HOUSTON GRAND OPERA
www.houstongrandopera.org

OPENS TRIUMPHANT 50TH ANNIVERSARY

2004-2005 SEASON WITH PUCCINI'S BELOVED TRAGEDY

MADAME BUTTERFLY

OCTOBER 22 - NOVEMBER 13, 2004

Houston, TX-The world's most popular opera, Madame Butterfly, returns to Houston to celebrate its 100th anniversary and open Houston Grand Opera's 50th anniversary season on Friday, October 22, 2004. With Butterfly, Houston Grand Opera comes full-circle: the piece was in HGO's inaugural 1955 season and will kick off the company's golden jubilee season with a terrific cast and stunning production.
Enchanting audiences worldwide for a century, Madame Butterfly is the heartbreaking tale of Cio-Cio-San, a young, naïve Japanese geisha known as Butterfly, whose downfall begins with her marriage to a careless American naval officer. Renowned American soprano Patricia Racette (Jenufa, 2004), called "a mesmerizing singing actress" by the Houston Chronicle last season, will make her main-stage Cio-Cio-San debut opposite British tenor Paul Charles Clarke (La Traviata, 2003) as Butterfly's selfish husband Lieutenant Pinkerton.
Australian baritone Peter Coleman-Wright (The End of the Affair, 2004) is the American consul Sharpless, who warns Pinkerton of the marriage's hopelessness, and Japanese mezzo-soprano Mika Shigematsu makes her HGO debut as Suzuki, Cio-Cio-San's faithful servant. American tenor/HGO Studio artist Nicholas Phan is the marriage broker Goro.
Music Director Patrick Summers leads Francesca Zambello's stunning production, directed by Garnett Bruce (Tosca, 2003) with sets by Michael Yeargan (The Merry Widow, 2003), costumes by Anita Yavich, and lighting by Alan Burrett (Billy Budd, 1998). Fight direction is by Brian Byrnes, and the Chorus is prepared by Chorus Master Richard Bado.
Richard Bado will lead three extra performances of Madame Butterfly starring Australian soprano Cheryl Barker (last year's stunning Sarah in the world premiere of The End of the Affair) as Cio-Cio-San, Mexican tenor/HGO Studio artist Arturo Chacón-Cruz as Pinkerton, and Canadian baritone/HGO Studio artist Joshua Hopkins as Sharpless.

Madame Butterfly opens on Friday, October 22, 2004, at 7:00 p.m. Further performances are on October 24m, 27, 30, November 2, 4 (alternate cast), 5, 7m, 11 (alternate cast), and 13 (alternate cast) at 7:30 p.m. for evening performances and 2:00 p.m. for matinees (designated by "m").


About the opera:
Madame Butterfly is celebrating its one hundredth anniversary this year. One of the world's most beloved operas-perhaps the most popular-the work is based on David Belasco's play of the same name, which Giacomo Puccini saw performed in London in 1900. He fell in love with the subject and had a libretto written by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica, the librettists of his previous operas Tosca and La Bohème, now also perennial favorites. Madame Butterfly premiered at La Scala in Milan in February 1904 and was considered a failure. The audience hated the piece; heartbroken, Puccini withdrew it, revising it and re-staging it in May. The revised score was a huge success; the audience demanded encores of several arias. Puccini continued revising the piece for subsequent performances; the version used for the last century is from the opera's 1906 Paris premiere. The popular Broadway musical Miss Saigon is based on Madame Butterfly. HGO's inaugural season included Madame Butterfly.

About the story:
Stationed in Nagasaki, American lieutenant B. F. Pinkerton enters into a temporary marriage with Cio-Cio-San, a 15-year-old Japanese geisha known as Butterfly. Butterfly naively believes in the validity of her marriage and even gives up her ancestral religion to join his faith, inciting her uncle, the Bonze, to rebuke her on her wedding day. She believes Pinkerton when, upon leaving her, he promises to return. When he does come back several years later, it is with his new American wife, Kate; they have learned through Sharpless, the American consul, that Butterfly has borne Pinkerton's son and they have come to take the child back to America. Heartbroken, Butterfly agrees to relinquish her son on the condition that Pinkerton come personally to fetch the boy. Before he arrives, she stabs herself with her father's knife, believing it is better to die with honor than live with disgrace. Pinkerton arrives too late and laments over her body.

About the artists:
American soprano Patricia Racette's (Cio-Cio San, October 22, 24, 27, 30, November 2, 5, 7) is making her mainstage role debut as Cio-Cio-San; she returns to HGO after many acclaimed appearances with the company, ranging most recently from the title role in Jenufa to Elizabeth in Don Carlo as well as the creation of the role of Love Simpson in Carlisle Floyd's Cold Sassy Tree. Ms. Racette is regularly engaged in leading roles with the world's major opera houses, including Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, San Francisco Opera, Opéra National de Paris, and the Santa Fe Opera. Celebrated performances in her repertoire include the title roles in Jenufa, Katya Kabanova, La Traviata and Luisa Miller, Mimì and Musetta in La Bohème; Blanche in Dialogues des Carmélites, Liù in Turandot, Desdemona in Otello, Marguerite in Faust, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes, Micaëla in Carmen, Antonia in Les Contes d'Hoffman, and Margherita in Boito's Mefistofele. Ms. Racette created the title role in the world premiere of Tobias Picker's Emmeline and will collaborate again with Picker in the upcoming Metropolitan Opera world premiere of his opera An American Tragedy.

Australian soprano Cheryl Barker (Cio-Cio-San, November 4, 11, 13) has won international acclaim for her Butterfly, having sung the role for English National Opera, Hamburg State Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opera Australia, and the Netherlands Opera. She recently made her role debuts in the title roles of Tosca for English National Opera (ENO) and Katya Kabanova in Geneva. She sang Mimì in the famous Baz Luhrmann production of La Bohème for Opera Australia (OA), which was commercially released on video; her other roles with OA have included Tatyana (Eugene Onegin), Nedda (Pagliacci), the Countess (Le nozze di Figaro), Violetta (La Traviata), and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni). Additional international appearances include Jenifer (The Midsummer Marriage) for Royal Opera Covent Garden; Annius (La clemenza di Tito), Tatyana (Eugene Onegin), and Adina (L'elisir d'amore) for Scottish Opera; Foreign Princess (Rusalka), The Governess (The Turn of the Screw), Musetta (La Bohème), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), and the heroines in Il Trittico for ENO. She has also sung with the Hamburg State Opera, Deutsche Oper, and De Vlaamse Opera. Ms. Barker made her HGO debut creating the role of Sarah in last year's world premiere of Jake Heggie's The End of the Affair.

British tenor Paul Charles Clarke's (Pinkerton, October 22, 24, 27, 30, November 2, 5, 7) career spans four continents including appearances as the Duke (Rigoletto) and Fenton (Falstaff) in Japan and at the Edinburgh Festival; the Duke, Fenton, Pinkerton, Alfredo (La Traviata), Gabriele Adorno (Simon Boccanegra), and the title role in Faust for Welsh National Opera; Jenik (The Bartered Bride), Froh (Das Rheingold), Cassio (Otello), Tybalt (Romeo and Juliet) and Alfredo for the Royal Opera Covent Garden; the Duke, Rodolfo, Alfredo, Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), and Anatol (Vanessa) for Seattle Opera; and Jaquino (Fidelio), Jenik, Romeo, Alfred (Die Fledermaus), and Kudryas (Katya Kabanova) for the Metropolitan Opera. Upcoming plans include Don José (Carmen) with Glyndebourne and Hamburg State Opera, the title role in a new production of the French version of Don Carlos for Welsh National Opera, the title role in Faust for Opera de Monte Carlo and Opera de Lille, Steva in Jenufa at Opera National de Lyon, the title role in Benvenuto Cellini for Opera du Rhin. Mr. Clarke made his HGO debut as Pinkerton in this production in 1998; he made his latest HGO appearance opposite Renée Fleming in 2003's La Traviata.

Mexican tenor Arturo Chacón-Cruz (Pinkerton, November 4, 11, 13) was the winner of the 2003 Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers and also the Audience Choice Award. The winner of the Antonio Davalos Osio Special Award at the Carlo Morelli National Opera Contest, he received second place in the New England Region of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2003. He began his studies at the University of Sonora, Mexico and moved to Mexico City in 1999, where he came to the attention of tenor Plácido Domingo, receiving his support and scholarship. He performed in concert with Domingo and has sung throughout Mexico including at the prestigious Bellas Artes in Mexico City. He was a member of the San Francisco Opera Merola Program in summer 2003, and a member of Opera Theatre of St. Louis Young Artists Program in 2002, and has participated in the Boston University Opera Institute, Opera Aegean in Athens, Greece, and Intermezzo Young Artists Program. A second-year Studio artist, Mr. Chacón-Cruz made his HGO debut in Turandot last year.
Australian baritone Peter Coleman-Wright (Sharpless, October 22, 24, 27, 30, November 2, 5, 7) has established himself as one of the leading singers in the U.K. His roles at Royal Opera Covent Garden have included Billy Budd, Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Marcello (La Bohème), Dandini (La Cenerentola), Don Alvaro (Il viaggio a Rheims) and the Narrator (Paul Bunyan). At English National Opera, he has sung the title roles of Don Giovanni, Billy Budd, The Prince of Homburg, The Barber of Seville, and Eugene Onegin, plus Dallapiccola's The Prisoner, Michele (Il Tabarro), the Forrester (The Cunning Little Vixen), and Niels Lyhne (Fennimore and Gerda), and originated roles in two world premieres: John in The Inquest of Love and Colin in The Plumber's Gift. He has sung with Opéra National de Paris (Bastille), Vienna's Kammeroper, Munich's Bavarian State Opera, Geneva's Bordeaux Grand Opera, Venice's La Fenice, and the Metropolitan Opera. His roles encompass Scarpia (Tosca), Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Marcello, Guglielmo, Wolfram (Tannhäuser), Zurga (Les Pêcheurs de Perles), Ned Keene (Peter Grimes), and Soldaten-Brüder (Doktor Faust). Mr. Coleman-Wright created the role of Henry in this year's world premiere of Jake Heggie's The End of the Affair.
This year, Canadian baritone Joshua Hopkins (Sharpless, November 4, 11, 13), a second-year HGO Studio artist, will sing the Pilot in The Little Prince and Gregorio in Romeo and Juliet, and will be heard in the world premiere of Lysistrata. During his first year at HGO, he sang Sciarrone in Tosca and Fiorello in The Barber of Seville, and was heard in Jenufa. He completed his master of music performance degree at McGill University in 2004. This summer, he sang in a series of concert with the Baltimore Symphony and sang in an art song festival in Vancouver, British Columbia with the reknowned pianist Graeme Johnson. His awards include first place prize in the Julián Gayarre International Singing Competition, among others. Mr. Hopkins participated in Glimmerglass Opera's 2002 Young American Artist Program, where he performed the role of Friedrich Bhaer in Little Women. He made his professional operatic debut as Angelotti and Sciarrone in Opéra de Québec's production of Tosca. Since then he has sung Masetto in the company's Don Giovanni, recently broadcast on CBC Radio. Mr. Hopkins also made his Toronto debut as Pollux in Rameau's Castor et Pollux with Opera in Concert and he has recorded the role with the company for Naxos.
Mezzo-soprano Mika Shigematsu (Suzuki), a native of Osaka, Japan, took first prize in her native country's most prestigious international music competition in 1992 and apprenticed with San Francisco Opera's Merola and Adler programs. She has sung Suzuki, one of her signature roles, with Opéra de Montpellier, Opéra National de Lyon, New York City Opera (twice), San Diego Opera, Opera Pacific, Boston Lyric Opera, and Royal Albert Hall (London). Other roles include Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia) with San Francisco Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, New National Theatre (Tokyo), Minnesota Opera, and the Canadian Opera Company; Angelina (La Cenerentola) with San Francisco Opera and Opera Colorado; Charlotte (Werther) with Teatro Carlo Felice (Genoa) and Boston Lyric Opera; Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) with Seattle Opera; and Teodata (Flavio) with New York City Opera. Concert appearances have included Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra, which was recorded for subsequent CD release; Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream conducted by Kurt Masur; and recitals/concerts in Montreal, Santa Barbara, Geneva, Lyon, San Francisco, and throughout Japan. Ms. Shigematsu is making her HGO debut.
This year, American tenor Nicholas Phan (Goro), a third-year HGO Studio artist, will sing the Snake and the Vain Man in The Little Prince, and El Chino in the world premiere of Salsipuedes. His previous HGO roles include Odoardo in Ariodante, Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Gastone in La Traviata, and appearances in The Magic Flute and Turandot. In summer 2003, Mr. Phan represented the U.S. at the BBC Singer of the World Competition in Cardiff, Wales. He was tenor soloist in Carmina Burana with the National Symphony Orchestra and sang Iopas in Les Troyens with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. As a member of Wolf Trap Opera, he sang Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore and was heard in recital with Steven Blier. He completed his bachelor of music degree from the University of Michigan, where he performed the roles of Fenton in Falstaff, Sam Polk in Susannah, Piquillo in La Périchole, and Harlekin in Der Kaiser von Atlantis; he did graduate work at the Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Phan has attended the Aspen Music Festival Opera Center, and in the summers of 2001 and 2002, he was a member of Glimmerglass Opera's Young American Artist Program. He was recently awarded a 2004 Richard F. Gold Career Grant.
HGO Music Director Patrick Summers (Conductor, October 22, 24, 27, 30, November 2, 5, 7) opens the 2004-05 season conducting La Traviata with Ruth Ann Swenson and Dmitri Hvorostovsky at San Francisco Opera, where his career began. Last season at HGO, he conducted a new James Robinson production of Julius Caesar starring David Daniels, the world premiere of Jake Heggie's The End of the Affair, a new Lindy Hume production of The Barber of Seville, and Turandot. He led HGO's world premieres of Rachel Portman's The Little Prince (2003), Carlisle Floyd's Cold Sassy Tree (2000) and Tod Machover's Resurrection (1999, released on CD by Albany) and the remountings of Daniel Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas (2001, released on CD by Albany) and Mark Adamo's Little Women (2000, released on CD by Koch/Ondine and telecast nationally on PBS). Other premieres include the European premiere of André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire with the Opéra National du Rhin and the world premiere of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, which was recorded by Erato. He made his U.K. debut conducting Rigoletto for the Welsh National Opera, which toured and was telecast live on BBC. Mo. Summers's recent discography includes HGO's recording of Carlisle Floyd's Of Mice and Men (Albany) and the Grammy Award-winning Bel Canto featuring Renée Fleming and the Orchestra of St. Luke's. Last year, he led Fleming on a European tour, and in 2003 at HGO, he led Fleming's long-awaited role debut as Violetta in La Traviata.
Richard Bado (Conductor, November 4, 11, 13/Chorus Master) has participated in over 100 productions as chorus master for Houston Grand Opera. Mr. Bado, who is also HGO's head of music staff, made his professional conducting debut in 1989 leading HGO's acclaimed production of Show Boat at the newly restored Cairo Opera House, and has conducted performances of La Bohème, Rigoletto, Così fan tutte, Aida, The Tales of Hoffmann, The Magic Flute, and Carlisle Floyd's Susannah at HGO. He has conducted at La Scala, the Opéra National de Paris, the New York City Opera, the Edinburgh Festival, the Wolf Trap Opera Company, Aspen Music Festival, Tulsa Opera, and in Tokyo. An accomplished pianist, he appears regularly in recital with Renée Fleming, and has accompanied Cecilia Bartoli, Ramon Vargas, Denyce Graves, Nathan Gunn and Marcello Giordani. He has served on the faculty of the Aspen Opera Theater Center for eleven years and on the music staff of the Metropolitan Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and the Chautauqua and Wolf Trap Operas. This season's highlights include conducting HGO's alternate cast performances of Madame Butterfly and recitals with Renée Fleming in the spring of 2005.
An internationally recognized director of opera and theater, Francesca Zambello (Production) made her American debut took place at HGO with Fidelio in 1984. Since then she has returned here for the world premieres of premieres of Florencia en el Amazonas and The Little Prince, plus Faust, Street Scene, Billy Budd, Prince Igor, and Of Mice and Men, among others. Ms. Zambello has been awarded a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government and the Russian Federation's medal for Service to Culture. Other honors for her work include three Olivier Awards, two Evening Standard Awards, two French Grand Prix des Critiques, the Japanese Golden Prize, and the Helpmann Award. Recent projects include Les Troyens for the Metropolitan Opera, Boris Godunov and William Tell at Opéra National de Paris, West Side Story for the floating stage in Bregenz (Austria), The Fiery Angel for the Bolshoi and Aladdin: the Musical for Disneyland. An American who grew up in Europe, Ms. Zambello attended Moscow University and Colgate University. She began her career as an assistant to Jean Pierre Ponnelle and as Co-Artistic Director of the Skylight Music Theater.
American director Garnett Bruce has directed Cold Sassy Tree (HGO's Bruce Beresford production) for San Diego Opera and Austin Lyric Opera; Madama Butterfly (this Zambello production) for Opera Pacific, Dallas Opera, San Diego Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, and Cincinnati Opera; Tosca (Jean Pierre Ponnelle production) and The Elixir of Love (Stephen Lawless production) for HGO; Turandot (Lotfi Mansouri production) Jenufa (Zambello production) for San Francisco Opera; Carmen for Washington Opera and Tulsa Opera; Madama Butterfly for New Orleans Opera; and a new production of La clemenza di Tito and Street Scene for Wolf Trap Opera. Mr. Bruce made his European debut in the 2001-2002 season directing the David Hockney production of Turandot at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. He begins this season helming a new production of La Cenerentola for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City; he later returns to Dallas Opera for Jenufa, debuts with Opera Columbus for Susannah and directs Samuel Barber's Vanessa for San Diego Opera.
Michael Yeargan (Set Designer) is a professor in stage design at the Yale School of Drama. His work has been seen across the U.S.and Europe in both theater and opera productions and, to date, he has designed the world premieres of The Compleat Female Stage Beauty for the Globe Theatre, for which he was awarded the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Award; A Streetcar Named Desire and Dead Man Walking for San Francisco Opera; The Great Gatsby for the Metropolitan Opera; Cold Sassy Tree for Houston Grand Opera; and Central Park for Glimmerglass and New York City Opera. His theater credits include numerous Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Lincoln Centre Serious Fun Festival, and various productions for London's West End. His opera credits are extensive and include projects for Royal Opera Covent Garden, Metropolitan Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Washington Opera, Dallas Opera, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, Frankfurt Opera and Opera Australia. Recent work includes a new production of Don Giovanni for the Met. Mr. Yeargan's latest production seen at HGO was The Merry Widow (2003).

Anita Yavich (Costume Designer) recently designed costumes for Aladdin for Disneyland; Three Tales composed by Steve Reich with video by Beryl Korot at Vienna Festival, Spoleto Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music and on international tour; Big Love for the A.C.T. Theater in Seattle, and The Oresteia at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Her many credits include Kit Marlowe, The Winter's Tale, Civil Sex, and Pericles at the New York Shakespeare Festival; Texts for Nothing by Samuel Beckett, directed by and featuring Bill Irwin at Classic Stage Company, ACT San Francisco and Seattle Repertory Theatre; and Georgraphy-Tree by Ralph Lemon at Brooklyn Academy of Music and Yale Repertory Theatre. She has designed for many regional theatres across the U.S., and her opera credits include Les Troyens at the Metropolitan Opera, Arsace II at San Francisco Opera, and Madame Butterfly at Grand Théâtre de Genève, all directed by Francesca Zambello; Der Fliegende Holländer directed by Chen Shi Zheng at Spoleto Festival USA; and The Silver River composed by Bright Sheng and directed by Ong Keng Seng at Spoleto Festival, Theatreworks Singapore, and Lincoln Center Festival.

Alan Burrett's (Lighting Designer) designs for theater, opera, and dance are seen regularly all over the world. His opera credits include the Royal Opera Covent Garden, English National Opera, Geneva Opera, San Diego Opera, Seattle Opera, San Diego Opera, Munich State Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Royal Danish Opera, Liceu Barcelona, and arena versions of Tosca and Carmen in Japan, the United Kingdom, and Australia. His theater work has included many productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has designed sets and costumes for the Comedie-Française, the Opéra National de Paris ballet, the ballet of Lyon and the Bejart ballet. He has designed rock lighting for a Duran Duran U.S. tour. Mr. Burrett is currently resident lighting designer at Los Angeles Opera. He made his HGO debut lighting Madame Butterfly and Billy Budd in 1998.

Brian Byrnes (Fight Director) has staged fights with Houston Grand Opera on productions of Faust, Resurrection, Don Giovanni, Cold Sassy Tree, Carmen, Rigoletto, Of Mice and Men, Ariodante, Manon, Julius Ceasar, Tosca, and Turandot, as well as movement coaching for other HGO productions such as The Little Prince. He has taught master classes in movement and stage combat for the HGO Studio. With the Society of American Fight Directors, he holds the titles of Fight Director, Certified Teacher of Stage Combat, and has also been honored with the title of SAFD Fight Master (one of only ten in the U.S. and England). His fight directing credits include New York theaters, opera companies, regional theatres, and Shakespeare festivals. In Houston, he stages fights and movement with the Alley Theatre, Stages Repertory Theatre, Theatre Under The Stars, Houston Ballet, Houston Shakespeare Festival, and others. He is an Associate Professor with the University of Houston School of Theatre.

OPENING NIGHT DINNER:
Houston Grand Opera will kick off its 2004-2005 50th anniversary season with an Opening Night Dinner following Puccini's Madame Butterfly on Friday, October 22, 2004. The Asian-themed dinner will take place on stage at the Wortham Center immediately after the opera, amidst the Madame Butterfly scenery. Guests will have an extraordinary chance to experience the stagecraft of opera up close and will be joined by members of the cast. The chairs are Pat Breen and Bobbie-Vee Cooney. Maureen Hackett and outgoing board president James T. Hackett will be honored. Tables for the Opening Night Dinner are $4,000; single tickets start at $250. For information and reservations, please contact 713-546-0242.

All performances of Madame Butterfly are held in the Wortham Center's Brown Theater, Texas at Smith. Madame Butterfly is sung in Italian with English surtitles provided by BMC Software.
The Brown Theater features the exclusive OperaVision system in the side Grand Tier and Balcony, which offers patrons a better view of the surtitles and provides special close-up shots of the action on stage captured by a team of cameramen. OperaVision is funded by a generous grant from the Bill and Sara Morgan Family Foundation.
The Wells Fargo Pre-Curtain Preview Series takes place thirty minutes before each performance. Guest speakers present an informal twenty-minute lecture on the sixth floor of the Grand Foyer. These lectures, free and open to all ticket holders, are intended to enhance the audience's enjoyment by preparing them for the production they are about to attend.
The Wortham Theater Center features wheelchair access to both theaters, with a choice of seating locations and ticket prices. An infrared listening system, underwritten by Shell Lubricants, is available and free of charge at all performances. Please call HGO's Customer Care Center at 713-228-OPERA (6737) or 800-62-OPERA (800-626-7372) for details. Descriptive services for persons with vision loss are available with 48-hour advance reservations. Call HGO Education and Outreach at 713-546-0230 for details.
Single tickets for Madame Butterfly, starting at $30 (inclusive of all city surcharges), will go on sale August 30, 2004 at 9:00 a.m. Tickets are available at www.houstongrandopera.org and by telephone at 713-228-OPERA (6737) or 800-62-OPERA (800-626-7372) 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, and 12 p.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. (Sunday hours apply only during repertory periods.) Tickets are also available at the Houston Grand Opera Box Office (in the lobby of the Wortham Theater Center) 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. The Box Office operates on Sundays only if there is a performance, opening at 12:00 p.m. and closing after first intermission.
Student and senior citizen rush tickets are $15 and $30 (depending on seat location, one ticket per ID) and go on sale at 6:00 p.m. the day of the performance or at 12 noon for Sunday performances, subject to availability. Tickets are sold until curtain but must be purchased in person. To check availability, please call 713-228-OPERA (6737) or 1-800-62-OPERA (800-626-7372) the day of the performance. For weekend performances, call the Friday before the performance to check availability.
For general information, call Houston Grand Opera at 713-228-OPERA (6737) or 1-800-62-OPERA (800-626-7372) 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, and 12 p.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. (Sunday hours apply only during repertory periods.)

Co-production with The Dallas Opera and San Diego Opera
Grand Guarantor: Albert and Margaret Alkek Foundation
Guarantor: Mr. Hal G. Kuntz

Performance Summary

All performances of Houston Grand Opera's production of Puccini's Madame Butterfly are held in the Wortham Center's Brown Theater, Texas at Smith, Houston, TX.

Sung in Italian with English surtitles.

Performance Dates
Friday, October 22, 2004 at 7:00 p.m.*
Sunday, October 24, 2004 at 2:00 p.m.
Wednesday, October 27, 2004 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 30, 2004 at 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, November 2, 2004 at 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, November 4, 2004 at 7:30 p.m. (alternate cast)
Friday, November 5, 2004 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, November 7, 2004 at 2:00 p.m.
Thursday, November 11, 2004 at 7:30 p.m. (alternate cast)
Saturday, November 13, 2004 at 7:30 p.m. (alternate cast)

*Please note early curtain time for Season Opening.


Ticket Information:

· Single tickets for Madame Butterfly, starting at $30, (inclusive of all city surcharges), will go on sale August 30, 2004 at 9:00 a.m.
· General information and tickets are available at www.houstongrandopera.org 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
· General information and tickets are also available by phone at 713-228-OPERA (6737) or 1-800-62-OPERA (800-626-7372) 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, and 12 p.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. (Sunday hours apply only during repertory periods.).
· Tickets are also available at the HGO Box Office (in the lobby of the Wortham Theater Center) 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. The Box Office operates on Sundays only if there is a performance, opening at 12:00 p.m. and closing after first intermission.
· Student and senior citizen rush tickets are $15 and $30 (depending on seat location - one ticket per ID) and go on sale at 6:00 p.m. the day of performance or at 12 noon for Sunday performances, subject to availability. Tickets are sold until curtain but must be purchased in person. To check availability of student and senior rush tickets, please call 713-228-OPERA (6737) or 800-62-OPERA (800-626-7372) the day of the performance.
· Disabled access and TDD: 713-228-OPERA (6737) or 1-800-62-OPERA (800-626-7372); Descriptive Services: 713-546-0230.