Metropolitan Opera Star Jennifer Rowley Headlines Fort Worth Opera's 2019 Southern Soirée

Fort Worth Opera is delighted to announce today that renowned soprano Jennifer Rowley will headline the company's Southern Soirée Gala on May 4 at The Stonegate Mansion, as part of the 2019 Fort Worth Opera Festival. Praised by The New York Times as "a singer of enormous gift and promise," a "force of nature" by OperaWire, and called "spectacular" by The Wall Street Journal, Ms. Rowley continues to garner critical praise for her exceptional voice, arresting stage presence, and richly varied repertoire. Her triumphant Metropolitan Opera role debut as Roxane in Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac was universally acclaimed, and she returned to the hallowed stage during the 2018 season to perform the title role in Puccini's Tosca and Leonora in Verdi's Il trovatore.

In the summer of 2018, she received accolades for her Opéra National de Paris debut as Leonora. In 2019 Ms. Rowley will step into the role of Tosca once again at The Metropolitan Opera, and make her debut in the title role of Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur with the company. Following an exclusive performance for opera lovers here in Fort Worth, she will make debuts at The Dallas Opera, Opernhaus Zürich, Opera Australia, and Opéra de Marseille, with additional engagements to follow at The Met through 2020.

Ms. Rowley will be joined by two of the stars of the 2019 Festival at this elegant spring Gala. Thrilling international tenor Daniel Montenegro, who dazzled audiences in Fort Worth Opera's 2017 production of Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, will portray the romantic lead of Luis in the smash hit mariachi opera, El Pasado Nunca se Termina (The Past is Never Finished), helmed by famed Broadway director Leonard Foglia. Guests will also enjoy a riveting performance by exciting young soprano Maren Weinberger (The Barber of Seville, Buried Alive | Embedded), who will star as obsessed baker Leslie Sinclair in the world premiere of Rachel J. Peters' wickedly funny opera Companionship.

Visit https://www.fwopera.org/gala for further details. Tickets on sale spring of 2019. Contact Paulina Magdaleno at 817.821.6260 or email paulina@fwopera.org.

Founded in 1946, Fort Worth Opera is the oldest continually performing opera company in Texas, and one of the 14 oldest opera companies in the United States. The organization has received national attention from critics and audiences alike for its artistic excellence. FWOpera has taken a leadership role in engaging audiences beyond the operatic stage, while producing cutting-edge, contemporary operas. Beginning in 2017, FWOpera launched the second phase of its landmark, 10-year Opera of the Americas initiative with Noches de Ópera (Nights of Opera), a groundbreaking campaign which introduces powerful operas, each reflecting the diverse cultures of new American audiences.