POTSDAM -- North Country audiences will have two opportunities to see and hear a rising opera star and Crane School of Music alumnus over the next two weeks.

Acclaimed tenor Dimitri Pittas, who graduated from SUNY Potsdam in 1999, plays the role of Cassio in the Metropolitan Opera production of Giuseppe Verdi's "Otello." The opera will screen across the globe through The Met: Live in HD, on Saturday, Oct. 17.

Just a few days later, Pittas returns to his alma mater to star in an alumni recital, alongside fellow Crane graduate Lydía Zervanos, soprano. The free performance is Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m. in the Sara M. Snell Music Theater. The concert will also stream live at www.potsdam.edu/crane.

Director Bartlett Sher's season-opening new production of Verdi's masterful "Otello" probes the Moor's dramatic downfall, with an outstanding cast led by Aleksandrs Antonenko in the title role, Sonya Yoncheva as Desdemona, Željko Lučić as Iago and Pittas as Cassio. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the production.

Often cited as Italian opera's greatest tragedy, "Otello" is a miraculous union of music and drama, a masterpiece as profound philosophically, as it is thrilling theatrically. The opera brings to live Shakespeare's tale of "Othello," which follows the rise and fall of a great hero who can't control his jealousy.

Verdi's "Otello" will screen live from the Metropolitan Opera stage at 12:55 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17 at Potsdam's Roxy Theater, 20 Main St. There will be an encore screening at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 25.

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

Tickets prices are $18 for an adult, $15 for seniors, $12 for students and $9 for youth age 18 and under.

Tickets are available by calling 267-2277, by visiting the Roxy Theater in downtown Potsdam or stopping by the CPS Box Office in the lobby of SUNY Potsdam's Performing Arts Center.

Info: www.metopera.org/hdlive or www.potsdam.edu/crane.