Today in the roundup: VideoFest news, making your opera debut and tracking Eve Sussman’s trip to North Texas.

Selected online by Dallas Opera season subscribers, the winner of the “Maria Callas Debut Artist of the Year” Award was announced yesterday evening. The internationally acclaimed singer created the role of Captain Ahab in the opera’s recent production of Moby-Dick.

The Dallas Morning News Classical Music Critic discusses the first year of the Winspear Opera House and recent world premieres by the Fort Worth Opera and Dallas Opera.

The Dallas Opera has announced that its longtime costume designer, Peter J. Hall, died last week at his Dallas home — from cardiac complications. He was 84 years old. Hall designed the sets and costumes for more than 70 Dallas Opera productions since 1962.

In fact, we like to think that all of the effort the Dallas Opera has put into its world-premiere production of Moby-Dick (running through this weekend at the Winspear) was just a swell run-up to The American Experience episode running tonight at 8 p.m. on KERA-TV, Channel 13. It’s Into the Deep: America, Whaling and [...]

Just added some more links to reviews on the Dallas Opera’s world premiere. Check ‘em out. Gary Cogill’s even has video — with a flash of some of the amazing ghost-ship-outline video projection, which got an ovation last night even before the singing had begun.

MORE MOBY: The reviews continue to trickle in for the Dallas Opera’s Moby Dick. In addition to the ones we’ve collected here, the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal have also weighed in.

In case you’re interested: I’m continually adding links to new reviews of the Dallas Opera’s Moby-Dick to our own feature coverage – at the end of Olin Chism’s review and Bill Zeeble’s news report (four music blogs were listed in just the last two hours). Wanna know what easily is the most widely read/reprinted review? [...]

THAR SHE RAVES: Yep, the Big Boy with the Flukes made a Big Splash over the weekend. If you want to check out the (mostly very excited) reviews that have come in so far for the Dallas Opera’s Moby-Dick, check out our own Olin Chism’s glowing notice and Bill Zeeble’s report on audience response: There are [...]

It was quite a gamble to take on Herman Melville’s lengthy, literary classic, but it has paid off handsomely for the Dallas Opera and composer Jake Heggie. ‘Moby-Dick’ makes gripping musical theater, with a magnificent production reinforcing the opera’s dramatic power. Olin Chism reviews. Plus Bill Zeeble’s report and the most complete set of links to other reviews around the country.