April is a busy month for The University of South Carolina Beaufort’s new music series The Met: Live in HD at the Center for the Arts on the Historic Beaufort campus. Three legendary operas will be presented beginning Saturday, April 9 at 1 PM with “Le Comte Ory”. Rossini’s vocally dazzling comedy stars bel canto sensation Juan Diego Flórez in the title role of this Met premiere production. He vies with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, in the trouser role of Isolier, for the love of the lonely Countess Adèle, sung by soprano Diana Damrau. Bartlett Sher, director of the Met’s hit productions of The Barber of Seville and The Tales of Hoffmann, describes the world of the opera as, “a place where love is dangerous. People get hurt. That can be very funny and very painful. Rossini captures both—with the most beautiful love music Rossini ever wrote.”
Straus’s “Capriccio”, Saturday April 23 at 1 PM – On Opening Night of the 2008–09 season, Renée 
Fleming dazzled audiences when she sang the final scene of Strauss’s wise and worldly meditation on art and life. Now she performs the entire work, in which the composer explores the essence of opera itself. Joseph Kaiser and Sarah Connolly also star, and Andrew Davis conducts.
Verdi’s “Il Trovatore”, April 30 at 1 PM – David McVicar’s stirring production of Verdi’s intense drama premiered in the 2008–09 season. James Levine leads this revival, starring four extraordinary singers—Sondra Radvanovsky, Dolora Zajick, Marcelo Álvarez, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky—in what might be the composer’s most melodically rich score.
Global corporate sponsorship of The Met: Live in HD is provided by the Neubauer Family Foundation. The HD Broadcasts are supported by Toll Brothers, America’s Luxury Home Building.
Tickets are available at the door on the day of the broadcast, or in advance atthe Center for the Arts box office (843) 521-4145. Ticket prices are: Adult/Seniors $20, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Members $16, USCB students/and youth under 18 $10.
For additional information contact USCB Center for the Arts director Bonnie Hargrove at 843-521-4145 or bhargrov@uscb.edu. .
