La Clemenza di Tito, Mozart's Final Opera Seria, with Barbara Frittoli, Elina Garanca, and Giuseppe Filianoti on Great Performances at the Met Sunday, April 14 at 12 noon on PBS

Baroque specialist Harry Bicket conducts the late Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's stylized production, set in ancient Rome

NEW YORK, March 14, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Elina Garanca, star of the Great Performances at the Met broadcasts of Carmen and La Cenerentola, appears in the trouser role of Sesto in the Met's rare revival of Mozart's opera of ancient Rome, La Clemenza di Tito.

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Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham hosts the telecast and conducts backstage interviews with the stars, Sunday, April 14 at 12 noon on PBS (check local listings). In New York, THIRTEEN will premiere the opera on Thursday, April 11 at 8:30 p.m., with an encore showing Sunday, April 14 at 12:30 p.m.

Italian tenor Giuseppe Filianoti takes on the title role of the Roman emperor Titus, the target of an assassination scheme by the vengeful Vitellia (Barbara Frittoli). American mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey and English soprano Lucy Crowe co-star as the young lovers Annio and Servilia in this performance of Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's stylized 1984 production, which is conducted by Baroque specialist Harry Bicket.

Critics praised the production in November: "The cast, headlined by the lustrous-voiced Latvian mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca, is consistently top-notch…[Garanca] embodies the plight of the anguished young hero with moving restraint, and in her two arias she produces luminous sounds that seem to linger suspended in the air like shining pearls," wrote the Associated Press' Mike Silverman.

James Jorden of the New York Post hailed it as a "superb revival," adding that the production "was more than the sum of its excellent parts, thanks to the imaginative and vigorous conducting of Harry Bicket," and predicted that the production with its "1700s costumes and Roman ruins against a palette of warm brown-blacks and parchment whites... should look particularly handsome when the opera is telecast..."

La Clemenza di Tito was originally seen live in movie theaters on December 1 as part of the groundbreaking The Met: Live in HD series, which transmits live performances to more than 1900 movie theaters and performing arts centers in 64 countries around the world.

Great Performances at the Met is a presentation of THIRTEEN for WNET, one of America's most prolific and respected public media providers. For 50 years, THIRTEEN has been making the most of the rich resources and passionate people of New York and the world, reaching millions of people with on-air and online programming that celebrates arts and culture, offers insightful commentary on the news of the day, explores the worlds of science and nature, and invites students of all ages to have fun while learning.

Corporate support for Great Performances at the Met is provided by Toll Brothers, America's luxury home builder®. Additional funding is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.  This Great Performances presentation is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, The Agnes Varis Trust, and public television viewers.  

For the Met, Barbara Willis Sweete directs the telecast. Jay David Saks 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; David Horn is Executive Producer.

Visit Great Performances online at www.pbs.org/gperf for additional information on this and other Great Performances programs.

About WNET
In 2013, WNET is celebrating the 50^th Anniversary of THIRTEEN, New York's flagship public media provider. As the parent company of THIRTEEN and WLIW21 and operator of NJTV, WNET brings quality arts, education and public affairs programming to over 5 million viewers each week. WNET produces and presents such acclaimed PBS series as Nature, Great Performances, American Masters, Need to Know, Charlie Rose and a range of documentaries, children's programs, and local news and cultural offerings available on air and online. Pioneers in educational programming, WNET has created such groundbreaking series as Get the Math, Oh Noah! and Cyberchase and provides tools for educators that bring compelling content to life in the classroom and at home. WNET highlights the tri-state's unique culture and diverse communities through NYC-ARTS, Reel 13, NJ Today and MetroFocus, the multi-platform news magazine focusing on the New York region.

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's 2012-13 season features seven new productions, including Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore, directed by Bartlett Sher and conducted by Maurizio Benini; the Met premiere of Thomas Ades's The Tempest, directed by Robert Lepage and conducted by the composer; Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera, directed by David Alden and conducted by Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi; the Met premiere of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda, directed by David McVicar and conducted by Benini; Verdi's Rigoletto, directed by Michael Mayer in his Met debut and conducted by Michele Mariotti; Wagner's Parsifal, directed by Francois Girard in his Met debut and conducted by Daniele Gatti; and Handel's Giulio Cesare, also directed by David McVicar and conducted by Harry Bicket.

Building on its 81-year-old 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 Met: Live in HD, the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning series of live performance transmissions to movie theaters around the world, returns for its seventh season in 2012-13. Met Player, a subscription service 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 broadcasts live performances from the Met stage three times a week during the opera season, as well; 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.

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

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SOURCE THIRTEEN/WNET