The Dallas Opera Announces 62nd International Season

The Dallas Opera is proud to announce its spectacular 2018-2019 Season, "Swept Away," consisting of five captivating mainstage productions, including a passionate Puccini pairing during the month of March, designed to melt the last blast of winter, followed by the company's first-ever Falstaff.

The 62nd Season of The Dallas Opera contains some of the most popular operas ever written-with exceptional casts in beautiful productions!

Considered by many to be the ultimate art form, each opera will feature acclaimed International Artists; outstanding conductors, directors and designers; The Dallas Opera Orchestra and The Dallas Opera Chorus; superb sets and costumes; imaginative technological enhancements and more.

In an effort to present each work as written by the composer and librettist, The Dallas Opera will continue to produce each opera in its original language with English supertitles projected above the stage for maximum enjoyment.

2018-2019 DALLAS OPERA SEASON

THE FLYING DUTCHMAN

By Richard Wagner

October 12, 14(m), 17 and 20, 2018

CARMEN

By Georges Bizet

October 19, 21(m), 24, 27, November 2 and 4(m), 2018

MANON LESCAUT (Semi-Staged)

By Giacomo Puccini

March 1, 3(m), 6 and 9, 2019

LA BOHÈME

By Giacomo Puccini

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

FALSTAFF

By Giuseppe Verdi

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

The company will present internationally-renowned conductors: Emmanuel Villaume, the Mrs. Eugene McDermott Music Director, at the podium for three operas; as well as Italian conductors Giuliano Carella and Riccardo Frizza, and French conductor Pierre Vallet.

Every mainstage production will be presented in the magnificent Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center, located at 2403 Flora Street in the heart of the Dallas Arts District.

Subscription prices for the 2018-2019 Season start at $100 for all five mainstage operas and go on sale April 4, 2018.

The benefits of becoming a Dallas Opera subscriber include substantial savings off single ticket prices, priority seating, lost ticket replacement, ticket exchanges and invitations to special events.

Flex Subscriptions will be available for $24 to $204 for three operas of your choice. Single Tickets, starting at the low price of $19, will go on sale to the public on July 9th. For more information, please contact the friendly staff in The Dallas Opera Ticket Office at 214-443-1000 or visit us online at www.dallasopera.org.

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Notable Company Debuts in the 2018-2019 Season Include:

· Lee Blakeley (original director, Falstaff)

· American mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe (Dame Quickley in Falstaff)

· French tenor Jean-François Borras (Rodolfo in La Bohème)

· American bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee (Colline in La Bohème)

· American baritone Gideon Dabi (Moralès in Carmen)

· American bass-baritone Mark Delavan (title role in Falstaff)

· American bass-baritone Mark S. Doss (Flying Dutchman/Manon Lescaut)

· French mezzo-soprano Stéphanie D'Oustrac (title role in Carmen)

· German soprano Mojca Erdmann (Nanetta in Falstaff)

· American baritone Anthony Clark Evans (Marcello in La Bohème)

· American tenor Jonas Hacker (Edmondo in Manon Lescaut)

· Canarian tenor Airam Hernández (Fenton in Falstaff)

· German-Italian soprano Anja Kampe (Senta in The Flying Dutchman)

· American baritone Quinn Kelsey (Ford in Falstaff)

· Australian tenor Alisdair Kent (Steersman in The Flying Dutchman/ El Remendado in Carmen)

· American tenor Gregory Kunde as Chevalier des Grieux (Manon Lescaut)

· American soprano Kristin Lewis (title role in Manon Lescaut)

· American baritone Will Liverman (Schaunard in La Bohème)

· Shawna Lucey (stage director, Falstaff)

· American tenor Alex Mansoori (Bardolfo in Falstaff)

· American mezzo-soprano Megan Marino (Meg Page in Falstaff)

· South African soprano Pumeza Matshikiza (Mimi in La Bohème)

· American soprano Angela Meade (Alice Ford in Falstaff)

· American mezzo-soprano Lindsay Metzger (Mercédès in Carmen)

· American soprano Sarah Tucker (Frasquita in Carmen)

· American soprano Vanessa Vasquez (Micaëla in Carmen)

Designer Debuts next season will include:

· Sue Blane (costume design, Carmen)

· Erhard Rom (set and projections design, La Bohème)

· Adrian Linford (production design, Falstaff)

· Allen Moyer (set and costume designs, The Flying Dutchman)

· Set designer Michael Vale (Carmen)

Returning International Artists in the 2018-2019 Season:

· French conductor and Dallas Opera Music Director Emmanuel Villaume (The Mrs. Eugene McDermott Music Director) leading performances of The Flying Dutchman, Carmen, and Manon Lescaut

· French conductor Pierre Vallet (Oct. 24 & Nov. 2 performances of Carmen)

· Italian conductor Giuliano Carella (La Bohème)

· Italian conductor Riccardo Frizza (Falstaff)

· Dallas Opera Chorus Master Alexander Rom (The Flying Dutchman, Carmen, La Bohème, Manon Lescaut and Falstaff)

· Costume designer Sue Blane (Carmen)

· American tenor Robert Brubaker as Dr. Caius (Falstaff)

· American mezzo-soprano Luretta Bybee as Mary in The Flying Dutchman

· American tenor Stephen Costello as Don José (Carmen)

· American soprano Sara Gartland as Musetta (La Bohème)

· American bass-baritone Greer Grimsley as The Dutchman (The Flying Dutchman)

· Costume designer Peter J. Hall (La Bohème)

· Original director David McVicar (Carmen)

· American tenor Jay Hunter Morris as Erik (The Flying Dutchman)

· South African bass-baritone Musa Ngqungwana as Lescaut (Manon Lescaut)

· Italian baritone Marco Nisticò as El Dancairo (Carmen)

· American bass Samuel Ramey as Benoit/Alcindoro (La Bohème)

· Set and projections designer Erhard Rom (La Bohème)

· Italian bass Andrea Silvestrelli as Pistola (Falstaff)

· Russian bass Alexander Vinogradov as Escamillo (Carmen)

· American bass Ben Wager as Zuniga (Carmen)

· Director Tomer Zvulun (La Bohème)

"Great opera delivers not only beautiful music," explains Interim General Director and CEO Kern Wildenthal, "but also tremendous drama and profound insights that can transcend our ordinary lives.

"The 62nd International Season, filled with captivating stories and unsurpassed music performed by some of the world's greatest opera stars, will provide superb entertainment for patrons from across North Texas-as well as the many people who travel to Dallas these days, in order to experience opera at its best."

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The Dallas Opera's 2018-2019 Season sets sail with The Linda and Mitch Hart Season Opening Night Performance on Friday, October 12, 2018 at 8:00 p.m. (note the special curtain time). Richard Wagner's first real masterpiece, The Flying Dutchman, is a sweeping nineteenth-century romance not seen in Dallas since 1994!

Bass-baritone Greer Grimsley stars as the doomed Dutchman, opposite German-Italian soprano Anja Kampe in her house debut as Senta, the woman irresistibly drawn to the legend. Tenor Jay Hunter Morris returns to TDO as the jilted Erik, desperate to win back the heart and hand of his beloved. The stellar international cast also includes mezzo-soprano Luretta Bybee as Mary and Australian tenor Alisdair Kent as the Steersman.

Music Director Emmanuel Villaume will conduct The Dallas Opera Orchestra in what is regarded as Wagner's most "Italian" opera, and one of his most exciting and thoroughly entertaining works. The Flying Dutchman, reputedly inspired by the composer's rough sea voyage from Latvia to London in 1839 and based on old German legends, is a passionate story of love, sacrifice, and redemption-punctuated throughout by blazing orchestral passages, rousing choruses, dramatic dialogues and stunning solo arias.

Most recently, Maestro Villaume has triumphed at the podium of New York's Metropolitan Opera, conducting celebrated productions of Massenet's Thaïs and Puccini's Tosca. He will conduct this weekend's high-definition simulcast of the new David McVicar Tosca on "Live in HD" from the Metropolitan Opera (Saturday, January 27th) which will be viewed on movie screens around the world.

In this signature role, Greer Grimsley has excelled, prompting the Seattle Post-Intelligencer to write, "Not only does he...possess genuine presence, he has sure musical instincts that support a voice of remarkable depth and lyric breath. His Dutchman was intelligent and impassioned."

Soprano Anja Kampe has been described as a "remarkable Senta" (Gramophone), "one of the most thrilling Wagnerian sopranos to be heard in London in years" (Music OMH).

Tenor Jay Hunter Morris, last seen on The Dallas Opera stage in our 2016 revival of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer's Moby-Dick, "gives a touching edge to the heartbreak of Erik" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Bass-baritone Mark S. Doss will make his company debut as Daland.

This production was originally staged by Christopher Alden for Canadian Opera Company in Toronto. As always, chorus preparation is by Dallas Opera Chorus Master Alexander Rom.

Performances of The Flying Dutchman continue on October 14(m), 17, and 20, 2018 in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House. Evening performances begin at 7:30 p.m., (except for the opening night performance mentioned above) and the curtain rises on TDO Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m. There is no late seating.

The Flying Dutchman will be performed in its original language, German, with English-language translations projected above the stage at every performance.

Tickets may be purchased by phone (214.443.1000), online (www.dallasopera.org) or at the door. Student Rush Tickets are available 90 minutes prior to curtain - a valid student ID is required for each ticket.

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Back by popular demand, the second production of The Dallas Opera's 2018-2019 Season is a definite contender for "world's most popular opera": Georges Bizet's uncompromising CARMEN, opening on Friday, October 19, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. in the Winspear Opera House with Music Director Emmanuel Villaume conducting

Performed in French with English supertitles projected above the stage, this star-crossed tale of an instant attraction that evolves into a dangerous obsession can also be experienced on October 21(m), 24, 27, November 2 and 4(m), 2018. Dallas Opera evening performances begin promptly at 7:30 p.m., Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m.

"Fabulous" French mezzo-soprano Stephanie D'Oustrac will make her company debut in the title role. Critic George Hall of The Guardian wrote that D'Oustrac's Carmen "combines dignity, intelligence and knowing sexual allure" while Bachtrack's Mark Pullinger called her portrayal of the gypsy siren "sultry, fiery, coquettish...this was a compelling reading of the role."

Her desperate Don José will be sung by Dallas Opera favorite Stephen Costello, who last appeared on our stage as Lensky in the company's 2016 Eugene Onegin and a reprise of the role he created in Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer's masterpiece, Moby-Dick. Classical Music Critic Heidi Waleson of The Wall Street Journal calls him "stunning...his tenor beautifully poised and free, ardent without pushing." This will be Mr. Costello's exciting role debut.

The role of Micaëla, the faithful hometown girl who loves Don José, will be sung by 2017 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions winner Vanessa Vasquez in her Dallas Opera debut.

Russian bass Alexander Vinogradov brings musical heft and undeniable swagger to the role of the toreador, Escamillo. Christie Grimstad of ConcertoNet observed, "There's something unmistakably absorbing in the way he stylizes his Escamillo...ensconced with a sexy bravado." And Opera Britannia added "Vinogradov's full-fledged bass proved completely at ease at both extreme ends of his couplets (his high Fs were truly secure and his low Bs flat, meaty and resonant."

Soprano Sarah Tucker and mezzo-soprano Lindsay Metzger will make company debuts as Carmen's free-spirited friends, Frasquita and Mercédès, respectively. The band of smugglers includes tenor Alisdair Kent as El Remendado and Italian baritone Marco Nisticò as El Dancairo. Those on the right side of the law include bass Ben Wager as Zuniga and baritone Gideon Dabi as Moralès.

This Glyndebourne Festival production (new to Dallas), originally directed by Sir David McVicar, will be conducted by acclaimed Music Director Emmanuel Villaume, who was recently praised for the sensitivity of his conducting by Zachary Woolfe of The New York Times. About the Metropolitan Opera production of Thaïs, New York Classical Review wrote: "Every one of Villaume's decisions-tempo, dynamics, shape-seemed just right because they were barely noticeable. Each section produced a broad array of colors, and the strings played with a special intimacy and gentleness."

Set designs are by Michael Vale and costumes are designed by Sue Blane in their Dallas Opera debuts. Seen and Heard International observed "Sue Blane's wonderful period costumes are a vital part of this, and Michael Vale's sets are especially effective as Lillas Pastia's inn in Act II (the split-level stage gives a real sense of the hot and sweaty atmosphere of the dancing and the seething crowd around Escamillo) and a sun-drenched Seville (Spain) in Act IV."

The acclaimed Dallas Opera Chorus will be ably prepared by Dallas Opera Chorus Master Alexander Rom.

The complete season schedule, artist and production team bios, synopses and more can be found online, anytime, at www.dallasopera.org.

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The third production of The Dallas Opera's 62nd Season is the first of two back-to-back works by Giacomo Puccini-the one that made him famous and another that made him immortal. Our Puccini "mini-fest" begins with a semi-staged performance of his 1893 romance, MANON LESCAUT, opening on Friday, March 1, 2019 for the first of four performances.

By the time this classic returns to The Dallas Opera, it will have been forty years since its last appearance on our stage. Using the same source material as Massenet's Manon, Puccini weaves a heartbreaking riches-to-rags saga about a naïve young woman who definitely wants it all, but realizes along the way that she has sacrificed the one thing worth keeping-love.

This series of semi-staged performances will be guided by Dallas Opera Music Director Emmanuel Villaume (The Mrs. Eugene McDermott Music Director).

"We had a tremendously positive audience response last spring to both the exotic video-enhanced concert performance of Douglas J. Cuomo's Arjuna's Dilemma (guided by the Martha R. and Preston A Peak Principal Guest Conductor Nicole Paiement), and the semi-staged revival of Joby Talbot and Gene Scheer's masterpiece, Everest, beautifully conducted by Maestro Villaume," explained Dallas Opera Board Chairman Holly Mayer.

"Increasingly, we are hearing that our patrons want more than one type of opera experience. They seek out inspiring productions, of course," she adds, "but they are also looking for opportunities to see the orchestra in action, alongside the singers, and to be transported by the latest advances in video technology to places they've never been before.

"Opera in the 21st century is truly an entertainment experience without boundaries."

In the title role, The Dallas Opera is pleased to present lyric-spinto soprano Kristin Lewis in her company debut. Critic Rupert Christiansen of The Telegraph (UK) has praised her "ample and elegant" voice, while the Birmingham News (UK) found Ms. Lewis "vocally commanding and dramatically arresting, revealing strength in her low register and creamy hues in the middle-to-high range."

As Chevalier Des Grieux, the man whose steadfast love for Manon almost never wavers, Gregory Kunde prompted Opera magazine to write: "With an edge to the sound, and a valour in the delivery which was thrilling, the American tenor gave an exceptional performance." Critic Javier del Oliva (Platea Magazine) marveled, "Every single one of the high notes...was perfectly placed, with exact projection and elegance, sounding clear and limpid every time. He does not disappoint in the other registers either."

South African bass-baritone Musa Ngqungwana stars as Manon's protective older brother, Lescaut. New York Arts noticed that "his stage presence was commanding, and his rich delivery excelled throughout." Mr. Ngqungwana is best known to North Texas audience for re-creating the role of Queequeg in the highly successful 2016 revival of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer's 2010 Dallas Opera world premiere, Moby-Dick.

Performed in Italian with English translations projected above the stage, Manon Lescaut will have three additional performances on March 3(m), 6 and 9, 2019.

Tickets are likely to go quickly; renew your Dallas Opera subscription today!

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The fourth production of The Dallas Opera's 62nd Season is, hands down, a contender for the world's best-loved opera: Puccini's quintessential 1896 masterpiece, LA BOHÈME, based on a series of newspaper articles by Parisian writer Henri Murger. It opens on Friday, March 15, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.

A poet shares close quarters with his bohemian artist friends in 19th century Paris. But despite the poverty, hunger and sacrifices-their day-to-day struggles are punctuated by moments of humor, happiness and love, all set to some of the most memorable melodies Puccini ever composed.

This production marks the return of conductor Giuliano Carella and director Tomer Zvulun, guiding a superb international ensemble cast that headed by French tenor Jean-François Borras as Rodolfo and South African soprano Pumeza Matshikiza as Mimi in their company debuts. Baritone Anthony Clark Evans (winner of the 2015 Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition) sings Marcello, and soprano Sara Gartland appears as the irrepressible Musetta, with baritone Will Liverman in the role of Schaunard and bass-baritone Operalia winner Nicholas Brownlee as Colline in their Dallas Opera debuts.

Admittedly, we succumbed to a bit of "luxury casting" for the dual roles of Benoit/Alcindoro by engaging the legendary American bass, Samuel Ramey.

This beautiful production will be new to Dallas, with sets and projections designed by Erhard Rom and costumes designed by the late Peter J. Hall.

Additional performances of La Bohème will be presented on March 17, 20, 23, 29 & 31, 2019.

Season subscriptions will go on sale to the public on April 4, 2018. Current season subscribers may renew at any time by contacting the friendly professionals in The Dallas Opera Ticket Services Office, at 214.443.1000.

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The final production of the 62nd International Season is an operatic masterpiece of (dare we say?) epic proportions, and a work never before performed by The Dallas Opera: Verdi's FALSTAFF, opening Friday, April 26, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House.

This production from Los Angeles Opera will mark the Dallas Opera debuts of a galaxy of major international stars, including sought-after bass-baritone Mark Delavan in the title role; "the most talked about soprano of her generation" (Opera News) Angela Meade as Alice Ford; Quinn Kelsey, a Verdi baritone of the first rank, as Ford; German soprano Mojca Erdmann, who brings "impeccable artistry" to the role of Nanetta; brilliant Spanish tenor Airam Hernández as Fenton; critically acclaimed mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe as Dame Quickly; the "gifted" mezzo-soprano (Opera News) Megan Marino as Meg Page; renowned character tenor Alex Mansoori as Bardolfo; and show-stopping Italian bass Andrea Silvestrelli as Pistola.

The late Lee Blakeley's production will be directed in this revival by Shawna Lucey and conducted by Riccardo Frizza with chorus preparation by Dallas Opera Chorus Master Alexander Rom. Set and costume designs are by Adrian Linford in his company debut.

Adapted from Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor-and considered by many to have eclipsed the original source material-Verdi's Falstaff is likely to be an unforgettable finale to an outstanding season of classic works.

Sung in Italian with English translations projected above the stage, this uproarious production will captivate patrons in three additional performances, April 28(m), May 1 & 4, 2019.

Evening performances during the 2018-2019 Season will begin at 7:30 p

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