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backstage@theopera - The TDO Newsletter
December 15, 2011 Home | Tickets | Donate | 214.443.1000    

In This Issue

Come to the Table!

Megan’s Musings: Director Christian Räth

From the Desk of Artistic Director Jonathan Pell

Question of the Week

The Muppets: Placido Domingo & Miss Piggy

The World of Opera: Exhibition at Covent Garden, opera myths debunked, and a whale of an opera


Upcoming Events


January 14th
Inside the Dallas Opera on WRR 101.1FM
12:00pm


January 19th
Save the Date:
2012-2013 Season Announcement
6:30pm


February 5th
Guild Insights on Tristan & Isolde
4:00pm


February 16th
Wagner’s Tristan & Isolde opens
7:00 PM

For more information, see our Events Calendar!


Aria of the Week


In celebration of his American debut in Rigoletto at The Met in 1903, here is Enrico Caruso singing “La Donna e Mobile” from Rigoletto.


You Write the Caption!


From our production of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung in 2002. Join the fun on our Facebook page!


Kids Quote

“Dear Dallas Opera Board & Trustees, Thank you for the wonderful performance of “Madame Butterfly,” it was very inspiring. I am a singer myself and have never heard anything more beautiful then the singing and instrument playing that I heard at the Opera. Please keep funding for student performances they are something to remember. Sincerely Bellame, 5th Grade”

Feature

Come to the Table!

by Suzanne Calvin

From TDO’s Così fan tutte, 2010. Photo by Karen Almond.

We eat to survive. We feast, on the other hand, for a multitude of obvious and mysterious reasons.

Feasting can be a display of wealth or prestige, power or political status. It serves to underscore existing hierarchies within families (from the Seder, to Grandmother’s perfect pies, to Dad carving the Thanksgiving turkey). It reconnects children with nearly forgotten family and cultural traditions, and it serves as an occasion to bring out the rarely seen heirloom silver.

Read more >

Send someone special (or yourself!) to all our spring season operas for as little as $20 per opera!* For a limited time, we’re offering 20% off our regular FLEX subscription prices — plus, TDO offers an interest-free payment plan! Buy a subscription online today using promo code FLEX20, or call our ticket office at 214.443.1000! (To take advantage of our flexible payment plan, please call us.)

Or, you can let them choose with a gift certificate! TDO Gift Certificates can be applied towards any single tickets or subscriptions. There’s no fee, and we can even send it directly to the recipient for you!

Megan’s Musings

Vol. 4: Tristan & Isolde Director Christian Räth

moderated by Megan Meister

This month I sat down with Christian Räth, our Director for Tristan & Isolde, which opens Thursday, February 16th. Christian was last with the Dallas Opera in 2005 when he directed Verdi’s Luisa Miller and our critically-acclaimed 2002 production of Beethoven’s Fidelio.

To listen, click here >


From the Desk of

Artistic Director Jonathan Pell

This entry is from Mr. Pell’s trip to Minnesota Opera.

Jonathan Pell

I attended the performance last night of Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell’s new opera, Silent Night, at the Minnesota Opera. I had the opportunity of spending some time with Allan Naplan, the company’s general director, before the performance and at the intermission, and was able to talk about the tremendous impact that the production has had on their season (all the performances sold out and ovations after each of the previous performances earlier in the run.) After the opera, I had the chance to meet and speak briefly with both the composer and librettist, and could express my heartfelt congratulations to them. I was also able to chat with Dale Johnson, Minnesota Opera’s artistic director, who had shepherded this project along from the very beginning (and to whom it is dedicated). I gather that it was Dale’s idea to commission Mr. Puts, and it was Dale who suggested that the film Joyeux Noel be the inspiration.

Read more >

Photo by Karen Almond.

Buy now!

Need a gift now?
Buy tickets online and print at home!

You can print tickets at home to any of TDO’s upcoming productions — Tristan & Isolde, La traviata, and The Magic Flute — as well as the first in our new Chamber Opera Series, The Lighthouse.

Buy online or call our ticket office at 214.443.1000!

Facebook Question of the Week

What is your favorite Mozart opera tenor role?

“I guess Tamino, since there are fewer more beautiful arias than Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schon (can we say Fritz Wunderlich??). . . tho' Dalla sua pace ain't bad!!! TOO MANY CHOICES!!!!!!!”

“Don Ottavio may be a bit of a prig, but boy does he have two gorgeous arias!”

“Um...any magic flute stuff. i strive to be that good”

“Ferrando Un aura amarosa of course but the rest of the music he gets to sing is just as beautiful ie Fra gli amplessi one of my favorite duets ever”

This week’s question: “What is your favorite Mozart opera soprano role?” Join the fun on our Facebook page!

Muppet Corner

The Muppets: Placido Domingo and Miss Piggy
Miss Piggy is helpless without Kermit until Placido Domingo shows up.

The World of Opera

Joan Sutherland exhibition opens at Covent Garden
London’s Royal Opera House puts Dame Sutherland’s costumes on show.

Myths debunked in time for winter opera season
Alex Hoskins of the SMU Daily Campus addresses five of the most egregious opera myths.

A Whale of an Opera
The Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, partners with the San Diego Opera as it prepares to perform Moby-Dick.

Our Friends Make Opera Happen!

Become a Friend of the Dallas Opera to help us keep moving in the right direction. Learn more at dallasopera.org/give

* Incremental cost for FLEX subscriptions vary by price category and subscription series. Prices listed above are for Midweek Subscription Series. Discount is valid through 12/31/2011. Payment plans need to be completed by 2/15/2012. Offer cannot be combined with any other offers.

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