THE DALLAS OPERA IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE
AMERICAN BASS-BARITONE
KYLE KETELSEN
HONORED TONIGHT AS THE 2018
“MARIA CALLAS DEBUT ARTIST OF THE YEAR”
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SINGER RAISED IN CLINTON, IOWA ENGAGED NORTH TEXAS AUDIENCES IN SIX THRILLING PERFORMANCES THIS SPRING
DALLAS, TX, JUNE 11, 2018 – The Dallas Opera is proud to announce the winner of the 2018 “Maria Callas Debut Artist of the Year” Award: the supremely gifted American bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen, for his portrayal of Leporello in our critically-acclaimed spring production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
This prestigious award, named after one of the most renowned opera artists of the 20th century, is given to a single performer each season in recognition of a particularly memorable and outstanding company debut. The winner was announced earlier this evening at the annual Dallas Opera Board and Trustee Appreciation Dinner held in the Crescent Ballroom of the Hotel Crescent Court in Dallas, TX.
The National Winner of the 1998 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions is an alumnus of the University of Iowa and Indiana University, who served for six years in the Army National Guard. Today, Ketelsen is renowned throughout the opera world for his powerful, sensitive bass-baritone; his extraordinary stage presence and his show-stopping skills as an actor.
Wayman Chin, reviewing Boston’s production of Le nozze di Figaro for Opera News magazine, had this analysis of Mr. Ketelsen’s portrayal of Figaro: “So powerfully realized was his playing that one felt that this big-hearted, warm and lovable guy was someone one knew well. Intelligent, sharp, totally present, with just the right mix of bravado and charm, Ketelsen performed like an athlete in peak form. He is the kind of artist for whom singing and acting meet seamlessly, in spontaneous and inspired conception. Even when he was just watching and listening, Ketelsen told us everything he was feeling: when he began to sing, it was pure magic.”
In recent seasons, Kyle Ketelsen has triumphed as “an exciting, sexy Escamillo” (Heidi Waleson, The Wall Street Journal) at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Teatro Real in Madrid, Bavarian State Opera, Minnesota Opera and elsewhere.
Mr. Ketelsen has earned tremendous praise for additional signature roles: Figaro, Raimondo, Méphistophélès, Basilio, and his “dangerously attractive” Nick Shadow in Igor Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress at the Festival d’Aix en Provence and The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden—a performance which prompted James Sohre of OperaToday.com to write: “His is a sizable instrument which can easily ring out in the house one minute, and scale back to a hushed, intense sotto voce the next. He brought his usual intelligence and superb musicianship to bear in what has to be considered a major role assumption in his growing repertoire (and reputation). As wonderful as is his vocalizing, Kyle also scores big – make that waaaaaay big – as an actor. In fact, I would be hard pressed to think of any male singer active that is his equal for stage presence, character delineation, vocal color, uninhibited movement, and dramatic understanding. The card scene could have served as a Master Class in theatrical nuance.”
Here in Dallas, critics responded to Mr. Ketelsen’s 2018 TDO debut as Leporello, the reluctant “wingman” and servant to Craig Verm’s Don Giovanni, with equally high praise:
“Ketelsen played the role exceedingly well; his use of gestures and facial expressions and his knack for physical comedy brought a great deal of humor to the dark duties he performed for his increasingly evil employer. His singing matched his comic acting and kept the audience laughing to the end, when he sings that he is “off to the bar to find a better boss” (Monica Smart, Dallas Observer)
“Kyle Ketelsen’s Leporello looked less like the usual hapless hanger-on and more like a professional – if still hapless – fixer. His brighter, limber baritone and animated presence made him an apt foil to Verm’s Giovanni” (Scott Cantrell, The Dallas Morning News).
“Bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen immediately demonstrated the complex comedic skills to pull off the role of Giovanni’s grumpily enabling servant…in the penultimate scene at the appearance of the Commendatore, his frenzied hunger combines with a confident vocal presence for a characterization that was both frightening and comical” (Wayne Lee Gay, Texas Classical Review).
“Kyle Ketelsen owns the Winspear stage as Leporello…He’s handsome and physical, expressive and sympathetic, all wrapped up in an outstanding voice. (I’d love to see him in another Mozart role, the wily Figaro, or as Sancho Panza in Massenet’s Don Quichotte.)” (Arnold Jones, Dallas Voice).
“The character of Leporello in Don Giovanni is a particularly complex and intriguing role in opera,” said Kern Wildenthal, Interim General Director and CEO. “Kyle Ketelsen’s portrayal of this flawed but ultimately sympathetic figure was superbly sung as well as being unusually thought provoking. He was a standout in one of the strongest casts and most memorable productions in the history of The Dallas Opera.
“It is not surprising,” Wildenthal added, “that our subscribers selected him to receive this prestigious annual award for a singer making his or her company debut.”
Career highlights of the 2017-18 Season included the role of Nick Shadow in Simon McBurney’s production of The Rake’s Progress for Dutch National Opera; additonal Leporellos with Tokyo’s NHK Symphony Orchestra and the Opéra National de Lyon; reprising the role of Escamillo in Carmen at Teatro Real, Madrid; and portraying Alidoro, the prince’s tutor and advisor, in La Cenerentola for Bavarian State Opera.
Mr. Ketelsen’s upcoming engagements include starring roles at the Metropolitan Opera in a 2019 production of Pelléas et Mélisande, in Handel’s Ariodante at Lyric Opera of Chicago as The King of Scotland, and Escamillo in Carmen for San Francisco Opera.
The bass-baritone is quite as accomplished in the orchestra hall as he is in the opera house. Kyle Ketelsen was a featured soloist in performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Rome’s National Academy of Santa Cecilia; in Brahms’ German Requiem at the San Francisco Symphony; in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex with the London Philharmonia; and on a host of national and international concert stages including regular appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and at the Grant Park Music Festival.
Additionally, he starred in the Grammy-nominated recording of Pulcinella by Igor Stravinsky (recorded with Pierre Boulez and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra) and in Haydn’s The Creation, recorded with Music of the Baroque.
Mr. Ketelsen is also the recipient of numerous awards; winning a Richard Tucker Music Foundation Career Grant (2003), a George London Foundation Career Grant (1999), a Sullivan Musical Foundation Career Grant (1998), First Place in the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation Vocal Competition (2000) and named a Finalist in Plácido Domingo’s Operalia 2000 World Opera Contest in Los Angeles.
Kyle Ketelsen currently resides in Wisconsin with his wife, a professionally trained singer, and their two children.
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Mr. Ketelsen will receive a beautiful etched-crystal plaque created by award-winning designers from Tiffany & Co. for The Dallas Opera. This plaque bears the likeness of The Dallas Opera’s unofficial Godmother, Greek soprano Maria Callas.
“La Divina” launched The Dallas Opera with a 1957 recital in the Music Hall at Fair Park and continued to grace TDO’s stage throughout those early years with a series of now-legendary performances.
The 2018 award winner responded to the news, by email, with a statement read to the dinner guests this evening by Dr. Wildenthal:
It’s an incredible honor receiving this award, which I will truly cherish. Especially considering the list of former winners, as it’s a virtual ‘Who’s Who’ in our art form.
As performing artists, a considerable part of our being is to seek approval: from intendants, colleagues, critics, agents, and ourselves.
Perhaps above all these is the desire to have our work understood and appreciated by the public. It’s the entire reason for our endeavors, and serves as a substantial part of our inspiration to perform regularly at a high level. That instant, honest, visceral feedback from an audience is beyond description, and is its own reward.
This award encapsulates the essence of what it means for me to be a performing artist.
Sincere thanks,
Kyle Ketelsen
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There were seventeen additional 2017-2018 Season nominees for the Callas Award (artists making outstanding company debuts in a principal role last season)—listed below with the productions in which they starred:
ADDITIONAL NOMINEES FOR 2018 MARIA CALLAS AWARD
SAMSON AND DALILA
Olga Borodina (Dalila)
Michael Chioldi (Abimelech)
LA TRAVIATA
René Barbera (Alfredo)
Abigail Lewis (Flora Bervoix)
Daniel Armstrong (Marquis d’Obigny)
Brenton Ryan (Gastone de Letorières)
Rachel Sterrenberg (Annina)
THE RING OF POLYKRATES
Paul Groves (Wilhelm Arndt)
Laura Wilde (Laura Arndt)
Susannah Biller (Lieschen)
Craig Colclough (Peter Vogel)
SUNKEN GARDEN
Katherine Manley (Zenna Briggs)
Miah Persson (Iris Marinus)
Roderick Williams (Toby Kramer)
Jonathan McGovern (Simon Vines)
Kate Miller-Heidke (Amber Jacquemain)
DON GIOVANNI
Katie Van Kooten (Donna Elvira)
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The “Maria Callas Debut Artist of the Year Award” was created during the 1991-1992 Dallas Opera Season.
The first recipient was Sharon Sweet for her impressive performance in the title role of Aida. The list of subsequent winners reads like an opera’s “Who’s Who” from Susan Graham, Cecilia Bartoli, Mary Dunleavy, Elizabeth Futral, Hei-Kyung Hong, Denyce Graves, Indira Mahajan, Mary Mills, Patricia Racette, Latonia Moore, Christopher Ventris, Catherine Naglestad, James Valenti, Laura Claycomb and Ben Heppner, to Greek-born Soprano Myrtò Papatanasiu (Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata), mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard (Rosina in The Barber of Seville), Ekaterina Scherbachenko (the title role in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta), mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato for the title role in Great Scott (a 2015 Dallas Opera world premiere by Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally), and last year’s winner, soprano Marina Costa-Jackson, who moved audiences as Adalgisa – “the other woman” – in a critically acclaimed production of Bellini’s bel canto masterpiece, Norma.
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ABOUT THE DALLAS OPERA
Founded in 1957, The Dallas Opera is an internationally-recognized innovator dedicated to the overall advancement of the operatic art form and the support of established and emerging artists, as well as the education and development of new opera audiences in North Texas—and beyond. These goals are achieved by commissioning and producing world-class opera; through ground-breaking institutes, national competitions and topical programs; and by presenting opera in both traditional and non-traditional formats and venues in order to attract patrons of every age, background, educational level, and ethnicity—while engaging with more than 87,000 people in our community each year. TDO is equally committed to the task of responsible stewardship and is managed with efficiency and accountability, to the highest possible standards.
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2018-2019 SEASON SPONSOR
The Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Family
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