Stephen Dubberly, Associate Professor in the Division of Conducting and Ensembles, serves as Music Director of UNT Opera Theatre and teaches opera conducting and opera repertoire. Before joining the UNT faculty in 1999, he taught for eleven years at the University of Tennessee. There, he served as opera music director, headed the graduate accompanying program, and taught courses in vocal diction and literature. He made his conducting debut in 1993 in Opera Theatre of Saint Louis' American-premiere production of Judith Weir's The Black Spider. Since then, he has conducted for Des Moines Metro Opera, the Knoxville Opera Company, San Antonio Opera, Cartersville Opera, American Bel Canto Opera, the Teatro Accademico in Castelfranco Veneto, Italy, the Teatro Goldoni in Venice, Opera Athens (Georgia), the University of Tennessee, and Webster University. He has also conducted frequently for Amarillo Opera, including productions of Don Giovanni, The Barber of Seville, Don Pasquale, Rigoletto, Pirates of Penzance, Falstaff, I pagliacci, La bohème, the regionally-broadcast production of Gene Murray’s The Wage of Sin, and (in September 2007) Carmen. At UNT, he has conducted productions of The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, The Magic Flute, Lucia di Lammermoor, La traviata, Die Fledermaus, Falstaff, I pagliacci, La bohème, Cendrillon, Madama Butterfly, The Merry Widow, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi, the world premiere of Hans Schaeuble's Dorian Gray, Albert Herring, Dialogues of the Carmelites, The Crucible, and A Little Night Music. Upcoming productions at UNT include Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet and Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Dr. Dubberly's career as an opera coach includes six seasons with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where he served as Ensemble Coordinator and Principal Coach, Assistant Conductor, and Music Director of various educational projects. He has been Associate Conductor at Des Moines Metro Opera, Assistant Music Director for Opera Carolina, co-director of the Knoxville Opera Company's Education and Outreach program, Principal Coach for the Peter Harrower Summer Opera Workshop in Atlanta, and Music Director of the Totally Vocal! Summer Institute for Young Singers in Knoxville. He has also worked with Kentucky Opera, Opera Banff, and the Chattanooga Opera. Singers he has partnered in recital include Mary Dunleavy, Mignon Dunn, Kaaren Erickson, Elizabeth Futral, Denyce Graves, Brenda Harris, Kristine Jepson, Jeffrey Wells, and Stella Zambalis. Critics have hailed him as "the perfect partner" (Richmond News) and "the ideal accompanist" (New Haven Register).
Dr. Dubberly began his musical training in Montevideo, Uruguay, and received the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from Yale University. He has judged the Metropolitan Opera Council District Auditions in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, and has given numerous master classes and workshops for singers throughout the United States. He was twice nominated as the Tennessee Music Teachers Association's Composer of the Year. He has recently become active as a translator and designer of operatic supertitles. He has presented lectures on operatic topics for the Dallas Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, the St. Louis Art Museum, the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Des Moines Metro Opera, the University of North Texas, East Tennessee Opera Guild, Texas Collegiate Opera Network, National Association of Teachers of Singing (DFW Chapter), National Association of Teachers of Singing (Texoma Region), Music Educators National Conference, Tennessee Music Teachers Association, Kansas Music Teachers Association, and Music Teachers National Association. He is Director of Music at Christ Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Flower Mound, Texas.