The Dallas Opera Stages FIRST NIGHT Tonight

The Dallas Opera is set 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, tonight, 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.

Renowned couturier Abi Ferrin, who has participated for the past three seasons writes: "FIRST NIGHT is an exciting way for Dallas designers to showcase their artistry, while supporting the Dallas Opera and the Winspear Opera House. I am honored to be included."

Couturier and Fashion Designer Nicolas Villalba concurs: "It's always such fun to interpret an opera into a 'Nicolas' signature piece. To have the opera Carmen to work with this season is especially exciting.

"Over the years the audience has come to expect something colorful and dramatic from me," Mr. Villalba added, "and I don't plan on disappointing!"

Lynn Parr Mock, Chair of FIRST SIGHT/FIRST NIGHT and past Chair of the 2004 Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition, received her BME from Southwestern University and an MM in Vocal Performance from The University of Texas at Austin.

She balances performing commitments with board service to many fine arts organizations. Lynn is currently serving on the Board of Directors of The Dallas Opera (for which she chairs the Education Committee), on the Board of Directors of The Agape Clinic, and on the Board of Visitors at Southwestern University.

Married to Dr. Presley Mock, Lynn is also co-founder of "Lone Spring Arts."

She explains: "The sumptuous pre-performance dinner, chaired by Mary Beth and Jay Marshall, will be followed by the live opera performance of Bizet's CARMEN in the elegant Winspear at 8:00 p.m. and a sensational after-party (following the curtain calls) hosted by Chairs Rhonda and Fraser Marcus.

"This is the Dallas Opera's most fun-filled fund-raiser of the year, Ms. Mock adds, "benefiting a genuinely community minded arts organization that touched the lives of over 90,000 people during the 2012-13 Season-from a host of public and private schools and afterschool programs, to libraries, community centers, parks, theaters, farmer's markets and museums, the Winspear Opera House and AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys!

Adding to the excitement of the Linda and Mitch Hart Season Opening Night Performance is the buzz about the Dallas Opera's new music director, Maestro Emmanuel Villaume, who will be making his podium debut-as music director-in that evening's performance (Mr. Villaume has previously conducted productions for the Dallas Opera as a visiting guest conductor). The occasion will also mark the hotly anticipated American debut of award-winning French mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine in the title role of Georges Bizet's 1875 masterpiece, CARMEN.

"FIRST NIGHT has extended the Dallas Opera's Season Opening Production far beyond the confines of the Winspear Opera House," explains Dallas Opera General Director and CEO Keith Cerny. "People picnicking on blankets in Klyde Warren Park, enjoying the Dallas Opera's High-Definition Carmen simulcast, will also share in the excitement of the Linda and Mitch Hart Season Opening Night Performance and the energy and enthusiasm of this newly expanded event.

"We are all tremendously grateful to NGP Energy Capital Management, FIRST SIGHT / FIRST NIGHT Chair Lynn Mock and everyone involved in underwriting, planning and executing this extraordinary, multifaceted experience designed to attract people of all ages and backgrounds: patrons, donors and music lovers. This year, we're expanding our opening night events in Sammons Park, in order to include as many interested patrons as possible-both for our very first pre-performance black-tie dinner and the distinctive After-Party.

"I hope you'll plan to attend at least one part of the festivities-and decide to stay for all."

FIRST NIGHT Red Carpet arrivals will begin at 5:30 p.m. supported by FIRST NIGHT Red Carpet Sponsor, Deloitte. The black-tie dinner is from 6:00 - 7:30 p.m., CARMEN curtain is 8:00 p.m. (please note the special time) and the fabulous After Party will commence in the Sammons Park tent adjacent to the Winspear Opera House immediately following the final curtain call.

FIRST NIGHT complimentary valet service will be provided on the Flora Street side of the Winspear Opera House for all dinner guests.

She's the woman no man can resist and, as performed by renowned French mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine in her American debut, who would want to say "non"? Hailed as "Best Newcomer" in the 2011 French Classical Music Awards, Margaine will have her hands full with two head-turning, heart-melting Don Josés: tenors Brandon Jovanovich, who last captivated us as Pinkerton in the Dallas Opera's 2010 production of Madame Butterfly, and Bruno Ribeiro (an acclaimed international star from Portugal) making his eagerly anticipated company debut.

This truly phenomenal cast, from American soprano Mary Dunleavy in the role of Micaëla to bass-baritone Dwayne Croftas Escamillo the Toreador, will bring on the sizzle-as well as the steak! Featuring classic Jean-Pierre Ponnelle scenery from the San Francisco Opera, this production conducted by Mrs. Eugene McDermott Music Director Emmanuel Villaume will make all the other good/bad girls of opera seem tame, if not lame, in comparison.

CARMEN will be staged by American director Chris Alexander, The James R. Seitz, Jr., Stage Director in Honor of John Gage, who earned critical praise in his 2005 Dallas Opera debut for his staging of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, starring Mary Dunleavy and Marcus Haddock. Mr. Alexander was welcomed back in the spring of 2009 to direct the company's final performances in the Music Hall at Fair Park: a delightful and daffy rendering of Rossini's The Italian Girl in Algiers (L'italiana in Algeri).

American tenor Brandon Jovanovich will sing the role of Don José tonight, Oct. 25, 27, and 30, while TDO newcomer, Portuguese tenor Bruno Ribeiro will portray the obsessed lover on Nov. 2, 8 and 10, 2013.

This outstanding international cast includes soprano Danielle Pastin in her company debut as Frasquita; mezzo Audrey Babcock in her Dallas Opera debut as Mercédès; bass Kyle Albertson (another company debut) as Zuniga; baritone Stephen LaBrie as the smuggler, La Dancaire; tenor William Ferguson in his Dallas Opera debut as Remendado and baritone John David Boehr in his TDO debut as Moralès.

Mr. Jovanovich, who enthralled Dallas audiences in our 2010 production of Madame Butterfly (described by Huffington Post's Rodney Punt as the definitive Pinkerton of our time) and who will perform the role on FIRST NIGHT, has been dazzling critics recently in the title role of Wagner's Lohengrin. San Francisco Chronicle Classical Music Critic Joshua Kosman wrote: "Jovanovich combined sweet-toned lyricism and ardent heroism in just the proportions required for this tricky role. His singing was thrillingly pure and tireless, his stage presence simultaneously tender and aloof."

Tickets for FIRST NIGHT begin at $750 per person. For additional information regarding FIRST NIGHT packages and options, or to purchase tickets or tables for this event, visit dallasopera.org/firstnight or call 214.443.1063.

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