The Bagaduce Music Lending Library and Friends of the Blue Hill Public Library will present a preview of Camille Saint-Saëns’s opera, Samson et Delila, at the Blue Hill Public Library on Thursday, October 18th at noon (a deviation from the normal Friday schedule.) A live performance of the opera will be simulcast at The Grand in Ellsworth two days later on Saturday, October 20th, from the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
According to the Met website, mezzo-soprano El?na Garan?a and tenor Roberto Alagna reunite for “the title roles of Saint-Saëns’s biblical epic Samson et Dalila. Darko Tresnjak, who won a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical in 2014 … makes his Met debut directing a vivid, seductive staging, featuring a monumental setting for the last-act Temple of Dagon, where the hero crushes his Philistine enemies. Sir Mark Elder conducts the first new Met production of the work in 20 years.”
Local opera enthusiasts Linda Lesko and David Porter will summarize the plot, introduce the music, and offer some ideas of special ways to enjoy the Saturday simulcast. All are welcome, no previous opera knowledge is needed, and admission is free. For more information, call the library at 374-5515.
