Dugg McDonough
Mary Barrett Fruehan Associate Professor of Opera
Turner-Fischer Center for Opera
Biography
Dugg, McDonough, Mary Barrett Fruehan Associate Professor of Opera and Artistic Director
of the Turner-Fischer Center for Opera at 海角社区, is a three-time winner of The American
Prize in Directing. For his achievements with 海角社区鈥檚 opera program, McDonough garnered
first place in 2019 (Dog Days), second place in 2020 (Elizabeth Cree), and third place in 2021 (Two Remain/Out of Darkness). In addition to these personal accolades, his
opera productions have collected numerous first and second place awards from both
The American Prize and the National Opera Association (NOA), the latter having awarded
海角社区 first place seven times in its annual Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition.
Since coming to 海角社区 in 2002, McDonough has staged 70 mainstage opera productions,
including 10 world and American collegiate premieres. Particularly notable were 2007鈥檚
highly acclaimed performances of Carlisle Floyd鈥檚 Willie Stark, which were filmed by Newport Classic, Ltd. for international commercial DVD release.
Another video highlight
came with David Amram鈥檚 Twelfth Night in 2010, again recorded by Newport Classic and included in a documentary celebrating
the composer鈥檚 80th birthday.
As a still-active professional director, McDonough has staged a wide variety of operas,
operettas, and musicals for companies ranging from the New York City Opera to the
Taipei International Arts Festival. Highlights in recent years have included the workshop
premiere of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer鈥檚 Out of Darkness for Pensacola Opera; Elektra, Susannah, Dialogues of the Carmelites, La rondine, and The Tragedy of Carmen for Des Moines Metro Opera; Madama Butterfly and Amahl and the Night Visitors for Op茅ra Louisiane; Turandot and Madama Butterfly for Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra; Little Women, Sweeney Todd, La cenerentola, La trag茅die de Carmen, and The Medium for
Pensacola Opera; and Tristan und Isolde for commercial CD release from Sofia, Bulgaria. Recent success also include Le nozze di Figaro and La cenerentola for Operafestival di Roma, Le nozze di Figaro and Cos矛 fan tutte for Land of Enchantment Opera, and The Face on the Barroom Floor for Rose Rock Opera Institute. A different and exciting credit came when he directed
his Off-Broadway debut: Sincerely, Oscar!, a new musical revue of the life and works of Oscar Hammerstein II. His upcoming
new works opera projects include the stage direction for the world premiere of Mara
Gibson and Ann McCutchan's The Devil鈥檚 Dream and the planned debut of Maurice Wright鈥檚 The Blair Mountain Tragedy.
Among his additional credits, McDonough served four seasons as Staff Stage Director
for the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center, under the leadership of Beverly Sills,
and he spent two summers on the production staff of The Santa Fe Opera (beginning
his professional career as Assistant Director on the American Premiere of the complete,
three-act version of Alban Berg鈥檚 Lulu). For two years, he was Production Manager and Artistic Consultant for Opera Theatre
of Saint Louis, collaborating with such
notable stage directors as Colin Graham, Frank Corsaro, and Jonathan Miller. A librettist
as well, McDonough authored Ordinary People, a New American Opera in Three Acts, which received its premiere workshop staging
at the Maryland Opera Studio in 2008.
As a specialist in working with emerging performers, McDonough served for 20 years
(1993-2012) as Co-Director of the Apprentice Artist Program of Des Moines Metro Opera.
He has also stage directed for The Santa Fe Opera鈥檚 Apprentice Program, the San Diego
Opera Center, the Young Artist Program of the Florida Grand (formerly Greater Miami)
Opera, and the National Company and Education Department of the New York City Opera.
As an adjudicator of vocal competitions, he has acted as a judge for the Metropolitan
Opera National Council District Auditions, as well as the Charles A. Lynam Vocal Competition.
In 2021, McDonough was honored to join the prestigious faculty of OperaFest Sewanee
at the long-standing Sewanee Summer Music Festival of Sewanee Music Center, for which
he has been asked to join its Advisory Board, beginning in 2024.
McDonough鈥檚 academic resum茅 includes, in addition to his years at 海角社区, a 1985-2002
tenure as Associate Professor and Director of Opera Theater at Temple University鈥檚
Boyer College, and he has other teaching and directing credits at the University of
Tennessee, the University of Oklahoma, Michigan State University, the Shepherd School
of Music of Rice
University, Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory, and Loyola University New Orleans.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Duke University, a Master of Arts in Dramatic
Art from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, along with extensive post-graduate
studies in theater and opera history and literature and stage direction for opera
at Indiana University
