Houston Grand Opera 2014 Season

Houston Grand Opera Begins First Ring Cycle and Offers American and World Premieres in Expanded 2013–14 Season

48 Performances of Eight Operas including American premiere of Holocaust opera The Passenger

Houston Grand Opera’s (HGO) 2013–14 season includes the launch of the company’s first Ring cycle, in a visionary and captivating production by the Catalan company La Fura dels Baus. Also included is the hotly anticipated American premiere of Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s Holocaust opera The Passenger; the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s A Coffin in Egypt, based on the play of the same name by renowned Texas writer Horton Foote and starring iconic mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade. There is also a new HGO production of Carmen from Broadway sensation Rob Ashford; revivals of Aida, Rigoletto, and Die Fledermaus. In tribute to the nation’s homegrown musical theater tradition, Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music designed by fashion star Isaac Mizrahi.

Through its HGOco Song of Houston project—winner of the National MultiCultural Institute’s Leading Lights Diversity Award—the company continues to celebrate Houston’s cultural diversity with the world premieres of two new commissions exploring the city’s Vietnamese and Indian communities as part of the East + West series. These rich offerings reflect both HGO’s legacy of artistic excellence and the success this has engendered. In each of the last two seasons, HGO’s audiences have come from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, as well as from at least 23 foreign countries to experience the company’s unique artistic vision. Public demand for tickets has increased drastically—as evidenced by a 35 percent increase in subscription sales since 2007, allowing HGO to dramatically increase the size of its season for the second straight year. The company will present 48 performances of eight operas in 2013–14, an increase of 45 percent over its 2011–12 season, which included 33 performances of six operas.

In addition to its productions in the Wortham Theater Center, HGO will also present free outdoor performances of Die Fledermaus at Miller Outdoor Theatre in Hermann Park. HGO main-stage productions are also heard locally in the Houston area on KUHA-FM and nationally on the WFMT radio network.

Discussing the upcoming season, HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers explains, “Launching a Ring cycle is a landmark for any opera company, but we are also continuing our commitment to be a passionate voice for our city and our time. Above all, we believe that this season abounds with the visceral

“With our expansion to 48 performances of eight operas we are building on the momentum of the last few seasons,” adds HGO Managing Director Perryn Leech. “We are delighted that more people are experiencing the exceptional quality and excitement of HGO’s work.”

Bizet's CARMEN directed by Broadway's hottest young director American Rob Ashford. "I am thrilled to be making my HGO debut with CARMEN," says Ashford. Houston Grand Opera Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers comments "I've always loved this score and look forward to Rob's take on an iconic classic."

A co-production of Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Lyric Opera Chicago.

Marking an important company milestone, the new season sees HGO launch its first presentation of Wagner's monumental RING Cycle. The DAS RHEINGOLD production is from La Fura dels Baus, the genre-defying Catalan theater company behind Barcelona's 1992 Olympic opening ceremony. Das Rheingold/photo by Tato Baeza

A co-production of Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, Valencia, and Maggio Musicale, Florence.

Ricky Ian Gordon and Leonard Foglia: A Coffin in Egypt (World Premiere)

A co-production and co-commission of Houston Grand Opera, Opera Philadelphia, and the Wallis Annenberg Center for the

Stephen Sondheim's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC. The Houston Grand Opera will revive the stage with which Isaac Mizrahi made his directorial debut, and about which the Wall Street Journal concluded: "No surprise that Mr. Mizrahi's costumes were enchanting.....he also brought a light touch to the directing.....charming and very effective." Stephen Sondheim is the winner of a Pulitzer Prize, an Olivier Award, an Academy Award, seven Tony awards, a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement, and multiple Grammy awards.

An original production of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, owned by Houston Grand Opera.

It seems like in every opera someone dies.... even in this funny show full of romantic tangles. A Little Night Music by the award winning Stephen Sondheim is a lighthearted comedy that keeps you on your toes. One is not quite sure how the couples are going to end up or with whom. My favorite character is the grandmother, Madame Armfeldt. She is full of witty comments and advice. The characters were captivating and sang beautifully.

Houston Grand Opera revived the staging with which the enchanting Isaac Mizrahi made his directorial debut. I really enjoyed the stage setting full of trees, which converted into a beautiful garden, quite literally, right under your nose. The human pixies blended into the scenery, while they danced and sang throughout the show. It added to the overall beauty of the stage. It was quite mesmerizing..

If you are looking for a light comedy, with great singing, I highly recommend A Little Night Music by Stephen Sondheim designed by Isaac Mizrahi..

-- Daniela

A co-production of Houston Grand Opera, English National Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Norwegian National Opera.

The American premiere of THE PASSENGER, by exiled Polish-Jewish composer Miezyslaw Weinberg. The Passenger/photo by Lynn Lane

A co-production of Bregenzer Festspiele, Austria; Wielki Teatr, Warsaw; English National Opera, London; and Teatro Real,

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

Marking an important company milestone, the new season sees HGO launch its first presentation of Wagner’s monumental Ring cycle, in a production from La Fura dels Baus, the genre-defying Catalan theater company behind Barcelona’s 1992 Olympic opening ceremony. Previously staged only in Europe, this

dazzling production has been called “a veritable symphony in pictures” (Opera News). Highlights from the production, which was released on DVD by C Major Entertainment and won the 2010 ECHO Klassik Award for DVD of the year, can be seen here.

Over the next four seasons, HGO will present one installment of the cycle each year, starting in April 2014 with Das Rheingold. Heading the outstanding cast is Scottish bass-baritone Iain Paterson making his house debut in his first performances as Wotan. Singing opposite him as Fricka is American mezzo Jamie Barton,

an HGO Studio alumna and recent winner of both the BBC's Cardiff Singer of the World Competition and World Song Prize, and Slovak tenor Stefan Margita reprises the role of Loge. Patrick Summers, who made his Wagner debut in 2009 with Lohengrin at HGO, will lead from the pit.

No less momentous is the American premiere of The Passenger, by exiled Polish-Jewish composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg. Based on an eponymous novel by Auschwitz survivor Zofia Posmysz. The Passenger is set in the late 1950s and depicts a German couple, Liese and Walter, on board an ocean liner. Liese, a former SS officer, thinks she recognizes an Auschwitz prisoner among their fellow passengers. Although Weinberg completed his score in 1968, the opera was not performed until 2006. It was not fully staged until the 2010 Bregenz Festival, at which time the New York Times observed:

The work was brilliantly served by David Pountney’s production. Johan Engels’s two-level set, with the ship above and the camp below—bleakly characterized by railroad tracks and wooden bunks— facilitated the shift in action from one to the other. Marie-Jeanne Lecca’s realistic costumes, which dressed all those on board ship in white, heightened the contrast.

In January 2014, this production comes to Houston, once again starring South African mezzo Michelle Breedt in the role she created in Austria. She will be joined by Canadian tenor Joseph Kaiser, best known as Tamino in Kenneth Branagh’s film adaptation of The Magic Flute. Patrick Summers will conduct. Further examining the themes explored in The Passenger, HGOco, HGO’s initiative to expand community connections and collaborations, will present a number of activities and programs throughout Houston focused on remembrance of the past and connection to the present through music, community conversation, and art.

A series of three free concerts begins on November 10, 2013 with the world premiere of a new work by HGO Studio alumnus and composer David Hanlon commemorating the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht and based on the story of his grandfather, one of the thousands of Jewish people arrested on that infamous

night and sent to Dachau. The series continues on December 9, 2013 with a concert exploring the music, art, poetry, and philosophy that emerged from Terezín, a concentration camp located in the Czech Republic. The third and final performance on February 22, 2014 features music of memory and hope with world premieres of works by Lawrence Siegel and Paul English based on text and inspiration from Holocaust survivor Naomi Warren.

HGO is also proud to present the first in a series of new operas commissioned by the company: Ricky Ian Gordon's A Coffin in Egypt, with a libretto by Leonard Foglia, who will also direct the premiere. One of the world’s most beloved opera stars, mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, headlines this moving

monodrama. “This new opera has deep Texas roots,” says Summers. “It is based on a play of the same name by the renowned Texas writer Horton Foote. Ricky Ian Gordon is a very theatrically driven composer with a style that is perfectly suited to opera.”

Houston Grand Opera’s legacy of commissioning and premiering new works goes back more than 40 years, and includes commissions from John Adams, Philip Glass, Daniel Catán, André Previn, Mark Adamo, and Jake Heggie, among others. A Coffin in Egypt will mark HGO’s 52nd world premiere since 1973.

In April 2014, HGO breathes fresh life into Bizet’s perennially popular Carmen with the help of American director/choreographer Rob Ashford. “Rob Ashford is Broadway’s hottest young director,” notes Summers, “and we are looking forward to Rob’s take on an iconic classic.” A Tony, Emmy, Drama Desk, and Outer

Critics Circle Award winner—with nominations for a further seven Tonys and five Olivier awards. Rob Ashford needs little introduction on Broadway or in London’s West End.

“I am thrilled to be making my HGO debut with Carmen,” says Ashford. “I've always loved this score and look forward to exploring its strong flamenco rhythms and influence. It is a very exciting opportunity.” In her role debut as Bizet’s irrepressible Gypsy, the new production presents Grammy Award–winning

Puerto Rican soprano Ana María Martínez. As an alumna of the HGO Studio, Martínez was the inaugural recipient of the Lynn Wyatt Great Artist Award. Opposite her, Richard Tucker Award–winner Brandon Jovanovich portrays Don José. Their doomed love triangle is completed by the Escamillo of bass-baritone Ryan McKinny, another former HGO Studio artist and the first recipient of Plácido Domingo’s Birgit Nilsson Prize. Scotland’s Rory Macdonald will conduct.

Described by the New York Times as “the greatest and perhaps best-known artist in the American musical theater,” Stephen Sondheim is the winner of a Pulitzer Prize, an Olivier Award, an Academy Award, seven Tony awards, a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement, and multiple Grammy awards. The upcoming production of his intimate chamber piece A Little Night Music demonstrates HGO’s ongoing commitment to musical theater, America’s original contribution to the operatic genre.

In March 2014, the company will revive the staging with which Isaac Mizrahi made his directorial debut, and about which the Wall Street Journal concluded: “No surprise that Mr. Mizrahi’s costumes were enchanting; he also brought a light touch to the directing, never pushing the comedy into slapstick or the romance into bathos. It was all charming and very effective.” Headlining the revival are American soprano Elizabeth Futral; HGO Studio alumnus and company regular Chad Shelton, tenor; and American mezzo Joyce Castle, who was chosen by the composer himself to record “Send in the Clowns” for the Book-of-the-Month collection Sondheim.

Musical direction is by HGO’s own associate music director, Eric Melear, Sir Georg Solti Foundation Award winner and a former HGO Studio artist.

Aida, the first of HGO’s upcoming Verdi revivals, opens the 2013–14 season in October. Featuring sets and costumes by British fashion designer Zandra Rhodes, this production is suitably larger than life. In the title role, HGO is thrilled to present Liudmyla Monastyrska, the star of the Ukraine National Opera, who recently played Aida to great acclaim in her first U.S. appearances at the Met. Powerhouse mezzo Dolora Zajick sings her signature role of Amneris, while Texan baritone and HGO Studio alumnus Scott Hendricks sings Aida’s father, Amonasro. Italy’s Antonino Fogliani, a specialist in the music of his homeland, conducts. Aida marks the first collaboration between HGO and Houston-based Dominic Walsh Dance Company, whose work has been praised by dance cognoscenti nationwide. The company of dancers will perform dance sequences in Aida choreographed by Walsh.

In January, the company will also revive Verdi’s Rigoletto in a production remounted by original director Harry Silverstein and conducted by Patrick Summers. Ryan McKinny returns to sing his first Rigoletto, while Richard Tucker Award-winning tenor Stephen Costello makes his long-awaited HGO debut as the Duke of Mantua.

For the first time in 30 years, HGO produces Die Fledermaus by Viennese “waltz king” Johann Strauss II. In an Art Deco–style concept by Australian director Lindy Hume, the operetta is transported from imperial Austria-Hungary to 1930s Manhattan and was dubbed “the perfect entertainment” by the Sydney Morning

Herald. HGO Studio alumnus Liam Bonner makes his role debut as Eisenstein, and soprano Wendy Bryn Harmer sings her first Rosalinde. Susan Graham, HGO’s Lynn Wyatt Great Artist for 2013–14, sings one of her celebrated trouser roles as Prince Orlovsky. Soprano Laura Claycomb portrays Adele, and four-time Grammy Award–winner Anthony Dean Griffey sings his first Alfred. Thomas Rösner—Vienna-born-and-bred—conducts.

HGO expands this exciting 2013–14 line-up with two more world premiere productions through its Song of Houston initiative, which commissions works based on stories that define the unique character of Houston. The program debuts two new chamber operas in its East + West series, which celebrates Houston as a meeting place for Eastern and Western cultures. Timed to coincide with the Vietnamese Lunar New Year celebrations, the first piece will premiere in February 2014. With the title Bound, it is the creation of librettist Bao-Long Chu and composer Huang Ruo, a Luxembourg International Composition Prize winner. The second work, River of Light, is slated for March 2014, in conjunction with the Indian festival of Holi. With a libretto by American Book Award–winner Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, this marks the second contribution to East + West by composer Jack Perla, whose China-themed Courtside premiered in 2011. These operas represent HGO’s 51st and 53nd world premieres.

Houston, February 26, 2014 – The new year has already brought notable success for Houston Grand Opera (HGO), where the hotly anticipated American premiere of the long-lost Holocaust opera The Passenger—hailed by the Associated Press as “the latest coup for a company known for producing new works”—took the national and local press by storm, and where the company’s Rigoletto revival was pronounced “glorious” (Theater Jones). These accolades come at an exciting time for the company, which continues this season’s extraordinary line-up with the launch of the first American presentation of a visionary and groundbreaking treatment of Das Rheingold by La Fura dels Baus; the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s A Coffin in Egypt, named one of the twelve “must-see opera events of the season” (Opera News); a new HGO production of Carmen from Broadway sensation Rob Ashford; and Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, which boasts designs by fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi.

HGO triumphs with The Passenger and Rigoletto

The critical response to Houston’s American premiere production of The Passenger was overwhelming. Classical Voice America proclaimed the opera “a masterpiece,” and the Chicago Tribune found it an “engrossing, thought-provoking experience” that “deserves [a place] in the regular repertory.” Houston’s production impressed the Houston Chronicle as one “that unites commanding performances and vivid, fast-paced staging,” while the Wall Street Journal commended the way “conductor Patrick Summers shaped the evening with enormous care.” As for the performers, “top to bottom, the cast is excellent,” asserted the Dallas Morning News. Melody Moore “gave Marta’s anguish lyricism and strength” (Wall Street Journal), “Michelle Breedt’s instrument seemed ideally suited to the role of Liese” (Classical Voice America), and “Kelly Kaduce was mesmerizing” as Katya (Wall Street Journal). The Toronto Star concluded:

Upcoming productions: Das Rheingold, A Coffin in Egypt, and more

Marking an important company milestone, in April HGO launches its first presentation of Wagner’s glorious Ring cycle, in a “visually dazzling” (Los Angeles Times) production from La Fura dels Baus, the genre-defying Catalan theater company behind Barcelona’s 1992 Olympic opening ceremony. Previously staged only in Europe, director Carlus Padrissa’s innovative conception employs acrobats in tableaux of human scenery and cutting-edge visual imagery to create “a veritable symphony in pictures” (Opera News). Highlights from the production, which was released on DVD by C Major Entertainment and won the 2010 ECHO Klassik Award for DVD of the year, can be seen here.

HGO will present one installment from the cycle each year, starting on April 11 with Das Rheingold. Leading the outstanding cast is Scottish bass-baritone and “talent to watch” (Chicago Tribune) Iain Paterson, making his house and role debuts as Wotan. Singing opposite him as Fricka is American mezzo Jamie Barton, an HGO Studio alumna and winner of the 2013 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, one of opera’s most influential awards. Czech tenor Stefan Margita reprises the role of Loge with which he “stole the show” (Opera Tattler) at San Francisco Opera. Patrick Summers, who made his Wagner debut at HGO with “a soulful reading [of Lohengrin] that unleash[ed] the score’s power and encompass[ed] its breadth” (Houston Chronicle), will conduct.

As the first in a series of new HGO commissions, the company presents Ricky Ian Gordon’s A Coffin in Egypt, composed to a libretto by Leonard Foglia, who will direct the stage premiere. A moving melodrama, the opera stars legendary mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, one of opera’s most beloved figures. “This new opera has deep Texas roots,” Patrick Summers explains. “It is based on a play of the same name by the renowned Texas writer Horton Foote. Ricky Ian Gordon is a very theatrically driven composer with a style that is perfectly suited to opera.” Houston Grand Opera’s legacy of commissioning and premiering new works goes back more than forty years and includes commissions from John Adams, Philip Glass, Daniel Catán, André Previn, Mark Adamo, and Jake Heggie. Opening on March 14, A Coffin in Egypt marks HGO’s fifty-third world premiere since 1973.

On April 25, HGO breathes fresh life into Bizet’s perennially popular Carmen with the help of American director/choreographer Rob Ashford, winner of Tony, Emmy, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards. In her role debut as Bizet’s Gypsy, the new production presents Grammy Award–winning Puerto Rican soprano, Ana María Martínez, the inaugural recipient of HGO’s Lynn Wyatt Great Artist Award, opposite Richard Tucker Award–winner Brandon Jovanovich’s Don José. Their love triangle is completed by the Escamillo of bass-baritone Ryan McKinny, fresh from his HGO Rigoletto success. Rory Macdonald returns to the HGO podium, having last conducted The Rape of Lucretia in 2012.

The upcoming production of Pulitzer Prize–winner Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music demonstrates HGO’s ongoing commitment to musical theater, America’s original contribution to the operatic genre. On March 7, the company will restage the production with costumes by Isaac Mizrahi; in the initial staging it was, according to the Wall Street Journal, “no surprise that Mr. Mizrahi’s costumes were enchanting.” Headlining the cast are Elizabeth Futral, Chad Shelton, and Joyce Castle, who was chosen by the composer himself to record “Send in the Clowns” for the Book-of-the-Month collection Sondheim. Musical direction is by HGO’s own associate music director, Eric Melear, a Sir Georg Solti Foundation Award winner and former HGO Studio artist.

More information about these upcoming Houston Grand Opera productions is available at the company’s web site: www.HGO.org.

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Houston Grand Opera, Spring 2014

* HGO debut
‡ former HGO Studio Artist
† current HGO Studio Artist

Stephen Sondheim: A Little Night Music
March 7, 9m, 13, 15, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23m, 2014
Desiree Armfeldt: Elizabeth Futral
Fredrik Egerman: Chad Shelton ‡
Count Carl-Magnus: Mark Diamond ‡
Countess Charlotte: Carolyn Sproule †
Madame Armfeldt: Joyce Castle
Anne Egerman: Andrea Carroll †
Henrik Egerman: Brenton Ryan *
Petra: Alicia Gianni ‡
Conductor: Eric Melear ‡
Original Director/Set and Costume Designer: Isaac Mizrahi *
Revival Director: Matthew Ozawa
Lighting Designer: Brian Nason

An original production of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis

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Ricky Ian Gordon and Leonard Foglia:

A Coffin in Egypt (World Premiere)
March 14, 16m, 21, 2014
Myrtle Bledsoe: Frederica von Stade
Composer: Ricky Ian Gordon
Librettist/Director: Leonard Foglia
Conductor: Timothy Myers
Set and Costume Designer: Riccardo Hernández
Lighting Designer: Brian Nason

A co-commission and co-production of Houston Grand Opera, Opera Philadelphia, and the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

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Richard Wagner: Das Rheingold

(first American presentation of production)

April 11, 13m, 17, 23, 26, 2014

Wotan: Iain Paterson *
Loge: Stefan Margita
Alberich: Christopher Purves
Fricka: Jamie Barton ‡
Mime: Rodell Rosel
Erda: Meredith Arwady
Fasolt: Kristinn Sigmundsson
Fafner: Andrea Silvestrelli
Conductor: Patrick Summers
Director: Carlus Padrissa *
Set Designer: Roland Olbeter *
Costume Designer: Chu Uroz *
Lighting Designer: Peter Van Praet *
Video Designer: Franc Aleu *
Associate Director: Esteban Muñoz *

A co-production of Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, Valencia; and Maggio Musicale, Florence

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Georges Bizet: Carmen (new production)
April 25, 27m, 30; May 2, 4m, 8, 10, 2014
Carmen: Ana María Martínez ‡
Don José: Brandon Jovanovich
Escamillo: Ryan McKinny ‡
Micaela: Natalya Romaniw †
Conductor: Rory Macdonald
Director/Choreographer: Rob Ashford *
Set Designer: David Rockwell *
Costume Designer: Julie Weiss *
Lighting Designer: Donald Holder
Chorus Master: Richard Bado ‡
Children’s Chorus Director: Karen Reeves