Season Announcement

Dallas Opera's new season mixes crowd-pleasing classics with an intriguing premiere

Verdi's La traviata is part of Dallas Opera's 2017-18 season.

Photo by Maxine Helfman

The theme for Dallas Opera's 2017-18 season is "Motives Unmasked," inspiring visions of deceitful decisions and sexy double-crossing, along with some brutal truth-telling.

That's all in line with Camille Saint-Saëns' season opener Samson and Dalila, one of three classics that Dallas Opera has on tap for its 61st season. Tenor Clifton Forbis and Russian soprano Olga Borodina — in her eagerly awaited Dallas Opera debut — portray the doomed twosome, trapped in a love affair of biblical proportions. The five performances are October 20, 22 (matinee), 25, 28, and November 5 (matinee).

Next up is Giuseppe Verdi's heartbreaking 1853 masterpiece La traviata, sung in Italian with English supertitles. Called "the perfect Pretty Woman night at the opera," the perennial crowd-pleaser is a revival of a Lyric Opera of Chicago production and spotlights conductor Carlo Montanaro and director Stefania Panighini in their company debuts. Its performance dates are October 27 and 29 (matinee) and November 1, 4, 10, and 12 (matinee).

A unique pairing of two works is third: Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 and The Ring of Polykrates. The latter is described by Dallas Opera general director and CEO Keith Cerny as "a delightful opera rarity so rare, that we believe it has only had two professional productions in this country since it originally premiered in Munich 100 years ago." The duo opens 2018 and will have only four performances: February 9, 11 (matinee), 14, and 17.

The term "groundbreaking" is apropos when applied to the next opera, which mixes 3-D elements into the live staging. Sunken Garden is composed by Michel van der Aa with libretto by British novelist David Mitchell, and van der Aa himself is directing. The critically acclaimed "occult film mystery opera" concerns a filmmaker’s obsession with the disappearance of a young girl and the discovery of a walled garden, which is the barrier between life and death. Performances are March 9, 11 (matinee), 14, and 17, 2018.

To close out the season, Dallas Opera is bringing back Mozart’s hell-raising comedy-drama Don Giovanni, based on the exploits of the legendary Don Juan. Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecień stars in this provocative, R-rated production, under the baton of Dallas Opera music director Emmanuel Villaume. It runs April 13, 15 (matinee), 18, 21, 27, and 29 (matinee), 2018.

The Dallas Opera Family Performance Series also has some intrigue on tap, with two performances each of Donizetti and Company (October 15 and February 18, 2018), The Three Little Pigs (November 4 and February 3, 2018), and Pépito (November 19 and February 10, 2018). Tickets for these shows are only $5 and opera-lovers of all ages are welcome.

Single tickets to Dallas Opera's main 2017-18 season go on sale to the public in July and are available online at www.dallasopera.org or by calling 214-443-1000.

In addition, the next free live simulcast is set for March 18 at 7:30 pm and it's at a brand-new location. Dallas Cowboys world headquarters The Star in Frisco will host its first arts event with the high-definition screening of Madame Butterfly. Puccini's Italian opera is the third production in Dallas Opera's current season.

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Music and Fashion

Miranda Lambert's 'Velvet Rodeo' wardrobe stars in new DFW exhibition

“Miranda Lambert: Velvet Rodeo” at National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame

Photo by Tyler Conrad

“Miranda Lambert: Velvet Rodeo” will open on November 7 at the National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame.

Country star Miranda Lambert is bringing a bit of Las Vegas glamour and bling to North Texas. Her one-of-a-kind wardrobe from her "Velvet Rodeo" residency will go on display at the National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame in Fort Worth when its new Icons Gallery opens November 7.

According to a release, the exhibition, called "Miranda Lambert: Velvet Rodeo," was created in collaboration with Lambert, and will feature costumes from the singer's Las Vegas residency, which ran from September 2022 to April 2024.

Lambert said her inspiration came from an earlier visit to the Fort Worth museum, where she spotted historic Western pieces that she photographed and sent to her stylist, Tiffany Gifford. They combined those influences with the glitz of Elvis Presley's heyday to create the "Velvet Rodeo" wardrobe.

“Seeing these pieces now have a life beyond the stage as part of the Museum’s new Icons Gallery feels really full circle and special,” Lambert said in a statement.

Visitors will now have the opportunity to study garments usually seen in motion and under stage lights, appreciating the details that help transform clothing into an essential part of a performance.

The Icons Gallery is part of the Museum’s 16,000-square-foot expansion, which introduces new galleries and experiences that explore the accomplishments and influence of women of the West. The $19 million expansion features a new entrance facing Dickies Arena, new galleries including a photography gallery, an event space accommodating up to 250, and the new Cowgirl Carousel.

Miranda Lambert, right, with rodeo queens onstage at the 45th Cowgirl Hall of Fame Induction Luncheon at Dickies Arena. Photo by Ashley Gongora

Lambert, who was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 2021, is an active mounted shooting competitor and horsewoman, giving her a connection to the West that reaches beyond her music. "Velvet Rodeo" brings together Lambert's identity as a cowgirl and her creative expression as a performer.

“Miranda’s confidence, determination and independence make her a wonderful representative of the women we honor,” says Pat Riley, executive director of the National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame, in the release. “Opening our Icons Gallery with this collaboration celebrates her accomplishments while giving visitors a new way to connect with a cowgirl they know and admire.”

According to a museum spokesperson, the temporary exhibition will remain on display for at least one year; no specific end date was given.

In preparation for the expansion grand opening, the Cowgirl will be closed to the public beginning October 19 and will reopen November 7, with a members-only preview at 10 am and a public opening at noon.

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