POTSDAM — The Metropolitan Opera will present Giuseppe Verdi’s Shakespearean masterpiece, “Otello,” in the next installment of the Met: Live in HD, premiering on Saturday around the world and at Potsdam’s Roxy Theater.

Crane School of Music alumna Renée Fleming sings one of her greatest roles as the innocent Desdemona in Verdi’s towering tragedy.

South African tenor Johan Botha sings the title role, one of the most demanding parts in the operatic repertory, with German baritone Falk Struckmann as the treacherous villain Iago.

Rising American tenor Michael Fabiano makes his Live in HD debut as Cassio.

Maestro Semyon Bychkov will conduct Verdi’s dramatic masterpiece, which is based on Shakespeare’s play. Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky, one of the Met’s leading Verdi stars, will host the transmission and conduct backstage interviews with the stars.

Verdi’s “Otello” will screen live from the Metropolitan Opera stage at 12:55 p.m. Saturday at Potsdam’s Roxy Theater. There will be an encore screening at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 4.

The opera will be performed in Italian, with English subtitles. The approximate running time is three hours, including one intermission.

The 2012-13 season of the Met: Live in HD is sponsored in the north country by SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music and J.S. Cinemas.

For complete information on the Live in HD season, visit www.metopera.org/hdlive.

In the Met: Live in HD, robotic cameras, strategically placed around and behind the stage, capture the beauty and power of live performance from striking angles.

Tickets are on sale now. Prices in Potsdam are the lowest available in the nation: $18 for an adult, $15 for senior citizens, $12 for students and $9 for youth age 18 and under.

To learn more about SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music and its award-winning opera program, visit www.potsdam.edu/crane.

Founded in 1886, SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music has a long legacy of excellence in music education and performance.

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