We are literally counting the days now until the start of the 2012-2013 “Pursuits of Passion” Season, sponsored by Texas Instruments Foundation. Get details on our opening production below.
(Photo of Latonia Moore off-stage at the Met, courtesy of instantencore.com)
MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Contact: Suzanne Calvin 214.443.1014
Suzanne.Calvin@dallasopera.org
Or Megan Meister 214.443.1071
Megan.Meister@dallasopera.org
THE DALLAS OPERA IS PROUD TO PRESENT
THE COMPANY’S GLORIOUS 2012-2013 SEASON OPENER:
GIUSEPPE VERDI’S GRAND AND EXOTIC 1871 MASTERPIECE
AÏDA
LIBRETTO BY ANTONIO GHISLANZONI
AFTER A SCENARIO BY AUGUSTE MARIETTE
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STARRING AMERICAN SOPRANO LATONIA MOORE IN HER TRIUMPHAL RETURN TO THE DALLAS OPERA STAGE, BULGARIAN MEZZO-SOPRANO NADIA KRASTEVA IN HER COMPANY DEBUT AS AMNERIS, ITALIAN TENOR ANTONELLO PALOMBI AS RADAMES, AND AMERICAN BARITONE LESTER LYNCH AS AMONASRO
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CONDUCTED BY MUSIC DIRECTOR GRAEME JENKINS
STAGED BY DIRECTOR GARNETT BRUCE
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OPENING NIGHT: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2012 AT 7:30 PM
WITH ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCES
Oct. 28(m), 31, Nov. 3, 9, 11(m)
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SEASON OPENING NIGHT PERFORMANCE OF AÏDA
WITH ENDOWED SUPPORT FROM
LINDA AND MITCH HART
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SEASON PRESENTING SPONSOR,
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS FOUNDATION
FIRST NIGHT festivities celebrate “Arts and Sports Together”
An evening featuring Red-Carpet arrivals and celebrity guests,
As well as Pre-and-Post-Performance Festivities!
DALLAS, SEPTEMBER 27, 2012 – The Dallas Opera is extraordinarily proud to present the initial production of the 2012-2013 “Pursuits of Passion” Season: Giuseppe Verdi’s passionate and moving 19th century masterpiece, AÏDA, one of the most powerful and popular works in the entire opera canon. AÏDA opens on Friday, October 26, 2012 in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in the Dallas Arts District. The occasion also marks the Dallas Opera’s 2012-2013 Season Celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the composer’s birth.
The Linda and Mitch Hart Season Opening Night Performance will begin at 7:30 PM; it will be preceded by FIRST NIGHT red carpet arrivals and fashions (beginning at 6:00 PM) with the theme “Arts and Sports Together” honoring women’s basketball great Nancy Lieberman and featuring a host of athletes and celebrities from the world of sports. The Red Carpet will be capped off by a lively pre-performance reception in Nancy B. Hamon Hall and in the Winspear lobby.
The performance itself will be followed by a late-evening, black-tie dinner. For tickets and information about FIRST NIGHT 2012, contact Dallas Opera Special Events Manager Morgan Vaughn at morgan.vaughn@dallasopera.org.
Subsequent performances of AÏDA are scheduled for October 28(m), 31, November 3, 9, and 11(m), 2012. Full season subscriptions are still available, beginning at just $75, and single tickets start at a new low price of $19. Contact the Dallas Opera Ticket Services Office at 214.443.1000 or purchase online, 24/7, at dallasopera.org.
“Season after season our audiences have clamored for this captivating work,” says Dallas Opera Artistic Director Jonathan Pell, “which many believe to be the perfect opera. However, we were determined not to give in to the temptation to revive AÏDA again (the last TDO production was in 1997) until we had a stage and a cast that could do justice to this Verdian ‘jewel in the crown.’
“Here on the spacious stage of the magnificent Winspear Opera House, with a cast led by the phenomenal Texas-born soprano Latonia Moore, the winner of the Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition (in addition to the 2005 Maria Callas Debut Artist of the Year Award for her TDO debut in Carmen), patrons will have a chance to fall in love with AÏDA like never before.”
Latonia Moore’s performance is made possible with support from The Charron and Peter Denker Rising Stars Endowment Fund.
“The timing couldn’t be better,” adds Dallas Opera General Director and CEO Keith Cerny. “Following Miss Moore’s unexpected and acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut in this title role last March, she was instantly the talk of the opera world. It’s our good fortune to have scheduled her return to Dallas just as her star is ascending to the highest heights.”
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The pursuit of passion leads to sharply divided loyalties in the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis, where AÏDA is set. An Ethiopian princess carried off by conquering Egyptians, struggles to reconcile love of country with her burning desire for the heroic Egyptian captain of the guard, Radames. Complicating matters, the Egyptian Princess Amneris carries a fiery torch for the same military commander, whose love for the foreign “slave girl” could cost him his honor—as well as his life! Verdi’s grand, glorious, and enormously entertaining drama proves that a pyramid may be the greatest love triangle of them all!
The Dallas Opera’s AÏDA marks the return of stage director Garnett Bruce, who gave us last season’s riveting Lucia di Lammermoor as well as the spectacularly well-received 2010 revival of Francesca Zambello’s production of Madame Butterfly, the grand finale of our Inaugural Season in the Winspear Opera House.
AÏDA will be conducted by acclaimed Mrs. Eugene McDermott Music Director Graeme Jenkins, who garnered tremendous praise for his conducting throughout last season, in addition to the work that brought our 2010-2011 Season to a close: Modest Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov. According to Classical Music Critic Scott Cantrell of The Dallas Morning News, it was “a triumph for any opera house, anywhere.”
“Marshaled with authority and the greatest sensitivity by Music Director Graeme Jenkins,” he added, “the orchestra played gloriously.”
Latonia Moore, a Houston-born soprano with significant ties to North Texas, will head an incredible ensemble cast in this much-loved production. Dallas Opera patrons will remember her TDO debut as a genuinely touching Micaela in our 2004 Carmen, a portrayal that earned her that season’s Maria Callas Award as the “debut artist of the year.” Of her Covent Garden debut Hugh Canning wrote: “Moore’s creamy, lyric soprano could take her to the top of her profession” and he is hardly alone in his assessment.
Nadia Krasteva, a native of Sofia, Bulgaria, now on the artistic roster of Vienna State Opera and in demand from Moscow to Chicago, will make her TDO debut as Amneris in our season opener. Operagoers can’t get enough of this “pure stage animal” (Opera Today) “sexy, beguiling, fiercely independent” (Splash) with “a warm rich mezzo” (ArkivMusic).
Antonello Palombi, an Italian tenor who made an indelible impression as Canio in the Dallas Opera’s acclaimed 2005 production of Pagliacci, returns in two leading roles this season: Radames in Aïda and next spring as Calaf in the Dallas Opera production of Puccini’s Turandot. Several seasons ago, he made headlines after stepping into the role of Radames in mid-performance at La Scala when Roberto Alagna walked-off early in the performance. Frankfurter Neue Presse calls his tenor “firm (and) breathtaking.”
Lester Lynch, an American artist with a commanding stage presence and a “resounding baritone with…deep, resonant overtones and a hearty vibrato that bounces around the corners of a theater like a ball in a pinball machine” (musicalcriticism.com), makes a welcome return to TDO as the Ethiopian King, Amonasro, in our season opening production. Most recently, he wowed Dallas audiences as the devilish Crown in our 2008 revival of Porgy & Bess.
Orlin Anastassov, the offspring of two opera singers, is an accomplished young Bulgarian bass who has been dazzling audiences since the age of 19 (He made his La Scala and Covent Garden debuts before his mid-20s). After singing the role of the high priest, Ramfis, in Dallas he will reprise the role next year at La Scala. Opera Britannia took note of his “handsome and firm basso cantabile tone” and energetic stage presence.
Additional principal roles will be sung by bass Ben Wager as The King of Egypt, tenor Jonathan Yarrington (The Phyllis A. McCasland and Thomas H. McCasland, Jr., Young Artist) in his company debut as a Messenger, and soprano NaGuanda Nobles in her TDO debut as a Priestess.
Scenic design for this gorgeous Dallas Opera revival is by Michael Yeargan, with costumes designed by the late, legendary Peter J. Hall. Lighting design will be by Gary Marder in his company debut, with wig and make-up designs by David Zimmerman.
Choreography by Kenneth von Heidecke in a production featuring dancers from The Chicago Festival Ballet.
Chorus preparation will be by Dallas Opera Chorus Master Alexander Rom.
Parking onsite will be available in the Lexus Red Parking beneath the Winspear Opera House and the Lexus Silver Parking adjacent to the Wyly Theatre. Should those reach capacity, additional paid parking is available at nearby One Arts Plaza and in several surface lots. Prices range from $5 to $25 per vehicle.
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Subscriptions for the mainstage productions of the Dallas Opera’s “Pursuits of Passion” Season are on sale now, starting at just $75, through the Dallas Opera Ticket Services Office at 214.443.1000 or online at www.dallasopera.org. Student Rush best-available tickets can be purchased at the lobby box office for $25 (one per valid Student I.D.) ninety minutes prior to each performance.
Tickets for the Dallas Opera’s 2012 Opening Night Celebration, FIRST NIGHT, are available through Dallas Opera Special Events Manager Morgan Vaughn at morgan.vaughn@dallasopera.org
AÏDA KEY BIOS:
GRAEME JENKINS (Conductor)
Mrs. Eugene McDermott Music Director
London, England
The Dallas Opera’s Music Director, Graeme Jenkins, has conducted 173 productions of 112 different operas including Billy Budd, Jen?fa, Cavallaria rusticana, Pagliacci and Der Fliegende Holländer (Vienna State Opera); Così fan tutte (English National Opera); Baz Luhrman’s La bohéme and Die Meistersinger (Austrilia); The Cunning Little Vixen and From the House of the Dead (Berlin); Le nozze di Figaro for Theater an der Wien in Vienna; Simon Boccanegra, Der Fliegende Holländer and Il re pastore (Amsterdam); La clemenza di Tito (Copenhagen) and numerous productions with The Dallas Opera including the Ring cycle, Tristan und Isolde, Macbeth, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, The Magic Flute, and company premières of Billy Budd, Nabucco, Wozzeck, Katya Kabanova, Mary Queen of Scots and Rodelinda. He has also conducted world premières of works by Tobias Picker (Thérèse Raquin at The Dallas Opera) and Stephen Oliver’s Timon of Athens (English National Opera). Concert engagements have included the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Danish Opera Orchestra, the Utah Symphony Orchestra, the Galicia Symphony Orchestra of Spain and the Monte Carlo Philharmonic. For The Dallas Opera this season, Mr. Jenkins will conduct Aida and The Aspern Papers. He has recently made his debut with the Bayerische Rundfunk Orchestra in Munich and will conduct the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. Next fall, he will make his debut with Welsh National Opera conducting Maria Stuarda and will conduct Peter Grimes (with Ben Heppner) in Vienna.
GARNETT BRUCE (Stage Director)
Washington, D.C.
This is Garnett Bruce’s third production for The Dallas Opera. Previously for TDO he has director last season’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Madama Butterfly in the inaugural season of The Winspear Opera House. Mr. Bruce staged Turandot for the opening of the San Francisco Opera’s 2011/2012 season as well as for the inaugural production for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s Kaufmann Performing Arts Center. Other recent productions include The Rake’s Progress for the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, (where he is on the faculty), Don Pasquale for Opera Memphis, La Cenerentola for Madison Opera, La traviata for Austin Lyric Opera and Madison Opera, and Don Giovanni for Opera Omaha. Mr. Bruce’s body of work includes engagements with companies across the country such as Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, San Diego Opera, Washington National Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Cincinnati Opera and Utah Symphony & Opera and his European opera debut staging Turandot for the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. He was the Artistic Adviser and Principal Stage Director for Opera Omaha from 2008-2011. In addition to his work at Peabody, Garnett Bruce serves on the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival & School’s Opera Theater Center and on the Board of Directors for FBN Productions (Opera for Kids).
MICHAEL YEARGAN (Scenic Design)
Michael Yeargan’s set designs for plays and musicals on Broadway include Seascape, Light in the Piazza, South Pacific, Awake and Sing, Ah, Wilderness and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone as well as numerous productions Off-Broadway and in regional theatres throughout the United States. Mr. Yeargan designed his first opera production in 1970— La bohème at the Nevada Opera Company. Since that time his opera sets have been seen at the Metropolitan Opera, the Seattle Opera, the LA Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, Glimmerglass and the New York City Opera, as well as the Royal Opera at Covent Garden in London, the Welsh National Opera, the Scottish Opera, the Théâtre musical de Paris, the Frankfurt Opera, and Opera Australia. Eight of his productions have been seen at The Dallas Opera. His designs won the 2005 Tony Award for Light in the Piazza and again in 2008 for South Pacific as well as a Tony nomination and Drama Desk Award for Awake and Sing. He is the resident set designer at the Yale Repertory Theatre and is a long-time Professor of Stage Design at Yale School of Drama.
PETER J. HALL (Costume Design)
Bristol, England
Career Highlights: The award-winning costumes of the late internationally renowned designer, Peter J. Hall, have graced the likes of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Dame Joan Sutherland, Dame Judi Dench, Dame Maggie Smith, and Dame Elizabeth Taylor. The resident costume designer for The Dallas Opera also designed for Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, David Bowie, Mick Jagger and many other stars. His work has been seen on stage at The Royal Opera House, London; Vienna State Opera; La Scala, Milan; Kirov Opera, St. Petersburg; the Sydney Opera House; the Metropolitan Opera, and Los Angeles Opera. Mr. Hall has also designed for theatre productions at The National Theatre, London and The Royal Shakespeare Company. Recent career highlights include Stiffelio for Teatro Nuovo, Argentina; Simon Boccanegra at San Francisco Opera; and Otello in South Korea. Peter J. Hall designed costumes (and occasionally, sets) for over 70 Dallas Opera productions beginning with Il barbiere di Siviglia in 1962 through his most recent costume designs for Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss, Handel’s Rodelinda, and Strauss’s Salome.
GARY MARDER (Lighting Design)
Gary Marder makes his Dallas Opera debut with this production. He has been the Assistant Resident Lighting Designer for the Metropolitan Opera in New York for 12 seasons. He lit Julie Taymor’s The Magic Flute in Sydney, Australia. He has designed La traviata for Teatro Regio in Turin, Italy and Tokyo; The Makropulos Case and Samson and Dalila for Houston Grand Opera; Il barbiere di Siviglia, Carmen, Peter Grimes and Norma for San Diego Opera; and Dialogues of the Carmelites for Palm Beach Opera. Before the Met, he served as Associate Resident Lighting Designer with the New York City Opera for five years. He has worked in many opera houses around the world including Boston, Connecticut, Barcelona and Baden Baden, Germany. Mr. Marder has designed plays and musicals for The New York State Theatre Institute, including Big River, The Tempest, Pinnocio and Death of a Salesman. He designed the off Broadway production of A Terrible Beauty with Tatem O’Neil. He has also served as Assistant Lighting Designer on the Broadway productions of Tru, Grand Hotel, Gypsy with Tyne Daly and Annie II.
KENNETH VON HEIDECKE (Choreographer)
Kenneth von Heidecke is founder and chief choreographer of the Chicago Festival Ballet and School and has choreographed over 60 operas and 80 ballets around the world. He began his career as a dancer, working his way through the ranks of many prominent companies such as La Scala in Milan, Rome Opera, San Francisco Ballet, Ballet Met and Chicago City Ballet. His choreography has been presented at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Alaska Dance Theatre, Scotland’s Edinburgh Festival, Washington DC’s Kennedy Center, Los Angeles Music Center, New York City’s Lincoln Center, Dallas Opera, San Francisco Opera, San Diego Opera, Ballet Nacional de Panama, Germany’s Badisches Staatstheater and countless others. In 1996, von Heidecke had the unique opportunity to serve as Ballet Master to the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Team. Mr. von Heidecke’s works have been on WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight” news program, WTTW’s “Arts Across Illinois” entertainment special, PBS’ “Making of an Opera” and a PBS documentary on Maria Tallchief’s life. He has appeared on ABC, WGN, NBC, and is the subject of a documentary being filmed by Stuart Meyer.
About Chicago Festival Ballet:
The Chicago Festival Ballet received full funding from a Chicago Artists Abroad grant and debuted at Scotland’s prestigious Edinburgh Festival in 1989. Since then, CBF has steadily grown. In December 1990, under the sponsorship of Discover Card and the Gaylord Donnelley Foundation, the DuPage Arts Center presented the Ballet in its first full-length production of the The Nutcracker. Full length productions of both the Nutcracker and Cinderella became annual events. The company has provided dancers for the San Diego Opera, the Dallas Opera and at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. The company is currently in negotiations with one of China’s largest arts agencies to tour its recent new production of Giselle.
ALEXANDER ROM (Chorus Master)
A native of Kharkov, Ukraine, Alexander Rom graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory of Music with a Masters Degree in Choral Conducting. Since immigrating to the United States, he has worked as a performer, conductor, educator, voice teacher, opera coach and composer. Maestro Rom returns to The Dallas Opera as Chorus Master where he has led the chorus to critical acclaim for 22 seasons. Maestro Rom has been an opera coach with The Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Savonlinna Opera Festival, Cincinnati Festival and Ravinia Festival. Maestro Rom has worked with world renown singers including Paul Plishka, Mirella Freni, Nikolai Ghiaurov, Jorma Hynninen, Helga Dernesch, Martti Talvela, Joyce di Donato, and Jerry Hadley. Maestro Rom is an Honorary Visiting Professor at Sibelius Academy and Helsinki Conservatory of music in Finland. He was a Visiting Professor at Savonlinna Opera Festival Music Institute for ten years, where he staged and musically prepared a production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. He was a founder and a Music Director of The Grace Choral Society of Brooklyn, New York. Maestro Rom’s music and arrangements for voice, chorus, piano and other instruments have been performed in many prestigious venues. Mr. Rom maintains a private voice studio in Dallas, Texas.
AÏDA CAST BIOS:
LATONIA MOORE (Aïda)
Soprano—Performance Made Possible with Support from The Charron and Peter Denker
Rising Stars Endowment Fund
Audiences raved after soprano Latonia Moore’s short-notice debut at the Met earlier this year, with The New York Times reporting: “she received an ecstatic ovation… her voice was radiant, plush and sizable at its best, with gleaming top notes that broke through the chorus and orchestra during the crowd scenes… Moore has enormous potential.” This is Ms. Moore’s second performance with The Dallas Opera, having previously performed as Micaela in Carmen. Her recent career highlights have included performances as the title role in Aida and as Liù in Turandot at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as Aida, Cio Cio San in Madama Butterfly and as Amelia in Simon Boccanegra with the Hamburg State Opera, as Liù, Cio Cio San and as Mimi in La bohème with the Dresden’s Semperoper, as Micaëla in Carmen for the New York City Opera, as Micaela, Liù, Elvira from Ernani and as Lucrezia from I due Foscari in Bilbao, and as Vivetta in L’Arlesiana and as Fidelia in Edgar at Carnegie Hall with the Opera Orchestra of New York. Ms. Moore has received a number of awards, including the Maria Callas Award as debut artist of the season here at The Dallas Opera, a Richard Tucker Foundation Grant, first prize at the Marseilles Competition in 2003, and first prize at the International Competition dell’Opera in Dresden, 2002.
Upcoming engagements: Aida with the San Diego Opera
NADIA KRASTEVA * (Amneris)
Mezzo-soprano
Nadia Krasteva has performed throughout Europe, Japan and the United States. This performance marks her debut with The Dallas Opera. Born in Bulgaria, she is well known for over thirty roles with the Vienna Staatsoper, including Eboli in Don Carlo, Fenena in Nabucco, Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera, Marina in Boris Godunov, Suzuki in Madame Butterfly, Preziosilla in La forza del destino, Leonora in La favorita, Meg Page in Falstaff, Adalgisa in Norma, Olga in Eugene Onegin, the title role in Gesualdo, and Giulietta in Les contes d’Hoffmann. She is also noted for her many performances of the title role in Carmen, including with the Chicago Lyric Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Riga Opera Festival, Savonlinna Opera Festival, the Vienna Staatsoper, Oper Graz, the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam, the Bolshoi Opera in Moscow, and in her hometown of Sofia. She recently sang her first Verdi Requiem at the Riga Summer Festival and soon after sang it with Bryn Terfel at the Faenol Festival in Wales.
ANTONELLO PALOMBI (Radames)
Tenor
Antonello Palombi returns to The Dallas Opera after his thrilling debut as Canio in our 2005 production of Pagliacci. His recent European performances include Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly with the Royal Danish Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and the Finnish National Opera; and Dick Johnson in La fanciulla del West also with the Royal Danish Opera. For the Teatro alla Scala, he has performed the roles of Canio in Pagliacci, Radames in Aida, and Luigi in Il tabarro. Other roles with the Duetsche Oper Berlin include Don Alvaro in La forza del destino, the title role in Andrea Chenier, and as Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut. He has also sung Des Grieux for Glyndebourne, Venice, and Copenhagen. Mr. Palombi made his American debut in 2004 with the Seattle Opera singing the role of Dick Johnson in La fanciulla del West and has returned to Seattle to sing Pagliacci and Manrico in Il trovatore. Other American performances include the title role in Otello with the Cincinatti Opera, and Radames with Baltimore Opera.
LESTER LYNCH (Amonasro, King of Ethiopia)
Baritone
Lester Lynch is a prominent Verdi baritone and has performed across the country to critical acclaim. This is his second role and third production with The Dallas Opera, having twice performed the role of Crown in Porgy & Bess. This past season he sang with the San Francisco Opera as Carbon in Cyrano de Bergerac; the Lyric Opera of Chicago as the King’s Herald in Lohengrin; and with the Kentucky Opera as Alfio in Cavalleria rusticana and Tonio in Pagliacci. He has performed with the Washington National Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Porgy in Porgy & Bess, with the Houston Grand Opera as Germont in La traviata, with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Sharpless in Madame Butterfly and with the New York City Opera as Marcello in La bohème. Recent engagements include the title role in Rigoletto with the Canadian Opera Company, Gérard in Andrea Chenier with the Bregenzer Festspiele, and Scarpia in Tosca with Glimmerglass Opera. Mr. Lynch is a winner of the George London Foundation grant and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
ORLIN ANASTASSOV * (Ramfis, the high priest)
Bass
Orlin Anastassov is making his Dallas Opera debut in this production. He has performed with many of the world’s leading opera companies, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Teatro alla Scala, The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, the Vienna State Opera, and the Deutsche Oper Berlin. He won first prize in the Operalia Competition in 1999 and made his debut at Teatro alla Scala as Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia that same year. His American debut was at the Washington National Opera. For La Scala, he has also sung Timur in Turandot, Ramfis in Aida and the title role in a new production of Attila. With The Royal Opera he has performed the title role in Attila, Fiesco in Simon Boccanegra, and Méphistophélès in Faust. Other roles include the title role in Boris Godunov, Phillip II in Don Carlo, Silva in Ernani, Banquo in Macbeth, Zaccaria in Nabucco, and Procida in I vespri Siciliani. He made his San Francisco Opera debut as Guardiano in La forza del destino, and in 2008 he debuted with the Metropolitan Opera as Alvise in La Giocanda.
BEN WAGER (The King of Egypt)
Bass
Ben Wager returns for his second role with The Dallas Opera having sung Masetto in Don Giovanni in 2010. He debuted with the Minnesota Opera in the North American premiere of Jonathan Dove’s Adventures of Pinocchio and returned to Minnesota last season for General Audebert in the world premiere of Kevin Puts’ Silent Night and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor. He debuted with the Opera Company of Philadelphia as Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia and with the Opera Cleveland as Nourabad in Les pêcheurs de perles. He is a recent graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts where his roles included Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Enrico in Anna Bolena, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte. He has performed with the Deutsche Oper Berlin as Zuniga and Escamillo in Carmen, Angelotti in Tosca, Sarastro in an abridged version of Die Zauberflöte, Panthus in Les Troyens, and Doctor Grenvil in La traviata. As a member of San Francisco Opera Merola Opera Program, he sang Il commendatore in Catherine Malfitano’s production of Don Giovanni. Later this season, Mr. Wager will sing the title role in a new production of Don Giovanni for Kentucky Opera.
JONATHAN YARRINGTON * (Messenger)
Tenor—The Phyllis A. McCasland and Thomas H. McCasland, Jr., Young Artist
This production marks Jonathan Yarrington’s main stage debut with The Dallas Opera although he has previously sung in our Education and Community Outreach production as Pasquin/Silvio/Doctor Miracle in Bizet’s Doctor Miracle. Mr. Yarrington is a doctoral candidate at the University of North Texas where he has sung Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Jeník in The Bartered Bride, William Marshall in Regina, Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte, and the Stage Manager in Our Town. He has appeared in concert with the Plano Civic Chorus, the Dallas Chamber Orchestra, the Fort Worth Baroque Society, the Texas Camerata, and the South Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. He has also been an apprentice with the Utah Festival Opera. He won the Nebraska District of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
NAGUANDA NOBLES * (Priestess)
Soprano
NaGuanda Nobles debuts with The Dallas Opera in this production. She has enjoyed great success in opera houses and concert halls across the US with her performances garnering critical praise and numerous awards. She began her operatic career at Florida State University playing Papagena in Die Zauberflöte, a role she later reprised with the Pittsburgh Opera Center. Also in Pittsburgh, she has performed as Echo in Ariadne auf Naxos, as Miranda in L’Ormindo, as Atalanta in Xerxes, and most recently as Liu in Turandot, a role she has also performed with the Austin Lyric Opera. Ms. Nobles has appeared as Clara in Porgy & Bess with the Chicago Lyric Opera, the Atlanta Opera, the Dayton Opera, and the Pensacola Opera. She has performed the role of Mimi in La bohème with both the Sacramento Opera and with the Dayton Opera. An accomplished concert vocalist, Ms. Nobles has performed with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and across Germany as a soloist on the Soul of America tour.
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EVENTS AND GUEST ARTISTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE
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VISIT WWW.DALLASOPERA.ORG AND CHECK THE CALENDAR LISTINGS
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The Dallas Opera’s 2012-2013 “Pursuits of Passion Season”
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Ticket Information for the 2012-2013 Dallas Opera Season
All performances are in the new Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center. Subscriptions start at just $75 and are on sale now. Single tickets go on sale September 10, 2012, starting at just $25. For more information, contact The Dallas Opera Ticket Services Office at 214.443.1000 or visit us online at www.dallasopera.org.
THE DALLAS OPERA 2012-2013 SEASON INFORMATION
The Dallas Opera celebrates its Fifty-Sixth International Season in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in downtown Dallas. Evening performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinees will begin at 2:00 p.m. English translations will be projected above the stage at every performance. Assistance is available for the hearing impaired.
AIDA by Giuseppe Verdi
October 26 – The Linda and Mitch Hart Season Opening Night Performance, starring Latonia Moore, the Charron and Peter Denker Rising Star! (2012)
Additional Performances on October 28(m), 31, November 3, 9, 11(m), 2012
Verdi’s Complex and Intimate Love Story Set in Spectacular Ancient Egypt!
An opera in four acts first performed at Khedivial Opera House, Cairo on December 24, 1871.
Text by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette.
Time: Old Kingdom
Place: Egypt
Conductor: Graeme Jenkins
Stage Director: Garnett Bruce
Costume Design: Peter J. Hall
Wig & make-up Design: David Zimmerman
Chorus Master: Alexander Rom
Starring: Latonia Moore (Aïda), Antonello Palombi (Radames), Nadia Krasteva* (Amneris), Lester Lynch (Amonasro), Orlin Anastassov* (Ramfis), Ben Wager (The King of Egypt), Jonathan Yarrington* (Messenger), and NaGuanda Nobles* (Priestess).
TURANDOT by Giacomo Puccini
April 5, 7(m), 10, 13, 19 & 21(m), 2013
Puccini’s Last Masterpiece—Riddled with Passionate Romance and Unforgettable Music!
An opera in three acts first performed in Milan at La Scala, April 25, 1926
Text by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni, based on Carlo Gozzi’s fable, Turandot.
Time: Legendary times
Place: Peking, China
Conductor: Marco Zambelli
Stage Director: Garnett Bruce
Production Design: Allen Charles Klein
Wig & make-up Design: David Zimmerman
Chorus Master: Alexander Rom
Starring: Lise Lindstrom* (Princess Turandot), Antonello Palombi (Calaf), Hei-Kyung Hong (Liu), Christian Van Horn* (Timur), Jonathan Beyer (Ping), Joseph Hu (Pang), Daniel Montenegro* (Pong), Ryan Kuster* (A Mandarin), Steven Haal (Emperor Altoum).
THE ASPERN PAPERS by Dominick Argento
April 12, 14(m), 17, 20, 28(m), 2013
The Games People Play—Both Young and Old—To Achieve Their Twisted Desires!
An opera in two acts first performed in Dallas, November 19, 1988.
Text by Dominick Argento, based on a Henry James novella.
Time: Legendary
Place: Lake Como, Italy
Conductor: Graeme Jenkins
Stage Director: Tim Albery
Scenic Design: Andrew Lieberman*
Costume Design: Constance Hoffman*
Lighting Design: Thomas Hase
Wig & make-up Design: David Zimmerman
Chorus Master: Alexander Rom
Assistant Director: Michael Mori
Starring: Susan Graham* (Tina), Alexandra Deshorties (Juliana Bordereau), Nathan Gunn (The Lodger), Joseph Kaiser* (Aspern), Dean Peterson (Barelli), Sasha Cooke* (Sonia), Eric Jordan* (A painter), Jennifer Youngs* (Olimpia).
* Dallas Opera Debut
** American Debut
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The Dallas Opera is supported, in part, by funds from: City of Dallas, Office of Cultural Affairs; TACA; the Texas Commission on the Arts and The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). American Airlines is the official airline of The Dallas Opera. Lexus is the official vehicle of The Dallas Opera. Advertising support from The Dallas Morning News. A special thanks to Mrs. William W. Winspear and the Elsa von Seggern Foundation for their continuing support.
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