ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Emmanuel Villaume CONDUCTOR

From: Strasbourg, France

Dallas Opera: The Mrs. Eugene McDermott

Music Director (2013/2014-present)

Career highlights: Maestro Villaume has been The Mrs. Eugene McDermott Music Director of The Dallas Opera since 2013 and the Music Director of the Prague Philharmonia since 2015. Recognized for his interpretation of the French and Italian repertoire, he regularly guests with the most important opera companies and orchestras worldwide. Most recently, Maestro Villaume appeared at the Metropolitan Opera for the HD simulcast of Massenet’s Cendrillon, at the Munich Staatsoper for Carmen, in Covent Garden for La bohéme, as well as with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Mariinsky orchestras. Maestro Villaume has recorded extensively with all major labels. He studied music in Strasbourg, his hometown, and at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Tomer Zvulun DIRECTOR

From: Tel Aviv, Israel

Dallas Opera: Die Fledermaus (2008/2009, debut), La bohéme (2018/2019)

Career highlights: General and Artistic Director of The Atlanta Opera since 2013, his work has been presented by prestigious opera houses around the world, including The Metropolitan Opera, the opera companies of Israel, Buenos Aires, Wexford, Glimmerglass, Houston, Washington National Opera, and Seattle, as well as leading educational institutes and universities such as The Juilliard School, Indiana University, Boston University, and IVAI in Tel Aviv. Zvulun’s work at The Atlanta Opera attracted international attention by earning numerous awards and prizes including the nomination of The Atlanta Opera for the International Opera Awards in London and the selection of his production of Silent Night as both the Irish Times and AJC production of the year. His focus on innovation led to an invitation to deliver a TED talk as well as a case study that is being taught at Harvard Business School. Upcoming productions, in addition to Das Rheingold in Dallas, include Madame Butterfly (Atlanta), The (R) evolution of Steve Jobs (Salt Lake City, Calgary), Maria de Buenos Aires (San Antonio), Das Rheingold and Die Walküre (Atlanta).

From: Seattle, Washington Dallas Opera: La bohéme (2018/2019, debut)

Career highlights: Mr. Rom has designed settings for more than 250 productions and in 2015 he was named as a finalist in the designer of the year category for the International Opera Awards in London. His designs have frequently been featured in the Prague Quadrennial International Design exhibition, San Francisco Opera, Royal Swedish Opera, Seattle Opera, Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Vancouver Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Minnesota Opera and many more. In 2014 he designed the European premiere of Silent Night for the Wexford Festival. The Irish Times Theatre Awards named it audience choice and best opera production of 2014. Mr. Rom teaches design at Montclair State University.

From: Seattle, Washington

Dallas Opera: debut

Career highlights: NYC/Off-Broadway: Coal Country, (The Public Theatre); Gloria: A Life, (Daryl Roth Theatre); Die Mommie Die! (New World Stages); Monodramas (New York City Opera). US Regional: American Repertory Theater, McCarter Theater, Kennedy Center, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera. International: The Gran Teatre de Liceu, Wexford Opera, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari. Upcoming:Orfeo ed Euridice (San Francisco Opera). Jessica is currently a member of the steering committees of Opera America’s Women’s Opera Network (WON) and Racial Justice Opera Network (RJON), as well as Opera America Board’s Membership Committee.

Robert Wierzel

Lighting Designer

From: Branford, Connecticut

Dallas Opera: Les contes d’ Hoffmann (2005/2006, debut), La bohéme (2018/2019)

Career highlights: Mr. Wierzel has worked with artists and directors from diverse disciplines and backgrounds, in opera, theatre, dance, museums and contemporary music, on stages throughout the country and abroad. His NYC Broadway productions include Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, the musical FELA! (Tony Award nomination) and David Copperfield’s Dreams and Nightmares. Mr. Wierzel has designed productions with opera companies in New York (Glimmerglass Festival, NYCO), Paris, Tokyo, Norway, Toronto, Vancouver, Wexford, Atlanta, Boston, Seattle, Houston, Dallas, Portland, Denver (Opera Colorado), Washington D.C; Minneaplois and Chicago (Lyric Opera & Opera Theatre) among others. Future projects include a new musical A Walk On The Moon. Mr. Wierzel is a creative partner at Spark Design Collaborative and is on the faculty of NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Design For Stage & Film.

David Zimmerman

From: Dallas, Texas

Dallas Opera: The Barber of Seville (2006/2007, debut), 43 productions since 2006/2007

Career highlights: Mr. Zimmerman has worked with numerous opera companies around the world, including The Metropolitan Opera, and those of St. Louis, Santa Fe, Paris, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minnesota, Santa Barbara, Amsterdam and more. His career extends to Broadway, where he has worked with such shows as Wicked, Rocky Horror, Show Boat, South Pacific, and Evita . Some of his personal clients include Renée Fleming, Joyce DiDonato, Susan Graham, Patricia Racette, Martha Stewart, and Ricky Martin. Mr. Zimmerman has also worked with DIFFA Fashion Runway, Dallas Fashion and Art, and Yelp.com Fashion Magazine; credits include spreads inOpera News, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker. TV and Film credits are Glamour Magazine’s Women of the Year,Margaret (starring Anna Paquin), and Hostiles (starring Christian Bale and Rosemund Pike).

Chorus Master

From: Kharkiv, Ukraine

Dallas Opera: Chorus Master (1990/1991-present)

Career highlights: Chorus master for 33 Seasons, Mr. Rom graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory of Music with a master’s degree in choral conducting. He has been a coach at numerous companies, including the Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and the Cincinnati, Ravinia, and Savonlinna festivals. An Honorary Visiting Professor at Finland’s Sibelius Academy and the Helsinki Conservatory of Music, Mr. Rom was a Visiting Professor at the Savonlinna Opera Festival Music Institute for ten years; he also staged and musically prepared Eugene Onegin while in Finland. Mr. Rom was a founder of the Grace Choral Society of Brooklyn, New York, of which he was Music Director for 19 years.

George Gagnidze RIGOLETTO

From: Tbilisi, Georgia

Dallas Opera: debut

Career highlights: In 2009, the dramatic baritone made his sensational debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Rigoletto, where he has since then returned in more than 100 performances, singing roles such as Macbeth, Amonasro (Aida), Scarpia (Tosca), Michele (Il tabarro), Tonio (Pagliacci), Alfio (Cavalleria rusticana), Shaklovity (Hovanščina), and reprising the title role of Rigoletto in 25 performances and two different productions. Other important opera houses and festivals at which he has appeared include the Teatro alla Scala (Rigoletto, La traviata, Aida, Tosca), Paris Opéra (Otello, La traviata, Aida, Tosca, Francesca da Rimini), Royal Opera House Covent Garden (La traviata), Wiener Staatsoper (Nabucco, Tosca, Cavalleria rusticana), San Francisco Opera (Aida, Andrea Chénier), Los Angeles Opera (Rigoletto, Pagliacci), Washington National Opera (Otello), the BBC Proms (Hovanščina), and the Arena of Verona (Nabucco, La traviata). Performances this season include Tosca and Aida at the MET, Macbeth in Valencia, Nabucco in Madrid and Tbilisi, as well as Aida in Los Angeles.

From: Hayden, Idaho

Dallas Opera: debut

Career highlights: This season, Ms. Leonard makes role debuts as Leïla in Les pêcheurs de perles and Marie in La fille du regiment in returns to Austin Opera and Utah Opera, respectively. She also makes her Central City Opera debut as Juliette in Roméo et Juliette Her recent performances include her international and role debut as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier (Garsington Opera), previous performances of Gilda in Rigoletto (Seattle Opera, Austin Opera), Adina in L’elisir d’amore(Seattle Opera), and Chrisann Brennan in Bates’ The [R]evolution of Steve Jobs (Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Austin Opera, Seattle Opera). She is a 2018 Grand Finals winner of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.

René Barbera THE DUKE OF MANTUA

From: San Antonio, Texas

Dallas Opera: La traviata (2017/2018, debut), The Pearl Fishers (2021/2022)

Career highlights: Mr. Barbera was the first-ever sole recipient of all three top awards of the Operalia Competition in 2011 and the winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2008. A highlight this season includes Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia/Count Almaviva at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. He sings Fenton in Verdi’sFalstaff at Teatro La Fenice di Venezia and later the title role of Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux with Washington Concert Opera. He concludes the season with La Sonnambula/ Elvino at Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège and then returns to the Metropolitan Opera as the Italian Singer in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier

Raymond Aceto SPARAFUCILE

From: Sofia, Bulgaria

Dallas Opera: Aida (2012/2013, debut)

Career highlights: Ms. Krasteva began her professional career in 2001, debuting in such roles as Carmen, Maddalena in Rigoletto, and Fenena in Nabucco. As a ten year member of the Wiener Staatsoper ensemble, she performed more than thirty roles, including Princess Eboli in Don Carlos, Leonor de Guzman in La Favorite, Sara in Roberto Devereux, Preziosilla in La forza del destino, Marina in Boris Godunov, Olga in Eugene Onegin, and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. Other roles in Ms. Krasteva’s repertoire include Venus in Tannhäuser, Adalgisa in Norma, Amneris in Aida, Dalila in Samson et Dalila, Princess de Bouillon in Adriana Lecouvreur, and the Foreign Princess in Rusalka . She has also performed the title role of Carmen at many international theaters including: Wiener Staatsoper, Arena di Verona, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Dutch National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago,and the Bolshoi Theatre.

From: Cleveland, Ohio

Dallas Opera: Rigoletto (1994/1995, debut), 14 roles since 1994/1995

Career highlights: Mr. Aceto has established an important presence among the world’s leading opera companies and symphony orchestras. Recent performances include his return to Wolf Trap as soloist for their 50th Anniversary Celebration Gala, followed by his return to Seattle Opera as Hunding for a special performance of Die Walküre under conductor Ludovic Morlot. Mr. Aceto returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago in his role debut as Captain in Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas, directed by Francesca Zambello, as well as to the Metropolitan Opera stage for performances in Madama Butterfly and Eugene Onegin. On the concert stage, he was most recently seen with the Cleveland Orchestra as Lodovico in Verdi’s Otello

Nicholas Newton COUNT MONTERONE

From: San Diego, California

Dallas Opera: debut

Career highlights: Season highlights feature a Detroit Opera debut in Xerxes, Salome at Houston Grand Opera, and an engagement with Lyric Opera of Chicago in Hansel und Gretel. Credits of the recent past include a Santa Fe Opera debut in Il barbiere di Siviglia, an engagement with the Metropolitan Opera in a revival of Rodelinda, and the Houston Grand Opera world premiere of Joel Thompson and Andrea Davis Pinkney’s The Snowy Day. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from San Diego State University, a Master of Music from Rice University, and is an alum of the Houston Grand Opera Studio under the tutelage of Dr. Stephen King.

Malcolm Payne Jr.

From: Blytheville, Arkansas

Dallas Opera: debut

Career highlights: This summer, Payne made his Carnegie Hall debut as a featured soloist with the Turtle Creek Chorale in the world premiere of Marquees L. Garrett’s Dreamland: Tulsa 1921. He is a Fort Worth Opera Hattie Mae Lesley Resident Artist and an artist of The Dallas Opera’s Educational Outreach Program. Recent engagements include Jesus in a new musical production titled Simon of Cyrene, Papageno in The Magic Flute (Music Ministry Conservatory), and Taste of Misbehavin’ (Dallas Metroplex Musicians’ Association), Voces Intimae’sSoul Songs, and Fort Worth Opera’sA Night of Black Excellence. Payne is also an acclaimed flute player who has been featured with several ensembles throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

From: Fort Dodge, Iowa

Dallas Opera: debut

Career highlights: Ms. Hansen joined MiOpera in the summer of 2022 as Baroness

Elsa Schrader in their production of The Sound of Music. She finished a two year tenure as an Outreach Artist with The Dallas Opera, singing the roles of Laurette in Doctor Miracle and Manuelita in Pépito. Her vocal flexibility has also been showcased on the concert stage, including performing as the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and the Amarillo Symphony, and with the Abilene Philharmonic in Broadway A La Carte

From: Westchester, New York

Dallas Opera: debut

Career highlights: Ms. Bolshoi performed thrice at Carnegie Hall with MidAmerica Productions between 2019-2022. In 2019 she debuted as Amneris in Aida with Boheme Opera, NJ and sang Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde at OPERA America. In 2018, Ms. Bolshoi sang a song cycle by Lowell Liebermann and another by Christos Hatzis in Greece, while her soprano engagements included covering Senta in Der Fliegende Holländer at The San Francisco Opera; Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier with Huntsville Symphony, Alabama; soloist in a Wagner concert at La Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona; soloist for a gala concert at Český Krumlov, Czech Republic, and Foreign Princess in Rusalka . She’s the recipient of The Liederkranz Wagner Section Award from the Gerda Lissner Foundation Award.

Fro m: Seoul, South Korea

Dallas Opera: debut

Career highlights: In recent seasons, Mr. Ahn grabbed the attention of opera goers as he joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for performances of The Nose, Turandot, Rigoletto, and Die Fledermaus, making his main stage début as the Second Priest in Die Zauberflöte. This past season, Ahn reprised the role of Goro in a return to the Canadian Opera Company and will perform it again next season in returns to the San Francisco Opera, Atlanta Opera, and New Orleans Opera. Additional engagements: Kaspar, Amahl and the Night Visitors (On Site Opera); Mime, Das Rheingold (Atlanta Opera); Guang, Stuck Elevator (Nashville Opera).

Earl Larson

From: Evansville, Wisconsin

Dallas Opera: debut

Career highlights: Recent engagements have included Le Dancaïre in Carmen under the baton of John DeMain with Madison Opera, Escamillo for Parkway Concert Orchestra, Ford in Verdi’sFalstaff for TCU Opera, as well as Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, Sid in Britten’s Albert Herring, Maguire in Tobias Picker’s Emmeline, and Golaud in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, all for Boston University’s Opera Institute. Mr. Larson has been in the young artist programs at The Dallas Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Sarasota Opera, and Music Academy of the West. He has received recognition in competitions including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Gerda Lissner Foundation, and the Giulio Gari Foundation.

From: Houston, Texas

Dallas Opera: The Barber of Seville (2021/2022, debut)

Career highlights: Ms. Maina has worked in The Dallas Opera Education Outreach program for 5 seasons as a Teaching Artist and has been featured in the program as Despina/ The Three Little Pigs, Dorabella/The Bremen Town Musicians, and returns this season as Adina/The Elixir of Love. She has been a frequent recitalist in the DFW area performing in venues such as St. Matthews Cathedral of the Arts, the Puccini Society, and the Winnsboro Arts Center.

From: Los Angeles, California

Dallas Opera: La bohéme (2008/2009, debut), Manon (2015/2016), The Barber of Seville (2021/2022)

Career highlights: Mr. Golliday’s operatic portrayals have included Figaro in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, L’Arbre in Ravel’sL’enfant et les sortilèges, Claggart in Britten’s Billy Budd, and Sarastro in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. He joined The Dallas Opera as a chorister in 2004 and has performed with the Fort Worth Opera, Dallas Bach Society, Orchestra of New Spain, and is currently a section leader at Highland Park UMC. Mr. Golliday has also been a featured soloist in concerts in Venice, Italy, Salzburg and Vienna, Austria, and throughout Europe. Noted especially for his interpretations of early music, Mr. Golliday’s repertoire encompasses the works of Bach and Handel to later composers such as Mozart and Verdi.