A star rises over the Nile

Last March 3, I settled in to listen to the Saturday matinee radio broadcast of Verdi's Aida from the Metropolitan Opera. An announcement was made that the soprano scheduled to sing the lead role, Violeta Urmana, was ill, and she would be replaced in this performance by her understudy, Latonia Moore.

Ms. Moore had found out the day before that she'd be making her debut at the vaunted Met in an international broadcast in one of the most well-known roles in opera. She went on without a stage rehearsal. Her performance was brilliant -- not perfect, but you knew that this was one of those magical moments in the theater when you can say "I was there" (albeit via radio and with 11 million fellow listeners) for a young star's breakthrough performance. The ovation was what you'd expect if they made a movie of the whole thing.

Ms. Moore was born in Houston and went to the University of North Texas to study jazz. Somebody suggested she try singing some classical stuff, and off she went. She won several young artists competitions, and with a lot of hard work began building a career as an operatic soprano.

It turns out that I'd heard Ms. Moore in the Dallas Opera's 2004 Carmen as Micaela. I didn't remember the name, but I did remember that performance.

Her triumph with the Met in Aida is not lessened, but is perhaps better understood, when you realize that she had already sung the role, to glowing reviews, in Europe and at Covent Garden in London. Since then, she's played Aida at the Sydney Opera House (yes, the one with the "sails"), also as a fill-in, but on a month's notice, rather than a day's.

Now Ms. Moore is bringing her exceptional portrayal of Aida "home." She'll sing in the Dallas Opera's production of the Verdi masterpiece starting Friday, Oct. 26, at the Winspear Opera House, along with Antonello Palombi as Radames and Nadia Krasteva as Amneris. The conductor is Graeme Jenkins, beginning his final season as music director of the Dallas Opera. Other evening performances are on Oct. 31, Nov. 3 and Nov. 9, with matinees on Oct. 28 and Nov. 11.