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Delayed two years by the coronavirus pandemic, Joby Talbot’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly will lastly have its Dallas Opera premiere in November. The 2023-24 lineup also consists of the company’s initially presentation of Richard Strauss’ Elektra in 25 years.
Elektra and two audience favorites, Puccini’s Tosca and Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet, will be presented in productions new to Dallas. Music director Emmanuel Villaume will conduct all but the Gounod, which will be paced by principal guest conduct Nicole Paiement. Final performances of all 4 operas will be livestreamed.
The story of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Nov. three, five, eight and 11), about a man rendered largely immobile and speechless by a stroke, would appear unlikely for an opera. But the libretto by Gene Scheer, who also supplied texts for Talbot’s Everest and Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick, tells the story by way of the principal character’s recollections and the reactions of other characters.
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The opera is primarily based on a memoir by Jean-Dominique Bauby, an editor of the French style magazine Elle. Turned into a 2007 film directed by Julian Schnabel, it records Bauby’s determination to dictate his life story by way of a technique of eyeblinks laboriously recorded by a secretary.
Baritone Lucas Meachem, final observed right here in the 2022 Barber of Seville, will portray Bauby, in a cast also like Sasha Cooke, Richard Croft, Deanna Breiwick, Kevin Burdette, Andriana Chuchman and Andrew Bidlack. The production will reunite stage director Leonard Foglia and set and projection designer Elaine McCarthy, who previously collaborated on Moby-Dick and Everest.
Primarily based on Sophocles’ tragedy, Elektra (Feb. 9, 11, 14 and 17) will function Marjorie Owens in the title function, with Angela Meade as Chrysothemis, Denyce Graves as Klytämnestra, Alfred Walker as Orest and Clifton Forbis as Aegisth. The cast for Tosca (Oct. 13, 15, 18 and 21) will include things like Ewa Plonka (Tosca), Joseph Calleja (Cavaradossi) and Gihoon Kim (Scarpia).
Extended Extended and Golda Schultz will portray the star-crossed lovers in Romeo and Juliet (March 1, three, six and 9, 2024), with Raymond Aceto as Friar Laurence, Eugene Villanueva as Mercutio, Andrew Turner as Tybalt, Donnie Ray Albert at Capulet, Claudia Chapa as Gertrude and Emily Sierra as Stephano.
The season’s other offerings will include things like a People’s Option Concert (Oct. 7), the Titus Family members Recital by tenor Lawrence Brownlee (Jan. 21, 2024), the Hart Institute for Ladies Conductors Showcase Concert (Jan. 28) and the National Vocal Competitors (March eight). Family members Operas, for youngsters three and older, will be The Billy Goats Gruff (Oct. 14 and March ten, 2024) and Pépito (Nov. 12 and March two, 2024).
Particulars
Subscription renewals are offered now new subscriptions go on sale April 19. Single tickets will be sold beginning July 21. Details: 214-443-1000, dallasopera.org.
