COVID couldn’t stop The Dallas Opera from the world premiere of ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’
The cast of ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’ which makes its world premiere at The Dallas Opera. (Photos by Kyle Flubacker) COVID couldn’t stop The Dallas Opera from the world premiere of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly RICH LOPEZ | Staff writer rich@dallasvoice.com On Friday, The Dallas Opera will debut a world premiere opera at the Winspear Opera House.
Originally commissioned for the 2020/21 season, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly fell through due to the pandemic. However, that may have been a blessing in disguise for librettist Gene Scheer. “Just by chance with COVID, we had more time to review and make adjustments accordingly,” he said.
Scheer and composer Joby Talbot have teamed up again to bring a brand new show to The Dallas Opera (TDO). The two created and premiered the opera Everest at TDO in 2015.
Diving Bell will be TDO’s seventh mainstage world premiere. Having the time to fine-tune the show gave the duo the chance to make it just right for Friday’s opening. “We had a workshop and with that, we extended an aria and rewrote the ending,” he said. “Joby also made a lot of changes to the orchestrations.
