A change in the cast for the Dallas Opera’s new production of Dominick Argento’s THE ASPERN PAPERS. See below…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, July 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 ANNOUNCES
A CAST CHANGE IN THE UPCOMING PRODUCTION OF THE ASPERN PAPERS
ALEXANDRA DESHORTIES
WILL PORTRAY JULIANA BORDEREAU
IN THE OPERA BASED ON HENRY JAMES’ PASSIONATE AND ATMOSPHERIC NOVELLA
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April 12, 14(m), 17, 20 & 28, 2013
THE MARGOT AND BILL WINSPEAR OPERA HOUSE
AT THE AT&T PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
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“Pursuits of Passion” Season Presented by
Texas Instruments Foundation
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Season Subscriptions are on Sale Now! Starting at Just $75!
Single Tickets for Verdi’s AÏDA go on Sale Sept. 10, 2012
DALLAS, JULY 27, 2012 – The Dallas Opera is announcing today that the key role of Juliana Bordereau in the company’s 25th Anniversary production of Dominick Argento’s THE ASPERN PAPERS will be sung by Canadian-born French soprano Alexandra Deshorties. Ms. Deshorties made her Dallas Opera debut in October of 2009 as Desdemona in Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello, in the production that opened the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center. Critic Anthony Tommasini, reviewing for The New York Times, noted “There were lovely elements to her affecting performance. She conveyed both Desdemona’s boldness and her vulnerability.”
Raised and educated in Marseilles, France (prior to studies at the Manhattan School of Music), the singer scored a major triumph during last summer’s Glimmerglass Opera Festival in the title role of the rarely performed Cherubini masterpiece, Medea. William Burnett of “Opera Warhorses” wrote: “…granting they are different artists in many respects, I found that Deshorties approached the role, both through its phrasing and vocal dynamics and in its incisive acting, in a way that I can imagine (Maria) Callas in 1957 having done it onstage.”
“Alexandra is an artist of singular intelligence and beauty,” explains Dallas Opera Artistic Director Jonathan Pell. “However, despite an appearance so glamorous that she’s been the subject of a fashion magazine spread, this soprano is utterly fearless and without vanity in pursuit of the truth of the characters she portrays. I know that our audiences will find her charismatic and compelling onstage, and she will interact brilliantly with her internationally renowned co-stars, Susan Graham, Nathan Gunn, and Joseph Kaiser.
The pivotal role of the long-retired opera singer in James’ evocative tale had originally been planned for soprano Carol Vaness. However, Miss Vaness was reluctantly forced to withdraw from the new production (commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the Dallas Opera 1988 world premiere of Argento’s work—as well as the 125 Anniversary of the publication of Henry James’ novella in book form) on the advice of her doctor. She is currently recovering from abdominal surgery.
Argento’s opera, about a writer obsessed with uncovering a long-lost opera score and willing to do nearly anything to obtain it, will close the Dallas Opera’s 2012-2013 “Pursuits of Passion” Season in the Winspear Opera House, April 12, 14(m), 17, 20 & 28, 2013. Subscriptions are on sale now, starting at $75. Single tickets for the spring season productions will go on sale later this year.
ALEXANDRA DESHORTIES BIO:
Alexandra Deshorties continues to distinguish herself as one of the leading young sopranos of her generation. Ms. Deshorties’ engagements include her role and house debut as Desdemona in Otello at the Dallas Opera in 2009, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at the Palm Beach Opera and her recital debut at Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto. She also made debuts in Valencia as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte and at the Bard Festival as Valentine in Les Huguenots. Recent highlights include a return to the Metropolitan Opera House for Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, the title-role Medea for Glimmerglass Opera, and the Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro at the Peter Mattei Festival in Sweden.
A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artists Development Program, she made her house debut as the High Priestess in Aïda, and has since appeared as Elletra in Idomeneo, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, First Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Donna Anna in a new production of Don Giovanni, Echo in Ariadne auf Naxos (which was taped for television broadcast), and the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, all of which were conducted by James Levine. She also appeared as Musetta in La bohème, and Tytania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Other past opera engagements have included Fiordiligi at the San Francisco Opera, the Seattle Opera, the Cincinnati Opera, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the La Coruña Festival in Spain, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and in the Jonathan Miller production at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; Donna Anna at the Los Angeles Opera, Cincinnati Opera, the Aix-en-Provence Festival (in the Peter Brook production which was released on DVD in Europe), and the Gstaad Festival in Switzerland; Violetta in La traviata at the Arizona Opera, and Elletra at the Houston Grand Opera. She also made her role debut as Cleopatra in Guilio Cesare at the Seattle Opera, and sang the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor and the Countess at the Portland Opera Repertory Theater.
On the concert platform she has appeared with the Munich Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic (at the Hollywood Bowl), Seattle Symphony, the Milwaukee Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, the IRIS Chamber Orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony, and at the Salzburg Festival. Conductors with whom she has worked include David Atherton, Edward Gardner, Daniel Harding, Rene Jacobs, James Levine, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Robert Spano, Michael Stern and Patrick Summers. She has also performed selections from Berlioz’ Les Nuits d’été, Brahms’s Liebeslieder Waltzes, and vocal music by Anton Webern with Maestro Levine and the Met Chamber Ensemble in Weill Recital Hall.
Ms. Deshorties studied at the Marseilles Conservatory, where she earned a gold medal/first prize for her performance in vocal juries. She continued her education at the Manhattan School of Music. In 1999, she was the 1st place winner of the Leonie Rysanek memorial prize from the George London Foundation Auditions.
Single tickets for the 2012-2013 Season are subject to dynamic pricing (the earlier they are purchased and the less-in-demand, the lower the price). Subscriptions start at just $75. Inner Circle seating may be priced higher.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT “JULY AT THE DALLAS OPERA”
IS CONVENIENTLY AVAILABLE ONLINE, 24/7
VISIT WWW.DALLASOPERA.ORG AND CHECK THE CALENDAR LISTINGS
OR DALLASOPERA.ORG/SUMMER
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Or for additional information
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THE DALLAS OPERA’S 2012-2013 “Pursuits of Passion Season”
IS PRESENTED BY TEXAS INSTRUMENTS FOUNDATION
THE DALLAS OPERA WISHES TO EXPRESS ITS GRATITUDE TO OUR EXCLUSIVE PARTNERS:
AMERICAN AIRLINES – OFFICIAL AIRLINE OF THE DALLAS OPERA
LEXUS – OFFICIAL VEHICLE OF THE DALLAS OPERA
CARTIER – OFFICIAL JEWELER & WATCHMAKER OF THE DALLAS OPERA
ROSEWOOD CRESCENT HOTEL – OFFICIAL HOTEL OF THE DALLAS OPERA
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, 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: John Copley
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. Cartier is the official jeweler and watchmaker of The Dallas Opera. Rosewood Crescent Hotel is the official hotel of The Dallas Opera. Advertising support from The Dallas Morning News. The T. Boone Pickens YMCA, Smartwater and Stephen Pyles Restaurant–supporting partners. A special thanks to Mrs. William W. Winspear and the Elsa von Seggern Foundation for their continuing support.
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