The Dallas Opera 2021-2022 - Madame Butterfly/Flight

10 ABOUT THE ARTISTS Latonia Moore (Cio-Cio-San) A past winner of TDO’s coveted Maria Callas Award, the internationally acclaimed American soprano has previously triumphed as Cio-Cio-San at the Metropolitan Opera, Dresden’s Semperoper (where she has also been heard as Mimi in La bohème ), and the Hamburg State Opera. Among her other successes in Puccini have been Liù in Turandot (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Bilbao), the title role in Tosca (Opera Australia, Opéra de Rouen, upcoming at Austin Opera), and Fidelia in Edgar (Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall). Appearances in French roles include Micaëla in Carmen (Bilbao). Moore is also a greatly celebrated Verdian, singing the heroines of Aida (13 major companies worldwide, among them TDO, the Met, Covent Garden, and the Zurich Opera House—as well as at the Ravinia Festival), Don Carlo (Sydney), Ernani and I due Foscari (both in Bilbao), and Macbeth (CD). The soprano has been featured in Porgy and Bess as both Bess (Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle) and Serena (Met, new production). She has appeared with the Vienna Philharmonic ( Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 , released on CD). She returned to the Metropolitan Opera earlier this season as Serena and also as Billie in Terence Blanchard’s landmark work, Fire Shut Up in My Bones (company premiere). Evan LeRoy Johnson (Lt. Pinkerton) The Dallas Opera debut In recent seasons the fast-rising American tenor has been a featured artist at one of Europe’s most prestigious companies, Munich’s Bavarian State Opera. Having debuted there as Cassio in Otello , he has since reprised that role, with other Munich portrayals also including Narraboth in Salome and Henry Morosus in Die schweigsame Frau . Johnson also debuted as Narraboth at the Zurich Opera House. He made his European debut at the Norwegian National Opera (Britten’s War Requiem ) and his German debut as Don José in Carmen (Oldenburg State Theatre). Other important European successes include Andres in Wozzeck (Aix-en-Provence Festival), Don José (Frankfurt Opera), the Prince in Rusalka (Glyndebourne Festival Opera), Beethoven’s Christ on the Mount of Olives (Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra), and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (Verbier Festival, Valéry Gergiev conducting). Major appearances in America have encompassed diverse repertoire, from Lucia di Lammermoor (Lyric Opera of Kansas City) and Carmen (Opera Philadelphia) to Rusalka (Des Moines Metro Opera), The Flying Dutchman (Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra), and Verdi’s Requiem (Opera Philadelphia, Columbus Symphony Orchestra). Kirstin Chávez (Suzuki) The American mezzo-soprano has sung a diverse repertoire internationally, including her acclaimed portrayal of Bizet’s Carmen (New York City Opera, The Minnesota Opera, Oper Graz, Opera Australia, Arena di Verona, and Tokyo City Opera, among other companies worldwide). Her extensive experience in contemporary opera includes such leading roles as Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking (Tulsa Opera) Sharon Falconer in Elmer Gantry (also Tulsa Opera), Jo in Little Women (Opera Pacific), the title role in Thérèse Raquin (San Diego Opera), Sondra Finchley in An American Tragedy (Metropolitan Opera), and Glenda Ruiz in We Shall Not Be Moved (2017 Opera Philadelphia world premiere, subsequently New York’s Apollo Theater and Dutch National Opera.) Chávez debuted at London’s Royal Opera House as the Marquise de Merteuil in Quartett , also the role of her Swedish debut with Malmö Opera. Her role debut in the title role in The Rape of Lucretia was heard at Florence’s Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. She sang Flora in La traviata in the production that inaugurated Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s tenure as music director of the Metropolitan Opera. The mezzo’s new “one-woman Carmen show,” entitled Carmen Inside Out , has been seen on tour in the U.K. and in France. THE DALLAS OPERA | 2021/2022 SEASON