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Designer Robert Brill joins Dallas Opera for Moby-Dick

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 Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins and a 2004 Merritt
Award for Excellence in Design and Collaboration.  In 1996, Brill earned a Joseph Jefferson Award for his scenic
design for a revival of Sam Shepard’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Buried
Child

at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and a 1995 Joseph Jefferson Award for
his set designs for A Clockwork Orange, also at Steppenwolf.

A
founding member of San Diego’s cutting-edge Sledgehammer Theatre, Mr. Brill has
designed for the Whitney Museum of American Art, Lincoln Center Theater,
Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout, New York Stage and Film, New York Theatre
Workshop, the Guthrie, American Conservatory Theater, the Mark Taper Forum, and
the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, to name only the most prominent companies.

Brill’s
opera credits include Berg’s Wozzeck for San Diego Opera, Monteverdi’s Incoronazione
di Poppea

for Chicago Opera Theater, and La bohème for Minnesota Opera.  His extensive Broadway credits include
scenic designs for Guys and Dolls (2009), A Streetcar Named Desire (2005), The Good
Body

(2004), Laugh Whore (2004), Assassins (2004), Anna in the Tropics (2003), One Flew
Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
(2001), Design for Living (2001), Cabaret (1998), The
Rehearsal

(1996), and Buried Child (1996).

Robert
Brill accepted The Dallas Opera’s invitation to step in as scenic designer on
the project when the designer originally commissioned for the task, Michael
Yeargan, was forced to withdraw for personal reasons.  Moby-Dick, based by the authors on Herman Melville’s
novel, is being produced in partnership with the San Francisco Opera, San Diego
Opera, Calgary Opera, and the State Opera of South Australia.

Next
spring’s Dallas Opera world premiere production of Moby-Dick is staged by director
Leonard Foglia and stars Ben Heppner as Captain Ahab, Stephen Costello as
Ishmael, Jonathan Lemalu as Queequeg, Allan Glassman as Flask, and Morgan Smith
as Starbuck.  Patrick Summers conducts.
 Performances are scheduled for
April 30 and May 2, 5, 8, 13, and 16, 2010, in the new Winspear Opera House.

The
Dallas Opera is supported, in part, by funds from: City of Dallas, Office of
Cultural Affairs; TACA; the Texas Commission on the Arts (TCA); 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.  Cartier is the
official jeweler of The Dallas Opera.  Rosewood Crescent Hotel is the official hotel of The Dallas
Opera.  Pianos provided by Steinway
Hall, Dallas/Ft. Worth/Plano.  Advertising
support is provided by the Dallas Morning News.  A special thanks goes to the Elsa von Seggern Foundation for
its continuing support.

#          #          #

For
high-resolution, digital photographs suitable for print, to arrange an
interview, or for additional information, please contact Suzanne Calvin, Associate
Director of Marketing on (214) 443-1014 or [email protected].

Ticket
information for the 2009-10 Dallas Opera season

Subscriptions
for the inaugural season in the new Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the
Dallas Center for the Performing Arts start at just $75 and are currently on
sale to the general public – online only – at dallasopera.org.  For more information, contact the
Dallas Opera Ticket Services Office at (214) 443-1000.

The
Dallas Opera 2009-10 season information

The
Dallas Opera celebrates its 53rd international season with 30
performances of five productions in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at
the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Dallas.  Evening performances will begin at 7:30
pm and Sunday matinees will begin at 2 pm.  English translations will be projected above the stage at
every performance.  Assistance is
available for the hearing impaired.

OTELLO by Giuseppe Verdi

October
23, 25(m), 28, & 31; November 5 & 8(m), 2009

A
new Dallas Opera production to inaugurate the Winspear Opera House!

An
opera in four acts first performed at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, February 5,
1887.

Text
by Arrigo Boito after William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Otello, or The Moor of
Venice
.

Time:
the 15th century

Place:
The island of Cyprus

Conductor:
Graeme Jenkins

Stage
director: Tim Albery*

Production
design: Anthony Baker*

Lighting
design: Thomas C. Hase

Wig
and make-up design: David Zimmerman

Chorus
master: Alexander Rom

Starring:
Clifton Forbis (Otello); Allan Glassman (Otello, Oct 25); Annette Dasch**
(Desdemona); Lado Ataneli* (Iago); Sean Panikkar* (Cassio); Elizabeth Turnbull
(Emilia); Mark McCrory (Montano); and Raymond Aceto (Lodovico).

COSÌ
FAN TUTTE

by W.A. Mozart

February
12, 14(m), 18, 20, 26, & 28(m), 2010

One
of the world’s greatest composers on the subject of love!

An
opera in two acts first performed in Vienna’s Burgtheater, January 26, 1790.

Text
by Lorenzo Da Ponte.

Time:
18th century

Place:
Naples, Italy

Conductor:
Graeme Jenkins

Stage
director: John Cox

Production
design: Robert Perdziola*

Lighting
designer: Duane Schuler

Wig
and make-up design: David Zimmerman

Chorus
master: Alexander Rom

Starring:
Elza van den Heever* (Fiordiligi); Jennifer Holloway (Dorabella); Michael Todd
Simpson (Guglielmo); Brian Anderson (Ferrando); Sir Thomas Allen* (Don Alfonso);
and Nuccia Focile (Despina).

DON
PASQUALE

by Gaetano Donizetti

February
19, 21(m), 24, 27; March 5 & 7(m), 2010

Production
from Los Angeles Opera

A
comic opera in three acts first performed in Paris’ Théâtre Italien, January 3,
1843.

Text
by Giovanni Ruffini and the composer after Angelo Anelli’s libretto for Stefano
Pavesi’s Ser Marcantonio.

Time:
mid-19th century

Place:
Rome, Italy

Conductor:
Stefano Ranzani*

Stage
director: Candace Evans

Production
design: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

Lighting
design: Duane Schuler

Wig
and make-up design: David Zimmerman

Chorus
master: Alexander Rom

Starring:
Donato Di Stefano (Don Pasquale); Adriana Kucerova** (Norina); Nathan Gunn (Dr.
Malatesta); and Norman Shankle* (Ernesto).

MOBY-DICK by Jake Heggie (world
premiere)

April
30; May 2(m), 5, 8, 13, & 16(m), 2010

A
new Dallas Opera co-commission, co-production with San Francisco Opera, San
Diego Opera, Calgary Opera, and the State Opera of South Australia

World
Premiere Performances

An
opera in two acts

Text
by Gene Sheer after Herman Melville’s novel, Moby-Dick

Time:
The 19th century

Place:
The South Seas

Conductor:
Patrick Summers

Stage
director: Leonard Foglia*

Scenic
design: Robert Brill*

Costume
design: Jane Greenwood*

Lighting
design: Donald Holder*

Wig
and make-up design: David Zimmerman

Chorus
master: Alexander Rom

Starring:
Ben Heppner* (Captain Ahab); Morgan Smith* (Starbuck); Stephen Costello
(Ishmael); Jonathan Lemalu* (Queequeg); Allan Glassman (Flask); Robert Orth*
(Stubb); Talise Trevigne* (Pip); and Jonathan Beyer* (Captain Gardiner).

MADAME
BUTTERFLY

by Giacomo Puccini

May
7, 9(m), 12, 15, 20, & 23(m), 2010

A
Francesca Zambello Production!

An
opera in two acts first performed at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, February 17,
1904.

Text
by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica after David Belasco’s play Madame
Butterfly
,
based on a short story by John Luther Long.

Time:
Beginning of the 20th century

Place:
Nagasaki, Japan

Conductor:
Graeme Jenkins

Stage
director: Garnett Bruce

Production:
Francesca Zambello

Scenic
design: Michael Yeargan

Costume
design: Anita Yavich

Lighting
design: Alan Burrett

Wig
and make-up design: David Zimmerman

Chorus
master: Alexander Rom

Starring:
Adina Nitescu (Cio-Cio San); Brandon Jovanovich (B.F. Pinkerton); James Westman
(Sharpless); Maria Zifchak* (Suzuki); David Cangelosi (Goro); Young-Bok Kim*
(The Bonze); and Yungbae Yang* (Prince Yamadori).

*
Dallas Opera Debut

**
American Debut

dallasopera.org.

© 21C Media Group, July 2009

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