Matthew A. Epstein Joins Dallas Opera as Senior Artistic Advisor

The Dallas Opera has announced the appointment of Matthew A. Epstein as the company's new Senior Artistic Advisor. His position advising the company in creative, artist, and repertoire programming comes several months after TDO's previous artistic consultant, David Lomelí, was appointed the company's new Kern Wildenthal General Director and CEO.

“I can imagine no better person in this position than my friend and colleague Matthew Epstein,” Lomelí says. “Matthew's contributions to modern opera are unparalleled. Many American singers, conductors, stage directors, and administrators owe their careers to him. As I begin my first season at The Dallas Opera's head, I know Matthew will help me lead TDO forward into a new era of operatic excellence.”

For more than 50 years, Epstein's career has touched many of the world's premier opera companies. He was a consultant and advisor to The Santa Fe Opera from 1970 to 2018. During his 25-year tenure with Lyric Opera of Chicago, he served as the company's artistic consultant and later its artistic director. He worked with Columbia Artists Management, Inc. for 38 years and was CAMI Vocal LLC's director (2005–2010).

He has previously served as Welsh National Opera's general director, Brooklyn Academy of Music's BAM Opera artistic director, and an advisor for NHK Symphony Orchestra, Music Academy of the West, and many more companies, festivals, concerts, and tribute events. He was inducted into Opera America's “Opera Hall of Fame” in October 2022.

“It is a personal as well as professional pleasure to join David Lomelí's artistic team at the Dallas Opera, a company that I have admired since 1973, when I first visited the Music Hall at Fair Park and began a cherished association with Dallas Civic Opera founders Lawrence Kelly and Nicola Rescigno,” Epstein says. “Mrs. Eugene McDermott Music Director Emmanuel Villaume and David Lomelí have both been long-term colleagues and dear friends of mine. To collaborate with them both in the magnificent Winspear Opera House is an amazing and joyous privilege!”

Throughout his career, Epstein has worked closely with such music schools and companies as The Julliard School, The Curtis Institute, Washington National Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Oper Frankfurt, and more. He has served as manager to celebrated vocal artists like Renee Fleming, Kathleen Battle, Frederica von Stade, Isabel Leonard, Susan Graham, Neil Shicoff, Sam Ramey, James Morris, Catherine Malfitano, Ileana Cotrubas, and very important Dallas Opera stars such as Tatiana Troyanos, Magda Olivero, Elisabeth Soderstrom, Ruth Welting, Richard Stilwell, Evelyn Lear, Thomas Stewart, Rodney Gilfry, Dame Felicity Lott, and many others. 

Epstein's tenure as The Dallas Opera's Senior Artistic Advisor began earlier this month.