the story behind dbp

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Das Blümelein Project is a collaborative arts company based in Dallas, Texas and created by classical musicians, Bethany Mamola and Agostina Migoni. Dr. Mamola and Ms. Migoni met in music school almost a decade ago and have since founded DBP, an organization created by artists to support artists. Both women strayed from the limited, traditional career options for opera singers and created their own path, one that gives them and other artists an avenue to create.

Das Blümelein Project creates musical storytelling productions that break the barriers of accessibility, foreign language, elitism, and cultural misrepresentation associated with opera and classical music in order to highlight the beauty of this valued repertoire. DBP pushes the boundaries of traditional performance practices by touring and producing our shows in intimate settings, therefore allowing for a greater, and more diverse audience. We collaborate with creatives across a wide spectrum of mediums including but not limited to sculpture, textile, painting, photography, video production, music, dance, acting, and the culinary arts. By ditching the ego found in traditional production settings and balancing our expertise with experimentation, DBP enables curiosity and creativity, further supporting the mission for cultural innovation and creative thinking through artistic collaboration and education.

Since its inception, Das Blümelein Project has been chosen to participate in AT&T Performing Art Center's Elevator Project season, and have been the recipients of the Breckenridge Creative Artist Residency in Colorado, and the TX Studio Artist Residency in Dallas, Texas. The project has been a collaborator with the National Repertory Orchestra and has participated in the Cherry on Top Creatives Festival in Marfa, Texas. DBP regularly tours throughout the United States and has been invited to perform and speak at a number of universities.

 

Founders

Soprano, Dr. Bethany Grace Mamola

Soprano, Agostina Migoni

Dr. Mamola has charmed audiences with her stage presence and warm vocal timbre. The Cleveland Plain Dealer praised her with “...the most beautiful singing, whose Carolina was as disarming in characterization as it was expressive in vocal shading.” The Cleveland Classical said she was “a delight to hear and see. Her casual, yet precise stage demeanor and astute vocal talent made for a wonderfully clear vocal interpretation that rang throughout the hall.” Most recently, Dr. Mamola has performed with the National Repertory Orchestra Festival in Colorado, the Sausalito Song Society, and was the featured soprano soloist with the UTRGV Symphony Chorus in their 2019 performances of The Messiah. She has sung Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Drusilla in L’incornazione di Poppea and Zerlina in Don Giovanni with the University of North Texas’ Opera Theatre. She made her professional debut with the Abilene Philharmonic Orchestra in their Easy To Love—A Celebration of Love Songs from Broadway Gala February 2016. Bethany has sung with Cleveland Opera Theatre as the role of Bianca in Puccini’s La Rondine. In July 2021, Dr. Mamola will make her directorial debut as co-creative director of "Try Me” at the Winspear Opera House in conjunction with AT&T Performing Art Center’s “Elevator Project". Bethany's other stage credits include Carolina in Il Matrimonio Segreto, La Princesse in L’enfants et les Sortilèges, Cendrillon, Polly Peachum in The Three Penny Opera and Lady Angela in Patience. Bethany was a studio artist with CCM’s Spoleto summer training program in 2010 and won the 2011 Stockton Opera Guild Competition and the 2011 UOP Conservatory Concerto Competition. Dr. Mamola holds a DMA from the University of North Texas, a Masters of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a Bachelors of Music from the University of the Pacific’s Conservatory of Music. In addition to performance, Dr. Mamola is an enthusiastic educator in Voice. She has taught on the faculty of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and joins the faculty of the College of Wooster in Fall of 2020 as Visiting Associate Professor of Voice.

Ms. Migoni has been praised for her ‘spirited and charismatic acting’ as well as ‘her distinctive musicality.’ Most recently, she performed with the National Repertory Orchestra in Colorado and the Sausalito Song Society in California. Ms. Migoni made her company debut with The Dallas Opera as an Education Artist during the 2014-2015 season and debuted several roles with the company in this capacity through the end of the 2016-2017 season. Praised for her dynamic presence, Ms. Migoni has appeared as Musetta in La bohème, Abigail Williams in The Crucible, Valencienne in The Merry Widow, Noémie in Cendrillon, and Giannetta in L’elisir d’amore. A prolific performer, Ms. Migoni has appeared extensively throughout the United States, South America, Europe, and the Middle East. Ms. Migoni has been honored with a number of awards including the Women’s Chorus of Dallas Voice Award, the Audience Favorite Award at the Lois Alba Competition in Houston, and first place at the Ohio Buckeye NATS. Ms. Migoni has been very active with the Castleton Artist Training Seminar where she has appeared as Fredrika in A Little Night Music and as Maria in West Side Story. She was later asked to join the Castleton Music Festival’s international tour to the Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman where she performed under the baton of the late Lorin Maazel. In 2021, Ms.Migoni will make her directorial and producing debut for the world premiere of A Lily Among Thorns as part of AT&T Performing Art Center’s Elevator Project Season. Ms. Migoni received a Masters of Music in Voice Performance from the University of North Texas and a Bachelors of Music in Vocal Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music.