Biography
Karen Reeves has been working with young singers at HGO since 1991. This season, she prepares the child soloists for the company’s mainstage and Family Day productions of The Magic Flute. Reeves served as chorus director for the HGO Children’s Chorus in the Houston Symphony’s performance of Berg’s Wozzeck, which won the 2017 GRAMMY Award for Best Opera Performance. She prepared HGO’s Juvenile Chorus for the world premiere of The House Without a Christmas Tree in 2018 and has also prepared the HGO Children’s Chorus and child soloists for such productions as Il trittico, Hansel and Gretel, La bohème, The Sound of Music, Werther, Otello, Carmen, Dead Man Walking, Tosca, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hansel and Gretel, and The Little Prince. Reeves was a member of the HGO Chorus for 13 seasons, and was the founding director of HGO’s Bauer Family High School Voice Studio. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from Southwestern University and her Master of Music degree from Rice University. She taught on the voice faculty at Houston Baptist University and in the voice department of Kinder HSPVA. She has served as a grant evaluator for the Texas Commission on the Arts. She recently retired from Rice University after 17 years in the position of Opera Program Administrator.
HGO Repertoire
Children’s Chorus Director:
TURANDOT 1993-94, 2003-04, 2021-22
STREET SCENE 1993-94
CARMEN 1994-95, 1997-98 (Miller Outdoor Theatre and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion), 2000-01 (Mainstage, Miller Outdoor Theatre and on tour to Philadelphia, PA), 2005-06, 2013-14 (Mainstage and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion), 2021-22
DER ROSENKAVALIER 1994-95
ATTILA 1994-95
LA BOHÈME 1995-96, 2002-03, 2007-08, 2012-13 (Mainstage, Miller Outdoor Theatre, and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion), 2018-19 (Mainstage, Miller Outdoor Theatre, and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion), 2024-25
TOSCA 1996-97, 2003-04, 2009-10 (Mainstage and Miller Outdoor Theatre), 2015-16 (Mainstage, Miller Outdoor Theatre, and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion)
BORIS GODUNOV 1996-97
HANSEL AND GRETEL 1997-98, 2006-07 (Mainstage and Miller Outdoor Theatre)
BILLY BUDD 1997-98, 2007-08
MEFISTOFELE 1998-99
PAGLIACCI 1999-2000 (Miller Outdoor Theatre, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, and HGO tour to Philadelphia, PA), 2008-09
THE LITTLE PRINCE 2002-03 (World premiere), 2004-05, 2015-16
THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN 2006-07
THE REFUGE 2007-08 (World premiere, Mainstage and Miller Outdoor Theatre)
THE QUEEN OF SPADES 2009-10
DEAD MAN WALKING 2010-11
OTELLO 2014-15
A HOUSE WITHOUT A CHRISTMAS TREE 2017-18 (World premiere)
THE PHOENIX 2018-19 (World premiere)
WERTHER 2022-23
Children’s Musical Preparation:
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM 1992-93, 2008-09
TANNHÄUSER 2001-02
THE MAGIC FLUTE 1996-97, 2003-04, 2007-08, 2014-15 (Mainstage, Miller Outdoor Theatre, and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion), 2021-22
PIECES OF 9/11 2011-12 (World premiere)
MY FAVORITE THINGS: SONGS FROM THE SOUND OF MUSIC 2020-21 (TDECU Stadium)
THE SOUND OF MUSIC 2023-24