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    Biennial Lone Star Vocal Competition

    The Dallas Opera’s Biennial Lone Star Vocal Competition uniquely supports emerging Texas singers for their future success in opera. This statewide competition offers developing singers an opportunity to showcase their talents on the Winspear stage, a chance to be discovered, and win cash prizes. The audience can get in on the action by voting for the “People’s Choice” winner!

    View Program

     

    Winners announced!

    First Place: Adia Evans
    Second Place: Sarah Neal
    Third Place: Talin Nalbandian
    Jonathan Pell People’s Choice Award (determined by audience vote): Bethany Jelinek

     

    FINALISTS ANNOUNCED!

    Janell Cherie
    “Caro nome” from Rigoletto (Verdi)

    Adia Evans
    “I am Moses the Liberator” from Harriet Tubman (Okoye)

    Mariah Graves
    “Bewilderment” (Price)

    Jacob Hanes
    Charlie’s Aria from Three Decembers (Heggie)

    Bethany Jelinek
    “Come scoglio” from Così fan tutte (Mozart)

    Chance Jonas-O’Toole
     “O blonde Cérès” from Les Troyens (Berlioz)

    Celeste Morales
    “I want magic!” from A Streetcar Named Desire (Previn)

    Talin Nalbandian
    “Must the winter come so soon?” from Vanessa (Barber)

    Sarah Neal
    “Wie du warst” from Der Rosenkavalier (R. Strauss)

    Jose Olivares
    “Riez! Allez!” from Don Quichotte (Massenet)

    Thank you to our semi-finalists: sopranos Sophia Formella, Rebecca Germany, Kristen Marie Gillis, and Lisl Wangermann; mezzo-sopranos Caroline Lee, Carlyle Quinn, and Riley Vagis; and tenor Eric Laine.

    Winners are selected by a distinguished panel of judges, chaired by The Dallas Opera’s Artistic Consultant David Lomelí and including Ian Derrer, The Dallas Opera’s Kern Wildenthal General Director and CEO; Donnie Ray Albert, renowned baritone and Senior Lecturer in Voice at the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin; Elizabeth Askren, conductor and Hart Institute Alumna and Faculty; and Kristian Roberts, The Dallas Opera’s Director of Education.

    The evening will be emceed by celebrated tenor David Portillo, past Vocal Competition winner and cast member of Dallas Opera’s upcoming production of Così fan tutte.

    Winners will be awarded $5,000 (first place), $3,000 (second place), $1,500 (third place), and $1,000 (“People’s Choice”).
    All tickets just $10!

    Performance time is approximately 75 minutes including a 15-minute pause to allow for our judges to make their final decision and for audience voting.

    Hart Institute for Women Conductors Showcase Concert

    Four of opera’s most brilliant young conductors are front and center for an evening of opera selections, sung by some of the country’s top singers and featuring The Dallas Opera Orchestra.

    TDO’s Hart Institute, launched in 2015, is the only program of its kind in the world and seeks to address the extreme gender imbalance of leadership on the podium in opera companies. Now in its seventh year, more than 500 women conductors from 40 nations have applied to be trained, advised, and supported by this extraordinary initiative. This concert is the grand finale of an intensive two-week residency, which includes working with some of today’s most renowned maestri. Read more about the Hart Institute here.

    The culmination of each season’s program is a festive Showcase Concert where each participant conducts The Dallas Opera Orchestra and singers in a program of operatic favorites in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House.

    JOIN US FOR THIS SEASON’S PROGRAM FEATURING SELECTIONS FROM THESE ICONIC OPERAS:

    Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Bizet’s Carmen, Puccini’s Tosca, and, for the first time at the Winspear, Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking.

    2022 Participating Conductors:

    Celia Llácer Carbonell
    Yuwon Kim
    Blair Salter
    Anna Sułkowska–Migoń

    2022 Administrators:

    Malikha Mayes
    Mitra Sadeghpour
    Jaime Sharp

    View the full program here or click the Flip Book.

     

    Health & Safety: 

    Please allow extra time for the required metal detectors at the AT&T Performing Arts Center entrance. Weapons (including firearms and pocketknives) are not permitted. Face masks are strongly encouraged for all indoor performances, but not required. Please be respectful and courteous to others for their health and safety needs. Visit our Health and Safety page for more details.

    Così fan tutte

    A FRESH NEW TAKE ON MOZART’S ROMANTIC COMEDY

    Two sisters bid a tearful farewell to their battle-bound fiancés. Armed with disguises and wily determination, the ladies have the last laugh—outwitting their future husbands’ mischievous “fidelity test.”

    Mozart’s Così fan tutte is sometimes silly, often romantic, and always a delight. This new production from celebrated director Michael Cavanagh will whisk you away to an opulent 1930s country club and features some of the brightest stars in opera today. Hear them deliver memorable melody after melody—trust us, you’ll leave wanting more!

    Featuring Metropolitan Opera powerhouse Rodney Gilfry as the trouble-making Don Alfonso and as the men who should have known better: David Portillo, praised for his warm, sexy tenor; and Dallas favorite and Grammy Award-winner Lucas Meachem.

    Elizabeth Askren conducts this production from San Francisco Opera.

    Read the Program Book! 

    This production is an original production of the San Francisco Opera
    Scenery construction and painting by the San Francisco Opera Scene Shop
    Costumes fabricated by the San Francisco Opera Costume Shop

    Das Rheingold

    A cursed ring grants its owner supreme power—and their doom.

    The vengeful Alberich—a power-hungry dwarf—steals the magic Rhine gold to forge an all-powerful ring. Wotan, king of the gods, entraps Alberich and relinquishes the gold ring to the giants as payment for building Valhalla. The cursed ring quickly claims its first victim.

    Wagner’s tale of power, greed, giants, and gods is an epic myth with music to match. Don’t miss this ultimate fantasy—the inspiration for Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

    Leading this all-star cast in a role debut as the chief god: Nicholas Brownlee, who wows with his commanding presence, huge voice, and “handsome mahogany tone” (The New Yorker). As his imperious wife and sometimes partner-in-crime, you’ll love Amanda Echalaz, “whose huge reputation lives up to the hype.”—Daily Telegraph, London

    Music Director Emmanuel Villaume conducts this new production from The Atlanta Opera.

     

    Read the Program Book!

    This production of Das Rheingold is an original production of The Atlanta Opera

    Production Director, Tomer Zvulun
    Set and Projection Designer, Erhard Rom
    Costume Designer, Mattie Ullrich
    Lighting Designer, Robert Wierzel

    Rigoletto

    Treachery, seduction, and a raging father dead set on revenge. Rigoletto—he’s the jaded jester paid to make others laugh in the debauched court of Mantua. But when his innocent daughter is cruelly seduced by the salacious Duke, Rigoletto stops being funny and vows revenge. Seething with rage, he launches an elaborate plot to avenge his beloved child. But everything goes terribly, terribly wrong…Experience Verdi at his most dramatically potent, with melody after irresistible melody sung by our incredible cast.

    One of the world’s great Rigolettos, George Gagnidze “is a force of destructive nature” (Los Angeles Times)—tenor René Barbera will thrill with the Duke’s iconic “La donna è mobile”— and Madison Leonard’s “silvery ethereal sound” (Opera Magazine) makes her the perfect Gilda.

    Music Director Emmanuel Villaume conducts this Dallas Opera co-production with Houston Grand Opera and The Atlanta Opera. See full cast.

    Read the Program Book!

     

    Rigoletto is a Co-Production of The Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and The Atlanta Opera
    Scenery originally created for Wolf Trap Opera

    Ying Fang

    “Beguiling…a sweet, penetrating voice…a gift to opera lovers.”—The New York Times

    An intimate recital featuring the music of Bach, Schubert, R. Strauss, and a collection of Chinese folk songs with pianist Ken Noda.

    Ying Fang has mesmerized audiences at the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, the Salzburg Festival, and other internationally acclaimed houses. Be in the room to hear a once-in-a-generation voice and experience the emotion that can only be expressed by a true artist.

    Ying Fang is blessed with “a voice that can stop time, pure and rich and open and consummately expressive.”—The Financial Times

    Please note: This recital will be held at Moody Performance Hall.

    View the full program here or click the Flip Book.

    Song Texts and Translations