Houston Grand Opera’s
2015–16 Season Features World Premieres, Next Installment in Company’s First
Ring Cycle, and Productions New to Houston
Houston, January, 2015—Houston Grand Opera’s (HGO)
2015–16 season showcases the vibrant and diverse artistic mix that marks HGO as
a leading 21st-century American opera company: Wagner’s Siegfried,
the third installment of La Fura dels Baus’s imaginative Ring cycle
featuring a new generation of Wagnerians; the world premiere of Prince of
Players by eminent American composer Carlisle Floyd, the Lynn Wyatt Great
Artist for 2015–16; Dvořák’s fairy
tale rarity Rusalka; a holiday revival of family favorite The Little
Prince from the award-winning composer Rachel Portman and librettist
Nicholas Wright; a new production of The Marriage of Figaro and a
new-to-Houston Eugene Onegin; a beloved core production, Tosca;
and the Houston debut of Broadway sensation Rob Ashford’s take on the classic
musical Carousel. Through its community collaboration program HGOco, the
company will present two additional world premieres:
O Columbia,
a chamber opera by composer Gregory Spears and
librettist Royce Vavrek that examines the past, present, and future of the
American spirit of exploration; and another chamber opera, by composer David
Hanlon and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann, about the impact of hurricanes on
the Texas Gulf coast.
HGO Artistic and Music Director
Patrick Summers notes, “Operas are sometimes built around lofty themes,
attempting to illuminate something higher than ‘mere’ humanity. But, excitingly,
the entirety of HGO’s 2015–16 season is built around idealistic characters
engaged in epic and universal human journeys, and through them we connect to our
own journeys.
The centerpiece
of our season, Carlisle Floyd’s daring Prince of Players, is about the
theater of life itself, and the variously painful and joyous meanings of the
word façade.”
HGO Managing Director Perryn Leech adds, “The
Ring represents the most ambitious of operatic tradition, and Prince of
Players honors HGO’s great tradition of embracing the new. The
Little Prince, which HGO premiered in 2003, is now a beloved family staple,
and the two HGOco commissions draw directly on stories that shaped the region.
The breadth of this season’s offerings will connect with and enrich our
community’s cultural life from many vantage points.”
Details of these upcoming Houston Grand Opera
productions are provided below, and more information is available at the
company’s website: HGO.org.
* * * * *
Siegfried: American premiere of cutting-edge production showcases a new
generation of Wagnerians (April 16–May 1, 2016)
HGO’s first installment of Catalan theater company
La Fura dels Baus’s visionary Ring cycle was deemed “thoroughly
mesmerizing” (Houston Press). As Opera News put it, “The
extraordinary quality of this production lies in how effectively it unleashes
the potential and profoundest significances of the…story.” Along with director
Carlus Padrissa’s cutting-edge visuals and acrobats in tableaux of human
scenery, the ground-breaking cycle also features a stellar cast of rising
Wagnerians.
In HGO’s third installment of the epic cycle,
Siegfried, Scottish bass-baritone Iain Paterson returns to continue his
first staged performances as Wotan/The Wanderer, and the fiendishly difficult
title role will be sung by American tenor Jay Hunter Morris, whose last-minute
portrayal at the Met in 2011, characterized by “admirably clean and clear
singing” (New York Times), brought him international accolades. Morris
recently gave tour-de-force performances as The Narrator in HGO’s world premiere
of Iain Bell and Simon Callow’s A Christmas Carol. He is joined by
Christine Goerke, continuing her first staged U.S. appearances as Brünnhilde.
After hearing Goerke sing Strauss in 2013, New Yorker critic Alex Ross
proclaimed her “the most potent dramatic soprano to appear at the Met since—well
let’s not jinx her by naming names.” Filipino tenor Rodell Rosel returns as an
“appropriately acidic” (Dallas Morning News) Mime.
Patrick Summers, who achieved “exceptionally rich
orchestral color” (Opera News) in Das Rheingold, will lead from
the pit.
*
* * * *
Prince of
Players: world premiere by American master composer Carlisle Floyd
(March 5–13, 2016)
HGO’s ties with composer Carlisle Floyd, the Lynn
Wyatt Great Artist 2015–16, are among the longest of any opera company and
composer in history, spanning nearly 40 years. In 1976, HGO premiered Floyd’s
Bilby’s Doll, the first of four Floyd world premieres by HGO, including
Willie Stark (1981), The Passion of Jonathan Wade (new version,
1991), and Cold Sassy Tree (2000). In 1977, Floyd joined HGO General
Director David Gockley in co-founding and co-directing the Houston Grand Opera
Studio, one of the nation’s first professional training programs sponsored by an
opera company.
Now HGO is proud to premiere the 88-year-old
composer’s latest opera, Prince of Players. A chamber opera in two acts,
the opera departs from the American subjects that occupied Floyd’s previous
operatic work. Instead, it is a high-spirited period piece that examines the
fluidity of sexuality and gender roles. Prince of Players is based on the
play Compleat Female Stage Beauty by Jeffrey Hatcher and tells the story
of Edward Kynaston, the last female impersonator actor in 17th-century
England.
English director Michael Gieleta will make his HGO
debut with this production, and Patrick Summers will conduct. The cast will be
announced at a later date.
* * * * *
Rusalka: evocative new-to-Houston production features Houston favorite
Ana María Martínez in title role (January 29–February 12, 2016)
HGO presents Dvořák’s lyrical fairy tale for the
first time since 1990, in a production by the Tony and Olivier nominated theater
director Melly Still that premiered at Glyndebourne in 2009. That production
featured Houston favorite soprano Ana María Martínez (Lynn Wyatt Great Artist
2010–11) as the ill-fated wood nymph Rusalka, a role she reprised last year at
Lyric Opera of Chicago and will also perform at HGO. Critical to the performance
is the character’s ability to hold the stage after surrendering her power of
speech in exchange for becoming human. Opera News declared Martínez’s
portrayal to be “one of the great soprano performances of the present era” in
that house.
The Prince will be sung by the American tenor Brian
Jagde in his HGO debut. A winner of the Birgit Nilsson Prize at the Operalia
competition, he is an alumnus of San Francisco Opera’s Merola and Adler young
artist programs. Richard Paul Fink, an HGO Studio alumnus who was last seen at
HGO in Lohengrin (2009), will sing Vodník, the Water Goblin.
Rusalka will be conducted by Harry
Bicket, chief conductor of Santa Fe Opera and music director of The English
Concert.
*
* * * *
The Little
Prince: revival of popular HGO commission continues cycle of holiday
operas (December 4–20, 2015)
For the 2003 world premiere production of The
Little Prince, commissioned through a generous gift of Kathryn and David
Berg in honor of Larry Pfeffer, HGO brought together a stellar creative team:
composer Rachel Portman, whose score for the film Emma won an Oscar and
who has since penned the scores to Beloved and Belle; British
librettist Nicholas Wright, an Olivier Award–winning theater director; and
Francesca Zambello, a long-time collaborator with HGO who is now artistic
director of Washington National Opera and the Glimmerglass Festival. The sets
and costumes were designed by the late Maria Bjørnson of Phantom of the Opera
fame. Based on the classic children’s story by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, this
appealing work has been called “an enchanting opera that is both faithful to the
book and satisfying to the child and adult alike” (Financial Times).
The Little Prince returned to HGO in December 2004, and has been performed
across the country as well as on BBC television in the U.K.
In this production, HGO Studio alumnus Joshua
Hopkins reprises his 2004 portrayal of The Pilot, in which he displayed a
“clarion baritone and an appealing, warm stage presence” (Houston Press).
HGO’s Bradley Moore conducts in his HGO main-stage debut; the remainder of the
cast will be announced at a later date.
* * * * *
The Marriage of
Figaro: Michael Grandage’s nimble new production; role debuts for Ailyn
Pérez and Lauren Snouffer (January 22–February 7, 2016)
In 2012 the multiple-award-winning theater director
Michael Grandage created one of only a few operatic projects: a staging of
Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro co-produced by HGO and the Glyndebourne
Festival. Set in Franco’s Spain of the 1960s, the production was hailed for its
beauty, with sets and costumes by award-winning designer Christopher Oram, and
for affirming “Mozart’s comic masterpiece as both of its time and perennially
modern” (Sunday Times). HGO is delighted to bring this elegant staging to
Houston under the direction of Ian Rutherford, who worked with Grandage and
toured the production following its Glyndebourne run.
For this Figaro, HGO Artistic and
Music Director Patrick Summers has assembled a cast of rising stars, starting
with Glyndebourne’s 2013 Figaro, Czech baritone Adam Plachetka, and Count, HGO
Studio alumnus Joshua Hopkins. The Guardian noted that “Plachetka’s
passionate directness offsets….Hopkins’s manipulative suavity.”
Soprano Ailyn Pérez makes her professional role
debut as the Countess, returning to HGO after a moving portrayal of Desdemona in
last fall’s Otello, singing with “a velvet sheen” (Houston Press).
In an unusual approach to Cherubino, the role will be sung by soprano
Lauren Snouffer (rather than the usual mezzo-soprano), an HGO Studio alumna who
gave a “resplendent” (New York Times) performance as Agnes in
Tanglewood’s 2013 concert version of George Benjamin’s Written on Skin.
This will be a professional role debut. Rising star Heidi Stober, also an HGO
Studio alumna, will take the role of Susanna.
Harry Bicket, chief conductor of Santa Fe Opera and
music director of The English Concert, will conduct.
*
* * * *
Eugene Onegin: Houston first for classic Graham Vick production and house
debut of Ekaterina Scherbachenko (October 30–November 13, 2015)
Tchaikovsky’s beloved work based on the Pushkin
verse novel receives elegant period treatment in this lavish theatrical
production that Graham Vick (artistic director of Birmingham Opera) created for
Glyndebourne. Wrote
The
Independent,
“…the freshness and clear-sightedness of the
vision continues to embody everything that is pure and classical and candid
about Tchaikovsky's musical response to Pushkin.” That vision will be realized
by director Jacopo Spirei, associate director of Birmingham Opera, who assisted
Vick at Glyndebourne.
As Tatyana, HGO presents the house debut of Russian
soprano Ekaterina Scherbachenko, who sang the role at Glyndebourne in 2008; the
following year she won the Cardiff Singer of the World competition. Studio
alumnus Scott Hendricks, Sharpless in HGO’s Madame Butterfly this season,
returns as Onegin. Norman Reinhardt, the versatile Studio alumnus who last
season sang both Cassio in Otello and Ferrando in Così fan tutte,
sings Lensky.
Michael Hofstetter, whose “artful” conducting of
HGO’s 2011 Fidelio “captured the color and character of the music” (Houston
Chronicle), will conduct.
* * * * *
Tosca: Reprise of “gripping” production (October 23–November 14, 2015)
Puccini’s Tosca was one of three operas HGO
presented during its second season in 1956–57, and the work continues to
captivate Houston audiences. In 2010, HGO presented a new production that
was hailed by the Houston Chronicle:
“From the first chords that explode from the orchestra,
Maestro
Patrick Summers just about propelling himself out of the pit
with them, a gripping sense of urgency drives
Houston Grand
Opera’s
potent new production.” Next season audiences can again experience the
excitement of this Tosca, animated by new and returning stars and
creative team.
Soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska, whose portrayal of Aida in her 2013 HGO debut was
marked with “power, finesse, and soul” (Houston Chronicle) will sing the
fiery Tosca. Siberian tenor Alexey Dolgov will reprise his Cavaradossi, sung at
HGO in 2010 with “warm lyricism and…gallant presence” (Houston Chronicle).
Polish baritone Andrzej Dobber, who has performed Scarpia at Semperoper Dresden,
Berlin State Opera, and Deutsche Oper Berlin, will make his U.S. role debut with
these HGO performances.
Canadian director John Caird (Lynn Wyatt Great Artist 2012–13, during which
season he directed La bohème at HGO) returns for this revival, along with
Maestro Summers in the pit.
* * * * *
Carousel: Rob Ashford’s new production features HGO
debut of Stephanie Blythe, return of rising star Studio alums (April 22–May 7,
2016)
HGO continues celebrating the great American musical with a production
of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s beloved classic Carousel.
Broadway sensation Rob Ashford, who seduced HGO audiences in 2014 with his
theatrical, dance-rich Carmen, will direct this co-production with
Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Singing Julie Jordan is Andrea Carroll, a 2014 alumna of the HGO Studio who gave
a “lovely” portrayal (Washington Post) of Julie at Glimmerglass Opera in
2014. The carousel barker Billy Bigelow will be sung by Australian baritone
Duncan Rock, an alumnus of English National Opera’s young artist program who
will be making his HGO debut.
Soprano Lauren Snouffer, an HGO Studio alumna, makes a second appearance this
season (Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro) as Carrie Pipperidge, along
with fellow Studio alumnus Norman Reinhardt (Lensky in Eugene Onegin,
Cassio in HGO’s Otello, and Ferrando in Così fan tutte,
both 2014). Both are rising stars.
Making her long-awaited HGO debut as Nettie Fowler is Stephanie Blythe, one of
opera’s most beloved mezzo-sopranos. Also acclaimed for her tribute to
Kate Smith’s interpretations of the Great American Songbook, Miss Blythe was
seen in Live from Lincoln Center’s presentation of Carousel on PBS
in 2013.
Carousel
will be conducted
by Richard Bado, who holds The Sarah and Ernest Butler Chorus Master Chair at
HGO.
* * * * *
O Columbia:
world premiere by Gregory Spears with libretto by Royce Vavrek (early fall 2015)
O Columbia, a chamber opera in three acts
by composer Gregory Spears and librettist Royce Vavrek, examines the past,
present, and future of the American spirit of exploration. Each short act,
framed by works for chorus, imagines a conversation that crosses space and time
to create a unified story: we ride with Sir Walter Raleigh and a mysterious
figure on the bow of his ship heading for the New World; sit with a teenager in
her Houston bedroom as she experiences communion and later, heartbreak, with a
Columbia Space Shuttle astronaut gliding around the earth; and finally we travel
with three astronauts making a one-way journey to the far reaches of the solar
system with Lady Columbia waiting at the edge. The work is a celebration of the
identity of America’s frontier men and women, an ode to America’s national
mythology. O Columbia is informed by interviews with the NASA community,
and will be presented under the auspices of HGOco, the company’s community
collaboration initiative.
Composer Gregory Spears previously wrote the score
for HGOco’s The Bricklayer in 2012; his opera Paul’s Case,
performed at Pittsburgh Opera, Urban Arias, and New York’s 2014 Prototype
Festival was described as having “blinding brilliance” (New York Observer).
Librettist Royce Vavrek wrote the “playful, quick-witted” (Wall Street
Journal) libretto to composer Ricky Ian Gordon’s score for the opera 27,
which premiered at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in June 2014.
O Columbia will be directed by Kevin
Newbery, whose recent projects include Kansas City Choir Boy at the 2014
Prototype Festival and Anna Bolena at Lyric Opera of Chicago. The
conductor will be Timothy Myers, who led HGO’s world premiere of A Coffin in
Egypt in March 2014 and serves as the artistic director and principal
conductor of North Carolina Opera.
* * * * *
World premiere chamber opera by David Hanlon with libretto by Stephanie
Fleischmann (May 2016)
As a massive hurricane hurtles towards
the Gulf Coast, a Galvestonian who refuses to leave her home is haunted by
storms past. An exploration of resilience, loss, and the power of
place, composer David Hanlon’s new opera mines the legacy of the Great Storm of
1900 and Hurricane Ike on the region, investigating how natural
disasters reshape our psychic terrain. This work, also presented under the
auspices of HGOco, is being informed by interviews with Galveston residents and
is in development for premiere in May of 2016.
David Hanlon’s
2013 HGOco-commissioned opera Past the Checkpoints, which he also
conducted, was described in a Houston Chronicle column as
“accessible, relevant, and important.” In 2014 HGOco premiered his chamber vocal
piece The Ninth November I Was Hiding. Playwright and librettist
Stephanie Fleischmann has contributed libretti
for the opera The Long Walk, which will premiere at Opera Saratoga in
July 2015, and for the upcoming klezmer opera The Property for Lyric
Opera of Chicago’s Lyric Unlimited program. Director Matthew Ozawa directed
HGO’s 2014 hit production of A Little Night Music. The cast and further
details will be announced at a later date.
Subscription tickets for HGO’s 2015–16 are now available. For further
information please visit HGO.org or call 713-228-OPERA (6737). Performances take
place at the Wortham Theater Center, Texas Avenue, unless specifically stated
otherwise.
* * * * *
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 56 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 honors.
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 communities. Since 2007, HGOco has
commissioned 17 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 175,000 Houstonians to
experience first-quality opera through discounted single tickets and
subscriptions, subsidized student performances, and free productions.
* * * * *
Houston Grand Opera: 2015–16 Season
* HGO debut
+ current or former HGO Studio artist
Puccini: Tosca
October 23, 25m, 31, November 3, 6, 14 (alt.
cast), 2015
Conductor: Patrick Summers
Director: John Caird
Set & Costume Designer: Bunny Christie
Lighting Designer: Duane Schuler
Chorus Master: Richard Bado+
Floria Tosca: Liudmyla Monastyrska
Mario Cavaradossi: Alexey Dolgov
Scarpia: Andrzej Dobber*
A co-production of Houston Grand Opera and Lyric
Opera of Chicago
* * * * *
Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin
October 30, November 1m, 7, 10, 13, 2015
Conductor: Michael Hofstetter
Production: Graham Vick
Director: Jacopo Spirei
Set & Costume Designer: Richard Hudson
Lighting Designer: Matthew Richardson*
Choreographer: Ron Howell*
Chorus Master: Richard Bado+
Eugene Onegin: Scott Hendricks+
Tatyana: Ekaterina Scherbachenko*
Lensky: Norman Reinhardt+
Olga: TBA
Prince Gremin: Dmitry Belosselskiy
Production created by
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
* * * * *
Rachel Portman/Nicholas Wright: The Little Prince
Based on the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
December 4, 6m, 9, 11, 13m, 16, 18, 19, 20m,
2015
Conductor: Bradley Moore
Production: Francesca Zambello
Director: Ellen Schlaefer
Set & Costume Designer: Maria Bjørnson
Original Lighting Designer: Rick Fisher
Children’s Chorus Director: Karen Reeves
The Little Prince: TBA
The Pilot: Joshua Hopkins+
A co-production of Houston Grand Opera,
Skylight Opera Theatre, Boston Lyric Opera and the Wang Center for the
Performing Arts, and Tulsa Opera
Original production made possible by a challenge grant from The
Edgar Foster Daniels Foundation
Commissioned through a generous gift of Kathryn and David Berg in
memory of Larry Pfeffer
Le Petit Prince copyright Editions Gallimard, Paris 1946. Used
by permission.
*
* * * *
Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro
January 22, 24m, 30, February 3, 5, 7m, 2016
Conductor: Harry Bicket*
Production: Michael Grandage
Director: Ian Rutherford
Set & Costume Designer: Christopher Oram
Lighting Designer: Paule Constable
Chorus Master: Richard Bado+
Figaro: Adam Plachetka*
Susanna: Heidi Stober+
Count Almaviva: Joshua Hopkins+
Countess Almaviva: Ailyn Pérez
Cherubino: Lauren Snouffer+
Marcellina: Catherine Cook
Doctor Bartolo: Peixin Chen+
A co-production of
Houston Grand Opera and Glyndebourne Festival Opera
* * * * *
Dvořák: Rusalka
January 29, 31m, February 6, 9, 12, 2016
Conductor: Harry Bicket
Production: Melly Still*
Set & Costume Designer: Rae Smith*
Lighting Designer: Paule Constable
Movement Director: Rick Nodine*
Chorus Master: Richard Bado+
Rusalka: Ana María Martínez+
Prince: Brian Jagde*
Vodník, a water sprite: Richard Paul Fink+
Ježibaba, a witch: Jill Grove+
Foreign Princess: Maida Hundeling*
Production created by
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
* * * * *
Carlisle Floyd: Prince of Players
Based on the play Compleat Female Stage Beauty by Jeffrey
Hatcher
March 5, 11, 13m, 2016
Conductor: Patrick Summers
Director: Michael Gieleta*
Edward Kynaston: TBA
Margaret Hughes: TBA
Charles II: Chad Shelton+
Sir Charles Sedley: Joseph Evans
Villiers, Duke of Buckingham: Scott Quinn+
Commissioned by Houston Grand Opera
* * * * *
Wagner: Siegfried
April 16, 20, 23, 28, May 1m, 2016
Conductor: Patrick Summers
Production: La Fura dels Baus
Director: Carlus Padrissa
Set Designer: Roland Olbeter
Costume Designer: Chu Uroz
Lighting Designer: Peter van Praet
Projection Designer: Franc Aleu
Siegfried: Jay Hunter Morris
Wanderer: Iain Paterson
Brünnhilde: Christine Goerke
Mime: Rodell Rosel
Alberich: Christopher Purves
Erda: Meredith Arwady
Fafner: Andrea Silvestrelli
A co-production of Palau de les Arts
Reina Sofia, Valencia, and Maggio Musicale, Florence
*
* * * *
Richard Rodgers: Carousel
Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
April 22, 24m, 27, 29, 30, May 6, 7, 2016
Conductor: Richard Bado+
Director/Choreographer: Rob Ashford
Set Designer: Paolo Ventura*
Costume Designer: Catherine Zuber
Lighting Designer: Neil Austin
Chorus Master: Richard Bado+
Billy Bigelow: Duncan Rock*
Julie Jordan: Andrea Carroll+
Carrie Pipperidge: Lauren Snouffer+
Enoch Snow: Norman Reinhardt+
Nettie Fowler: Stephanie Blythe*
A co-production of Houston Grand Opera
and Lyric Opera of Chicago
* * * * *