We’re not the only city gearing up for Jake Heggie’s Moby Dick. The opera is a joint commission of five opera companies, including Dallas, the San Francisco Opera, the San Diego Opera, the State Opera of South Australia, and the Calgary Opera. The Calgary Herald ran an interview with Heggie yesterday, who told the paper he has put the final notes in the score.

Once upon a time a mentor explained to me that what an artist most desires are the “Three R’s:” Recognition, Riches, and Romance. When graduate school ended, I was left with the decision of where to pursue these. Should I remain in the Northeast where I went to school and setup camp in Brooklyn? Or, do I return home to Texas? Being a sixth generation Texan, the pull home was too hard to deny. Yet every time I visit friends ..read more

The Dallas Opera has announced its 2010-2011 season, and though I thought Jonathan Pell told me last summer that Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde would be included, the final list contains no Germans – much to Wick’s delight and my chagrin. Next year’s season will include Mozart’s Don Giovanni (a personal fav, if I may say so), Donizetti’s Anna Bolena (at least it’s not Lucia di Lammermoor), Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet (a Frenchman not named Bizet, how novel), Verdi’s Rigoletto (get ready for that La donna é mobile aria), and Mussorgky’s Boris Godunov (which we will refer to as next year’s Moby Dick).  

In related news, the wife just told me she had a dream about the Moby Dick set. The whale was a giant submarine with a white face and black body that was angular and Bauhaus-looking. The whale swallowed my entire family, and it dragged us under the water, deep into the whale’s body, which was comprised of countless sub-stage floors. This likely means my wife is nuts, she is having flashbacks from her theater design days, or I’m working too much. She’s also pregnant and due in two weeks, so come to whatever metaphorical conclusions you want. It could also be prophetic, so I thought I’d post it and hedge my bets.

And now the release from the opera:

THE DALLAS OPERA

IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE

A DAZZLING SECOND SEASON IN THE WINSPEAR!

~~~~

“DANGEROUS DESIRES”

MOTIVATE FIVE COMPELLING WORKS

BY MOZART, DONIZETTI, GOUNOD,

VERDI AND MUSSORGSKY!

~~~~

OPENING NIGHT: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2010

THE MARGOT AND BILL WINSPEAR OPERA HOUSE

AT THE AT&T PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

                DALLAS, FEBRUARY 23, 2010 — The Dallas Opera is delighted to announce the five dark and dazzling operas that comprise the company’s 2010-2011 Season in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center.

            The 54th International Season, “DANGEROUS DESIRES” will commence on the evening of Friday, October 22, 2010, and will include an outstanding new Dallas Opera production, several important debuts and a major opera that hasn’t been seen or heard in Dallas in two generations: Modest Mussorgsky’s phenomenal exploration of the dynastic struggles of medieval Russia: Boris Godunov.

            Each opera will feature the critically acclaimed 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.

            The Margot and Bill Winspear Opera house is located in the heart of the Downtown Dallas Arts District at 2403 Flora St., Dallas TX 75201. 

            Renewal packets for Full Season subscribers and Spring Season subscribers will be mailed directly to patrons in late March.  Dallas Opera Season Subscribers can renew their seats for the 2010-2011 Season, beginning April 1, 2010.  New subscribers can purchase their subscriptions for the 2010-2011 Season beginning June 7, 2010, starting at $90.

            Single tickets are expected to go on sale to the general public next August.  All single tickets for individual performances are subject to availability.  Tickets may be purchased at the door – during the 2010-2011 Season – or in advance by calling 214.443.1000.  Subscriptions and single tickets will also be available throughout the season online at dallasopera.org.

2010-2011 Dallas Opera Season

DON GIOVANNI (October 22, 24(m), 27, 30, Nov. 5 & 7(m), 2010)

ANNA BOLENA (October 29, 31(m), November 3, 6, 12 & 14, 2010)

ROMEO & JULIET (February 11, 13(m), 16, 19, 25 & 27(m), 2011)

RIGOLETTO (March 25, 27(m), 30, April 2, 7 & 10(m), 2011)

BORIS GODUNOV (April 1, 3(m), 6, 9, 15 & 17(m), 2011)

            The season opens with a bang on October 22, 2010, when Tony Award-winner Paulo Szot, who captured the hearts of American musical theater lovers as the romantic Emile de Becque in the acclaimed Broadway revival of Rogers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific, breathes new life into the seductive title role of Mozart’s brilliant DON GIOVANNI.

            Mr. Szot, a Polish-Brazilian baritone born in Sao Paulo, will be making his Dallas Opera debut.

            “Paulo is the epitome of ‘tall, dark and handsome’ and debuts here in a role that could have been written with him in mind,” says Dallas Opera Artistic Director Jonathan Pell.  “The Dallas Opera is extremely fortunate to be able to present this artist who has shown an amazing ability to connect on both a musical and emotional level with both his co-stars and members of the audience.

            “I expect him to create an indelible portrayal of Mozart’s rake,” Mr. Pell adds, “as part of an astonishingly gifted ensemble.”

            Soprano Georgia Jarman, described by Opera News as a singer who performs “with glittering precision and high-flying ease” will appear as the obsessed Donna Elvira in her company debut.  She will be joined by soprano Claire Rutter, who makes a welcome return to the Dallas Opera as Donna Anna.  Ms. Rutter was lauded by Rupert Christiansen in The Daily Telegraph (U.K.) for possessing “an ease, command and tonal splendor I haven’t heard equaled for a generation.”  Tenor Bruce Ford will sing the role of the courageous Don Ottavio, a characterization described by Rodney Milnes of The Times (London) as “unusually intense.”   Baritone and international heart-throb Mirco Palazzi will make his American debut as the harried Leporello, and soprano Ailyn Perez (Zerlina) and Ben Wager (Masetto) make their first bows on the Dallas Opera stage as young lovers on their way to the altar – who unexpectedly find themselves the targets of a master schemer!

            The all-important role of The Commendatore will be sung by one of the most interesting basses performing today: Morris Robinson in his Dallas Opera debut.  According to the Washington Times, his “chilling return as the Stone Guest (in this production) is the highlight of a marvelously graphic finale.”

            Mozart’s 1787 masterpiece, thought by many to be his finest work, will be conducted by Romanian Maestro Nicolae Moldoveanu, who made his Dallas Opera debut in 2004 conducting a double bill of works by composer Manuel de Falla. 

            It is both directed and designed by John Pascoe, with lighting design by Jeff Davis in his company debut.

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

            DON GIOVANNI was last performed at the Dallas Opera in 2003.

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            As the Dallas Opera renews its commitment to a semi-repertory format which will permit visitors to experience two different operas on consecutive days, the second production of the “Dangerous Desires” Season, Gaetano Donizetti’s Lyric Tragedy ANNA BOLENA, opens Friday, October 29, 2010 in a new production conducted by Music Director Graeme Jenkins and staged by director Stephen Lawless.

            This compelling 1830 drama, the chapter of the “Tudor Trilogy” that details the final days of Anne Boleyn (the controversial second wife of England’s King Henry VIII), stars Armenian soprano Hasmik Papian (Queen Elizabeth I in the Dallas Opera’s 2009 production of Roberto Devereux), a powerful stage presence in the title role.  The tyrannical King Henry will be portrayed by Brooklyn-born bass Oren Gradus, a favorite of Metropolitan Opera audiences.  Boleyn’s rival for the King’s affections, Jane Seymour, will be sung by renowned American mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, “a vital artist, a beautiful woman, (and) a regal presence” (The Washington Post).

            Tenor Stephen Costello, “one of the brightest rising U.S. stars” (The Sunday Times), who returns to the Dallas Opera this spring in the key role of “Greenhorn” in the world premiere of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s Moby-Dick, portrays the tragic Lord Percy.  American bass Mark McCrory sings the role of Anne’s brother – Lord Rochefort, with mezzo-soprano Elena Belfiore in her American debut as the misguided Smeton and California-born tenor Aaron Blake as the secretive Hervey.

            The production team includes Scenic Designer Benoit Dugardyn, Costume Designer Ingeborg Bernerth, Associate Costume Designer Julia Müer and Lighting Designer Mark McCullough.

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

            ANNA BOLENA has only been performed twice at the Dallas Opera, in 1968 and 1975.

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            The third production of the “DANGEROUS DESIRES” Season is Charles Gounod’s ROMEO & JULIET, one of the most successful stage adaptations of a work by William Shakespeare.  This 1867 opera swiftly propels us into the heart of one of the world’s best-loved (although doomed) romances.

            Maestro Marco Zambelli, in his Dallas Opera debut, conducts the Dallas Opera Orchestra and a tremendous, international ensemble directed by Michael Kahn, artistic director of Washington, D.C.’s Shakespeare Theatre Company.

            Starring in the title roles are Russian soprano Lyubov Petrova (Juliet), whose recent appearance with the Dallas Opera in The Marriage of Figaro prompted Classical Music Critic Scott Cantrell to write: “Petrova is an adorable dynamo of a Susanna, as sweet as she is feisty and playful…Her soprano can blaze but also lap teasingly and glow warmly;” and one of the most sought-after performers working in opera today: American tenor Charles Castronovo (Romeo), a frequent guest artist of the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Covent Garden, Paris Opera and many other prestigious companies and venues – now making his thrilling Dallas Opera debut.

            The remainder of the cast includes a host of international stars: British bass Robert Lloyd as Friar Lawrence; baritone Joshua Hopkins as Mercutio; mezzo-soprano Jane Bunnell as Gertrude; tenor Aaron Blake as Tybalt; bass Stephen Morscheck as Capulet; baritone Stephen LaBrie as Paris; and mezzo-soprano Roxana Constantinescu in her American debut as Stephano.

            This production, originally designed for Montréal Opera and never before seen in Dallas, is the creation of Production Designer Claude Girard and Lighting Designer Mark McCullough. 

            The first of six performances will take place on February 11, 2011 in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House.

            Chorus preparation is by Dallas Opera Chorus Master Alexander Rom.

            ROMEO & JULIET was last performed by the Dallas Opera in 1995.

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            One of the most popular works in the repertoire will return to the stage the evening of Friday, March 25, 2011, when the Dallas Opera presents the revival of Giuseppe Verdi’s RIGOLETTO, for its first performances in the Winspear Opera House. 

            Conducted by Maestro Pietro Rizzo, who elicited excitement from local audiences when he made his American operatic debut conducting our most recent revival of La bohème, this powerhouse drama will be staged by director Harry Silverstein with sets by Tony Award-winning designer Michael Yeargan, costumes by the legendary Peter J. Hall and lighting by Steven Strawbridge.

            RIGOLETTO will star Bulgarian baritone Vladimir Stoyanov, a Verdi specialist making his company debut in the title role, Texas-born coloratura soprano Laura Claycomb will make her long-awaited Dallas Opera debut as Gilda and tenor James Valenti, who wowed North Texas audiences as Rodolfo in the 2009 production of La bohème and won that season’s “Maria Callas Debut Artist of the Year Award,” now portrays the magnetic but malevolent Duke.  Bass Raymond Aceto (who last appeared in Otello as the Venetian Ambassador) returns to the Dallas Opera stage as the cold-blooded assassin, Sparafucile.

            This production also stars mezzo-soprano Kirstin Chavez in her Dallas Opera debut as Maddalena.  Tenor Aaron Blake (this year’s Dallas Opera Emerging Artist) appears in the role of Matteo Borsa.

            Chorus preparation is by Dallas Opera Chorus Master Alexander Rom.

            RIGOLETTO was last performed by the Dallas Opera in 2001.

~~~~

            It’s an historic season finale, as the Dallas Opera presents, for the very first time, Modest Mussorgsky’s towering masterpiece BORIS GODUNOV.  Originally completed in 1869 and subsequently revised by Mussorgsky, BORIS GODUNOV holds a special place in the repertoire and is the single most recorded Russian opera.

            The Dallas Opera will perform this work – absent from any stage in Dallas since a Metropolitan Opera tour in 1978 – in a stunning production from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.  The Dallas Opera Orchestra and ensemble cast will be under the direction of Music Director Graeme Jenkins, with chorus preparation by Chorus Master Alexander Rom.

            The huge, ensemble cast includes internationally acclaimed bass Mikhail Kazakov, a highly regarded star of Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater, in his Dallas Opera debut in the title role; mezzo-soprano Elena Bocharova, hailed for a voice that “blooms at both top and bottom” in her company debut as Marina; and Kazakhstan bass Vitaly Efanov making his company debut as Pimen.

            It also marks the return of one of the world’s most renowned bass voices to the Dallas Opera stage: Sergei Leiferkus, who gave searing performances in our earlier productions of Beethoven’s Fidelio and Wagner’s Lohengrin, in the role of Rangoni.

            “To produce BORIS for an opera company is like doing the Russian Ring,” says Dallas Opera Music Director Graeme Jenkins.  “It’s one of the biggest pieces in the repertoire and it’s a fantastic opportunity to bring new audiences into the Winspear to see this epic, enormous piece.”

            Adds Mr. Jenkins: “I am so looking forward to it!”

            BORIS GODUNOV, never before performed by the Dallas Opera, opens on Friday, April 1, 2011 in the Winspear Opera House.

~~~~

            The Dallas Opera has presented five American premieres, as well as two world premiere works in its illustrious 53-year-history.  It continues to create fresh, new productions of established masterpieces of the genre, including this season’s upcoming world premiere (our third) of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s MOBY-DICK.

            Each of the 2010-2011 Season productions will receive six performances.  Evening performances, unless otherwise announced, will begin at 7:30 PM.  Sunday matinees are slated to begin at 2:00 PM.

            The “Joy and Ronald Mankoff Opera Overture,” a free background lecture for the opera being performed that day, takes place in the Margaret McDermott Auditorium of the Winspear one hour prior to each performance.

            Easy-to-read English translations are projected above the stage during every Dallas Opera performance and special headsets are available at Coat-Check for the hearing impaired.

            Full season subscriptions for the 2010-2011 Season will range from $90 to $1,125 for members of the general public.  Inner Circle seating may be higher.     

            For tickets and information, call The Dallas Opera Ticket Services Office at 214-443-1000 or visit us online at www.dallasopera.org.

The chronicler of recent happenings – the critic – occupies an unfortunate place in the telling of history: immediate enough to feel as if his or her words bear significance; close enough to the events at hand to be both blind to their true scope and obscured from the real story when it is finally told. This is how I felt witnessing Christina Rees and Thomas Feulmer’s show “Modern Ruin” in the WaMu bank building that will soon no longer ..read more

Last summer the Arts of Collin County first announced their intentions to proceed with bidding on the first phase of their arts center project in order to see how low construction costs might go in this weak economy. At the time, I speculated that if they got within a few million dollars of their goal, maybe they would look for a loan to bridge the gap. I cast doubt on whether a city like Plano, given its own recent budget crunch, could support that.

Well, it’s Allen that looks to be offering a $5 million loan to get the delayed project under way and take advantage of these low, low construction prices.

Theatre takes collaboration. When it works, many artists’ contributions meld together and the results are greater than could be achieved individually. In the end, it may be almost impossible to untangle the collaborative nexus and trace the individual contributions. Apparently, the same is true for theoretical physics. In Copenhagen in 1921 and in Copenhagen at Stage West, collaboration produced complex and powerful things. The subject of the play is the events at the place. That’s where scientists Bohr and Heisenberg ..read more

Fantastic showing for the local scene on Marketplace, which ran a story on the “Modern Ruin” show. You can listen to the story and check out all the web extras here.

THURSDAY FEB 25

The Performer: Itzhak Pearlman with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra

The Venue: Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora St., Dallas, TX 75201

The Composition: Bach, Violin Concerto in A minor; Dvorak, Serenade for Strings; Beethoven, Symphony No. 5.

The Liner Notes: Itzhak Perlman playing Beethoven’s Fifth is about as mainstream classical as it comes, but that’s no reason the aficionado should stick his or her nose up at the recognized master’s trip through town. In fact, having chosen such popular works for the concert, Perlman stands to either fade into the background of familiar melodies, or demonstrate why his talent and career stand out. He is the master teacher; perhaps we will hear these works anew.

The Sneak Peek:

David Oistrakh performs Bach’s Violin Concerto in A minor

Itzhak Perlman playing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto at age 13

FRIDAY FEB 26

The Performer: Giancarlo Guererro conducts the Fort Worth Symphony with cellist Daniel Müller-Schott

The Venue: Bass Performance Hall, 525 Commerce St., Fort Worth, TX 76102

The Composition: Mozart, Overture to Don Giovanni, K. 527; Dvorak, Cello Concerto in B Minor, B. 191, Op. 104; Strauss, Don Juan, Op. 20. (Liszt’s Les preludes will also be performed in the Saturday and Sunday concerts.
The Liner Notes:

Across town there’s a classical superstar taking up a one-night residence at the Meyerson, but Daniel Müller-Schott is this week’s can’t-miss performer. The young cellist displays a power that doesn’t betray his sensitivity, an aggression that isn’t overly deliberate. At 34, he has already performed with the BBC Symphony, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, The New York Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France, as well as many other acclaimed groups. The concert sandwiches Dvorak’s Cello Concerto, which will feature Müller-Schott, in between two pieces inspired the legendary romancer Don Juan. Guerrero comes to Fort Worth via the Nashville Symphony.

The Sneak Peek:

Daniel Müller-Schott performs Brahms’ Doppelkonz with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saabrücken

Yo-Yo-Ma performs Dvorak’s Cello Concerto with the New York Philharmonic

SATURDAY FEB 27

The Performer: Orpheus Chamber Singers, under the direction of Don Krehbiel

The Venue: Horchow Auditorium, Dallas Museum of Art, 1717 N. Harwood, Dallas, TX 75201

The Composition: The singers will perform a wide-reaching repertoire centered on the theme of love, with songs by Brahms, Monteverdi, Gavin Bryars, and the Beatles, as well as some Broadway hits.

The Liner Notes: The Orpheus Chamber Singers offer a reprise of their Valentines Day program, featuring love songs – sacred and profane. Now in their 15^th season, the Orpheus Chamber Singers enjoy putting together programs that span six centuries of choral music, and this is no exception, with baroque composer Monteverdi sharing the stage with The Beatles.

The Sneak Peek:

Tom Waits singing Gavin Bryars’ “Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet“

Word came today that the David Bates exhibition at Dunn and Brown has been extended through March 6. That means there’s still time to book that weekend trip to Dallas, Roberta Smith. The NY Times scribe has been especially kind to Bates as of late, bringing him up in a February 10 piece that lamented her recent boredom with the New York museum scene: “David Bates is having a perfectly interesting career without any attention from the New York art establishment, thank you very much.”

It isn’t the fist time Smith tossed an accolade Bates’ way. This nearly-backhanded compliment coming from a review of Bates’ paintings in 2006: “If I wanted to signal my agreement I would say that I like them against my better judgment, but in truth I just like them.” I don’t. But you may. Now you have more time to make up your mind – or not.

Tune into tonight at 6:30 p.m. to listing to Marketplace on KERA. The economic news program will feature a piece on “Modern Ruin,” last weekend’s WaMu bank installation show.