Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM To Broadcast Fourth Consecutive Season Live From The Metropolitan Opera

SIRIUS XM's Metropolitan Opera Radio to broadcast the Met's Opening Night Gala live

NEW YORK, Sept. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SIRIUS XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) announced today that its Metropolitan Opera Radio channel will broadcast its fourth season live from the Metropolitan Opera beginning with Opening Night on Monday, September 21 and will include over 100 live performances during the Met's 2009-2010 season.

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SIRIUS XM's Metropolitan Opera Radio, SIRIUS channel 78 and XM channel 79, will celebrate the launch of the 2009-2010 season with a live broadcast of the Met's Opening Night Gala, a new production premiere of Puccini's Tosca, starring soprano Karita Mattila. The live broadcast will begin at 6:00 pm ET with a special pre-show that will feature backstage interviews and updates from the red carpet, and a preview of the upcoming season.

During its fourth season on SIRIUS XM, Metropolitan Opera Radio will also air rare archival broadcasts from the Met's 78-year broadcast history. Host Margaret Juntwait returns as announcer for the channel which, in addition to the three live performances each week, will air notable performances from recent seasons, and will include several title premieres including Giordano's Fedora and Janacek's The Makropulos Case.

In addition to the season opening of Tosca, the SIRIUS XM broadcast schedule features live, opening night premiere broadcasts of six more productions in 2009-10: Janacek's From the House of the Dead on Thursday, November 12, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, making his Met debut, and starring Peter Mattei; Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann on Thursday, December 3, conducted by Maestro Levine and starring Joseph Calleja and Anna Netrebko; Bizet's Carmen on December 31 conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin and starring Elina Garanca and Roberto Alagna; Shostakovich's The Nose on Friday, March 5, conducted by Valery Gergiev and starring Paulo Szot. On March 16 Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet makes its broadcast premiere with celebrated singing actors Simon Keenlyside and Natalie Dessay bringing their acclaimed portrayals of the title role and Ophelie, respectively. Louis Langree conducts. The final SIRIUS XM broadcast premiere of the season is Rossini's Armida on April 12, starring Renee Fleming in the virtuosic role of the alluring sorceress. Riccardo Frizza conducts.

Lastly, SIRIUS XM's Metropolitan Opera Radio will broadcast a special debut encore broadcast of the Met's 125th Anniversary Gala from March 15, 2009 on Saturday, September 19 at 9:00 pm ET.

A schedule of this season's Metropolitan Opera Radio broadcasts on SIRIUS XM is available at www.sirius.com/metropolitanoperaradio or www.xmradio.com/metopera.

For more information about the Metropolitan Opera, please visit www.metopera.org.

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