MassChallenge Texas Announces First Houston-Based Startup Bootcamp

MassChallenge, a global network of zero-equity startup accelerators, opened applications for its first Houston-based bootcamp for high-impact, early stage startups across all industries yesterday. The deadline to apply is May 8, 2019 at 12 p.m. CST. Interested startups can apply here.

Applications were opened at a public launch event on April 10, 2019 at the Four Seasons Houston. MassChallenge Texas Director of Partnerships Yvette Casares Willis led the event through a short presentation that outlined the inaugural program.

“MassChallenge Texas has come to Houston with a two-fold goal,” said Yvette Casares Willis, Director of Partnerships for MassChallenge Texas. “First, to help Houston startups remove barriers and provide them access to needed resources through MassChallenge’s global ecosystem. And second, to shine a light on Houston for its work as an innovation ecosystem while attracting more startups from the world here.”

MassChallenge Texas in Houston will support up to 25 startups during the six-week bootcamp, which will run from July through August 2019. During the program, participating startups will receive six months of free office space at Green Street in downtown Houston, access to industry experts, mentors, top corporations and more, all at zero cost and for zero equity. To further support promising early-stage startups, MassChallenge Texas in Houston will offer two week-long curriculum intensives at the beginning and end of the bootcamp, respectively. The week-long sessions will provide tailored instruction on topics like fundraising, entity selection, and designing corporate partnerships. At the culmination of the program, top startups will present at a demo day and closing celebration.

In addition to the tangible benefits of the MassChallenge Texas program, Ms. Willis focused on the value of the MassChallenge expert community and the foundation they provide the startups during the program. For individuals interested in learning more about the MassChallenge expert opportunity visit here.

“MassChallenge Texas will be a catalytic spark plug for Houston,” said Robert Lung, Director of Economic Development for Central Houston. “Their work here will help bring together Houston’s legacy industries and our creative community to help drive the region toward the goal of being top 10 startup ecosystem. The future starts now!”

In 2018, MassChallenge Texas ran their first program in Austin and accelerated 84 companies that have raised more than $30 million in funding, generated $20 million in revenue, and created 524 jobs. MassChallenge Texas is supported by a public-private partnership that includes founding corporate partners Southwest Airlines, TMAC, WeWork, USAA and Upstream. New partners include civic and corporate partners Central Houston, the City of Houston, Lionstone, Midway, BAE Systems, BHP, Ingram Micro, 3 Feet from Gold Corporation, the San Antonio Spurs and the Houston Texans. Together, MassChallenge Texas and its partners will strengthen and grow the innovation ecosystem across the state and connect the ecosystem to MassChallenge’s global network of programs in Boston, Israel, Mexico, Rhode Island and Switzerland.

To reach the startups and experts interested in the inaugural MassChallenge Texas in Houston program, the team will launch a city-wide roadshow with in-person visits scheduled for:

April 11, 2019 at 6 p.m.: Houston Community College April 18, 2019 at 12 p.m.: University of Houston April 19, 2019 at 1 p.m.: Webinar April 22, 2019 at 6 p.m.: The Cannon April 23, 2019 at 6 p.m.: TMC Innovation April 24, 2019 at 6 p.m.: Houston Exponential

#masschallengedallas #masschallengehouston

Experience a Night of Vocal Mastery at The Dallas Opera May 11th

The Dallas Opera is proud to present three of the most sought-after tenors of the 21st century as they perform a tremendously exciting program of classic opera arias, Broadway favorites and American standards.

“Fabiano, Hymel, and Polenzani” will perform together onstage for the very first time on Saturday, May 11, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. (please note special time) in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center, as the centerpiece of The 2019 Dallas Opera Gala, an elegant annual spring fundraiser.

“The V.I.P. Experience” includes pre-concert reception, premium concert seats, seated dinner and the After Party. Additional information and pricing are available at https://dallasopera.org/performance/tdo-gala/.

Concert tickets may be purchased separately by calling The Dallas Opera Ticket Office at 214.443.1000 or visiting https://dallasopera.org/performance/one-night-only/.

Single tickets for the concert are priced at $50 to $275 each and include free access to the exciting post-performance After Party—with live music and complimentary beer and wine—in the magnificent lobby of the Winspear Opera House.

Internationally-acclaimed American tenors Michael Fabiano, Bryan Hymel and Matthew Polenzani will perform with The Dallas Opera Orchestra under the baton of renowned Italian guest conductor Carlo Montanaro.

Each of these magnificent artists is “at the top of his game.” This season alone, their schedules reveal an impressive array of “must see” concerts and performances including:

• Michael Fabiano – Boito’s Mefistofele at the Metropolitan Opera; Puccini’s La bohème at the Met and Lyric Opera of Chicago; Concert in Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, Moscow; Massenet’s Werther at Sydney Opera House; Gounod’s Faust at London’s Royal Opera House; Rigoletto at Berlin State Opera and Verdi’s Giovanna d’Arco at Madrid’s Teatro Real. • Bryan Hymel – Verdi’s Les vêpres siciliennes at Bavarian State Opera; Puccini’s La bohème at Vienna State Opera; Bizet’s Carmen at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; and a solo concert in Prague with the Janáček Philharmonic. • Matthew Polenzani – Mozart’s Idomeneo for Lyric Opera of Chicago; Concert, New World Center, Miami; La bohème at Teatro Massimo, Palermo, Italy; Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta at the Met (role debut); Carnegie Hall recital; La clemenza di Tito at the Metropolitan Opera; Carmen (role debut) at San Francisco Opera. • Carlo Montanaro – Lucia di Lammermoor for Opera Australia (Sydney Opera House); Rigoletto for Montréal Opera; The Hart Institute for Women Conductors at The Dallas Opera (faculty); Madama Butterfly for Polish National Opera; Il trovatore at Seattle Opera’s McCaw Hall; Werther in the Sydney Opera House for Opera Australia; and Mozart’s Requiem at Teatro Regio di Parma (Italy).

The Dallas Opera, with support from Holly and Tom Mayer, invites you to experience these four world-class artists performing together for the first time. The trio, conducted by Maestro Montanaro, will sing a selection of Opera’s most memorable moments from Turandot, Pagliacci, Werther, L’elisir d’amore, Fedora, Eugene Onegin and La Gioconda. The program will also include an American Song medley and unforgettable songs from some of the finest productions of the twentieth-century musical stage.

“Maestro Montanaro and these incredibly gifted tenors have come together in the prime of their careers to create an unforgettable evening of poignant and passionate performances,” explains Ian Derrer, The Kern Wildenthal General Director and CEO. “The trio will perform highlights from the opera repertoire that have made them world famous, as well as audience favorites that originated under the bright lights of Broadway. “It’s easy to see why true opera lovers are willing to travel long distances to experience these artists onstage, and why our patrons are already buzzing with anticipation.

“This opportunity to hear Michael Fabiano, Bryan Hymel and Matthew Polenzani, side by side,” Derrer adds, “is not likely to be repeated here in Dallas. Music lovers should take note and make the most of it!”

V.I.P. Gala Tickets include an exclusive pre-performance reception, the concert, a post-performance dinner curated and prepared by Wolfgang Puck Catering, and a lively After Party featuring complimentary wine and beer. Gold Box Gala Tickets start at $1,250 apiece – Tenor Orchestra Gala Tickets start at $1,000.

For additional information about the full gala package, please contact Dallas Opera Special Events Manager Tracy Mott at 214.443.1063 or tracy.mott@dallasopera.org.

For single tickets and information regarding the concert itself, consult the friendly people in The Dallas Opera Ticket Office at 214.443.1000 or online at https://dallasopera.org/performance/one-night-only/

#dallasopera #dallasoperagala

The Dallas Opera Presents Verdi's Hilarious Opera, Falstaff, April 26-May 4 2019. Tickets start

FALSTAFF-Maxine Helfman

The Dallas Opera 2019

The Dallas Opera presents a beautiful and hilarious comedic opera, Falstaff by Verdi in late April. In more than six decades of presenting opera at its finest, the occasion marks the first time this 1893 masterpiece has ever been produced on The Dallas Opera stage. Falstaff is the perfect first opera for anyone opera-curious for a simple reason: it's hilarious. My first, and one of my favorite operas, was the Marriage of Figaro, which led to a wonderful evening, and destroyed any preconceived notions I had of the opera as being an activity only open to those in the know. Even if you don't enjoy more traditional, tragic operas, Verdi's Falstaff will leave you laughing and coming back for more! With tickets starting at just $19, how can you say no?

Verdi’s Falstaff will open for the first of four performances on Friday, April 26, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center (with additional performances on April 28(m), May 1 & 4, 2019) conducted by Guest Conductor Riccardo Frizza and directed by Shawna Lucey in her company debut.

Ticket prices start at just $19 and can be purchased online at www.dallasopera.org.

Falstaff, an 1893 opera based on a much-loved comic character who appears in William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV (Parts 1 and 2) is set in “Merrie Olde” Tudor England. The storyline revolves around Falstaff’s efforts to woo a couple of wealthy wives capable of supporting his prodigious lifestyle. The ladies catch on and decide they must have payback for Falstaff’s brazen behavior and, thus, the games begin!

This superlative international cast is led by American bass-baritone Mark Delavan in the title role of Sir John Falstaff. The star-studded cast also includes show-stopping soprano Angela Mead, as well as beloved mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe and renowned German soprano Mojca Erdmann in their eagerly-awaited company debuts. Other principal singers in the impressive ensemble are baritone Quinn Kelsey, Spanish tenor Airam Hernández, mezzo-soprano Megan Marino, tenor Alex Mansoori, Italian bass Andrea Silvestrelli and tenor Robert Brubaker.

Robert Craft, writing decades ago in the New York Review of Books, noted “Falstaff is not only a masterpiece of opera but…a comedy of pure fun and a great work of art.”

By condensing Shakespeare’s original plot and tightening the structure while at the same time adding particularly strong passages and Falstaff soliloquies from Henry IV, librettist Arrigo Boito (with encouragement from his friend, the composer) created a book that surpasses the original source material in its brilliance.

#dallasopera #falstaffdallas2019 #dallasdatenight2019