FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wenesday, October 3, 2018
Contact: Suzanne Calvin 214.443.1014
suzanne.calvin@dallasopera.org
THE DALLAS OPERA IS PROUD TO PRESENT
THE COMPANY’S EPIC SEASON OPENER!
RICHARD WAGNER’S SWEEPING 1843 MASTERPIECE
THE FLYING DUTCHMAN
LIBRETTO BY RICHARD WAGNER AFTER HEINRICH HEINE’S
Aus den Memoiren des Herren von Schnabelewopski
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CONDUCTED BY DALLAS OPERA MUSIC DIRECTOR
EMMANUEL VILLAUME
DIRECTED BY CHRISTOPHER ALDEN
STARRING ACCLAIMED BASS-BARITONE GREER GRIMSLEY AS THE DUTCHMAN AND SENSATIONAL GERMAN-ITALIAN SOPRANO ANJA KAMPE IN HER TDO DEBUT AS SENTA
ALSO STARRING JAY HUNTER MORRIS AS ERIK
MARK S. DOSS IN HIS TDO DEBUT AS DALAND
LURETTA BYBEE AS MARY
AND ANDREW STENSON IN HIS COMPANY DEBUT AS THE STEERSMAN
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THE LINDA AND MITCH HART SEASON OPENING NIGHT PERFORMANCE:
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2018 AT 8:00 PM (Please note special curtain time)
WITH ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCES
AT 7:30 P.M. AND 2:00 P.M. (SUNDAY MATINEE)
Oct. 14(m), 17 & 20, 2018
The Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House
AT&T Performing Arts Center
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This Production Made Possible by
HOLLY AND TOM MAYER
RICHARD AND ENIKA SCHULZE
JOANNA L. AND T. PETER TOWNSEND
DALLAS, OCTOBER 3, 2018 – The Dallas Opera is extremely proud to present the season opener of the company’s grand 2018-2019 “Swept Away” Season: Richard Wagner’s haunting nineteenth-century masterpiece, The Flying Dutchman (Der fliegende Holländer), a work not seen on The Dallas Opera stage since January of 1994.
The Flying Dutchman will open on Friday, October 12, 2018 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 has a special curtain time of 8:00 p.m.
This compelling production from Canadian Opera Company in Toronto will be directed by Christopher Alden. The Mrs. Eugene McDermott Music Director Emmanuel Villaume will be at the podium for all four performances—kicking off his sixth season at TDO with his first Wagner performance in Dallas!
A world-class international cast of notable Wagnerians includes American bass-baritone Greer Grimsley as the Dutchman; German-Italian soprano Anja Kampe in her house debut as Senta; American tenor Jay Hunter Morris as Erik; American bass-baritone Mark S. Doss in his TDO debut as Daland; American mezzo-soprano Luretta Bybee as Mary, and Korean-American tenor Andrew Stenson in his company debut as the Steersman.
Subsequent performances of The Flying Dutchman will take place on October 14(m), 17, and 20, 2018, with generous underwriting support provided by Holly and Tom Mayer, Richard and Enika Schulze, and Joanna L. and T. Peter Townsend.
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Renowned American director Christopher Alden, (The Ann Stuart Stage Director) returns to The Dallas Opera with a production of the same opera he guided in his 1978 company debut, Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman. He revisited TDO in subsequent seasons to stage a groundbreaking production of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck in 2000, and Mozart’s masterpiece, Le nozze di Figaro. Mr. Alden works regularly with many of the world’s most distinguished companies, including English National Opera Opera, San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Houston Grand Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Santa Fe Opera and The Festival d’ Aix en Provence.
Mr. Alden’s English National Opera production of Handel’s Partenope received the Olivier Award for Best UK Opera Production as well as Australia’s Helpmann Award and his staging of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Stanislavsky Theater in Moscow won the Golden Mask Award for Best Russian Opera Production.
“What we love about Wagner’s operas is that Wagner took the operatic art form…to new extremes in talking about human beings and society,” Christopher Alden told Arts and Culture Texas in a newly-published feature.
“Wagner was a rather dark person himself—a dark, narcissistic, monomaniacal, amazingly focused artist,” the director added. “He wrote pieces that go to the deepest, darkest places about human beings, and reach down into the deepest aspects of the human psyche. That’s why people are so compelled by them and so obsessed by them.”
The Dallas Opera’s globe-trotting music director, Emmanuel Villaume, in addition to celebrating his Fifth Anniversary with the company, has just released a critically-acclaimed recording of piano concertos with pianist Andrew von Oeyen and the PKF-Prague Philharmonia on the Warner Classics label. The review in London’s Sunday Times praised Villaume’s “magical sense of rhythm and texture in Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite and, especially, in Bizet’s youthful Symphony in C, a toe-tapping joy throughout.”
Maestro Villaume not only conducts the first two productions of the season, The Flying Dutchman and Carmen, he will return to Dallas in the spring to conduct performances of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut. Villaume will be the guest of the Metropolitan Opera in November, where he will conduct eagerly-anticipated performances of Georges Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers.
Louisiana native Greer Grimsley, one of the reigning Wotans of the Modern Era, remains one of the most prominent Wagnerian singers of our day. His interpretations of Wagner roles have earned Grimsley repeat engagements at many of the world’s most prestigious opera houses from Berlin to Santa Fe. He even sang the role of Wotan in Robert Lepage’s landmark “machine” production of Der Ring des Nibelungen at New York’s Metropolitan Opera.
This past summer, Grimsley triumphed in his Bayreuth debut—singing the title role of the Dutchman, as well as Wotan in Die Walküre.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reviewing Grimsley’s Dutchman proclaimed “Not only does he move well and possess genuine presence, he has sure musical instincts that support a voice of remarkable depth and lyric breadth. His Dutchman was intelligent and impassioned.”
And The Huffington Post summed him up thusly: “He sings…well…like a god.”
Anja Kampe makes her thrilling Dallas Opera debut in the role of Senta. Her portrayals of several roles have set a new standard, including her Sieglinde at the Bayreuth Festival, Isolde at Ruhrtriennale, Katerina Ismailova at Bavarian State Opera (Munich), and Brünnhilde in performances of Die Walküre at the Salzburg Easter Festival.
Peter Reed of Classical Source wrote that Kampe’s Senta “pinned you to your seat with its intensity and risk-taking abandon” and praised her “gripping mixture of rawness and radiance” in the role.
Ms. Kampe opened last season with concert performances of Fidelio at Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Italy, conducted by Zubin Mehta. She then returned to the stage of the Bavarian State Opera to reprise her explosive performance as Lady Macbeth in Dmitri Shostakovich’s 1934 masterpiece. Other recent career highlight include Isolde in a new production in Berlin, and as Kundry in Parsifal at both the Vienna State Opera and Paris National Opera.
Jay Hunter Morris as “Erik” makes a welcome return to The Dallas Opera after a brilliant revival of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s Moby-Dick in which he sang the role of mad Captain Ahab. Earlier, Morris tackled the daunting role of Paul in TDO’s 2014 production of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Die tote Stadt (“The Dead City”).
He sang the role of Siegfried with the San Francisco Opera in 2011 and, perhaps most famously, at the Metropolitan Opera in a Grammy-winning production by Robert Lepage. Senior Critic Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times wrote: “the biggest surprise of the Met’s cast, the hearty, youthful-sounding tenor Jay Hunter Morris.”
Other recent successes include his first Tristan in Valencia with Zubin Mehta, and Schoenburg’s Guerre-Lieder at the Vienna Konzerthaus with Kent Nagano in a stellar career that has taken Morris from Budapest to Beijing.
Grammy Award-winner Mark S. Doss has sung with major orchestras in San Francisco, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago and Toronto, while also performing close to a hundred roles with more than 60 major opera companies around the world: Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, the Vienna State Opera, London’s Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Santa Fe Opera and the Canadian Opera Company (to name a few).
Recent roles have included Sujskij in Dvorák’s Dimitrij at Odessey Opera in Boston, Méphistophélès in Faust with Ópera Oviedo in Spain, Amonasro in Aida with the Teatro Regio in Turin, Jochanaan in Salome in Mallorca, and the title role in Verdi’s Macbeth with the Dorset Opera Festival. The role of Daland marks Mr. Doss’s Dallas Opera debut and he will return in March for Manon Lescaut.
Remarkable range and versatility are the hallmarks of mezzo-soprano Luretta Bybee on the opera and theatrical stage. In addition to singing opera, she is continually exploring the realm of musical theater and character acting and singing, which has led to roles such as Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night Music with the Pine Mountain Music Festival, Little Buttercup in H.M.S. Pinafore, and her role debut as Golde in Fiddler on the Roof at Shreveport Opera. Ms. Bybee has also been seen as Mrs. Lovett in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd at Vancouver Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, and New Orleans Opera.
This season, in addition to the role of Mary in TDO’s The Flying Dutchman (opposite her real-life husband, Greer Grimsley), Ms. Bybee will perform the concert “On Broadway” with the Springfield Symphony.
Andrew Stenson launches the 2018-2019 Season with his Dallas Opera debut as the Steersman. He also joins the Minnesota Opera as Fadinard in The Italian Straw Hat, as well as Utah Opera where he will sing Tamino in Die Zauberflöte.
Last season, Stenson returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Ferrando in Così fan tutte, sang the title role of Candide with the San Francisco Symphony, and made his company debut with Opera Theatre of St. Louis in An American Soldier, attracting national attention and acclaim in the role of Danny Chen.
Mr. Stenson is the first prize winner in both the 2015 Giulio Gari International Vocal Competition and 2016 Gerda Lissner Foundation Competition. He is also the recipient of a 2011 Sara Tucker Study Grant.
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Allen Moyer designed both sets and costumes for this COC production; OBIE Award-winner Anne Militello is the lighting designer and Emmy Award-winner Dawn Rivard designed wigs and make-up for The Flying Dutchman. This production marks Moyer and Militello’s exciting TDO debuts.
The Dallas Opera Chorus is prepared by acclaimed Chorus Master Alexander Rom.
Performances of this early Wagner masterpiece will continue on October 14(m), 17 & 20, 2018 in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, selected by Southern Living as the best new venue for opera and praised by the U.K.’s Opera magazine as the finest opera house in North America. All evening performances will begin promptly at 7:30 p.m. (with the exception of Opening Night); Sunday matinees begin at 2:00 p.m.
Full season subscriptions are still available, beginning at just $100, and single tickets start at the low, low price of $19. Student Rush Best Available Tickets may be purchased at the Winspear Box Office for $15 or $25 (depending on the section) ninety minutes prior to curtain. Contact the Dallas Opera Ticket Services Office at 214.443.1000 or make your purchase online at dallasopera.org.
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Tickets for the Dallas Opera’s 2018 Opening Night Celebrations, FIRST NIGHT, presented by Hall Arts Residences and Chaired by Shelle and Michael Sills, are available through Special Events Manager Tracy Mott at tracy.mott@dallasopera.org.
A free, pre-performance lecture (“The Joy and Ronald Mankoff Pre-Opera Talks”) will be conducted one hour prior to curtain at most performances—excluding the “Linda and Mitch Hart Season Opening Night Performance.” The Dallas Opera Guild also hosts “Opera Insights,” a lively panel discussion featuring artists, directors and designers, on a Sunday afternoon prior to opening. For specific dates and more details, visit dallasopera.org.
Parking onsite will be available in the Lexus Red Parking beneath the Winspear Opera House and the Lexus Silver Parking adjacent to the Wyly Theatre. Should those reach capacity, additional paid parking is available at nearby One Arts Plaza and in several surface lots. Prices range from $5 to $25 per vehicle.
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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 at
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. Full and Flex Subscriptions are on sale now; single Tickets range from $19 to $289. 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 at www.dallasopera.org.
THE DALLAS OPERA 2018-2019 MAINSTAGE SEASON
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 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.
THE FLYING DUTCHMAN by Richard Wagner
October 12, 14 (m), 17 & 20, 2018
The season sets sail with Wagner’s sweeping, romantic masterpiece – not seen in Dallas since 1994!
Time: the German Expressionist 1920s
Place: the coast of Norway
Conductor: Emmanuel Villaume
Director: Christopher Alden
Set Designer: Allen Moyer*
Costume Designer: Allen Moyer*
Lighting Designer: Anne Militello*
Wig & Make-up Designer: Dawn Rivard
Chorus Master: Alexander Rom
Starring: Greer Grimsley (The Dutchman), Anja Kampe* (Senta), Jay Hunter Morris (Erik),
Mark S. Doss* (Daland), Luretta Bybee (Mary) and Andrew Stenson* (Steersman).
CARMEN by Georges Bizet
October 19, 21 (m), 24, 27, November 2 & 4 (m), 2018
The woman who won’t be possessed by any man returns to The Dallas Opera stage!
Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
Time: 19th century
Place: Seville, Spain and the surrounding countryside
Conductor: Emmanuel Villaume and Pierre Vallet (10/24 and 11/2)
Original Director: Sir David McVicar
Revival Director: Jack Furness**
Set Designer: Michael Vale*
Costume Designer: Sue Blane*
Lighting Designer: Clare O’Donoghue*
Chorus Master: Alexander Rom
Original Choreographer: Andrew George
Revival Choreographer: Andrzej Glosniak*
Starring: Stéphanie d’Oustrac* (Carmen), Stephen Costello (Don José), Vanessa Vasquez* (Micaëla), Alexander Vinogradov (Escamillo), Sarah Tucker* (Frasquita), Lindsay Metzger* (Mercédès), Rafael Moras* (Le Remendado), Corey Crider* (Le Dancaïre), Ben Wager (Zuniga), Gideon Dabi* (Moralès).
MANON LESCAUT by Giacomo Puccini
A Semi-Staged Concert – March 1, 3 (m), 6, 9, 2019
The woman who has everything discovers too late that she has nothing – without true love!
Libretto by Domenico Oliva and Luigi Illica
Time: Late 18th century
Place: France and America
Conductor: Emmanuel Villaume
Director: Edward Berkeley*
Set Designer: Tommy Bourgeois
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 Renato des Grieux), Andrea Silvestrelli* (Geronte di Revoir), 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: 19th 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** (Mimì), Anthony Clark Evans* (Marcello), Sara Gartland* (Musetta), Will Liverman* (Schaunard), Nicholas Brownlee* (Colline), and Samuel Ramey (Benoît/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 Designer: Adrian Linford*
Costume Designer: Adrian Linford*
Lighting Designer: Rick Fisher*
Wig & Make-up Designer: Dawn Rivard
Chorus Master: Alexander Rom
Starring: Mark Delevan* (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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