Artist Biographies
Edward Crafts
Bass-Baritone and Staging Director
Crafts’ North American performing career includes the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Dallas Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Houston Opera and most other major American companies. In Europe he has been heard in leading roles at opera houses in London, Vienna, Rome, Monte Carlo and Warsaw. Among the highlights of his activity are the world premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s A Quiet Place, which he subsequently recorded with the composer, and performances of Wotan/Wanderer in two complete Ring cycles with Arizona Opera. In concert, he has sung with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony, the Cincinnati May Festival and many others. He has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Centaur, Koch International and AC Classics. As a stage director for professional and academic organizations, he has created productions of over 50 operas in the United States, Italy and Korea. He has taught at Peabody Conservatory, Catholic University, the University of Nebraska, Hood College, and at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. With his wife Heather, Edward founded Opera in Concert in 2014.
Stephen Dubberly
Pianist and Music Director
Stephen Dubberly has served on the opera and vocal studies faculties of the College of Music at the University of North Texas for over 20 years, where he has conducted dozens of operas, from Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream to Gounod’s Faust and Strauss’ Die Fledermaus to Weill’s Street Scene. In the United States, he has conducted for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Fort Worth Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Knoxville Opera, San Antonio Opera, Opera in the Ozarks, Abilene Opera, Utah Lyric Opera and many others. From 2000 to 2011, he conducted yearly opera productions at Amarillo Opera, including Don Giovanni, Rigoletto, Falstaff, La Boheme and Carmen. In Europe he has appeared at the Teatro Goldoni in Venice, Italy and at the Teatro Accademico in Castelfranco, Italy. Stephen began his music training in Montevideo, Uruguay and later studied at Yale University, receiving Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees. This concert marks his first appearance as Artistic Director, in addition to his many performances as pianist and Music Director with Opera in Concert. He has also served as Music Director of Opera in Concert in Italy in 2016, 2017 and 2019, and looks forward to resuming this role, when more international travel resumes.
Artists from previous seasons
We have been honored by the performances of many outstanding professional artists who have sung with us in previous seasons. Among the singers gracing the OIC stage have been Natalie Arduino (Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, Dallas Opera), Joshua Hughes (American Baroque Opera Company, Dallas Bach Society), Martin Clark, Jr. (Chicago Lyric Opera, Kansas City Opera, Opera North), Gabrielle Gilliam (Dallas Opera, Fort Worth Opera), Audra Methvin (Dallas Opera Competition Winner, Opera of the Ozarks), Lauren McNeese (Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera), Stephen Morscheck (Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago), Christopher Oglesby (Utah Opera), Charis Peden (Opera Lousiane, Freiburg Stadttheater), and Johnathan Riesen (Michigan Opera, Chautauqua Opera).