Ruth Ann Swenson (Rodelinda)

Soprano Ruth Ann Swenson is recognized as one of the leading artists of our day and has won universal critical and public accolades in theaters including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, Opera National de Paris, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Berlin State Opera, Grand Theatre de Geneve, Hamburg State Opera, Bavarian State Opera and many others. Praised as an artist with an instrument of uncommon warmth and beauty matched by dazzling technical abilities, she is also recognized as an unusually sensitive performer.  Recent season highlights include La traviata at the San Francisco Opera, a return to the Metropolitan Opera for her first performances in New York of Mimi in La bohème, two new roles – the title role of Verdi's Luisa Miller for The Dallas Opera and Marguerite in Faust for the Pittsburgh Opera.  Ms. Swenson also made her debut at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples as Gilda.

Ruth Ann Swenson has been especially identified with dramatic coloratura roles such as the title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Elvira in Bellini's I puritani, and Gilda in Rigoletto as well as purely lyric roles such as Ilia in Idomeneo and Juliette in Roméo et Juliette.  In recent seasons, she has greatly extended her repertoire with many important new roles. Swenson sang her first Manon for Michigan Opera and then won acclaim in the role at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera and in the Paris Opera. Violetta Valery entered her repertoire at the Chicago Lyric Opera and she has since been heard in La traviata at the Metropolitan Opera, as well as in London, Barcelona, San Francisco, Athens and at the Orange Festival. Swenson also sang her first performances of Amina in La sonnambula and the title role in Maria Stuarda with the Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall.  Her discography includes Juliette in Romèo et Juliette opposite Placido Domingo (BMG) and La bohème opposite Roberto Alagna for EMI.

Ewa Podleś (Bertarido)

With her distinctive, dramatic voice of staggering range, agility and amplitude, Ewa Podleś is widely regarded as the world’s foremost contralto.  Featured on the cover of the February 2004 Opera News, her current engagements include returns to the Seattle Opera (Handel’s Giulio Cesare and Wagner’s Ring cycle); the title role of Rossini’s Tancredi for Canadian Opera Company; two roles at Houston Grand Opera (Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera and the Marquise in Donizetti’s La fille du Régiment); Isabella in Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri at Puerto Rico’s Teatro de la Opera; and Gluck’s Orphée at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York.  Verdi has figured prominently of late, including rapturously received performances of Il trovatore (Azucena) at Milwaukee’s Florentine Opera, Ulrica in Ballo at Michigan Opera Theatre and with the Collegiate Chorale at Carnegie Hall, and especially as Eboli in the Opera Company of Philadelphia’s Don Carlo.  Upcoming performances include recitals at Boston’s Jordan Hall, Vancouver’s Chan Centre, and on the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society series, in addition to concerts with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra in Pittsburgh and at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall.  Her many collaborations with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre include two Deutsche Grammophon recordings: Handel’s Ariodante and Gluck’s Armide.  Other recent issues include acclaimed recordings of Handel arias and Russian arias (Delos) and, on the Arabesque label, Chopin songs with pianist Garrick Ohlsson, with whom she often appears in recital.

Paul Nilon (Grimoaldo)

Paul Nilon, one of Europe's outstanding lyric tenors in a wide repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to Britten, has an active concert career with recent highlights including Bach's B Minor Mass in the Royal Festival Hall, London, with the LPO; Mozart's Requiem with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in London and Paris; and Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in Cardiff and Birmingham. Mr. Nilon has worked for most of the major British opera companies and companies abroad include the Bayerische Staatsoper, and the Florence and San Francisco Operas. His roles include Septimus in Theodora; Tamino; Lurcanio in Ariodante; Don Ottavio; Ferrando, Tom Rakewell in The Rake's Progress; Nerone in L'incoronazione di Poppea; Benedict in Beatrice et Benedict; Prologue/Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw; Pylade in Iphigenie en Tauride; Grimoaldo in Rodelinda; Alfredo in La Traviata; Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte; Mischa in Julietta and the title roles of La clemenza di Tito, Idomeneo, Ulisse and Zemlinsky's Der Zwerg. Current and future operatic engagements include Lurcanio in Ariodante for English National Opera, Rodelinda and Ariodante in Munich, Ulisse for Welsh National Opera, and Orfeo for Opera North. Paul Nilon has appeared on a number of notable recordings for Opera Rara including Rossini's Ricciardo et Zoriade and Donizetti's L'assedio di Calais and Medea in Corinto.

Christophe Dumaux (Unulfo)

Young counter-tenor Christophe Dumaux made his professional debut during the summer of 2002, singing the role of Eustazio in Handel’s Rinaldo at the Radio France Festival, Montpellier.  This production, conducted by René Jacobs, has gone on to be seen at the Innsbruck Festival, recorded by Harmonia Mundi, and performed at the Berlin Staatsoper.  Mr. Dumaux was invited by William Christie’s “Les Arts Florissants” to take part in a showcase series of European concerts, and subsequently joined the ensemble as alto soloist for their European and Asian tours of Messiah.  He made his American debut at the 2003 Spoleto Festival USA in the title role of Handel’s Tamerlano, and soon thereafter made his Santa Fe Opera debut (to enormous critical acclaim) in Agrippina, conducted by Harry Bicket.  2005 has seen his Paris Opera debut as Ottone in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea.  He will also sing the role of Tolomeo in a new production of Giulio Cesare with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera.  Mr. Dumaux’s future holds his scheduled Metropolitan Opera debut as Unulfo, and a portrayal of Tolomeo in Giulio Cesare at Chicago Lyric Opera.

Mary Phillips (Eduige)

Mezzo-soprano Mary Phillips, acclaimed by Bernard Holland of The New York Times for “the beauty of her voice,” is in demand by opera, concert and recital presenters worldwide.  A compelling stage presence, Ms. Phillips has garnered praise for her performances in a wide range of repertoire.  Her international opera debut took place in Tenerife (Canary Islands) in concert performances of Die Walküre (Rossweisse) with Simon Estes, repeating the role in both Dallas and in her Seattle Opera debut.  She recently joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera, where she was responsible for the role of Rossweisse, a portrayal she repeated in the Met Opera’s Japanese tour.  Ms. Phillips made her role debut as Erda in the Scottish Opera’s Ring Cycle, an appearance at the Edinburgh International Festival which marked her UK debut.  Continuing in the German repertoire, she made her Barcelona debut as the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos, a role she first performed at Sarasota Opera, prompting L’Opera’s Christine Gransier to write: “She sang gloriously, acted powerfully and so sparked the Prologue with her presence.”  Equally comfortable in the Italian repertoire, Ms. Phillips will soon make her Metropolitan Opera debut as Preziosilla in Verdi’s La forza del destino.  The mezzo adds two more central Verdi roles to her repertoire with performances of Amneris in Aida (Utah Opera & Opera Birmingham) and Azucena in Il trovatore for Austin Lyric Opera.  For her first performances as Adalgisa in Fort Worth Opera’s Norma, she was designated “Classical Artist of the Year” by Fort Worth Weekly’s Leonard Eureka.

Philip Cutlip (Garibaldo)

Firmly established as one of the leading concert artists of his generation, baritone Philip Cutlip is now equally in demand for leading operatic roles and looks forward to his San Francisco Opera debut as Dunois in Tchaikovsky’s Maid of Orleans (publicized as Joan of Arc), as well as return engagements with the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and Seattle Opera in upcoming seasons.  With a repertoire that extends from Bach and Handel to Bernstein and Stravinsky, Mr. Cutlip has appeared with many of the leading orchestras in the United States, including the Atlanta Symphony, the Handel & Haydn Society, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.  He also debuted with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Detroit and Milwaukee Symphonies this past season.  Mr. Cutlip made his Dallas Opera debut as the Mandarin in the acclaimed 2003 production of Turandot, featuring the Southwest premiere of a new ending by Luciano Berio.  Most recently, he sang the roles of Dancaire in The Dallas Opera’s Carmen and the Foreman in our universally acclaimed production of Jenůfa, and was praised for his appearances in the Fort Worth Symphony’s 2004 Tchaikovsky Festival in the title role of Eugene Onegin.  Mr. Cutlip will sing Bendrix in the West Coast premiere of Jake Heggie’s The End of the Affair during Seattle Opera’s 2005-2006 Season.

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.

John Copley (Stage Director)

British director John Copley was born in Birmingham, and sang and acted throughout his school years before training at London’s Royal Ballet School and Central School of Arts and Crafts.  After stage-managing for Sadler’s Wells Opera and Ballet, and at Covent Garden, he was appointed an assistant producer and, later, a principal resident producer for the Royal Opera.  Among his more than 15 Covent Garden productions, was Le nozze di Figaro, one of the company’s greatest postwar successes.  He has directed for every major British and American company in addition to prestigious companies in Germany, Canada, and Australia.  Mr. Copley has had seven productions at Lyric Opera of Chicago since 1975 and directed Madama Butterfly in 1998 to open the new theater for Santa Fe Opera.  Mr. Copley directed his first production for The Dallas Opera in 1972 (Lucia di Lammermoor), which marked his American debut.  Rodelinda marks his twelfth collaboration with the Company.  Many Copley productions are available on video and DVD, including Giulio Cesare and Mary Stuart with English National Opera, as well as Covent Garden’s La bohème and Lucrezia Borgia.  The director cites his six collaborations with Dame Janet Baker as being particularly memorable.  Recent highlights include his critically acclaimed Ariodante for The Dallas Opera (1998), Norma at the Metropolitan Opera, Idomeneo at Santa Fe, and Guilio Cesare for both the Metropolitan and San Francisco Operas.

John Conklin (Production Designer)

Rodelinda marks John Conklin’s thirteenth production for The Dallas Opera, designing such critically acclaimed works as La traviata and Il barbiere di Siviglia (2000), Ariodante (1998), Carmen (1996), The Dream of Valentino (1994), The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe (1991), and the 1988 world premiere of Dominick Argento’s The Aspern Papers.  Other highlights include Pelléas et Mélisande and the 1991 world premiere of The Ghosts of Versailles–both at the Metropolitan Opera; the world premiere of Thea Musgrave’s Simon Bolivar at Virginia Opera; Tosca at the English National Opera; the world premiere of Rodion Schedrin’s Lolita for the Royal Opera, Stockholm; costumes for Robert Wilson’s production of Die Zauberflöte for Paris’ Bastille Opera; and two rarely heard works, Beeson’s Lizzie Borden and Cavalli’s La Calisto at Glimmerglass Opera, where Conklin was director of production.  He also held the same position at New York City Opera, where he has designed many of that company’s productions including Orfeo ed Euridice, The Seven Deadly Sins, Die Soldaten, From the House of the Dead, Mathis der Maler, Il turco in Italia, and many more.

Peter J. Hall (Costume Designer)

The award-winning costumes of the internationally renowned designer, Peter J. Hall, have graced the likes of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Dame Joan Sutherland, Dame Judi Dench, Dame Maggie Smith, and Dame Elizabeth Taylor.  The resident costume designer for The Dallas Opera has also designed for Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, David Bowie and many other stars.  His work has been seen on stage at The Royal Opera House, London; Vienna State Opera; La Scala, Milan; Kirov Opera, St. Petersburg; the Sydney Opera House; the Metropolitan Opera, and Los Angeles Opera.  Mr. Hall has also designed for theatre productions at The National Theatre, London and The Royal Shakespeare Company.  Recent career highlights include Stiffelio for Teatro Nuovo, Argentina; Simon Boccanegra at San Francisco Opera; and Otello in South Korea.  He is currently preparing costumes for Much Ado About Nothing to be directed by Franco Zefferelli in Rome this spring.  Peter J. Hall has designed costumes (and occasionally, sets) for over 70 Dallas Opera productions beginning with Il barbiere di Siviglia in 1962, and continuing this coming season with costume designs for Ariadne auf Naxos and Rodelinda.