Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Contact: Suzanne Calvin 214.443.1014 Celeste Hart 214.443.1072
[email protected] [email protected]
THE DALLAS OPERA ANNOUNCES
AN IMPORTANT NEW ROLE FOR
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR JONATHAN PELL
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Stepping Down From Full-Time Work, Mr. Pell Will Serve
As TDO Artistic Advisor Beginning in January 2015
DALLAS, APRIL 22, 2014 – The Dallas Opera announced today that Artistic Director Jonathan Pell, having completed 30 years of service, has asked to step down from full-time work for the company as of December 31, 2014. At the company’s request, he will remain on as Artistic Advisor to provide artistic continuity and expertise for the next several seasons, working with General Director and CEO Keith Cerny and Music Director Emmanuel Villaume.
Mr. Pell came to The Dallas Opera in 1985 from WNET/Thirteen in New York, where he was Coordinating Producer for Music Programming and worked on such public television projects as The Life of Verdi series hosted by Burt Lancaster and the historic telecast of the complete Chereau Ring Cycle from Bayreuth for Great Performances. He was also a member of the original production team for PBS Gala of Stars, an annual program (1980-86) celebrating “the best and brightest” vocal artists in classical music, hosted by the incomparable Beverly Sills. Before joining WNET, Mr. Pell was active in concert and opera management for several years; representing an international roster of singers, conductors and stage directors.
Mr. Pell joined The Dallas Opera as Artistic Administrator in 1985. He was later promoted to Director of Artistic Administration and was appointed Artistic Director of the Dallas Opera in 2009 – only the second Artistic Director in the 57-year history of the company.
Notable singing artists who debuted with the company at his invitation include Cecilia Bartoli, Ben Heppner, Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Denyce Graves, Jerry Hadley, James Morris, Patricia Racette, Ruth Ann Swenson and Carol Vaness.
Notable TDO projects during Mr. Pell’s years include four critically acclaimed productions of works by Leos Janácek and two by Tchaikovsky; the Ring Cycle (produced between 1999-2002); the 1989 American Farewell to Dame Joan Sutherland in The Merry Widow; the Francesca Zambello production of Britten’s Billy Budd; “Festival de Falla” and three world premieres: Dominick Argento’s The Aspern Papers in 1988, Tobias Picker’s Thérèse Raquin in 2001 and most recently, Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s Moby-Dick in 2010.
In his decades in the opera field, Mr. Pell has identified many outstanding singers, often before they became well-known names. Several of the singers he recruited for the Dallas Opera Chorus went on to have major careers as principal artists, including Jay Hunter Morris and Clifton Forbis. Mr. Pell has also served for many years as Artistic Advisor and Chair of the Panel of Judges for the Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition. Past winners of the competition who have gone on to major careers include Latonia Moore, Erin Wall, Mary Dunleavy, Marjorie Owens, David Portillo and Weston Hurt.
He has also served as a distinguished adjudicator at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Luciano Pavarotti Competition, the George London Grants and many more. From 1999 until 2009, Mr. Pell chaired the Richard Tucker Music Foundation’s national auditions committee. He also served for a decade on the board of the prestigious ARIA Awards.
Mr. Pell explained, “I have been thinking about this for quite some time. As of December 31, 2014, I will have completed thirty years with the company and feel that now is the moment to step down and do some of the other things that I have long wanted to do but for which I never had the time.
“With the leadership of Keith Cerny as General Director and CEO, now entering his fifth year, and the appointment last year of Emmanuel Villaume as Music Director, I am confident that the company is in excellent hands.
“As Artistic Advisor, I will still be able to contribute to the company that I love and to which I have dedicated so much of my professional life. After having been instrumental in bringing 162 productions of 97 different operas – including four commissioned works – to the stages of the Music Hall and the Winspear Opera House, it is time to do other things. I have attended almost 600 performances at the Dallas Opera, as well as thousands of rehearsals. I am very proud of what I have accomplished here, but now look forward to being involved in other worthwhile projects.”
In 2010, Jonathan Pell was honored with an Opera America Service Award for his 25 years of leadership in the field. The following year, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Opera Association.
As General Director and CEO Keith Cerny noted, “Jonathan recently approached me to discuss his future plans and it gave us both the opportunity to reflect on his legacy. In my extensive artistic planning work with Jonathan, I have been struck by his encyclopedic knowledge of singers and artists, as well as his exhaustive knowledge of the operatic repertoire. Since joining The Dallas Opera in May 2010, I have been very impressed by several productions programmed and cast prior to my arrival, most notably Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, which was presented in 2011, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde in 2012, and the 25th Anniversary revival of Dominick Argento’s The Aspern Papers in 2013.”
“Jonathan is a longtime personal friend and colleague,” said Dallas Opera Music Director Emmanuel Villaume, “with a deeply felt passion for the art form. He is immensely respected in the opera world and I believe he will continue to play an influential role in discovering and nurturing up-and-coming artists in our field—a process I will watch with great interest.”
Board Chair of The Dallas Opera, T. Peter Townsend stated, “On behalf of everyone at The Dallas Opera, I want to thank Jonathan for his exemplary work over the past three decades, including his input on crucial decisions regarding the design and construction of the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House. I’m certain that he will continue to make valuable contributions to the artistic process at TDO in his ongoing role as company Artistic Advisor.”
Former Board Chair, Dr. Kern Wildenthal agreed: “Jonathan is well-known throughout the opera field as a truly outstanding judge of vocal talent. He has identified many singers in the course of his distinguished career who have performed or debuted in Dallas before going on to enjoy major international careers. It has been a great personal pleasure to know and work with him for many years as a member of the Board of Directors of The Dallas Opera.”
Mr. Pell will transition from full-time employment to the role of Artistic Advisor to the company as of January 1, 2015. He will remain in this role until the end of the 2016-2017 Season.
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Subscription renewals are underway for the Dallas Opera’s 2014-2015 “Height of Passion” Season. For more information, please contact TDO’s friendly ticket office professionals at 214-443-1000 or visit www.dallasopera.org.
EVENTS, GUESTS AND ARTISTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT “APRIL AT THE DALLAS OPERA”
IS CONVENIENTLY AVAILABLE ONLINE, 24/7
VISIT WWW.DALLASOPERA.ORG AND CHECK THE CALENDAR LISTINGS
OR VISIT WWW.DALLASOPERA.ORG/EVENTS
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To arrange an interview
Or for additional information
Please contact Suzanne Calvin, Director Media & Public Relations
214.443.1014 or [email protected]
The Dallas Opera’s 2013-2014 “By Love Transformed” Season
Is Sponsored by Texas Instruments Foundation
THE DALLAS OPERA WISHES TO EXPRESS ITS GRATITUDE TO OUR EXCLUSIVE PARTNERS:
AMERICAN AIRLINES – OFFICIAL AIRLINE OF THE DALLAS OPERA
LEXUS – OFFICIAL VEHICLE OF THE DALLAS OPERA
Ticket Information for the 2013-2014 Dallas Opera Season
All performances are in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center unless otherwise described. Single Tickets range from $19 to $275 and Flex Subscriptions are on sale starting at $75. Family performance tickets are just $5. For more information or to make your purchase, contact The Dallas Opera Ticket Services Office at 214.443.1000 or visit us online, 24/7, at www.dallasopera.org.
THE DALLAS OPERA 2013-2014 SPRING SEASON INFORMATION
The Dallas Opera celebrates its Fifty-SeventhInternational Season in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in the Dallas Arts District. Evening performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinees begin at 2:00 p.m. unless otherwise stated. English translations will be projected above the stage at every performance and assistance is available for the hearing impaired. The Joy and Ronald Mankoff Pre-Opera Talk begins one hour prior to curtain, at most performances.
DIE TOTE STADT (“THE DEAD CITY”) by Erich Wolfgang Korngold
March 21, 23(m), 26, 29 and April 6(m), 2014
The Hitchcock-like tale of one man’s dark obsession with the woman he loved and lost.
An opera in three acts first performed in Hamburg & Cologne, Germany on December 4, 1920
Text by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Paul Schott based on a novel by Georges Rodenbach, Bruges la morte
Time: End of the 19th century
Place: The city of Bruges in northwestern Belgium
Conductor: Sebastian Lang-Lessing*
Stage Director: Mikael Melbye
Scenic Design: Mikael Melbye*
Costume Design: Dierdre Clancy*
Video Design: Wendall Harrington*
Lighting Design: Mark McCullough
Wig & make-up Design: David Zimmerman
Choreography: Matthew Ferraro*
Chorus Master: Alexander Rom
Starring: Mardi Byers*(Marie/Marietta) , Jay Hunter Morris (Paul), Morgan Smith (Fritz), Weston Hurt (Frank), Katherine Tier*(Brigitta), Andrew Bidlack (Albert), Jan Lund**(Victorin), Jennifer Chung (Juliette), Angela Turner Wilson (Lucienne).
THE BARBER OF SEVILLE by Gioachino Rossini
March 28, 30(m), April 2, 5, 11 & 13(m), 2014
Figaro, a scheming barber and jack-of-all-trades plots to release a headstrong girl from her gilded cage!
An opera in two acts first performed in Rome on February 20, 1816
Text by Pierre-Augustin de Beaumarchais, from his comedy Le Barbier de Séville
Time: 18th century
Place: Seville, Spain
Conductor: Giuliano Carella*
Stage Director: Herb Kellner
Original Production: John Copley
Scenic Design: John Conklin
Costume Design: Michael Stennet
Lighting Design: Gary Marder
Wig & make-up Design: David Zimmerman
Chorus Master: Alexander Rom
Starring: Nathan Gunn (Figaro), Isabel Leonard*(Rosina), Alek Shrader*(Count Almaviva), Donato DiStefano (Dr. Bartolo), Burak Bilgili*(Don Basilio), Nathan De’Shon Myers (Fiorello), Christian Teague*(Ambrogio).
DALLAS OPERA FAMILY PERFORMANCES
Jack and the Beanstalk: October 26, 2013 and April 5, 2014
Family Concerts: November 3, 2013 and February 1, 2014
The Elixir of Love: November 9, 2013 and April 12, 2014
* Dallas Opera Debut
** American Debut
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The Dallas Opera is supported, in part, by funds from: Texas Instruments Foundation, TACA, City of Dallas, Office of Cultural Affairs; the Texas Commission on the Arts and The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). American Airlines is the official airline of The Dallas Opera. Lexus is the official vehicle of The Dallas Opera. Advertising support from The Dallas Morning News. A special thanks to the Elsa von Seggern Foundation for its continuing support.
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