General director of the Taconic Opera
company since
1997, DAN MONTEZ directs three productions during the 2005 - 2006
season: Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, Puccini's La bohème,
and Boito's Mefistofole. His company will also join
forces with Chappaqua Orchestra to perform Verdi's Requiem in April of
2006. In the 2004 - 2005 season, Mr. Montez directed
Manon Lescaut, Madama Butterfly and Tales of Hoffman.
Based in Westchester County, NY, Taconic Opera is the only fully
professional opera company north of New York City, where Mr. Montez's productions have included
Gianni Schicchi, Il tabarro, Il barbiere di Siviglia, La traviata, L’elisir
d’amore, La Cenerentola, La bohème and Così fan tutte, all of
which he directed.
He continues to perform oratorio and concert works in
recitals, including a recent performance of operatic excerpts with Staten
Island Symphony and a solo recital in the Temple Square concert series in
Salt Lake City. Most recently, Mr. Montez performed Riccardo (Un ballo
in maschera) in Yorktown, New York, in October of 2004.
Mr. Montez recently returned to San José as a concert
pianist, performing Prokoviev’s Third Piano Concerto under the baton
of Jun Nakabayashi. He also recently released his first art song CD, The Lost
Song: Portuguese Songs of Love and Longing, and appeared on NPR's
Performance Today as an expert on the subject of Portuguese art song
and operatic literature.
Since his departure from Opera San José
in 1993, Mr. Montez
has performed over 40
principal roles with opera companies throughout the U.S. including San
Francisco Opera, New York City Opera and Carnegie Hall. He made his debut with New
York City Opera in productions of La Rondine, The Mikado, and
the world première of Marilyn. He has also appeared as Almaviva in
two productions of Il barbiere di Siviglia; one in New York under the
baton of William Critchfield and the other at Arizona Opera, where he
returned following his acclaimed performance in their earlier production of
La Donna del Lago. He made his Carnegie Hall debut under the baton of
Eve Queler in Linda di Chamounix and appeared in the Berkshire Opera
(Massachusetts) production of Rossini's L'italiana in Algeri. Other
engagements have included principal roles in La Cenerentola with
Virginia Opera, Così fan tutte with West Bay Opera, Madama
Butterfly with Fresno Lyric Opera, The Daughter of the Regiment
with Townsend Opera, Arlecchino under the baton of Kent Nagano, and
La traviata with Opera Works (Texas) on tour in Texas, Colorado, and
Kansas. He made his San Francisco Opera debut as Prince Ramiro in La
Cenerentola.
- Please visit the Taconic Opera
website @
http://www.taconicopera.org/ for more information on Mr. Montez's
career.
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