Houston Grand Opera 2014 Winter Repertory

Houston Grand Opera’s winter repertory opens with the American premiere of The Passenger by exiled Polish-Jewish composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg. Set in the late 1950s following the horrors of the Second World War, The Passenger depicts a German couple, Liese and Walter, on board an ocean liner where former SS officer Liese thinks she recognizes an Auschwitz prisoner among their fellow passengers. Director David Pountney’s brilliant staging takes the action across Johan Engels’s two-level set, while mezzo Michelle Breedt sings the role of Liese. She will be joined by Canadian tenor Joseph Kaiser. Patrick Summers will conduct.

Join us for a dazzling seven-opera season! With international stars, an American premiere, and impeccable performances, you'll see what makes HGO an important voice on the world's musical stage. And you can see it all for as little as $15 a ticket!

January 18, 2014 - 7:30 p.m. | January 22, 2014 - 7:30 p.m. | January 25, 2014 - 7:30 p.m.
January 31, 2014 - 7:30 p.m. | February 2, 2014 - 2:00 p.m.

Memory can comfort, torment-even terrify-but it is always with us. As Faulkner wrote, "The past isn't dead. It isn't even past."

The horrors of the Second World War, still raw today, were fresh in 1959 when Auschwitz survivor Zofia Posmysz wrote a play titled The Passenger from Cabin 45 for Polish radio. The play became the basis of the opera by Mieczyslaw Weinberg in 1967.

En route to a new post with her husband, a German diplomat, Lisa is unnerved by the sight of a woman-another passenger-who eerily resembles Martha, one of the inmates Lisa tormented when she was an SS overseer at Auschwitz.

The action of the drama takes us from the stylish gentility of a luxury liner's deck to the squalor of a death camp where cruelty, despair, and unspeakable courage are evident in equal measure. This American premiere will be one of the most important musical events of the year.

"A shattering coup. It is at times like this that opera's synthesis of music and drama works its most powerful spell." - The Sunday Times (London)

"Rarely has such a unity of emotion been experienced in an opera house." - Frankfurter Allgemeine (Frankfurt am Main, Germany)

Cast
Liese - Michelle Breedt
Walter - Joseph Kaiser
Marta - Melody Moore
Tadeusz - Morgan Smith
Katya - Kelly Kaduce
Bronka - Kathryn Day
Hannah - Agnieszka Rehlis
Ivette - Uliana Alexyuk
Krystyna - Natalya Romaniw
Vlasta - Carolyn Sproule
Old Woman - Victoria Livengood
First SS Officer - Robert Pomakov
Second SS Officer - Peixin Chen
Third SS Officer - Kevin Ray
Steward/Elderly Passenger - James Maddalena
Senior Overseer/Capo - Cheryl Parrish

Creative Team
Conductor - Patrick Summers - Margaret Alkek Williams Chair
Director - David Pountney
Associate Director - Rob Kearley
Set Designer - Johan Engels
Costume Designer - Marie-Jeanne Lecca
Lighting Designer - Fabrice Kebour
Fight Director - Leraldo Anzaldua
Houston Grand Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Richard Bado, Chorus Master

Guarantors
Amanda and Morris Gelb
Joan and Stanford Alexander/Ann and Stephen Kaufman/
Paula and Irving Pozmantier/the Warren Family
Vinson & Elkins

Grand Underwriters
Anadarko Petroleum Corporation
Joyce Z. Greenberg
Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation
Shirley and Bruce Stein

Giuseppe Verdi's RIGOLETTO a production remounted by original director Harry Silverstein and conducted by Patrick Summers.

Rigoletto – Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto
Sung in Italian with projected English translation

Friday, January 24, 2014 – 7:30 p.m. – Opening Night

Sunday, January 26, 2014 – 2:00 p.m.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014 – 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, February 1, 2014 – 7:30 p.m.

Friday, February 7, 2014 – 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, February 9, 2014 – 2:00 p.m.

This January, Houston Grand Opera will revive Verdi’s Rigoletto in a production remounted by original director Harry Silverstein and conducted by Patrick Summers. Former HGO Studio artist Ryan McKinny returns to HGO sing his first Rigoletto while Richard Tucker Award-winning tenor Stephen Costello makes his long-awaited HGO debut as the Duke of Mantua. Elizabeth Zharoff joins the cast as Gilda.

January 24, 2014 - 7:30 p.m. | January 26, 2014 - 2:00 p.m. | January 29, 2014 - 7:30 p.m.
February 1, 2014 - 7:30 p.m. | February 7, 2014 - 7:30 p.m. | February 9, 2014 - 2:00 p.m.

Rigoletto, jester to the Duke of Mantua, is both reviled and respected for his razor-sharp, bitter wit. His only joy is his daughter, Gilda, whom he has hidden from his amoral employer's court. But Rigoletto cannot protect her from falling in love. When the Duke poses as a young student and adds Gilda to his long list of conquests, the jester swears revenge. Passion drives him to plot the Duke's murder but, naļve and blinded by love, Gilda spoils her father's scheme with heart- wrenching results.

"Costello was in brilliant voice, his bright tenor brimming with youthful vigor and passion." - Associated Press

Cast
Rigoletto - Ryan McKinny
Duke of Mantua - Stephen Costello
Gilda - Uliana Alexyuk
Count Monterone - Robert Pomakov
Sparafucile - Dmitry Belosselskiy
Maddalena - Carolyn Sproule
Marullo - Reginald Smith
Matteo Borsa - Scott Quinn
Count Ceprano - Thomas Richards
Giovanna - Victoria Livengood
Countess Ceprano/Page - Andrea Carroll
Usher - Peixin Chen

Creative Team
Conductor - Patrick Summers - Margaret Alkek Williams Chair
Director - Harry Silverstein
Set Designer - Michael Yeargan
Costume Designer - Peter J. Hall
Lighting Designer - Stephen Strawbridge
Fight Director - Leraldo Anzaldua
Houston Grand Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Richard Bado, Chorus Master

Grand Underwriter
Terrell Tone Owen
Memorial Endowed Donor Advised Fund at the Community Foundation of Abilene

Co-production with The Dallas Opera

Photo by Felix Sanchez