Archives for 2008
Suzanne Calvin Interviews Die Fledermaus’ Ava Pine
November 25, 2008
Listen to this interview with Ava Pine who will be starring as Adele in Die Fledermaus.
Suzanna Guzman Enchants Kids in West Dallas
November 21, 2008
Latina mezzo-soprano Suzanna Guzman grew up without opera in East Los Angeles. She doesn’t want other children to have to say the same and–to that end–she has taken her one-woman show, “Don’t Be Afraid: It’s Just Opera!” to around 200,000 school age children throughout the United States. Suzanna, who portrays a delightful Marcellina in our... Read more →
Barihunks Strikes Again!
November 19, 2008
We’re incredibly pleased to be providing so much “grist for the mill” over at Barihunks this season. But, I ask you, who wouldn’t enjoy the sight of these polished…uh…performances. Not to mention these chiseled and defined…young talents. Yes, my friends, there are definite perks to this job. Suzanne Calvin, Assoc. Dir. of Marketing, The Dallas... Read more →
Another Compelling Figaro Video
November 18, 2008
Photo credits: Courtney Perry I’m certain you caught Classical Music Critic Scott Cantrell’s fine feature on the young leads of “The Marriage of Figaro” in The Dallas Morning News, but if you missed Melanie Burford’s poignant video interview, you’ll want to take a couple of minutes to savor it here. I cannot tell you how... Read more →
Letter to the Editor
The headline on this letter to the editor of The Dallas Morning News reminded me of a story my older sister tells about the first time she saw “The Marriage of Figaro” and was so disappointed not to hear “Largo al factotum” better known as “Figaro, Figaro, Figaro!” Many thanks to Preston in Weatherford! Suzanne... Read more →
The Critics Speak: “The Marriage of Figaro”
November 17, 2008
Photo credits: Karen Almond Well, even as the stellar cast of characters finds peace and harmony at the end of their “mad” day, so we seem to be blissfully aligned with the opinions of our major music critics. Scott Cantrell of The Dallas Morning News calls our ongoing production of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro”... Read more →
Dr. Stephen Dubberly on The Marriage of Figaro
November 13, 2008
The Figaro 4 – An interview with the Cast of The Marriage of Figaro
Allow me to interject a little background. What you see before you is a casual (and somewhat tongue-in-cheek) conversation at the end of a long afternoon of serious interviews by members of the local news media. Although these cast members are fully capable of discussing the nuances of Mozart’s musical genius–in addition to interacting particle... Read more →
Up Close and Personal
You will be seeing portions of our discussion with the exciting young stars of “The Marriage of Figaro:” sopranos Lyubov Petrova and Susanna Phillips, bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch and baritone Michael Todd Simpson. Here’s a lovely short video put together by videographer Melanie Burford at The Dallas Morning News — It’s well worth a look. Suzanne... Read more →
D’s Musings about George and The Dallas Opera
November 6, 2008
Be sure to check out Peter Simek’s piece in D magazine on General Director George Steel and the future trajectory of The Dallas Opera. (Photo by Sean McCormick for D) Although a fair amount of the article deals with Simek’s experiences in the opera house–both here and abroad–as well as George Steel’s gradual conversion from... Read more →
Baring All for Charity
November 5, 2008
You know, there’s been a lot of talk lately about nudity in opera performances catching on worldwide (See our earlier post) but now it appears that even the musicians in the pit and the backstage personnel at England’s Royal Opera House are getting into the act. Did we neglect to mention the ballerinas? Obviously, the... Read more →
An Ill-Wind Blowing from Santa Ana
Sad report today from Tim Mangan in “The Orange Country Register” that Opera Pacific–due to stage the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath this coming January–is officially kaput and not likely to be revived. Opera company officials blame the nation’s economic downtown. Here’s more on the story. Let’s hope, now that... Read more →
Our “Mad Men” Moment
November 4, 2008
Move over, Don Draper! The Dallas Opera marketing team is enjoying our 15 minutes or so of notoriety accorded to a lucky few. Citing “one of the best and most original ad campaigns of the year,” The Dallas Opera has evidently earned the unofficial “Barihunk” Seal of Approval with our so-bad-they’re-good season mascots. The most... Read more →