Marcus Haddock (Hoffmann)

His beautiful voice and beguiling stage presence have earned him international distinction.  Marcus Haddock is a leading tenor with many of the finest companies in the world, including the Paris Opera, La Scala, Bavarian State Opera, the Liceu of Barcelona, the Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago.  Mr. Haddock launched last season by performing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra before taking on the title role in Romèo et Juliette in Munich and Cavaradossi in Tosca for Munich’s Bavarian State Opera.  Mr. Haddock spends much of his time performing in Italy, including recent appearances as Hoffmann at La Scala, Don José in Carmen at Rome’s Academy of Santa Cecilia, and both Cavaradossi and the title role in Don Carlo at the Teatro del maggio musicale Fiorentino.  Mr. Haddock has also enjoyed great success on the concert stage, collaborating with such ensembles as the Boston Symphony, the London Symphony, the Berlin Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, the Paris and Monte Carlo Orchestras, and the Cologne and Hungarian Philharmonics.  Among his recordings are Mercadante’s Gli orazi e i curiazi with the London Philharmonic on the Opera Rara label, and the title role in Werther with the Orchestre de Lille for Naxos.

Mary Dunleavy (Olympia/Antonia/Giulietta/Stella)

Mary Dunleavy, one of the most exciting performers in the new generation of lyric coloratura sopranos, has assembled a vivid gallery of operatic heroines on many of the leading stages around the world.  Her 2004-05 season commenced with her first appearances in an opera at Chile’s Teatro Municipal de Santiago as Gilda in Rigoletto, followed by a reengagement with the San Francisco Opera in La traviata as Violetta, one of her most frequently performed roles. In the same city, her first engagement with the San Francisco Symphony occured in Benjamin Britten’s Spring Symphony, under the baton of Robert Spano. She then added a major new role to her repertory, Giunia in Lucio Silla, at The Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam.  Ms. Dunleavy rang in 2005 with Adina in L’elisir d’amore, serving as the vehicle for her debut at Naples’ Teatro San Carlo. She also made a greatly anticipated return to New York City Opera as Léïla in Les pêcheurs de perles, a role she has assumed to great acclaim elsewhere. Another debut followed with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, as Violetta, in concert performances of La traviata, at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.  Other orchestral appearances have included Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Mozart concert arias with the St. Louis Symphony under the direction of the late Hans Vonk; Carmina Burana with the Philadelphia Orchestra led by Charles Dutoit; and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the New York Choral Society.  This Connecticut native earned her undergraduate degree at Northwestern University before completing her Master’s in music at the University of Texas.

Dean Peterson (Lindorf/Coppelius/Dr. Miracle/Dapertutto)

One of opera’s most sought-after artists, Dean Peterson is a regular guest of the leading opera houses in the world.  The major North American companies with which he has appeared include the Metropolitan Opera (Boito’s Mefistofele, Mustafa in L’italiana in Algeri, Mephistopheles in Faust, Trulove in The Rake’s Progress, and the King in Aida); Lyric Opera of Chicago (Frank Maurrant in Street Scene, Lodovico in Otello); Canadian Opera (Kecal in The Bartered Bride), Cincinnati Opera (Escamillo in Carmen, the title role in Don Giovanni, Oroveso in Norma, Timur in Turandot); Houston Grand Opera (Rucker Lattimore – a role written expressly for him – in the world premiere of Cold Sassy Tree, the Villains in Les contes d’Hoffmann); Los Angeles Opera (Baron Zeta in The Merry Widow); Minnesota Opera (Philip in Don Carlos in French); and numerous roles for The Dallas Opera, most recently, the Doctor in Wozzeck.  Mr. Peterson’s talents have taken him overseas to the stages of La Scala (as Mephistopheles, Colline in La bohème, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, and Don Fernando in Fidelio), Teatro massimo Bellini di Catania, Teatro comunale di Bologna, Teatro Real in Madrid, Vienna State Opera, Geneva Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin and many more.  This past season, he returned to Atlanta as Ramfis and to Pittsburgh Opera as Daland in Der fliegende Höllander.  He also appeared with Minnesota Opera as Ferrara in Lucrezia Borgia.  This season, Mr. Peterson will return to the Metropolitan Opera as the Four Villians and will debut as Frank Maurrant in Street Scene in his Portland Opera debut.

Paula Rasmussen (Nicklausse)

Mezzo-soprano Paula Rasmussen is equally recognized for her performances in concert, as well as in opera.  In recent seasons, she starred (with husband Donald Sherrill) in The Dallas Opera’s Hansel & Gretel, the role of Carmen with New York City Opera, La clemenza di Tito in Munich, the Mozart Requiem in Tanglewood, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia for Pittsburgh Opera, Il viaggio a Reims in Barcelona, and Ariadne auf Naxos in Palermo.  Ms. Rasmussen also performed the Bach Magnificat with Jane Glover and Chicago’s Music of the Baroque.  She has sung with the Paris National Opera, the Cologne State Opera, the Welsh National Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, The Netherlands Opera, Glyndebourne Opera, Los Angeles Opera, New York City Opera, Glimmerglass Opera and with numerous orchestras.  These include the Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, Houston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Cincinnati May Festival and the Atlanta Symphony.

Jonathan Green (Andrès/Spalanzani/Pittichinaccio/Frantz)

New York-born character tenor Jonathan Green performs regularly with all the major American opera companies including The Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Washington Opera, and The Dallas Opera.  He has also appeared with regional companies in Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Miami, Denver and Charlotte (to name a few).  His signature roles include Basilio in Le nozze di Figaro, Valzaachi in Der Rosenkavalier, Goro in Madama Butterfly, Monostatos in The Magic Flute, and Dr. Caius in Falstaff.  Mr. Green is equally popular with Canadian audiences, where he has performed with The Canadian Opera, The Vancouver Opera, and the Montreal Opera.  He took Die Fledermaus on tour in Japan with Seiji Ozawa conducting, returned to The Canadian Opera Company for Falstaff and has performed in three recent productions with Houston Grand Opera: Tosca, Falstaff, and the world premiere of Salsipuedes.

Graeme Jenkins (Conductor)

Graeme Jenkins, Music Director of The Dallas Opera, conducts The Tales of Hoffmann, Ariadne auf Naxos, Rodelinda, and The Magic Flute this season.  Maestro Jenkins has served as Music Director since 1994 and has conducted more than 35 productions for the Company.  Following his music studies at Cambridge University, Mr. Jenkins was named the Adrian Boult Conducting Scholar at the Royal College of Music (UK).  From 1985 until 1992, he was the music director of the Glyndebourne Touring Company.  More recently, Mr. Jenkins held the position of chief guest conductor at Germany’s Cologne Opera (1997-2002).  All told, he has conducted 140 productions around the globe; notably, with the Australian Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Deutsche Oper Berlin, the English National Opera, the Royal Danish Opera, Nuremberg Opera, Paris Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Glimmerglass Opera, and Netherlands Opera.  Mr. Jenkins has also appeared at the Aldeburgh, Hong Kong and New Zealand International Festivals.  Since the end of the 2004-2005 Dallas Opera season, Graeme Jenkins has conducted Guilio Cesare for Opera Colorado and is preparing for a series of summer engagements including Wagner’s Der fliegende Höllander and Janáček’s From the House of the Dead at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin; his Covent Garden debut conducting the Vilar Young Artists Gala (a concert to be recorded by BBC Radio 3); and his upcoming Vienna State Opera debut in October, conducting Britten’s Billy Budd.  Mr. Jenkins remains in-demand on the world’s concert stages and, this year, has conducted concerts in Stavanger, Norway; Lyon, France; Monte Carlo; Porto, Portugal and Copenhagen, Denmark.  Mr. Jenkins has conducted nearly all the major orchestras in both the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, in addition to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Utah Symphony and the Colorado Symphony.  His overseas concert engagements include performances with the State Philharmonic of Brno, The Athens Symphony, Finnish Radio Symphony, and the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as several orchestras in Australia.

Chris Alexander (Stage Director)

Born in Provo, Utah, Chris Alexander was the child of opera singers.  His father founded an opera company in Salt Lake City in 1949, six years before moving the family to Germany.  Mr. Alexander served as an assistant to Wieland Wagner in Bayreuth, which led to studies in both acting and stage direction and employment at several State theaters in Germany.  Following a stint as a free-lance stage director, Mr. Alexander accepted the position of artistic director of a German touring theater, Westfälisches Landestheater, and, in 1984, founded the Bremer Shakespeare Company, where he also served as stage director, actor and translator.  In 1991, Mr. Alexander turned his attention back to opera, spending the next several seasons directing works for various German, Austrian and Swiss opera companies and theaters.  He made his American directorial debut with Seattle Opera’s 1999 production of Boris Godunov, followed by San Francisco Opera’s 2002 Turandot, among other productions.  Mr. Alexander is also an accomplished playwright; 2003 saw the world premiere of his play “Shakespeare in Trouble” in Bremen.  All told, Mr. Alexander has directed approximately 70 stage productions and numerous operas, from Canada to Australia, most recently, Seattle’s Les contes d’Hoffmann in May (2005).  Future engagements for Mr. Alexander include San Francisco Opera’s L’italiana in Algeri in September, Ariadne auf Naxos in October for Pittsburgh Opera, Seattle Opera’s Die Fledermaus in January of 2006 and Richard Strauss’s Elektra in Saarbrücken next February.

Robert Dahlstrom (Scenic Designer)

Robert A. Dahlstrom made his Seattle Opera debut designing the sets for Moore’s Ballad of Baby Doe in 1984. His many other credits with Seattle Opera include Mozart’s Così fan tutte (the 1986 and 1992 productions), Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Richard Strauss’s Salome, Beethoven’s Fidelio, Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, two versions of Verdi’s Rigoletto (traditional and 1930s), and the 2005 co-production (with Dallas Opera) of Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann. For Seattle Opera’s 1990 production of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, Dahlstrom designed both the sets and the costumes, which were seen in a revival at Grand Théâtre de Genève and at Royal Danish Opera. Dahlstrom has designed numerous productions for the major theater companies in Seattle, including Intiman Theatre’s Betrayal and ACT’s productions of Omnium Gatherum and Enchanted April. Dahlstrom retires in 2005 from the University of Washington, where he has taught since 1971 in the graduate design program at the School of Drama.  This production marks his Dallas Opera debut.

Marie Therese Cramer (Costume Designer)

Marie-Theresa Cramer’s opera, ballet, and theater costume designs have been seen throughout her native Germany. Originally a fashion designer, Cramer developed her costume design skills through close relationships with Cologne Theatre and Schauspielhaus Hamburg in the 1980s. Recent credits include costumes for Richard Strauss’s Salome at Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Detlev Glanert’s new opera Scherz, Satire, Ironie und tiefere Bedeutung at Nationaltheater Mannheim, and the ballet Tanzt Schul at Vienna Staatsoper. She has designed costumes for several Staatsoper Hannover productions as well: Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Verdi’s Macbeth, Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, and Puccini’s La bohème. (Lucia di Lammermoor and Bohème were both Chris Alexander productions.) Cramer also works for film productions, events, and exhibitions.  Ms. Cramer recently made her U.S. debut with our co-producer, Seattle Opera, in the design of this production.

Robert Wierzel (Lighting Designer)

Robert Wierzel has worked in theatre, dance, New Music, museums and opera, with artists from diverse disciplines and backgrounds, on stages throughout the country and abroad.  Productions with opera companies of Paris; Berlin; Tokyo; Toronto; Boston; San Diego; San Francisco; Houston; Washington; Seattle; Virginia; Chicago (Lyric Opera and Chicago Opera Theatre); Glimmerglass and  New York City Opera among others. Numerous collaborations with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance (Bessie awards) and Philip Glass including Hydrogen Jukebox (American Theatre Wing Award). Regional theatres include Arena Stage; Chicago Shakespeare Theater; Shakespeare Theatre; Milwaukee Rep; Hartford Stage, Long Wharf; Goodman; The Guthrie; Mark Taper Forum  among others.  Additional credits include productions at Roundabout Theatre Company; New York Shakespeare Festival; Signature Theatre; MCC; Mostly Mozart Festival and on David Copperfield’s Dreams and Nightmares on Broadway.  The recipient of an MFA from the Yale School of Drama, Mr. Wierzel serves as a faculty member of the Design Department at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.