"AMERICA'S FAVORITE MEZZO*" SUSAN GRAHAM - WHO RECENTLY DELIGHTED GUESTS AS EMCEE OF THE OPERA NEWS AWARDS - WILL HOST TWO MAJOR LIVE OPERATIC EVENTS: THE NEW YORK CITY OPERA'S MADAMA BUTTERFLY ON PBS-TV'S LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER ON MARCH 20 THE MET OPERA'S TRISTAN UND ISOLDE HIGH-DEFINITION VIDEO TRANSMISSION TO CINEMAS WORLDWIDE ON MARCH 22 Susan Graham wowed a ballroom full of guests when she hosted the Opera News Awards in January, and proved so adept at the job that she has been invited to host two major opera events in March - Live From Lincoln Center on March 20 and "The Met goes to the Movies" on March 22. WNET/Thirteen's long-running series for PBS, Live From Lincoln Center, will telecast the New York City Opera's beautiful production of Giacomo Puccini's beloved Madama Butterfly live from the New York State Theater on Thursday, March 20 (check local listings for time), with a youthful cast including Shu-Ying Li as Cio-Cio San and James Valenti as Pinkerton, with George Manahan conducting. On Saturday, March 22, Ms. Graham hosts her home company's high-definition transmittal of Wagner's love-death opera, Tristan und Isolde, to movie theaters across the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America. This is the second season of "The Met Goes to the Movies" - the company's hugely successful initiative, making high-def performances live from the stage available to audiences around the world. This production of Tristan stars internationally-renowned North-American Wagnerians Ben Heppner and Deborah Voigt as the doomed lovers. Ms. Voigt is giving her first performances as Isolde this season since her role debut in the work at the Vienna State Opera in 2003. Susan Graham sang the title role in the Met Opera's first staging in 80 years of Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride last autumn, opposite Plácido Domingo. One critic stated: "Her performance was shattering"; another called her performance "near-definitive"; still others said that she "sang with rich, throbbing sound and tragic grandeur," and "commanded the stage from start to finish." Now she will command television and film screens as well. Susan Graham hosts Live From Lincoln Center Puccini's Madama Butterfly from the New York City Opera Thursday, March 20, on PBS-TV (check local listings) http://www.pbs.org/previews/lflc-madamabutterfly/ Susan Graham hosts "The Met Goes to the Movies" Wagner's Tristan und Isolde from the Metropolitan Opera Saturday, March 22, in high definition transmission to international movie theaters http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast/hd_events.aspx