Interchanging Idioms

The Dallas Opera is thrilled to announce the result of this year’s balloting for the prestigious “Maria Callas Debut Artist of the Year” award: Texas-born, internationally-renowned lyric coloratura soprano Laura Claycomb. The award is given to a single performer each season for a particularly remarkable and memorable company debut. The selection of Claycomb, a flame-haired diva who dazzled audiences with her breathtaking vocal qualities and exceptional stage artistry, made her long-sought company debut as Gilda in The Dallas Opera’s 2011 revival of Verdi’s Rigoletto . Critics and audiences were as impressed by Claycomb’s interactions with other principals in the cast (including the unforgettable Paolo Gavanelli in the title role) as by her solo moments onstage. Theater Jones wrote: “Her big aria, ‘Caro nome,’ was impeccably sung and dramatically spot-on. Her portrayal is that of an innocent and sheltered girl grappling with the newly awakened…passions of a worldlier woman. Her ...

“Pisaroni exudes complete authority and magnetism.” – Houston Chronicle The fast-rising Luca Pisaroni was a hit at Houston Grand Opera in his house and role debut last month as Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro . After opening night, the Houston Chronicle reported: “With his dashing looks and proud manner, Pisaroni exudes complete authority and magnetism. His potent bass-baritone unfurls with such grandeur and resoluteness that one can easily believe this is a fellow who has spent his entire life getting his way.” The singer has another engagement in the Lone Star State this month, singing in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (May 19-22). His next operatic engagement is another key role debut, when he returns to the U.K.’s Glyndebourne Festival to sing Argante in Handel’s Rinaldo (July 2 – Aug 22). Pisaroni also appears in a newly released EMI Classics DVD of Don Giovanni , starring as Leporello alongside the Don of Gerald Finley, Donna Elvira of...

With Dallas Symphony Orchestra & Chorus on May 11 On May 11, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and soloists will present the New York premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Steven Stucky’s August 4, 1964 at Carnegie Hall. Commissioned by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra to commemorate the birth centennial of President Lyndon B. Johnson in 2008, the evening-long concert drama explores two defining issues of the controversial leader’s presidency: the Vietnam War and civil rights. Stucky and librettist Gene Scheer have based August 4, 1964 on the tragic events of that date 46 years ago: the discovery in Mississippi of the bodies of three recently murdered young civil-rights workers and a disputed “attack” on two American warships in the Gulf of Tonkin. August 4, 1964 explores that day’s historic and tragic events from two perspectives: that of the mothers of two of the murdered men, and reactions from within the Oval Office. At the time in which the concert drama is se...

The Dallas Opera is thrilled to announce the launch of its Dallas Opera Chamber Opera Series in the upcoming 2011-12 season, the catalyst for an historic artistic collaboration between The Dallas Opera and the Dallas Theater Center. The new series, designed to complement the main-stage opera performances in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center, will enable The Dallas Opera to produce lesser-known contemporary works, new commissions, experimental pieces, and opera rarities in intimate “jewel-box” venues. No other American opera company is currently committed to producing a separate chamber opera series. The Dallas Opera Chamber Opera Series will be inaugurated in March 2012 with a Dallas Opera production of Peter Maxwell Davies’s eerie 1979 thriller, The Lighthouse , a chamber opera about an unsolved disappearance off the coast of Scotland. The production will be conducted by Nicole Paiement, Artistic Director of San Francisco’s Ensemble Pa...

The Dallas Opera’s 2010-11 season revolves around “Dangerous Desires,” a theme of romantic drama and political intrigue, and the February 11-27 production of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette in the celebrated Winspear Opera House presents that most iconic story of love and conflict, starring two vocal up-and-comers, Russian soprano Lyubov Petrova and New York-born tenor Charles Castronovo. The star-crossed lovers’ tale will be followed by Verdi’s tragi-comedy Rigoletto (March 25-April 10); a production originally created for London’s Covent Garden, Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov (April 1-17); and the premiere of a song cycle by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer (April 8). The Boris Godunov production will be the Dallas Opera’s first staging of the Russian epic and the first time Mussorgsky’s opera has been produced in Dallas in more than 30 years. Starring as Juliette, Petrova previously appeared with the Dallas Opera in The Marriage of Figaro , her performances prompting Scott Cantrell of the D...

The Dallas Opera is pleased to announce the five darkly dazzling operas that comprise the company’s 2011-12 season in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center. With opening night on Friday, October 21, 2011, the 55th international season – “Tragic Obsessions” – will showcase compelling works by Donizetti, Janácek, Wagner, Verdi, and Mozart, and will include an outstanding Dallas opera-in-concert, important debuts, and some of the company’s most renowned productions. Each opera will feature the superbly talented Dallas Opera Orchestra and Dallas Opera Chorus and will be performed in its original language, with English translations projected above the stage at every performance. Exclusive subscriber extras include “A Cabaret Evening with Patricia Racette” and a fun-filled family concert starring soprano Ava Pine and the Dallas Opera Orchestra.

Nation’s Critics Join Audiences in Extending Warm Welcome to New Winspear Opera House’s First World Premiere, and Production Is Called “A Game-Changer” “Ben Heppner simply is Captain Ahab ” – Dallas Morning News The Washington Post captured the impact of The Dallas Opera’s premiere of Moby-Dick by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer on April 30: “While new work is often seen by audiences as more a duty than a pleasure, the opening-night crowd in Dallas broke into spontaneous applause three times during the first half, and screamed and yelled its approval at the curtain calls. It was a wonderful and rare reminder that new opera truly can excite people if it’s done right.” The nation’s top media outlets gathered in Dallas for the first world premiere to be held at The Dallas Opera’s new home, the Winspear Opera House, which will host Moby-Dick through May 16. The New York Times reported, “Mr. Heggie’s opera was an undeniable success: the end of its maiden voyage was...

Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick , Starring Tenor Ben Heppner as Captain Ahab On April 30, The Dallas Opera presents the world premiere of Moby-Dick by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer, based on Herman Melville’s iconic American novel of 1851. Tenor Ben Heppner stars as Captain Ahab. Jake Heggie has said that Melville’s book is not only operatic in scope: music virtually rises from its pages. “There is so much music with the sea and the wind and that sort of universe that Melville created, the ship floating on the ocean just as the planet floats on the universe. There were bells on the whaling ships, the whales themselves made very percussive noises.” As he and Scheer worked to distill a huge, classic book into a two-act, three-hour operatic story, the composer felt “the musical world reveal itself” with grand orchestration and a 40-voice men’s chorus. The six-performance premiere of Moby-Dick , to run from April 30 to May 16, will star Ben Heppner as Captain Ahab. ...

Production Is First World Premiere at Dallas’s New Winspear Opera House The first world premiere at the new Winspear Opera House here will be an epic event: The Dallas Opera's spring production of Moby-Dick by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer, based on Herman Melville's iconic American novel of 1851. Tenor Ben Heppner stars as Captain Ahab. Jake Heggie has said that Melville's book isn't only operatic in scope: music virtually rises from its pages. "There is so much music with the sea and the wind and that sort of universe that Melville created, the ship floating on the ocean just as the planet floats on the universe. There were bells on the whaling ships, the whales themselves made very percussive noises." As he and Scheer worked to distill a huge, classic book into a two-act, three-hour operatic story, the composer felt "the musical world reveal itself" with grand orchestration and a 40-voice men's chorus. The six-per...

Production Is First World Premiere at Dallas’s New Winspear Opera House The first world premiere at the new Winspear Opera House here will be an epic event: The Dallas Opera's spring production of Moby-Dick by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer, based on Herman Melville's iconic American novel of 1851. Tenor Ben Heppner stars as Captain Ahab. Jake Heggie has said that Melville's book isn't only operatic in scope: music virtually rises from its pages. "There is so much music with the sea and the wind and that sort of universe that Melville created, the ship floating on the ocean just as the planet floats on the universe. There were bells on the whaling ships, the whales themselves made very percussive noises." As he and Scheer worked to distill a huge, classic book into a two-act, three-hour operatic story, the composer felt "the musical world reveal itself" with grand orchestration and a 40-voice men's chorus. The six-per...

Season Continues with Mozart’s Così fan tutte , Donizetti’s Don Pasquale , Puccini’s M adame Butterfly , and World Premiere of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s Moby-Dick On October 23, The Dallas Opera opens its first season in the company’s new home, the 2,200-seat Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House designed by Foster+Partners under Pritzker Prize-winning architect Norman Foster. The inaugural season, which will later feature the world premiere of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s Moby-Dick , opens with a new production of Verdi’s Otello . Directed by Tim Albery, who, like set- and costume-designer Anthony Baker, is making his Dallas Opera debut, the production stars tenor Clifton Forbis, an alumnus of The Dallas Opera Chorus, in the title role. The Dallas Opera’s music director, Graeme Jenkins, conducts. “Having Clifton Forbis sing the title role in Otello has a special significance for us,” explains Jonathan Pell, artistic director of The Dallas Opera. “He sang in The Dallas Oper...

Olga Kern is well known for taking one of two first prizes in the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Now she is traveling about the US performing Rachmaninoff, receiving rave reviews along the way. She performed with the Richardson Symphony Orchestra in Dallas Texas in the first weekend of October with a concert full of Rachmaninoff. Steve Cantrell of the Dallas Morning News wrote this, "...her interpretations of both pieces seemed to have been modeled on Rachmaninoff's own recordings." He went on to say, "...she played boldly and brilliantly, sometimes at the price of a hard-edged tone, and both pieces got standing ovations." Ms Kern is appearing at the Boettcher Concert Hall in Denver for a Rachmaninoff Festival with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra October 16th through the 24th. Described by Maestro Kahane as a “truly a titanic pianist,” Olga Kern performs all four Rachmaninoff piano concerti in two weeks, a feat that few great pianists...

Thomas Hampson’s new position as the New York Philharmonic’s first Artist-in-Residence will be a centerpiece of his 2009-10 season, but the singular American baritone opens his new U.S. season on the opposite coast with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra on September 23. Under his frequent collaborator, conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, he sings early songs by Gustav Mahler, including the Songs of a Wayfarer , and records them for the SFSO’s award-winning Mahler cycle. “A voice like oiled oak, capable of infinite tonal shadings, and a gift for storytelling possessed by few of his colleagues.” – Chicago Tribune Hampson follows up the four-concert Symphony series in San Francisco with the continuation of his remarkable “Song of America” project, which this season celebrates the 250th anniversary of what is recognized to be the first song written by an “American” (“My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free,” composed in 1759 by Philadelphian Francis Hopkinson). A companion CD, Wondrous Fre...

Miguel Harth-Bedoya has been conducting the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra for nine seasons. According to Scott Cantrell of the Dallas Morning News , "Miguel Harth-Bedoya has turned the FWSO into an ensemble worthy of comparison with its Dallas counterpart." In Scott's review of the latest Beethoven concert he offered high praise for the young conductor through the performances of Eroica Symphony , "Inner voices were nicely brought out, without making a fuss over them. The Funeral March was riveting, the scherzo exhilarating. Miguel Harth-Bedoya is a conductor to watch. He is contucting Bolero with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on September 1st and 3rd at the Hollywood Bowl, and in Denver with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra October 2nd, 3rd and 4th at Boettcher Concert Hall to conduct Jimmy López fantastic new piece Fiesta! . He then travels out to the Netherlands with the Hague Philharmonic later in October. If you get the chance, catch him in action!

After summer festival performances in the US with the Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Möst, the New York Philharmonic under Alan Gilbert and the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Leonard Slatin, Nikolaj Znaider performs in a pair of concerts at the Salzburg Festival with the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel. Znaider will perform the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto on August 27 and August 29. These will be his first performances with the Vienna Philharmonic since his recording sessions under Valery Gergiev for the recently released Brahms and Korngold concertos, a disc that earned this rave from the Dallas Morning News : “The Copenhagen native with matinee-idol looks serves up deeply committed and lustrously intoned performances of both the Brahms and the…Korngold.” The Daily Telegraph wrote of the Brahms recording: “Znaider’s own playing transmits thoughtfulness, expressive power, concentration and command of the nuances of phrasing, combined with an overarchi...

Concert includes Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite Robert Spano leads the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in John Adams’ Violin Concerto featuring Leila Josefowicz on Thursday, October 29 at 8:00 p.m. and Friday, October 30, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Thursday and Friday’s performances will also include Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and Stravinsky’s 1919 Suite from The Firebird . Saturday’s Casual Concert Series on Saturday, October 31 at 11 a.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall will only include Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite and John Adams’ Violin Concerto. The BSO will present an Off the Cuff performance of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade on Saturday, October 31 at 7:00 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Composed just over a decade ago in 1993, John Adams wrote what is now one of the most frequently performed of all contemporary concertos—his Violin Concerto. Featured in this demanding work is Leila Josef...

Traditional Eastern European ensemble, Harmonia, opens program October 1-4 Baltimore, Md. (July 31, 2009)—Music Director Marin Alsop leads the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in a celebration of Hungarian folk music on Thursday, October 1 at 8:00 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore and Friday, October 2 at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, October 3 at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, October 4 at 3:00 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Special guest Harmonia will kick off this celebration of folk music’s influence on classical music traditions. Also on the program are Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra and Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto featuring James Ehnes. Performing on authentic folk instruments, Harmonia has been described as a “musical gem” by National Public Radio . The group will open the concert with songs from the members’ varied Eastern European backgrounds. They will discuss with the audience how this type of music influenced Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra . After fleeing Hungar...

Last Night Alan Gilbert led the New York Philharmonic in their second night at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival with the intense music of Bohuslav Martinů’s Symphony No. 4. Written in 1945, the music captures the passion of the war effort with the hopes of an eventual end (Martinů started writing soon after the allied offensive was pushing deep into Germany). Eloquently capturing the dramatic builds, soothing melodies and a vast array of sonic-scapes, Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic earned their place as the final orchestra for the festival – in the “clean up” position. Typically, after a month of music festivities, musicians and audience get tired. Fortunately, the Bravo! Festival opts to change the orchestra to keep the musicians (and the music) fresh. This was the second night for the musicians from New York and they sounded fresh and alive as they tackled a program of Brahms and Martinů. Although there were probably numerous members in the audience who had se...

WRR Classical 101.1 FM Dallas / Fort Worth is losing their weekend host Matt Erikson. He has been offered the opportunity to pursue an exciting journalism opportunity in Los Angeles. In May, Matt was selected to receive a prestigious Annenberg graduate fellowship at the University of Southern California. These awards are highly competitive, and as an Annenberg fellow, Matt will be researching the latest communication and digital media technologies to create a project of value to the field of arts journalism. "I leave WRR with great sadness, as well as tremendous gratitude and respect for the station and how it contributes to the cultural life of the Dallas-Fort Worth area," says Matt. "I don't think that an arts journalist could have a better professional experience than reporting the Cliburn Competition with the kind of wall-to-wall, quality coverage that this station is used to providing its listeners." Kurt Rongey, Operations Manager for WRR, says "...

The Dallas Opera has announced that Robert Brill has signed on as scenic designer for the world premiere production of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s Moby-Dick, scheduled for April 30, 2010 at the new Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts (now under construction). This is to be the Dallas Opera debut of Mr. Brill, a two-time Tony® Award-nominee. “The Dallas Opera is extremely fortunate to be able to engage the services of this highly accomplished and much-in-demand designer,” says the company’s Artistic Director, Jonathan Pell. “Robert Brill’s work is widely admired – both inside and outside the opera world – for its versatility and evocative power. It will no doubt provide a strong foundation for this monumental world premiere.” Mr. Brill received a 2009 Tony® Award nomination for his exuberant set design for the recent Broadway revival of Frank Loesser’s Guys and Dolls . His work was also honored with a 2004 Tony® nomination for Steph...