Fort Worth Opera Announces Schedule for 2017 Festival Season

FORT WORTH, TX - Fort Worth Opera (FWOpera) announced today details of the second phase of the company's landmark 10-year initiative Opera of the Americas, as well as the bold and exciting productions scheduled for the 2017 Festival season, running April 15 - May 7. The 2017 FWOpera Festival will include a time-honored classic, Bizet's incendiary tale of tragic seduction, Carmen; a vibrant, contemporary mainstage production unlike anything in FWOpera's repertoire, Cruzar la Cara de la Luna; and the riveting regional premiere of 2015 Frontiers winner, Voir Dire. The Festival will also usher in the fifth year of Fort Worth Opera's critically-acclaimed new works showcase, Frontiers.

With the goal of presenting operas that reflect the diverse demographics of the North Texas community, FWOpera will embark on the second phase of its Opera of the Americas initiative in 2017. Titled Noches de Ópera (Nights of Opera), the new phase will consist of a four year exploration of contemporary Spanish language operas by Latino and Latina composers and librettists from across the Americas. Beginning next season with the groundbreaking mariachi opera Cruzar la Cara de la Lunaand extending through the 2020 Festival, Noches de Ópera will bring compelling and culturally relevant operas to North Texas audiences from an often overlooked, but ever expanding body of works.

In making the announcement, FWOpera General Director Darren K. Woods stated, "Throughout the last few years, Fort Worth Opera has worked to move away from merely serving as an entertainment option toward becoming an established community service organization, where we can use our artistic resources to help enrich the lives of all those living in our community. Through this process, we recognized a deficit in our programming for our Latino audiences. So, in partnership with Latino community leaders, we created Noches de Ópera with the hope of engaging the vibrant Latino population of Fort Worth and North Texas with stories that are meaningful and relevant to their experiences."

Woods continued, "Noches de Ópera builds on FWOpera's mission of expanding the horizons of our audiences through the production of new works. By bringing a compelling lineup of Spanish language operas to our stage, we're giving our audiences a fresh, new Festival experience, while also giving a voice to a diverse body of operatic works that are rarely performed. Looking ahead, we hope to partner with other like-minded companies to help build the canon of Spanish language operas."

In addition to the Festival programming, Noches de Ópera will include year-round community programming in partnership with the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Consulate General of Mexico in Dallas.

The second phase of FWOpera's Opera of the Americas' initiative kicks off with the exhilarating mariachi opera, Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (To Cross the Face of the Moon). Featuring the world-famous Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán. The opera has been praised by critics in Houston, Chicago, Phoenix, and Paris as a "stunning and emotional work" (Houston Chronicle). A one-of-a-kind operatic experience, Cruzar la Cara de la Luna blends the folk traditions of mariachi music with opera, to tell a gripping story of a family divided by borders and their struggle to exist between two cultures.

The work will introduce FWOpera audiences to a cast of fresh faces, all making their Festival debuts. Leading the cast is Octavio Moreno as Laurentino - a dying grandfather whose memories carry the audience between his past and present. Joining him is Brian Shircliffe as his American son Mark and David Guzman as his Mexican son Rafael. Mark's daughter Diana is sung by Brittany Wheeler and Cecilia Duarte plays Laurentino's wife, Renata. Leonard Foglia will make his FWOpera Festival directorial debut with musical direction by Jose "Pepe" Martinez.

Fort Worth Opera is going bigger and bolder in 2017! Next year's Festival commences with a star-studded Grand Opening Night Concert at Bass Performance Hall, featuring Fort Worth native Ava Pine (The Daughter of the Regiment, Lysistrata, Silent Night), baritone Michael Mayes (Lysistrata, Glory Denied, Carmen), additional Fort Worth favorites, and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Maestro Joe Illick. Once the rapturous applause from our one-night-only concert has come to an end, FWOpera's electrifying season is only beginning to heat up!

The following weekend, Bizet's operatic tour de force Carmen opens. Set against an alluring Spanish landscape, this classic tale of love, lust, jealousy and vengeful crimes of passion is sure to captivate audiences in a zesty, traditional production. Leading the cast as the fiery femme fatale is mezzo-soprano Audrey Babcock (With Blood, With Ink) in the title role. A world-renowned interpreter of the character, she'll be joined on stage by Robert Watson, who will make his FWOpera debut in the notoriously difficult role of her lover, Don José. Rounding out the cast is Craig Irvin (Silent Night) as the brash bullfighter Escamillo and former FWOpera Studio Artist, Kerriann Otaño (Cosí fan tutte), as the young Micaëla. FWOpera Music Director Joe Illick will conduct Bizet's memorable score with David Lefkowich (Il Trovatore, La Bohème) returning to direct.

The action continues outside Bass Hall with the 2017 Opera Unbound production of Voir Dire. Written by composer Matthew Peterson and librettist Jason Zenka, Voir Dire was selected as a winner of the 2014 FWOpera Frontiers showcase, and returns to the Festival stage this season for its regional premiere. Adapted from various court cases witnessed by the librettist during his time as a crime reporter, the opera takes place in a courtroom and plays out in a series of colorful vignettes that give audiences an insider's look into the fascinating, hilarious and often insanely bizarre world of legal drama. The small ensemble cast features Nate Mattingly (Hamlet, Frontiers) and the Hattie Mae Lesley Apprentice Artists, Anna Laurenzo (Buried Alive | Embedded, Frontiers), Trevor Martin(The Barber of Seville, Frontiers), Christina Pecce, and Andrew Surrena. Co-produced with Skylight Music Theatre in Milwaukee, Voir Dire will be directed by FWOpera favorite David Gately(La Traviata, The Barber of Seville) and conducted by Viswa Subbaraman in his FWOpera debut.

The final week of the 2017 Festival will include Frontiers, the company's showcase for new works. Six to eight selected composers and librettists will be in residence at the Festival during the last week and their works will be presented in 20-minute performances sung by young artists of the 2017 Opera Festival and accompanied by piano on May 3- May 4, 2017. Each creative team will attend the showcase and participate in an enlightening post-performance discussion. Composers will receive feedback on their work through private meetings with the Frontiers jury panel. In addition, the workshops will be recorded, so the composers can subsequently study the recording to assist in the completion of their compositional process. Final performances will be offered in two separate showcases of four works each on Wednesday, May 3, 2017, at 6:00 pm, and Thursday, May 4, 2017, at 6:00 pm.

Submissions for the 2017 Frontiers program open on May 1, 2016 and close on July 31, 2016. For information on how to submit materials, please contact Nathan DePoint, Frontiers Curator, by emailing frontiers@fwopera.org.

The 2017 Fort Worth Opera Festival
April 15-May 7, 2017

Grand Opening Night Concert

April 15, 2017
Bass Performance Hall, downtown Fort Worth

GUEST ARTISTS:
Ava Pine (Soprano)
Michael Mayes (Baritone)
Additional Fort Worth Favorites
Maestro Joe Illick

Carmen
Music by Georges Bizet; libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy

April 22, 30m, May 5, 2017 (m=matinee)
Bass Performance Hall, downtown Fort Worth
In French with supertitles in English and Spanish

CAST:
Audrey Babcock (Carmen)
Robert Watson* (Don José)
Craig Irvin (Escamillo)
Kerriann Otaño (Micaëla)

ARTISTIC TEAM:
Joe Illick, conductor
David Lefkowich, director
Keith Brumley, lighting designer
Set courtesy of Lyric Opera Kansas City (MO)
* denotes Fort Worth Opera debut season

Voir Dire
Music by Matthew Peterson; libretto by Jason Zenka.

April 23, 25, 29m, 30, May 2, 6, 2017 (m=matinee)
McDavid Studio, downtown Fort Worth
Sung in English without supertitles
Regional Premiere | Part of FWOpera's Opera Unbound Series

CAST (in various roles):
Nate Mattingly
Anna Laurenzo
Trevor Martin
Christina Pecce*
Andrew Surrena*

ARTISTIC TEAM:
Viswa Subbaraman*, conductor
David Gately, director
*denotes Fort Worth Opera debut season

Cruzar la Cara de la Luna
Music by Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan; libretto by Leonard Foglia
Part of Noches de Ópera: Phase II of Opera of the Americas

April 29, May 7m 2017 (m=matinee)
Bass Performance Hall, downtown Fort Worth
In Spanish and English with supertitles

CAST:
Octavio Moreno* (Laurentino)
Brian Shircliffe* (Mark)
David Guzman* (Rafael)
Cecilia Duarte* (Renata)
Brittany Wheeler* (Diana)

ARTISTIC TEAM:
Jose "Pepe" Martinez, Mariachi Vargas Music Director
Leonard Foglia, director
Set and costumes courtesy of Houston Grand Opera
* denotes Fort Worth Opera debut season

Frontiers
Two separate showcases of four works each on Wednesday, May 3, 2017, at 6:00 p.m., and Thursday, May 4, 2017, at 6:00 p.m.

Schedule of 2017 Festival Performances

Saturday, April 15 7:30 p.m. Bass Hall Grand Opening Night Concert
Saturday, April 22 7:30 p.m. Bass Hall Carmen
Sunday, April 23 2:00 p.m. McDavid Studio Voir Dire
Tuesday, April 25 7:30 p.m. McDavid Studio Voir Dire
Saturday, April 29 2:00 p.m. McDavid Studio Voir Dire
Saturday, April 29 7:30 p.m. Bass Hall Cruzar la Cara de la Luna
Sunday, April 30 2:00 p.m. Bass Hall Carmen
Sunday, April 30 7:30 p.m. McDavid Studio Voir Dire
Tuesday, May 2 7:30 p.m. McDavid Studio Voir Dire
Wednesday, May 3 6:00 p.m. Kimbell Art Museum Frontiers
Thursday, May 4 6:00 p.m. Kimbell Art Museum Frontiers
Friday, May 5 7:30 p.m. Bass Hall Carmen
Saturday, May 6 7:30 p.m. McDavid Studio Voir Dire
Sunday, May 7 2:00 p.m. Bass Hall Cruzar la Cara de la Luna

TICKETS: Beginning April 23, subscription tickets for the 2017 Festival are available by phone only at 817.731.0726. Single tickets will go on sale August 1, 2016. Season subscriptions range from $26 to $379 while single tickets range from $17 to $195 (prices subject to change). Subscriptions are available now and single tickets go on sale August 1, 2017. For more information, please visit
www.fwopera.org or toll-free at 1.877.396.7372. To purchase tickets online, go to www.fwopera.org

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