Beaufort County residents won't have to travel to New York City this year to see the Metropolitan Opera.

The University of South Carolina Beaufort announced Thursday it will show a new music series: "The Met: Live in HD."

Twelve live transmissions of the New York Metropolitan Opera will be shown via high-definition streaming at the Center for the Arts on the Beaufort campus during the 2010-2011 season.

"I think it's going to be pretty mesmerizing," said USCB Center for the Arts director Bonnie Hargrove.

Hargrove said a theater in Savannah also shows the broadcasts, but many Beaufort County residents said they wanted the series closer to home.

With the new focus on the arts at USCB's northern campus, university officials were happy to conduct the series, Hargrove said.

"They felt it would be a perfect marriage," she said.

Discounted tickets are available for students, and the university hopes many will take advantage of the opportunity to experience the opera, Hargrove said.

The season begins at 1 p.m. Oct. 9 with a new production, Wagner's "Das Rheingold."

Future performances include "Boris Godunov" on Oct. 23, "Don Pasquale" on Nov. 13, "Don Carlo" on Dec. 11, "La Fanciulla del West" on Jan. 8, "Nixon in China" on Feb. 12, "Iphigénie en Tauride" on Feb. 26, "Lucia di Lammermoor" on March 19, "Le Comte Ory" on April 9, "Capriccio" on April 23, "Il Trovatore" on April 30, and "Die Walküre" on May 14.

Tickets are available at the door on the day of the broadcast or at the Center for the Arts box office at 843-521-4154.

Tickets are $20 for adults and seniors, $16 for Osher Lifelong Learning Institute members and $10 for USCB students and children under 18.

Details: 843-521-3145 or bhargrov@uscb.edu.