“Sacred, scandalous, and irresistibly alluring!” The Metropolitan Opera’s description of its Samson et Dalila aptly explains why Camille Saint-Saëns’ masterpiece has remained in the standard repertoire for 150 years. This grande finale to French Grand Opera frames the classic biblical conflict between a hero of legendary strength and the seductive Philistine whose beauty ultimately overpowers him. In this class, we’ll study a complete video-recording of the Met’s milestone 2014 production, starring Plácido Domingo as the invinciblewarrior- turned-vulnerable-lover, who quite literally brings down the house in the spectacular conclusion. The simultaneous bilingual (French-English) video-subtitles and libretti will help to reinforce (or introduce) French-language skills, while deepening appreciation of that interrelationship between music and text which is unique to opera. There are (optional) class trips, for the Metropolitan Opera’s flamboyant new production: live-in-HD screening, at the Regal Cinema, North Brunswick NJ (Dec. 5, 12:00 pm); and on stage, at Lincoln Center, NYC (Dec. 12, 8:00 pm)