The Dallas Opera

  • My Cart
  • Contact
    • Home > Keith Cerny

    FIRST NIGHT 2013 at the Dallas Opera

    Something for everyone on FIRST NIGHT at the Dallas Opera! Read on…

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
    Monday, September 30, 2013

    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 ANNOUNCE
    “FIRST NIGHT 2013”
    “BY LOVE TRANSFORMED”
    ~~~~
    FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2013 AT 5:30 P.M.
    THE MARGOT AND BILL WINSPEAR OPERA HOUSE AT THE AT&T PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
    ~~~~
    NGP ENERGY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, Presenting Sponsor
    ~~~~
    Lynn Mock, FIRST SIGHT/FIRST NIGHT Chair
    ~~~~
    Pre-performance black-tie dinner at 6:00 followed by 8:00 p.m. Performance of Carmen, concluding with on-site After Party
    ~~~~
    LINDA AND MITCH HART SEASON OPENING NIGHT PERFORMANCE, ENDOWED SUPPORT

    DALLAS, SEPTEMBER 30, 2013 – The Dallas Opera is thrilled to revive—by popular demand—the exciting festivities marking the opening of a new season, known as FIRST NIGHT. The one-night-only celebrations presented by NGP Energy Capital Management will take place both inside and outside the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in the Dallas Arts District, on Friday, October 25, 2013 beginning at 5:30 p.m. with a lavish black-tie dinner at 6:00 provided by Puck Catering in a beautifully appointed tent in Sammons Park (located just off the main promenade to the Winspear Opera House).
    The menu and dinner music, as well as the artistic design, will reflect the cultural influences that dominate the 2013-2014 Season – “By Love Transformed.”
    Sophisticated models will show off their extraordinary opera-inspired couture gowns, designed especially for the occasion by five internationally acclaimed fashion designers: Elizabeth Anyaa, Michael Faircloth, Abi Ferrin, Khan Nguyen and Nicolas Villalba. Several of the gowns and original sketches will be auctioned online by FIRST SIGHT sponsor, Heritage Auctions, beginning on October 25th. Read more →

    The Dallas Opera Presents “Carmen” Oct 25-Nov 10

    MEDIA RELEASE

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
    Wednesday, September 25, 2013

    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 SPECTACULAR 2013-2014 SEASON OPENER:
    GEORGES BIZET’S COLORFUL, SENSUAL MASTERPIECE
    CARMEN
    LIBRETTO BY HENRI MEILHAC AND LUDOVIC HALÉVY
    BASED ON THE NOVELLA BY PROSPER MÉRIMÉE
    ~~~~
    STARRING FRENCH MEZZO-SOPRANO CLÉMENTINE MARGAINE IN HER AMERICAN DEBUT, TENORS BRANDON JOVANOVICH AND BRUNO RIBEIRO AS DON JOSÉ, SOPRANO MARY DUNLEAVY AS MICAËLA AND BASS-BARITONE DWAYNE CROFT AS ESCAMILLO
    ~~~~
    CONDUCTED BY MAESTRO EMMANUEL VILLAUME
    IN HIS PODIUM DEBUT AS TDO MUSIC DIRECTOR
    STAGED BY DIRECTOR CHRIS ALEXANDER
    ~~~~
    OPENING NIGHT: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2013 AT 8:00 PM
    (NOTE SPECIAL TIME) WITH ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCES
    Oct. 27(m), 30, Nov. 2, 8, 10(m)
    ~~~~
    SEASON OPENING NIGHT PERFORMANCE OF CARMEN
    WITH ENDOWED SUPPORT FROM
    LINDA AND MITCH HART
    ~~~~
    ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
    ALICE W. AND RICHARD D. BASS
    JOY S. AND RONALD MANKOFF
    BETTY AND STEVE SUELLENTROP
    JOANNA AND PETER TOWNSEND
    JAMES R. SEITZ, JR.
    ~~~~
    SEASON PRESENTING SPONSOR,
    TEXAS INSTRUMENTS FOUNDATION

    FIRST NIGHT 2013 “BY LOVE TRANSFORMED”
    NGP ENERGY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, PRESENTING SPONSOR
    PRE-PERFORMANCE BLACK-TIE DINNER & AFTER PARTY

    DALLAS, SEPTEMBER 25, 2013 – The Dallas Opera is extremely proud to present the opening production of the 2013-2014 “By Love Transformed” Season: Georges Bizet’s colorful, sensual and passionate 19th century masterpiece, CARMEN, one of the most beloved and popular works in the entire opera canon. CARMEN opens on Friday, October 25, 2013 in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in the Dallas Arts District.
    The Linda and Mitch Hart Season Opening Night Performance will begin at 8:00 PM; it will be preceded by FIRST NIGHT red carpet arrivals and pre-performance dinner (beginning at 6:00 PM), chaired by Mary Beth and Jay Marshall.
    The performance itself will be followed by the sensational after-party hosted by Chairs Rhonda and Fraser Marcus. For tickets and information about FIRST NIGHT 2013, contact Dallas Opera Special Events Manager Tracy Mott at tracy.mott@dallasopera.org
    Subsequent performances of CARMEN are scheduled for October 27(m), 30, November 2, 8, and 10(m), 2013, with generous support from Alice W. and Richard D. Bass, Joy S. and Ronald Mankoff, Betty and Steve Suellentrop, Joanna and Peter Townsend, and James R. Seitz, Jr..
    Full season subscriptions are still available, beginning at just $76, 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. Read more →

    The Dallas Opera Global Simulcast of “Death and the Powers”

    Yes, Virginia, we’re going global – on February 16, 2014. Read all about it in the release posted below and let your friends in target cities know, so they can mark their calendars now.

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
    Wednesday, September 11, 2013

    Contact: Suzanne Calvin 214.443.1014
    Suzanne.Calvin@dallasopera.org
    Or Megan Meister 214.443.1071
    Megan.Meister@dallasopera.org

    National Press Representation:
    Kirshbaum Demler & Associates: adamm@kirshdem.com or 212-222-4843

    THE DALLAS OPERA PRESENTS
    OPERA ON A WORLD STAGE!

    Death and the Powers:
    THE GLOBAL
    INTERACTIVE SIMULCAST
    ~~~~
    SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2014
    AT 2:00 P.M. (Central Time)
    THE MARGOT AND BILL WINSPEAR OPERA HOUSE AT THE AT&T PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, DALLAS TX
    ~~~~
    Remote locations throughout the U.S. and Europe, including the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, with new interactive capabilities and views!
    ~~~~
    PRODUCED BY: TOD MACHOVER, KEITH CERNY,
    BOB ELLIS, MIT MEDIA LAB
    AND THE DALLAS OPERA
    ~~~~
    Death and the Powers supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

    DALLAS, SEPTEMBER 11, 2013 – The Dallas Opera is privileged to announce an extraordinary and unprecedented experiment in twenty-first century opera: “The Dallas Opera’s Global Interactive Simulcast” of acclaimed American composer Tod Machover’s DEATH AND THE POWERS, scheduled to take place in Dallas on Sunday, February 16th at 2:00 p.m. Central Time, originating in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center and being simulcast to as many as ten locations in Europe and the U.S.
    The Dallas Opera is currently in negotiations with a wide-range of venues and organizations located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley, Bing Concert Hall at Stanford University, New York City and its boroughs, Philadelphia, Paris, Los Angeles, London and Stockholm—as well as the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in the Dallas Arts District, which has already shown a keen interest in the questions raised by Machover’s “robot pageant” opera and has partnered with both the Dallas Opera and the MIT Media Lab’s “Opera of the Future” program to support this innovative approach to the art form and attract new generations to opera.
    DEATH AND THE POWERS, with music by composer/inventor Tod Machover and text by librettist Robert Pinsky (one of America’s foremost living poets) received rave reviews at its sold-out 2010 Monte Carlo world premiere and subsequent engagements in Boston and Chicago.
    However, this unprecedented Dallas Opera Global Simulcast offers far more than a mere stage production; patrons will experience Simon Powers’ perspective from within “The System,” as well as a “robot’s eye view” of the opera, while tapping into a variety of interactive features. Those attending the simulcast anywhere in the world will have an opportunity to interact with the main performance onstage—through cellphones, tablets and other handheld devices—in order to influence the visual elements in the Winspear Opera House in real time, as they unfold. Read more →

    The Dallas Opera has Achieved a Balanced Operating Result, Two Years Ahead of Schedule!

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
    Thursday, September 19, 2013
    Contact: Suzanne Calvin 214.443.1014                     Or Megan Meister 214.443.1071
    suzanne.calvin@dallasopera.org                                 megan.meister@dallasopera.org                                           

    THE DALLAS OPERA IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE

    THE COMPANY HAS ACHIEVED A BALANCED OPERATING RESULT,
    TWO YEARS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE!

    ~~~~

    TDO Achieves First Balanced Operating Budget Since 2005

    ~~~~

    Company to Present Four Operas
    During 2014-15 Season, in Addition to Everest,
    A Dallas Opera World Premiere

                DALLAS, TX, SEPTEMBER 19, 2013 – The Dallas Opera is extremely proud to announce today that the company has achieved its first balanced operating budget since Fiscal 2005, a full two years ahead of schedule.  The company’s latest fiscal year ended on June 30th.

                Exactly two years ago, the Dallas Opera faced its most severe financial crisis in modern company history, prompting the TDO Board and General Director and CEO Keith Cerny, who assumed the role in May of 2010, to initiate an aggressive restructuring of company operations.  This included the difficult step of cancelling one of the mainstage operas of the 2011-2012 Season, and reducing the 2012-2013 Season to three mainstage operas.  These steps were taken as part of a multi-year plan to restore the company’s financial health while maintaining artistic quality, and to achieve a balanced operating budget no later than the end of the 2014-2015 Season.

    The subsequent outpouring of board, trustee and public support allowed the company to build a base of multi-year donor commitments, to secure major new gifts, earn an anonymous $10 million dollar match (through an equal amount in donations to the Cultural Renaissance Endowment Fund), dramatically reduce costs without sacrificing overall artistic quality, and steadily reduce the company’s deficits. Read more →

    THE DALLAS OPERA PRESENTS OPERA ON A WORLD STAGE!

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
    Wednesday, September 11, 2013

    Contact: Suzanne Calvin 214.443.1014
    Suzanne.Calvin@dallasopera.org

    Or Megan Meister 214.443.1071
    Megan.Meister@dallasopera.org

    National Press Representation:
    Kirshbaum Demler & Associates: adamm@kirshdem.com or 212-222-4843

    THE DALLAS OPERA PRESENTS
     OPERA ON A WORLD STAGE! 

    Death and the Powers:
    THE GLOBAL
    INTERACTIVE SIMULCAST

                       ~~~~                           

    SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2014
    AT 2:00 P.M. (Central Time)

    THE MARGOT AND BILL WINSPEAR OPERA HOUSE
    AT THE AT&T PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, DALLAS TX

    ~~~~

    Remote locations throughout the U.S. and Europe, including the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, with new interactive capabilities and views!

    ~~~~

    PRODUCED BY: TOD MACHOVER, KEITH CERNY, ROBERT A. ELLIS, MIT MEDIA LAB
    AND THE DALLAS OPERA

    ~~~~

    Death and the Powers supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

                DALLAS, SEPTEMBER 11, 2013 – The Dallas Opera is privileged to announce an extraordinary and unprecedented experiment in twenty-first century opera: “The Dallas Opera’s Global Interactive Simulcast” of acclaimed American composer Tod Machover’s DEATH AND THE POWERS, scheduled to take place in Dallas on Sunday, February 16th at 2:00 p.m. Central Time, originating in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center and being simulcast to as many as ten locations in Europe and the U.S. Read more →

    Dallas Opera Perspectives at the Meadows Museum

    Count me in! Coming to the Meadows Museum, a conversation not to be missed between Dallas Opera General Director and CEO Keith Cerny and the company’s esteemed new music director, Emmanuel Villaume. Details to follow:

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
    Friday, September 6, 2013
    Contact: Suzanne Calvin 214.443.1014 Or Megan Meister 214.443.1071
    suzanne.calvin@dallasopera.org megan.meister@dallasopera.org

    THE DALLAS OPERA PRESENTS

    “DALLAS OPERA PERSPECTIVES”

    With Dallas Opera General Director and CEO Keith Cerny
    And Dallas Opera Music Director Emmanuel Villaume
    In Partnership with the Meadows Museum of Art
    ~~~~
    Discussion of Spanish Art and Bizet’s Carmen
    Followed by Special Free Gallery Tour
    ~~~~
    Tuesday, October 8, 2013 at 6:30 p.m.
    The Meadows Museum at SMU
    ~~~~
    Free Covered Parking Available On-Site

    DALLAS, SEPTEMBER 6, 2013 – The Dallas Opera, in partnership with the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University, is delighted to introduce the first in a series of new programs hosted by Dallas Opera General Director and CEO Keith Cerny and designed to present informed personal perspectives on the arts.
    Our first edition of “Dallas Opera Perspectives” taking place on Tuesday, October 8, 2013 at 6:30 p.m. in the Meadows Museum, will introduce Dallas to TDO’s acclaimed new music director, Maestro Emmanuel Villaume, who will apply his keen interest in the visual arts to works in the Spanish collection that “speak to him” in a special way as he prepares to conduct our season-opening production of Georges Bizet’s CARMEN.
    “I look forward to October 25th with a sense of anticipation and excitement tempered by a comfortable sense of the familiar,” explains Maestro Villaume.
    “The pressure will be on in my first podium appearance as Music Director of the Dallas Opera. However, Carmen, as a mainstay of the French repertoire, is a work I have conducted throughout my career. Over the years, familiarity with Bizet’s masterpiece has generated within me an even greater respect for his musical vision, and I always seek something fresh and revelatory in my approach to the score to bring to every performance.
    “One of the great privileges of this career is the ability to travel and discover new cities—in particular, their museums. Dallas, fortunately, is endowed with several world class collections and I am eager to explore them all.
    “Studying visual arts is a stimulating activity for me, as it touches on some of the same fundamental artistic and spiritual issues as music, although from a totally different angle. It’s a pastime I find to be as refreshing as it is enlightening.” Read more →