Houston Grand Opera Announces 60th Anniversary Season
2014–15 Firsts include World Premiere of New Holiday Opera, Fresh Installment
in Company’s First Ring Cycle, and Host of Key Role Debuts
Houston Grand Opera’s
2014–15
season, the company’s
60th anniversary season,
includes the world premiere of
A Christmas Carol by Iain Bell—the company’s 55th
new commission —from award-winning Dickens authority Simon Callow; the
continuation of HGO’s first Ring
cycle, with the American premiere of La Fura dels Baus’s groundbreaking take on
Die Walküre; the American
premieres of Sir Nicholas Hytner’s The Magic
Flute and Lee Blakeley’s
Sweeney Todd; a 60th Anniversary Gala Concert
featuring mezzo-soprano (and HGO Studio alumna) Joyce DiDonato; and a host of
career-shaping role debuts that speak to Patrick Summers’s gift for casting.
Together with the company’s first presentation of John Cox’s
Otello, and the returns of Göran
Järvefelt’s beloved Così fan tutte
and Michael Grandage’s hit staging of Madame
Butterfly, these rich offerings serve once again to illustrate
some of the ways that HGO—still the only opera company with two Grammys, two
Emmys, and a Tony—epitomizes “one model of what a forward-looking opera company
could be” (Greg Sandow, Arts Journal).
Houston Grand Opera has long taken the lead when it comes to creative casting.
Just as it was HGO that presented Christine
Goerke in her first major Wagnerian role, as Lohengrin’s
Ortrud, it is in Houston that the soprano will make her first U.S. appearances
as Brünnhilde, alongside the first complete Sieglinde of
Karita Mattila’s distinguished career
and the resumption of Iain Paterson’s
first staged portrayal of Wotan. Similarly,
Stephen Costello, a favorite Verdi and Donizetti leading man,
ventures into new waters with his professional role debut in Così fan tutte.
The Magic Flute introduces Houston resident
David Portillo in his house debut as
Tamino, Otello presents
Tucker Award–winner Ailyn Pérez
in her house and role
debuts as Desdemona, and Madame Butterfly marks the U.S. operatic debut
of Grammy Award–winning conductor Giancarlo
Guerrero. Likewise Susan Bullock
and Nicholas Phan— leading exponents
of Wagner and Britten respectively—join Nathan
Gunn in turning their talents to gallows humor with role debuts in
Sweeney Todd, a celebration of the nation’s homegrown musical theater
tradition that rounds out HGO’s compelling 2014–15 lineup.
As HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick
Summers explains, “What is most important to us as a company is
presenting the broadest possible selection of repertoire performed by the best
established and emerging artists in the world, and that’s what we kept in mind
while planning this season. Telling stories through music and drama is at the
very core of what we do, and this coming season explores many ways in which that
can be accomplished. From classic works by Mozart, Wagner, and Verdi, to the
wonderfully unique musical world of Stephen Sondheim and the much-anticipated
world premiere by Iain Bell, HGO will continue to broaden the scope and meaning
of opera for our audience.”
HGO Managing Director Perryn Leech
adds: “With each new season we aim to embrace the longstanding operatic
tradition, as seen in the second installment of our first Ring cycle.
Presenting new works helps the art continue to flourish and evolve, as
highlighted by the coming season’s production of A Christmas Carol by
Iain Bell, which is just the first in a series of holiday-themed operas that we
have commissioned. Our 2014–15 season will help us continue to grow our
audience, reaching out especially to those who don’t yet have a relationship
with opera. We believe the coming season’s productions will enable us to keep
offering the thriving Houston community the cultural enrichment it both needs
and deserves.”
Details of these upcoming Houston Grand Opera productions are provided below,
and more information is available at the company’s web site:
HGO.org.
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A Christmas Carol:
world premiere launches HGO’s cycle of new holiday-themed commissions
(December 5–21, 2014)
Houston Grand Opera boasts a longstanding tradition of creating and premiering
important new operas. Launching a cycle of new holiday-themed commissions, the
latest in this long line, represents a welcome addition to the family-friendly
repertoire. Seasonal, with wide appeal, and synthesizing the talents of a
remarkable team of collaborators, A Christmas
Carol has the makings of a new holiday classic.
It is the work of composer Iain Bell,
fresh from the success of his first opera, A Harlot’s Progress, in
Vienna; as the New York Times observes: “Mr. Bell knows how to write for
the human voice.” Bell based his recasting of
Charles Dickens’s festive favorite on the author’s little-known
performance adaptation: an eerie yet ultimately heartwarming one-man show in
which a single narrator undertakes all the roles, from Scrooge to the three
ghosts he encounters.
The libretto is by director Simon Callow,
winner of an Olivier Award for Best Direction and author of Charles Dickens
and the Great Theatre of the World; he also directs in what will be his U.S.
operatic directorial debut. Also one of Britain’s best-loved actors, familiar
from film roles in Amadeus and Shakespeare in Love, Callow has
successfully played Dickens on Broadway, in London’s West End, and in
television’s Doctor Who. When he took to the stage with the monodramatic
version of A Christmas Carol that forms the basis of his libretto, Callow
was heralded as “an absolute master when it comes to Dickens” (Telegraph,
U.K.).
The role of the Narrator, who must embody every one of A Christmas Carol’s
many characters, is an acting tour de force. For its world premiere
production, HGO is thrilled to have secured the services of
Anthony Dean Griffey, “an altogether
exceptional artist” (Boston Globe). The American tenor, a great supporter
of new works, created the role of Mitch in André Previn’s A Streetcar Named
Desire at San Francisco Opera and premiered Christopher Theofanidis’s The
Gift with the Pittsburgh Symphony.
A Christmas Carol’s
opening run will be led by Warren Jones,
former assistant conductor of the Metropolitan Opera and “a musician par
excellence no matter what he is interpreting” (Cleveland Plain Dealer).
Die Walküre:
all-star cast headlines second installment of HGO’s first Ring cycle in
American premiere of hit production
(April 18–May 3, 2015)
Marking an important company milestone, last season HGO launched its first
presentation of Wagner’s glorious Ring cycle with Das Rheingold,
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. Never
previously staged in America, director Carlus
Padrissa’s innovative conception combines cutting-edge visuals with
acrobats in tableaux of human scenery. When released on DVD, the production won
an ECHO Klassik Award and scored a five-star review in BBC Music
magazine, which called it “the most exciting staging I’ve seen.” (Highlights may
be seen
here.)
In HGO’s second installment of the epic cycle,
Die Walküre, Scottish bass-baritone
Iain Paterson continues his first
staged portrayal of Wotan, after inspiring glowing reviews with his concert
rendition of the role at London’s BBC Proms. He will be joined by
Christine Goerke, giving her hotly
anticipated first staged performances in the U.S. as Brünnhilde.
Previously associated with Handel, Mozart, and Gluck, Goerke took New York by
storm in Strauss this fall, prompting the New Yorker’s Alex Ross to
proclaim her “the most potent dramatic soprano to appear at the Met since—well,
let’s not jinx her by naming names.” Simon
O’Neill—“the best heroic tenor to emerge over the last decade” (Telegraph)
and HGO’s 2014–15 Lynn Wyatt Great Artist—reprises the role of Siegmund
alongside Karita Mattila. The revered
Finnish soprano returns to Houston after her recent triumph in HGO’s Fidelio
for a role debut as his twin, Sieglinde. Her many honors include winning the
inaugural Cardiff Singer of the World competition, one of opera’s most
influential awards. American mezzo and HGO Studio alumna
Jamie Barton, who resumes her rendering of Fricka, was the most
recent (2013) Cardiff winner.
As in the first leg of HGO’s Ring journey, Patrick Summers—“one of the
most in-demand maestros in the business” (Opera News)—will lead from the
pit.
Madame Butterfly:
Michael Grandage’s knockout operatic debut returns to HGO
(January 23–February 8, 2015)
Recognized with an abundance of Tony, Olivier, Drama Desk, and London Evening
Standard Awards for Best Direction, Michael
Grandage’s prolific work in the theater needs little introduction. In
the opera house, however, he has undertaken only four productions, of which his
stellar staging of Madame Butterfly
for HGO was the second. When it premiered four years ago, Grandage’s handling of
the Puccini favorite scored a veritable hit. The Houston Chronicle
reported:
Breathtakingly beautiful to see and to hear, Houston Grand Opera’s new
production of Puccini’s Madame
Butterfly launches the company’s
56th season on a note of subtle yet complete triumph. With artfully
focused direction by the renowned Michael Grandage in his notable HGO debut and
soprano Ana María Martínez making a
memorable role debut with her gloriously sung and powerfully acted Cio-Cio-San,
this is a textbook example of how to refresh a beloved “warhorse” while
remaining true to all its core values.
HGO is delighted to welcome back Grammy Award–winner Ana María Martínez to
reprise her extraordinarily rich portrayal of the title role; an HGO Studio
alumna, the lyric soprano was the inaugural recipient of the company’s annual
Lynn Wyatt Great Artist Award. Revival director
Louisa Muller maintains a similarly strong relationship with the
house, where she recently directed the 2013 HGO Studio Showcase. The upcoming
production marks her HGO main-stage directorial debut.
Joining Martínez as Pinkerton is Siberian tenor
Alexey Dolgov, who enjoyed
success in the role at Washington National Opera. HGO Studio alumnus and Texas
native Scott Hendricks sings
Sharpless; the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: “Hendricks’s voice
is rich and agile, and as an actor he has an incredible presence.”
Making his U.S. operatic debut, multiple Grammy Award–winner
Giancarlo Guerrero—music director of the
Nashville Symphony—will lead from the podium.
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60th Anniversary Gala Concert and Dinner
(March 19, 2015)
Renowned mezzo-soprano and HGO Studio alumna
Joyce DiDonato returns to HGO, along with current Studio artists and
the HGO Orchestra, for a gala evening celebrating the company’s 60th
anniversary season. The program will be conducted by HGO Artistic and Music
Director Patrick Summers. A limited number of tickets will be available for the
concert only.
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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street:
Sondheim’s macabre masterpiece returns to HGO—the first opera house to mount
it—in the American premiere of new staging
(April 24–May 9, 2015)
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, the Laurence Olivier
Award, an Academy Award, a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement, seven
further Tonys, and multiple Grammy Awards. Ever committed to musical theater,
America’s homegrown contribution to the operatic genre, HGO was the first opera
company to mount Sondheim’s musical thriller,
Sweeney Todd, after its opening run
on Broadway, and the upcoming production marks
the American premiere of a new staging by
Lee Blakeley. When it premiered in
Paris, the Wall Street Journal punningly pronounced the black comedy “a
cut above…[in] Lee Blakeley’s brilliant production.”
It was Grammy Award–winning baritone Nathan Gunn,
now making his title role
debut as HGO’s demon barber, who helped create “the evening’s single most
beautiful performance” (New York Times) at the New York Philharmonic’s 80th
birthday gala celebrations for Sondheim. Dramatic soprano
Susan Bullock, who made waves with her
star turn at London’s Last Night of the Proms in 2011, makes her first foray
into musical theater in her role debut as Todd’s partner in crime, Mrs. Lovett.
And HGO Studio alumnus Nicholas Phan,
dubbed “an artist who must be heard” (NPR), sings his first Tobias Ragg.
James Lowe,
an HGO Studio alum who recently scored a Grammy nomination for his leadership of
the Tony Award–winning Broadway revival of Anything Goes, will conduct.
HGO’s commitment to musical theater drew praise last season when the company
staged what the Houston Chronicle described as “a stunning and gorgeous
new production of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s 1929 groundbreaking
Show Boat”; the review went on to “commend Maestro Patrick Summers and his
brave decision to work more Broadway shows into HGO’s season.”
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The Magic Flute:
American premiere of iconic ENO staging
(January 30–February 14, 2015)
One of HGO’s two Mozart offerings for 2014-15,
The Magic Flute marks the American
premiere of Sir Nicholas Hytner’s
iconic English National Opera staging, in a revival directed by
Ian Rutherford. Paying tribute to its
“classic” status, the Telegraph reports that “few productions articulate
this opera’s profound message quite so simply yet engagingly, and Hytner strikes
an ideal balance by acknowledging the work’s Enlightenment values and Masonic
messages, while never allowing that symbolism to weigh things down.”
The Magic Flute’s
three principals are all making HGO debuts. Houston resident
David Portillo brings “his warm, sexy
lyric tenor” (Opera News) to the role of Tamino, opposite Metropolitan
Opera National Council Auditions–winner Lisette
Oropesa as Pamina, while Kathryn
Lewek, a double prize-winner at the 2013 Operalia World Opera
Competition, imbues the Queen of the Night’s high notes with “clarity, color,
sparkle, and a seamless line” (Financial Times). Bass
Morris Robinson, fresh from success at
Washington National Opera, sings her antagonist, Sarastro, and bass-baritone
Michael Sumuel, an HGO Studio alumnus
most recently heard in Houston’s Die Fledermaus, returns as the comical
bird catcher, Papageno.
The Magic Flute
will be conducted by Robert Spano, a
former Musical America Conductor of the Year and winner of six Grammy
Awards for his recordings with the Atlanta Symphony.
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Così fan tutte:
return of HGO’s beloved Järvefelt/Silverstein staging
(October 31–November
15, 2014)
Harry Silverstein’s much-loved HGO staging of Mozart’s
Così fan tutte was originally
created as a tribute to Swedish director Göran Järvefelt’s 1988 production;
according to the Houston Press, “under the deft direction of Harry
Silverstein,” the production “fully realized the potential of the late Swedish
director Göran Järvefelt’s inventive, multiple-use staging.”
Now Houston remounts Silverstein’s treatment with a stellar sextet of singers.
Taking time out from his signature Romantic fare, Richard Tucker Award–winner
Stephen Costello—“in brilliant voice,
his bright tenor brimming with youthful vigor and passion” (Associated
Press)—makes his professional role debut as Ferrando. Hailed by The Times
of London as “the hottest young baritone on the block,” South
African baritone Jacques Imbrailo
returns as Guglielmo, a role he has sung to acclaim at Glyndebourne, after his
success in HGO’s Rape of Lucretia during the 2011–12 season. HGO Studio
alumna and winner of the 2010 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions,
Rachel Willis-Sørensen,
soprano, reprises her “radiant Fiordiligi” (Opera Today)
alongside the Dorabella of soprano Melody Moore;
an audience and critical favorite in HGO’s Show Boat, Moore was also seen
as Marta in the company’s American premiere of The Passenger in HGO’s
2013–14 season. Italian bass-baritone
Alessandro Corbelli revisits his “authoritative Alfonso” (Opera
News), with Italian soprano Nuccia Focile,
Seattle Opera’s 2012–13 Artist of the Year, as Despina.
Maestro Summers, whose direction of Mozart’s ensemble masterpiece includes
performances at the Metropolitan Opera, will conduct.
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Otello:
Verdi’s tragedy returns to HGO after decades-long absence
(October 24–November 7, 2014)
For the first time, HGO stages Otello
in the production by John Cox, of
Glyndebourne and Covent Garden fame, who directed HGO’s Ariadne auf Naxos
in the 2010–11 season and the 2012 HGO Studio Showcase. According to the
Orange County Register, Cox’s “production carries weight and force. It
compels admiration.”
Headlining the HGO revival in Verdi’s formidable title role is New Zealand–born
tenor Simon O’Neill “the most
complete Otello since Domingo” (BBC Music magazine), opposite recent
Tucker and Domingo Award-winner Ailyn Pérez—fast
emerging as “a major soprano” (New York Times)—in her house and role
debuts as Desdemona. Making his HGO debut, Italian baritone
Marco Vratogna revisits Iago, in which
role he recently stole the show at San Francisco Opera. HGO Studio alumnus
Norman Reinhardt, whose “smooth, agile
tenor” impressed Opera News when he partnered Joyce DiDonato in Houston’s
Beatrice and Benedict, returns to play Cassio, with Grammy-nominated
mezzo Victoria Livengood as Emilia,
and Morris Robinson lending his “rich
basso that can penetrate the listener’s bones” (Huffington Post) to
Lodovico.
Maestro Summers, who demonstrates “understanding of Verdi’s dramatic purpose in
every measure” (Houston Chronicle), will conduct.
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About Houston Grand Opera
Since its inception in 1955, Houston Grand Opera has grown from a small regional
organization into an internationally renowned opera company. HGO enjoys a
reputation for commissioning and producing new works, including 54 world
premieres and seven American premieres since 1973. In addition to producing and
performing world-class opera, HGO contributes to the cultural enrichment of
Houston and the nation through a diverse and innovative program of performances,
community events, and education projects that reaches the widest possible
public. HGO has toured extensively, including trips to Europe and Asia, and has
won a Tony, two Grammy awards, and two Emmy awards—the only opera company to
have won all three awards.
Through HGOco, Houston Grand Opera creates opportunities for Houstonians of all
ages and backgrounds to observe, participate in, and create art. Its Song of
Houston project is an ongoing initiative to create and share work based on
stories that define the unique character of our city and its diverse cultures.
Since 2007, HGOco has commissioned sixteen new works along with countless
innovative community projects, reaching more than one million people in the
greater Houston metropolitan area. The NEXUS Initiative is HGO’s multi-year
ticket underwriting program that allows Houstonians of all ages and backgrounds
to enjoy world-class opera without the barrier of price. Since 2007 NEXUS has
enabled more than 170,000 Houstonians to experience first-quality opera through
discounted single tickets and subscriptions, subsidized student performances,
and free productions.
Houston Grand Opera: 2014–15 season
* HGO debut
+ current or former HGO Studio artist
Verdi: Otello
Oct. 24, 26m; Nov. 1, 4, 7, 2014
Conductor: Patrick Summers
Director: John Cox
Associate Director: Bruno Ravella
Set and Costume Designer: Johan Engels
Lighting Designer: Michael James Clark
Chorus Master: Richard Bado
Otello: Simon O’Neill
Desdemona: Ailyn Pérez*
Iago: Marco Vratogna*
Cassio: Norman Reinhardt+
Emilia: Victoria Livengood
Lodovico: Morris
Robinson
Production co-owned by Los Angeles Opera; Opera di Monte-Carlo; and Teatro Regio
di Parma
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Mozart: Così fan tutte
Oct. 31; Nov. 2m, 8, 13, 15, 2014
Conductor: Patrick Summers
Production: Göran Järvefelt
Director: Harry Silverstein
Set and Costume Designer: Carl-Friedrich Oberle
Lighting Designer: Duane Schuler
Chorus Master: Richard Bado
Ferrando: Stephen Costello
Guglielmo: Jacques Imbrailo
Fiordiligi: Rachel Willis-Sørensen+
Dorabella: Melody Moore
Don
Alfonso: Alessandro Corbelli
Despina: Nuccia Focile
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Iain Bell and Simon Callow: A Christmas Carol (world premiere of new HGO
commission)
Dec. 5, 7m, 9, 11, 14m, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21m, 2014
Conductor: Warren Jones*
Director: Simon Callow*
Set and
Costume Designer: Laura Hopkins*
Lighting Designer: Mark McCullough
The Narrator: Anthony Dean Griffey (except Dec. 17 and 20) Kevin Ray+: Dec. 17,
20
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Puccini: Madame Butterfly
Jan. 23, 25m, 28, 31; Feb. 6, 8m, 2015
Conductor: Giancarlo Guerrero*
Production: Michael Grandage
Revival Director: Louisa Muller*
Set and Costume Designer: Christopher Oram
Original Lighting Designer: Neil Austin
Chorus Master: Richard Bado
Cio-Cio-San: Ana María Martínez+
Pinkerton: Alexey Dolgov
Sharpless: Scott Hendricks+
Goro:
John Easterlin*
Suzuki: Sofia Selowsky*+
A co-production with Grand Théâtre de Genève and Lyric Opera of Chicago
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Mozart: The Magic Flute
Jan. 30, Feb. 1m, 4, 7, 14, 2015
Conductor: Robert Spano
Production: Sir Nicholas Hytner
Revival Director: Ian Rutherford
Set and Costume Designer: Bob Crowley
Original Lighting Designer: Nick Chelton
Chorus Master: Richard Bado
Tamino: David Portillo*
Pamina:
Lisette Oropesa*
Queen of the
Night: Kathryn Lewek*
Sarastro:
Morris Robinson
Papageno: Michael
Sumuel+
Speaker: Patrick Carfizzi
Monostatos: Aaron Pegram*
First Lady: D’Ana Lombard+
Second Lady: Megan Samarin*+
Third Lady: Renee Tatum
Papagena: Pureum Jo*+
Production originally created by English National Opera
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60th Anniversary Concert
March 19, 2015
Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano
Conductor: Patrick Summers
HGO Studio artists
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Wagner: Die Walküre
April 18, 22, 25, 30; May 3m, 2015
Conductor: Patrick Summers
Director: Carlus Padrissa / La Fura dels Baus
Associate Director: Esteban Muñoz
Set Designer: Roland Olbeter
Costume Designer: Chu Uroz
Lighting Designer: Peter van Praet
Video Designer: Franc Aleu
Brünnhilde: Christine Goerke
Wotan: Iain Paterson
Sieglinde:
Karita Mattila
Siegmund: Simon
O’Neill
Fricka: Jamie Barton+
Hunding: Ain Anger
A co-production of Palau de les Arts “Reina Sofia,” Valencia and Maggio
Musicale, Florence
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Stephen Sondheim: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
April 24,
26m, 29, May 2, 8, 9, 2015
Conductor: James Lowe+
Director:
Lee Blakeley
Set and Costume Designer: Tanya McCallin
Lighting Designer: Rick Fisher
Chorus Master: Richard Bado
Sweeney Todd: Nathan Gunn
Mrs.
Lovett: Susan Bullock
Tobias Ragg:
Nicholas Phan+
Judge Turpin: Jake
Gardner
Anthony Hope: Morgan Pearse+
Johanna: Megan Samarin+
Beggar Woman: Cynthia Clayton
Production originally created by Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris
Premiered at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on April 22, 2011
Co-owned by Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Théâtre du Châtelet
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