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.

Duane Schuler

Original Lighting Designer

From: Elkhart Lake, WI

Dallas Opera: The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe (1991/1992), 10 productions since 1991/1992

Career highlights: Lyric Opera of Chicago’s former resident lighting designer is associated with many of the world’s most prestigious opera companies. At Lyric, he designed more than 140 productions. Among his other major achievements in recent seasons have been productions at the Vienna State Opera (Lucia di Lammermoor), The Santa Fe Opera (Carmen, Jenůfa), and Dutch National Opera (La Cenerentola). In addition to more than 25 productions at the Metropolitan Opera, Mr. Schuler’s work has been seen at Glyndebourne, the Salzburg Festival, Dresden’s Semperoper, and the major opera houses of Barcelona, Paris, and Berlin as well as Japan’s Saito Kinen Festival, among many other companies. He has also designed lighting for Broadway (The Importance of Being Earnest) and for American Ballet Theatre. He is a founding partner of Schuler Shook, a theater planning and architectural lighting design firm. Among their projects have been, in Seattle, Marion Oliver McCaw Hall and the Seattle Opera Center; in New York, Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater; and, in Beverly Hills, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.

Doug Fitch DIRECTOR, SET, AND COSTUME DESIGNER

From: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Dallas Opera: debut

Career highlights: A visual artist, designer, and director, Mr. Fitch has created productions for the NY Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Santa Fe Opera, and Royal Stockholm

Philharmonic Orchestra, and for Bard’s SummerScape Festival. He is also a cofounder of Giants Are Small, which, in co-production with Universal Music and Deutsche Grammophon, developed Peter and the Wolf in Hollywood—a digital album featuring Alice Cooper as narrator and the German National Youth Orchestra. Recent highlights include LA Opera’s remount of Hansel and Gretel, Le Grand Macabre at the ElbPhilharmonie in Hamburg, and Punkitititi: a new show commissioned by Rolando Villazón for Mozart Woche 2020 with the Salzburg Marionette Theater, featuring Geoff Sobelle, and Pan, developed in collaboration with composer Marcos Balter and flutist Claire Chase.

Eric Watkins

Revival Lighting Designer

From: Birmingham, AL

Dallas Opera: Falstaff (2018/2019, debut)

Career highlights: Mr. Watkins is a lighting designer for theatre, opera, and dance. Past opera design work includes Show Boat and Falstaff (The Dallas Opera); Don Pasquale (Fort Worth Opera); The Property (A world premiere with Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Lyric Unlimited); La Cenerentola, Il Re Pastore, The Rake’s Progress and The Marriage of Figaro (Merola Opera in San Francisco); Alcina (Boston Conservatory), A Streetcar Named Desire (Opera Santa Barbara and Kentucky Opera), and The Barber of Seville (Lithuanian National Opera). Recent Chicago highlights include the Chicago premiere of Verdi’sIl Corsaro (Opera Festival of Chicago); Fireflies (Northlight Theatre); The Magnolia Ballet (About Face Theatre); EthiopianAmerica (Definition Theatre); and Hooded: Or Being Black For Dummies (First Floor Theater). In early 2020 he designed a small international tour through Eastern Europe of Song of Home - a new devised work exploring stories of displaced women throughout history. The 2021/2022 season saw him on staff at the Dallas Opera and, for a short time, the Metropolitan Opera in NYC. He received his M.F.A. in Lighting Design from Boston University and is a proud member of United Scenic Artists local 829.