Submitted Photo Live at the Met, the Metropolitan Opera’s award-winning series of live, high definition opera transmissions to theaters around the world, kicks off its 2017-18 season at the 1891 Fredonia Opera House on Sat., Oct. 6, at 1 p.m., with Giuseppe Verdi’s monumental masterpiece “Aida.” The opera stars Soprano Anna Netrebko in her first Aida at the Met. Mezzo soprano Anita Rachvelishvili is her formidable rival Amneris.

Live at the Met, the Metropolitan Opera’s award-winning series of live, high definition (HD) opera transmissions to theaters around the world, kicks off its 2018-19 season at the 1891 Fredonia Opera House on Saturday at 1 p.m., with Giuseppe Verdi’s monumental masterpiece “Aida.”

Soprano Anna Netrebko sings her first Aida at the Met. Mezzo soprano Anita Rachvelishvili is her formidable rival Amneris with Aleksandrs Antonenko as the warrior Radames. Nicola Luisotti conducts.

This grandest of grand operas features an epic backdrop for what is in essence an intimate love story. Set in ancient Egypt and packed with magnificent choruses, complex ensembles, and elaborate ballets, Aida never loses sight of its three protagonists.

Few operas have matched “Aida” in its exploration of the conflict of private emotion and public duty, and perhaps no other has remained to the present day so unanimously appreciated by audiences and critics alike. 

The score of “Aida” is a sophisticated example of Italian Romanticism, imbued with a convincingly mysterious and exotic hue. Making no claims to authenticity, Verdi created a unique musical palette for this opera. The grandeur of the subject is aptly conveyed with huge patriotic choruses, most notably the unforgettable Triumphal Scene in Act II. The production has a run time of three hours, 36 minutes, with two intermissions.

Live at the Met telecasts are now shown in more than 2,000 theaters in 70 countries, making the Met the only arts institution with an ongoing global art series of this scale. The Met was the first arts company to experiment with this type of broadcast, beginning on a modest scale in 2006 and growing every season since then, with more than 10 million tickets sold to date.

Met Opera stars serve as hosts for the series, conducting live interviews with cast members, crew and production teams, and introducing the popular behind-the-scenes features; altogether, the worldwide audience is given an unprecedented look at what goes into the staging of an opera at one of the world’s great houses.

Individual tickets to each of the operas in the season are $20, ($18 Opera House members, $10 students). A flexible subscription of eight tickets which can be used however you want — one at a time to eight different operas, all at once for eight people or anything in between — is available for $142. Tickets may be purchased in person at the Opera House Box Office or by phone at 679-1891, Tuesday-Friday, 1-5 p.m. Tickets may be purchased online anytime at www.fredopera.org.

The Opera House is equipped with assistive listening headsets for the hearing-impaired. Simply request one from any usher or Opera House staff member. Headset funding provided by Robert & Marilyn Maytum, the John Ben Snow Memorial Trust, the Dunkirk-Fredonia Lions Club, and by a grant from Theatre Development Fund’s TAP Plus program in partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts.

The 1891 Fredonia Opera House is a member-supported not-for-profit organization located in Village Hall in downtown Fredonia. For a complete schedule of events, visit www.fredopera.org.