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9 unusual facts about Dallas Opera


Caroline Rose Hunt

She is also a donor to the Junior League of Dallas, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Tiffany Circle of the American Red Cross, the conservative Heritage Foundation, the Crystal Charity Ball, the James Madison Council of the Library of Congress, the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Downtown Dallas, the Dallas Opera, the Dallas Symphony, and the Dallas Woman's Club.

Dallas Opera

The company was founded in 1957 as the Dallas Civic Opera by Laurence Kelly and Nicolà Rescigno, both of whom had been active with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the first as administrator, the second as artistic director.

Many singers have made their American debut in Dallas, such as Montserrat Caballé, Plácido Domingo, Gwyneth Jones, Waltraud Meier, Magda Olivero, Joan Sutherland, and Jon Vickers.

Dallas also has helped launch the careers of such American singers as Renée Fleming, Diana Soviero, and Ruth Ann Swenson.

Callas returned the following year to perform in La traviata in a production by Franco Zeffirelli and in Medea, directed by the Greek director, Alexis Minotis, two of her infrequent performances in the United States.

Franco Faccio

Barese has also presented the "Marcia funebre" with the Dallas Opera Orchestra in 2007.

Henry S. Miller Company

Without their stewardship, there would not have been a Dallas Opera.

Kern Wildenthal

He and his wife have collectively held key roles in the Dallas Opera, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Business Committee for the Arts, Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce, Dallas Citizens Council, Dallas Assembly, Vickery Meadow Learning Center, Friends of WRR, Science Place, and Dallas Center for the Performing Arts.

Sheila Jones Harms

Many of her students are now performing in major opera houses in the United States and Europe, both as leading soloists and as chorus members, including Dallas Opera, and have won awards such as the Metropolitan Opera Regional Competition and the MacAllister and William Matheus Sullivan awards.


Garnett Bruce

In recent years, Bruce has served on the directing staffs of Santa Fe Opera, Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, San Diego Opera, Washington National Opera, and San Francisco Opera.

John Ardoin

In June 1966 he became the music critic at The Dallas Morning News, only the second person to do so, but his most well-known writings were about Maria Callas, who was considered the godmother of the Dallas Opera after her 1958 appearances there.

Simon Sargon

Sargon has been on the staff of the New York City Opera, Connecticut Opera, Dallas Opera, and was the assistant conductor of the Concert Opera Association of New York, which gave concert performances of unknown and neglected operatic works at Philharmonic Hall.

Štefan Margita

His career has also taken him to the stages of the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, the Teatro Comunale Giuseppe Verdi, the Dallas Opera, the Teatro Real, Oper Frankfurt, Theater Basel, the Teatro di San Carlo, the Theatro Municipal in São Paulo, and the New National Theatre Tokyo among others.

Woody Pirtle

Over the next 10 years, the firm created identity programs and marketing materials for Baylor University Medical Center, The Dallas Museum of Art, T.G.I. Friday's, Dallas Opera, Diamond Shamrock Corporation, National Gypsum, Centex Homes, Gerald D. Hines Interests, Simpson Paper Company and NCR, to name a few.


see also

Texas Ballet Theater

In 1988, after the demise of Dallas Ballet, the company began adding performances of The Nutcracker in Dallas in a business partnership with The Dallas Opera, producing Nutcracker performances in The Music Hall and using The Dallas Opera Orchestra.