTAFF (Verdi) - A lyric comedy in three acts, Falstaff is adapted from Shakespeare's plays, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV. Verdi's last opera, and only the second of his 28 operas to be a comedy, tells the story of an aging knight and his fathomless appetites. Falstaff has long been a favorite with critics and musicians because of its brilliant orchestration, scintillating libretto and refined melodic invention. Verdi's brilliant masterpiece has its first new Met production in in nearly 50 years.

Airing: 9:55 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Run Time: 3:20

February 8, 2014 - RUSALKA (Dvorak) - One of, if not the most famous of the Czech operas, Dvorak's Rusalka seamlessly blends dark swirling musical undercurrents with entrancing folk melodies. The title character, the mermaid/water nymph Rusalka, yearns to love the prince but tragedy ensues and they are damned in this darkly sensual fairytale. Opera fans will cheer at Renee Fleming's portrayal of the lead character.

Airing: 9:55 a.m.
Run Time: 4:00

March 1, 2014 - PRINCE IGOR (Borodin) - Prince Igor is a 4-act opera adapted from the East Slavic epic, The Lay of Igor's Host, which recounts the campaign of Russian prince Igor against the invasion of Polovtsian tribes in 1185. Composer Alexander Borodin left the opera unfinished upon his death, whereafter it was edited and completed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov. First performed in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1890, this epic had its first performances at the Met in 1915 and has not been presented since 1917. Noted Russian director Dmitri Tcherniakov makes his Met debut with a new production.

Airing: 9:55 a.m.
Run Time: 4:30

March 15, 2014 - WERTHER (Massenet) - Jules Massenet's tragic romance features the brooding poet Werther and his unattainable love, Charlotte. Based on the German novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and partly on fact and partly on Goethe's own early life, Werther was first performed in the United States by the Metropolitan Opera in March, 1894. The new staging of this romantic tragedy offers the first new Met production of the opera in more than forty years.

Airing: 9:55 a.m.
Run Time: 3:15

April 5, 2014 - LA BOHEME (Puccini) - Chronicling Bohemian life in the Latin Quarter in 1830s Paris, La Boheme is perhaps the world's most beloved opera. Based loosely on a novel by Henri Murger, the opera focuses on the relationship between Rodolfo and Mimi, ending with her death. Premiering in Turin under the baton of the great Arturo Toscanini in 1896, the opera was recorded for radio on its 50th anniversary, with Toscanini again conducting, making La Boheme the only opera in world history to be recorded by its original conductor. Puccini's unmatched melodic skills are front and center in this work, and charming camaraderie and sincere emotional truth give La Boheme enduring relevance. La Boheme - easy to love and impossible to forget.

Airing: 9:55 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Run Time: 3:25

April 26, 2014 - COSI FAN TUTTE (Mozart) - "Thus Do All Women," translates the title of this Mozart opera, first performed in Vienna in 1790. What determines true love? Is it faithfulness or circumstance? Mozart's whimsical Così fan tutte is the wry tale of two young men who place a bet on fidelity, putting the women they love to the test through deception and seduction . . . What could possibly go wrong? In this sometimes farcical, sometimes unsettling comedy, the men pretend to go off to war but return in disguise, each intent on seducing the other's lady. When the women don't react as expected, a lesson in tempting fate is learned by all, and the fickle nature of love and attraction is revealed.

Airing: 9:55 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Run Time: 4:05

May 10, 2014 - LA CENERENTOLA (Rossini) - Gioachino Rossini's operatic take on the classic fairy tale of Cinderella is considered to be one of his greatest operatic achievements. First performed in Rome in January 1817, La Cenerentola was composed in just three weeks by the then-25-year old composer. The tale is beautifully rendered in this presentation, featuring Joyce DiDonato in her first Met performance in the title role.

Airing: 9:55 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Run Time: 3:40

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