Margaret Alkek Williams Chair

Conductor

(United States)

HGO Appearances:

The Flying Dutchman, Florencia en el Amazonas, and the world premiere of The Phoenix. Previously: Conducted more than 60 operas at HGO.

About the Artist:

HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers has conducted more than 60 operas since he joined the company in 1998. Some highlights include conducting the company’s first-ever complete cycle of Wagner’s Ring and its first performances of the Verdi Requiem; collaborating on the world premieres of André Previn’s Brief Encounter, Christopher Theofanidis’s The Refuge, Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life, The End of the Affair, and Three Decembers, Carlisle Floyd’s Cold Sassy Tree and Prince of Players, and Tod Machover’s Resurrection; leading the American premiere of Weinberg’s The Passenger, both at HGO and on tour to the Lincoln Center Festival; and nurturing the careers of such artists as Christine Goerke, Ailyn Pérez, Joyce DiDonato, Ana María Martínez, Ryan McKinny, Tamara Wilson, Albina Shagimuratova, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Norman Reinhardt, Jamie Barton, and Dimitri Pittas. Maestro Summers has enjoyed a long association with San Francisco Opera (SFO) and was honored in 2015 with the San Francisco Opera Medal. His work with SFO includes conducting Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick, which was recorded and telecast on PBS’s Great Performances. In 2017, he was awarded an honorary doctor of music degree from Indiana University.This past summer he conducted La favorite at Gran Teatre del Liceu, and he will conduct It’s a Wonderful Life at SFO during the holidays. Later this season at HGO, he will conduct Florencia en el Amazonas and the world premiere of Tarik O’Regan and John Caird’s The Phoenix.