HOUSTON GRAND OPERA ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR RING CYCLE Houston Grand Opera (HGO) today confirmed plans to coproduce a complete Ring cycle with Opera Australia, which will bring Wagner's complete Der Ring des Nibelungen to Houston for the first time in the company's history. Download Press Release
Houston Grand Opera Presents World's First Mariachi Opera HGO will present its forty-first world premiere, To Cross the Face of the Moon / Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, featuring Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán on Saturday, November 13, 2010 at the Wortham Theater Center. Download Press Release
Houston Grand Opera Opens 2010-2011 Season with Puccini’s Madame Butterfly HGO launches its 56th season with Giacomo Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, a new production by the Tony award-winning creative team of Broadway's Red. Puccini’s tragic love story runs in the Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Auditorium from October 22 – November 05, 2010. Download Press Release Tony Award Winners Create New Madame Butterfly for HGO Director Michael Grandage, designer Christopher Oram and lighting designer Neil Austin – the creative team responsible for Houston Grand Opera’s (HGO) new production of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly – swept the prestigious Tony Awards Sunday night in New York City with six awards for their Broadway production of John Logan’s Red. Download Press Release
Houston Grand Opera 2009-2010 Annual Meeting At its annual meeting on Wednesday, June 02, 2010 Houston Grand Opera Association, Inc. reported on the success of the 2009-10 season, including strong ticket sales and significant contributed support. Download Press Release
Triumphs for Houston Grand Opera Studio Artists Houston Grand Opera Studio artist Nathaniel Peake won the Zarzuela prize and Studio alumnus Ryan McKinny won the Birgit Nilsson prize at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia competition. Download Press Release
Houston Grand Opera's Opera Ball Houston Grand Opera’s Opera Ball 2010 The Yellow Rose Ball, chaired by Denise and Philip Bahr, created an evening of true Texas-style elegance and sophistication while honoring a true Texas treasure Lynn Wyatt on April 10. Download Press Release Houston Grand Opera Presents Xerxes HGO closes its 2009-20010 season with Nicholas Hytner's extraordinary Laurence Olivier Award-winning production of Handel’s Xerxes. Download Press Release Houston Grand Opera Announces New Staff Appointments Houston Grand Opera (HGO) announced two new appointments today: Francis Greep will join the company as head of music staff and music director of the HGO Studio and Craig Kier as assistant chorus master. Download Press Release HGO Studio Artists Win at the 2010 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Two members of the Houston Grand Opera Studio were announced Grand Finalist winners at the 2010 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions last Saturday, March 13, 2010. Soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen of Tri-Cities, Washington and Tenor Nathaniel Peake of Humble, Texas, both first-year HGO Studio Artists. Download Press Release
Houston Grand Opera Presents The Queen of Spades A haunting tale of obsession, the internationally acclaimed Richard Jones production of Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades opens Houston Grand Opera’s (HGO) 2010 spring repertory. Performances run April 16 – May 1, 2010 in the Brown Theater of the Wortham Theater Center. Download Press Release
Houston Grand Opera Announces 2010/11 Season Houston Grand Opera General Director and CEO Anthony Freud announced today the company’s 2010–2011 season, which runs from October 22, 2010 to May 10, 2011 with thirty performances of six operas. Download Press Release
HGO Announces Winners of 2010 Concert of Arias Houston Grand Opera (HGO) held its annual Concert of Arias, the final round of the twenty-second annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers, on February 4, 2010 at the Wortham Center in downtown Houston. Nine finalists competed for cash prizes. Download Press Release
Houston Grand Opera Present The Turn of the Screw In this operatic thriller two children are pulled toward the world of the dead by the ghosts of their prior governess Miss Jessel and her lover Peter Quint. Internationally acclaimed soprano Amanda Roocroft plays the governess whose obsessive efforts to protect the children may prove more of a threat than the spirits themselves. Download Calendar Release Houston Grand Opera Presents Tosca Renowned soprano Patricia Racette makes her role debut as the passionate Floria Tosca in Puccini’s timeless drama. Tenor Alexey Dolgov is the painter Mario Cavaradossi, whom Tosca adores and Raymond Aceto sings the menacing Baron Scarpia who will stop at nothing to destroy the object of Tosca’s affections. Download Calendar Release HGO Wins Award from The National MultiCultural Institute HGO has received the 2009 Leading Lights Diversity Award in Arts and Culture from the National MultiCultural Institute (NMCI) for its Song of Houston series, the first time in NMCI’s twenty-six year history that this national award has been presented to an opera company. Download Press Release
Food for Thought...or Just for Fun! HGO and Recipe for Success Foundation are creating a community table for all of Houston to share traditions of food, culture, and stories in an event that is the culmination of Houston’s Citizenship Week. Food for Thought… or Just for Fun! is a free event on Grace Event Lawn at Discovery Green Park in Downtown Houston on Saturday, November 21, 2009 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. Download Press Release
Houston Grand Opera Presents Lohengrin Houston Grand Opera (HGO) continues the 2009–10 season with Wagner’s mystical romantic opera Lohengrin with performances in the Brown Theater of the Wortham Theater Center October 30 – November 15, 2009. HGO launches a return to German opera with this co-production with Grand Théâtre de Genève. Download Press Release
Houston Grand Opera Presents The Elixir of Love HGO launches the 2009-2010 season with Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love. “We kick off the season with a truly grand evening of opera,” explained HGO’s General Director and CEO Anthony Freud. This comic love story, called a “playful melodrama” by the composer, runs in the Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Auditorium from October 23 – November 9, 2009. Download Press Release
Glen Rosenbaum to Replace Gloria Portela as Chairman of the Houston Grand Opera Board of Directors Houston Grand Opera (HGO) today announced the resignation of Board of Directors Chairman Gloria Portela, due to ill health. At their meeting today, the Directors elected Vinson & Elkins partner Glen Rosenbaum to serve a full two-year term as Chair. Download Press Release
Rigoletto at Miller Outdoor Theatre Houston Grand Opera reprises performances of its much acclaimed production of Verdi’s Rigoletto – with free public performances on May 15-16, 2009 at the Miller Outdoor Theatre. Download Press Release.
HGO and the Economy Houston Grand Opera General Director Anthony Freud and members of the company’s Senior Management Team met today with company members to discuss the impact of the economic downturn. This was a follow-up to a company meeting in October, at which Mr. Freud announced the approach that management and company would adopt during the downturn. Download Press Release
Maria Callas Exhibit The Hellenic Parliament Foundation for Parliamentarism and Democracy, The General Consulate of Greece, Houston and The General Consulate of Italy, Houston in cooperation with Houston Grand Opera present a tribute to one of the most renowned opera singers of the twentieth century- Maria Callas, beginning April 11, 2009 and closing on May 11 in the lobby of the Wortham Theater Center in Houston, Texas. Download Press Release
Previn's Brief Encounter HGO presents its 39th world premiere with André Previn’s second opera Brief Encounter, an opera in two acts, based on the play Still Life and the screen play to the 1945 David Lean film Brief Encounter, both by Noël Coward. Brief Encounter opens May 1, 2009 with performances through May 9. Download Press Release Download Calendar Release
Verdi's Rigoletto HGO continues its 54th season with Verdi’s haunting and tragic tale Rigoletto. Rigoletto, which was last performed at HGO in 2001, returns to the Wortham Theater Center with a powerful new staging of Michael Yeargan’s classic production that was inspired by Italian painter Giorgio di Chirico. Download Press Release Download Calendar Release
Houston Grand Opera Announces Winners of the 20th Annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers HGO held its annual Concert of Arias, the final round of the twentieth annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers, on February 8, 2007 at the Wortham Theater Center in downtown Houston. Download Press Release
Houston Grand Opera Announces the 2009/2010 Season Houston Grand Opera General Director and CEO Anthony Freud today announced details of the company’s 2009-10 season, which runs from October 23, 2009 to May 14, 2010 with thirty-one performances of six operas. Download Press Release
Houston Grand Opera Presents CityCast: A Free HD Simulcast HGO’s First Live HD Simulcast to Discovery Green and Five HISD School Locations On February 7, 2009, for the first time in four years, Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will offer a free live simulcast of its newest production, Chorus! from the stage of the Wortham Theater Center in downtown. Download Press Release
Three Decembers CD HGO is pleased to announce the commercial release of its 38th world premiere, Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers, on the Albany label, December 1, 2008. Three Decembers, which had its premiere on February 29, 2008 at the Wortham Center in Houston, has been called “a touching ‘peeling back’ of family secrets” by The Houston Chronicle and “a score filled with pleasures” by Opera Today. Download Press Release.
HGO Presents Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream HGO Continues its Britten Cycle with a new production by award winning director Neil Armfield. Opens Friday, January 23, 2009. Download Press Release.
Houston Grand Opera Presents Chorus! HGO continues its 2008-2009 season with Chorus!, a new work conceived by award winning director David Poutney featuring various composers, opening January 30, 2009 with performances through February 13. Download Press Relase.
Houston Grand Opera Presents A Midsummer Night's Dream HGO continues its multi-year Benjamin Britten cycle and its 2008-2009 season with Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, opening January 23, 2009 with performances through February 6. Download Press Release.
Houston Grand Opera to Present its Premiere Staging of Berlioz's Beatrice and Benedict HGO) continues the 2008–2009 season with Berlioz’s Beatrice and Benedict, based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, in the Brown Theater at the Wortham Theater Center. The production opens on October 30, 2008, with performances continuing through November 14, 2008. Download Press Release.
HGO Opens 2008/2009 Season with Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci The double bill of verismo operas plays at the Wortham Theater Center October 17 – November 1, 2008. “We kick off the season with a truly grand evening of opera,” explained HGO’s General Director and CEO Anthony Freud, OBE. “These two highly accessible and realistic works come together to provide the audience with two love affairs, two centuries, and a fantastic night of passion.” Download Press Release.
