FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Thursday, November 15, 2018

Contact: Suzanne Calvin 214.443.1014

suzanne.calvin@dallasopera.org

 

The Dallas Opera is Thrilled to Present

Three of the Finest Tenors of Our Time:

 “FABIANO, HYMEL & POLENZANI”

Conducted by Maestro Riccardo Frizza

– For One Performance Only

With The Dallas Opera Orchestra

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SATURDAY, MAY 11, 2019, 7:00 P.M.

The Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House

AT&T Performing Arts Center, Dallas TX

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Centerpiece of 2019 Dallas Opera Gala

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TICKETS GO ON SALE MONDAY, NOV. 19!

Single Tickets $50 to $250 each – Call 214.443.1000 for details

DALLAS, TX, NOVEMBER 15, 2018 – The Dallas Opera is proud to present three of the most sought-after tenors of the 21^st century as they perform a tremendously exciting program of classic opera arias, Broadway favorites and American standards.

“Fabiano, Hymel, and Polenzani” will take place this spring on Saturday, May 11, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. (please note special time) in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center, as the centerpiece of The Dallas Opera Gala, an elegant annual fundraiser.

Internationally-acclaimed American tenors Michael Fabiano, Bryan Hymel and Matthew Polenzani will perform with The Dallas Opera Orchestra under the baton of renowned Italian guest conductor Riccardo Frizza.

Each of these magnificent artists is “at the top of his game.”  This season alone, their schedules reveal an impressive array of “must see” concerts and performances including:

• Michael Fabiano – Boito’s Mefistofele at the Metropolitan Opera; Puccini’s La bohème at the Met and Lyric Opera of Chicago; Concert in Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, Moscow; Massenet’s Werther at Sydney Opera House; Gounod’s Faust at London’s Royal Opera House; Rigoletto at Berlin State Opera and Verdi’s Giovanna d’Arco at Madrid’s Teatro Real
• Bryan Hymel – Verdi’s Les vêpres siciliennes at Bavarian State Opera; Berlioz’ Les Troyens for Paris National Opera; Verdi’s Rigoletto at the Met; Puccini’s La bohème at Vienna State Opera; Bizet’s Carmen at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
• Matthew Polenzani – Mozart’s Idomeneo for Lyric Opera of Chicago; Concert, New World Center, Miami; La bohème at Teatro Massimo, Palermo, Italy; Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta at the Met (role debut); Carnegie Hall recital; La clemenza di Tito at the Metropolitan Opera; Carmen (role debut) at San Francisco Opera
• Riccardo Frizza – Opening Concert of the Donizetti Festival, Bergamo, Italy; Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri at Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, Spain; Donizetti’s Anna Bolena for Rome Opera; Verdi’s Falstaff for The Dallas Opera and Verdi’s Aida at Milan’s La Scala

 

The Dallas Opera, with support from Holly and Tom Mayer, is inviting you to experience four world-class artists performing together for the very first time.  The trio, conducted by Maestro Frizza, will sing a selection of Opera’s most memorable moments from Turandot, Pagliacci, Werther, L’elisir d’amore, Fedora, Eugene Onegin and La Gioconda.  The program will also include an American Song medley and unforgettable songs from some of the finest productions of the twentieth-century musical stage.

 

“For those of us who share a passionate, visceral response to incredible singing,” explains Ian Derrer, The Kern Wildenthal General Director and CEO of The Dallas Opera, “it’s difficult to imagine anything more thrilling than the opportunity to experience these gifted artists in their prime.

“There’s a reason that dedicated aficionados travel the world for the chance to hear these artists in a variety of roles,” Derrer adds.  “And it is nothing short of amazing to realize that Michael, Bryan, Matthew and Riccardo will gather here in Dallas, to create one unforgettable evening of poignant and passionate characterizations and performances.”

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 Tickets for this special concert go on sale at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, November 19, 2018.

V.I.P. Gala Tickets include an exclusive pre-performance reception, the concert, a post-performance dinner curated and prepared by Wolfgang Puck Catering, and a lively After Party.

           Gold Box Gala Tickets start at $1,250 apiece – Tenor Orchestra Gala Tickets start at $1,000 each.

Single tickets for the concert itself are priced at $50 to $250 each and include access to the post-performance After Party—with live music—at the Winspear Opera House.

For additional information about the full gala package, please contact Dallas Opera Special Events Manager Tracy Mott at 214.443.1063 or tracy.mott@dallasopera.org.

For tickets and information regarding the concert, consult the friendly people in The Dallas Opera Box Office at 214.443.1000.

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MICHAEL FABIANO Tenor

Of Michael Fabiano’s debut as Lensky in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at the Royal Opera, The Sunday Times in London wrote: “I can’t think of a Lensky at Covent Garden who has held the audience so spellbound in 40 years of Onegin-going… a glorious debut.” The recipient of the 2014 Beverly Sills Artist Award and the 2014 Richard Tucker Award, Mr. Fabiano is the first singer to win both awards in the same year, and is considered one of the greatest tenors in the world today.

In the 2018/19 season, Mr. Fabiano made his Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as Rodolfo, opening their season in a new production of La bohème. He returns to the Metropolitan Opera for his role debut as Faust in Boito’s Mefistofele followed by Rodolfo in La bohème, and portrays a second incarnation of Faust when he assumes the title role in the Gounod opera at the Royal Opera. His debut at Staatsoper Berlin follows, where he will sing the Duke in a new production of Rigoletto, followed by another role debut as Carlo VII in Verdi’s Giovanna d’Arco (Joan of Arc) at the Teatro Real.  This season, Fabiano opened the Royal Opera in a new production of La bohème conducted by Antonio Pappano, and sang the Duke in Rigoletto, a role in which he made his debut at the Los Angeles Opera. Mr. Fabiano sang his first Des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon at the San Francisco Opera, with subsequent performances in Bilbao at ABAO-OLBE. He performed in recital for Oper Frankfurt, returned to the Metropolitan Opera for Rodolfo in La bohème, and Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, a role he will reprise for Opera Australia, and sang Corrado in Il Corsaro at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia. Both the La bohème and the Rigoletto from the Royal Opera as well as the La bohème from the Met received international HD broadcasts. In celebration of the Bernstein centennial, Mr. Fabiano finishes his season with a performance of excerpts from West Side Story at the Napa Valley Festival, and a Bernstein concert at the Ravinia Festival.

 

BRYAN HYMEL Tenor

Hailed by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung for his “range of expression and vocal power combined with the subtle art of characterization,” tenor Bryan Hymel is the winner of the 2013 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera for his trio of performances in Les Troyens, Robert le diable, and Rusalka at London’s Royal Opera House. The New York Times praised his “unflagging stamina and impetuous abandon” during his 2012 Metropolitan Opera debut as Énée in Les Troyens, for which he was presented with the Metropolitan Opera’s Beverly Sills Artist Award. An exclusive recording artist for Warner Classics, his first solo album Héroïque debuted at number 3 on the Billboard Classical Music chart, and earned Hymel the coveted Georges Thill Prize by the Académie Nationale du Disque Lyrique and the Newcomer of the Year Award from ECHO Klassik.

On the concert stage, Hymel has been seen in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 led by Gustavo Dudamel at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala; the Verdi Requiem with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin and at the Edinburgh Festival under Donald Runnicles; Walter Braunfels’ Jeanne d’Arc with the Salzburg Festival; a European Tour of La Damnation de Faust with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse; Roger Waters’ Ça Ira at the Gothenburg Culture Festival and in its US debut with the Nashville Symphony; and in Berlioz’ Requiem with The Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. A frequent collaborator with the PKF – Prague Philharmonia, he appeared at the Royal Opera House in Oman for a special New Year’s concert under Music Director Emmanuel Villaume, as well as concerts in Prague’s Smetana Hall and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. He made his debut in recital at London’s Wigmore Hall in 2016.

 

MATTHEW POLENZANI Tenor

One of the most gifted and distinguished lyric tenors of his generation, Matthew Polenzani’s elegant musicianship, innate sense of style, dramatic commitment, and timeless artistry have established his continued presence at leading operatic, concert and recital venues worldwide.

In his triumphant 2017-18 Season, Matthew returned to Lyric Opera of Chicago in two of his signature roles: the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto and Nadir in Les Pêcheurs de Perles. His reprisal of Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore at the Metropolitan Opera was praised by The New York Times for his “pliant strength and clarion tone” and was broadcast on PBS, as well as “The Met: Live in HD.”  Mr. Polenzani traveled to Zürich Opera for his role debut as Rodolfo in Verdi’s Luisa Miller and to the Bavarian State Opera as Fernand in Donizetti’s La favorite, receiving rave reviews for both.  He ended last season singing Rodolfo in La bohème at the Royal Opera House, heralded for his “pleasant lilt and clear timbre (Bachtrack).

            Notable concert highlights last season included his performances as the tenor soloist in Haydn’s Creation with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival and his “A Night at the Opera” concert with the Philadelphia Orchestra, led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

            Other recent season highlights include his Don Ottavio in Michael Haneke’s acclaimed staging of Don Giovanni for Paris National Opera.  He sang Werther at both the Bavarian and Vienna State Operas.  His role debuts at the Metropolitan Opera include Nadir in Les Pêcheurs de Perles and the title role of Roberto Devereux in a production by Sir David McVicar.  Both operas were featured on the Met’s “Live in HD” series and subsequently released on DVD.  To date, the acclaimed tenor has starred in more than 300 performances at New York’s Metropolitan Opera.

Matthew Polenzani was the recipient of the 2004 Richard Tucker Award, the Metropolitan Opera’s 2008 Beverly Sills Award, and a 2017 Opera News Award.

 

RICCARDO FRIZZA CONDUCTOR

Award-winning Italian maestro Riccardo Frizza is a galvanic presence on the podium, inspiring performances as exhilarating as they are expressive. Championed by Alberto Zedda, Bruno Cagli, and Gian Carlo Menotti, he is a leading exponent of the bel canto repertoire, collaborating with a who’s who of today’s most iconic singers at opera houses from Milan’s Teatro alla Scala to the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In the concert hall, he graces the podiums of such world-class ensembles as the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Rome’s Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Tokyo Symphony, while his extensive discography includes Decca’s Una furtiva lagrima, winner of the 2004 Cannes Classical Award.

Highlights of Riccardo Frizza’s last season included Falstaff at Festival Verdi di Parma, La Traviata at New National Theatre in Tokyo, Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Opéra National de Paris, Norma in Tokyo, Luisa Miller at Zürich Opera, L’elisir d’amore and Norma at Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Semiramide at the Bavarian State Opera and Il pirata at Teatro alla Scala in Milan.  In September 2017, Maestro Frizza was named Music Director of the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo, Italy.  Having already conducted Roberto Devereux at San Francisco Opera, in other season highlights, he will appear at the podium of La Fenice three times (for three different productions), will return to Bilbao in order to conduct his debut performance of Verdi’s I Lombardi, and will conduct Falstaff in The Dallas Opera’s season finale in 2019.

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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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EVENTS, GUESTS AND ARTISTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE DALLAS OPERA

IS AVAILABLE ONLINE, 24/7.  VISIT WWW.DALLASOPERA.ORG

 

FOR HIGH-RESOLUTION PHOTOGRAPHS

Contact Suzanne Calvin, Director of Media and PR at suzanne.calvin@dallasopera.org

 

The Dallas Opera is supported, in part, by funds from: Elsa von Seggern Foundation, Texas Instruments Foundation, the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs; 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.

 

The Dallas Opera Family Performances are generously supported by

Texas Instruments, Lockheed Martin, and

The Betty and Steve Suellentrop Educational Outreach Fund

TDO Family Performances are a part of the

Perot Foundation Education and Community Outreach Programs

 

TICKET INFORMATION FOR THE 2018-2019 DALLAS OPERA SEASON

All performances are in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center unless otherwise indicated. Flex Subscriptions are on sale now; single tickets range from $19 to $350(box seat). Family performance tickets are just $5. For more information or to make your purchase, contact The Dallas Opera Ticket Office at 214.443.1000 or visit us online, 24/7, at www.dallasopera.org.

THE DALLAS OPERA 2018-2019 MAINSTAGE SEASON: SPRING

The Dallas Opera celebrates its 62nd International Season in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in the Dallas Arts District. Evening performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinees begin at 2:00 p.m. unless otherwise stated.  English translations will be projected above the stage at every performance and assistance is available for the hearing impaired. With the exception of FIRST NIGHT, The Joy and Ronald Mankoff Pre-Opera Talk will begin one hour prior to curtain, at most performances.

 

MANON LESCAUT by Giacomo Puccini

Semi-Staged Concert, March 1, 3 (m), 6, 9, 2019

Featuring images of select art works from the collections of The Dallas Museum of Art!

The woman who has everything discovers too late that she has nothing – without true love!

Libretto by Domenico Oliva and Luigi Illica

Time: Late 18^th century

Place: France and America

Conductor: Emmanuel Villaume

Director: Ed Berkeley

Costume Designer: Tommy Bourgeois

Lighting Designer: Krista Billings

Wig & Make-up Designer: Dawn Rivard

Chorus Master: Alexander Rom

Starring: Kristin Lewis* (Manon Lescaut), Musa Ngqungwana (Lescaut), Gregory Kunde (Chevalier des Grieux), Andrea Silvestrelli (Geronte de Ravoir), Jonas Hacker* (Edmondo), Mark S. Doss (Innkeeper), Alyssa Martin (Singer), Matthew Grills* (Dance Master), Clay Hilley* (Lamplighter), Mark McCrory (Sergeant of the Royal Archers) and David Leigh* (Naval Captain).

 

LA BOHÈME by Giacomo Puccini

March 15, 17 (m), 20, 23, 29, 31 (m), 2019

The most timeless love story in all of opera returns to break your heart!

Libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica

Time: 19^th century

Place: The Latin Quarter of Paris, France

Conductor: Giuliano Carella

Director: Tomer Zvulun

Set Designer: Erhard Rom

Costume Designer: Peter J. Hall

Lighting Designer: Robert Wierzel

Wig & Make-up Designer: Dawn Rivard

Chorus Master: Alexander Rom

Starring: Jean-Francois Borras* (Rodolfo), Pumeza Matshikiza** (Mimi), Anthony Clark Evans* (Marcello), Sara Gartland (Musetta), Will Liverman* (Schaunard), Nicholas Brownlee* (Colline), and Samuel Ramey (Benoit/Alcindoro).

 

FALSTAFF by Giuseppe Verdi

April 26, 28 (m), May 1, 4, 2019

Shakespeare’s uproarious comedy brought to musical life!

Libretto by Arrigo Boito

Time: During the reign of Henry IV of England

Place: Windsor

Conductor: Riccardo Frizza

Original Director: Lee Blakeley

Revival Director: Shawna Lucey*

Set and Costume Designer: Adrian Linford*

Lighting Designer: Rick Fisher*

Wig & Make-up Designer: Dawn Rivard

Chorus Master: Alexander Rom

Starring: Mark Delavan* (Sir John Falstaff), Angela Meade (Alice Ford), Quinn Kelsey* (Ford), Mojca Erdmann* (Nanetta), Airam Hernández* (Fenton), Stephanie Blythe* (Dame Quickly), Megan Marino* (Meg Page), Alex Mansoori* (Bardolfo), Andrea Silvestrelli (Pistola), and Robert Brubaker (Dr. Caius).

 

* Dallas Opera Debut

** American Debut

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