Opera Parallèle Music Director Nicole Paiement, a nationally recognized contemporary music specialist, has been named Dallas Opera's first Principal Guest Conductor. She will work with Music Director Emmanuel Villaume and Dallas Opera General Director Keith Cerny (a former San Francisco Opera Executive Director and CFO) on a number of upcoming projects, including the January 2015 world premiere of Joby Talbot and Gene Scheer’s Everest. Cerny said of the appointment:
I have been very impressed with Nicole’s ability to bring clarity to performances of the most challenging contemporary scores since I first encountered her conducting. The occasion was a remarkable performance of a reduced orchestration version of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck some years ago in San Francisco.Her generosity of spirit, radiant personality, and her deft and diplomatic way of providing guidance to singers and orchestra members has made a deep impression on the company and earned the respect of her peers and colleagues, onstage and off.
Paiement is also Artistic Director of the BluePrint Project, a new music series sponsored by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. With BluePrint, she has commissioned, premiered, and recorded works from many living American composers. Paiement previously served as the Director of Ensembles at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she conducted the orchestra and opera productions.