Sarah and Ernest Butler Chair
Biography
Patrick Summers was named artistic and music director of HGO in 2011 after having served as the company’s music director since 1998. Some highlights of his work at HGO include conducting the company’s first-ever complete cycle of Wagner’s Ring and its first performances of the Verdi Requiem; conducting the first major American production of Smyth’s The Wreckers; collaborating on the world premieres of Tarik O’Regan’s The Phoenix, 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, Tod Machover’s Resurrection, and Joel Thompson’s The Snowy Day; leading the American premiere of Weinberg’s Holocaust opera 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 taken the podium for Opera Australia, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Metropolitan Opera. He 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, Summers was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree by Indiana University. He is Co-Artistic Director of the Aspen Music Festival’s Opera Theater and VocalARTS alongside Renée Fleming. For HGO in recent seasons, Summers conducted Falstaff and Madame Butterfly (2023-24); The Wreckers and The Marriage of Figaro (2022-23); and The Snowy Day, Dialogues of the Carmelites, and Romeo and Juliet (2021-22). Other recent engagements include Dead Man Walking at the Israeli Opera.
Repertoire
Conductor:
LA TRAVIATA 1998-99, 2002-03, 2011-12
RESURRECTION 1998-99 (World premiere)
THE ELIXIR OF LOVE 1999-2000
LITTLE WOMEN 1999-2000
COLD SASSY TREE 1999-2000 (World premiere)
NABUCCO 1999-2000
COSÌ FAN TUTTE 2000-01, 2014-15
DON CARLO 2000-01 / DON CARLOS 2011-12
FLORENCIA EN EL AMAZONAS 2000-01, 2018-19
RIGOLETTO 2001-02, 2008-09, 2013-14
OF MICE AND MEN 2001-02
THE ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO 2001-02
LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR 2002-03
THE MERRY WIDOW 2002-03
THE LITTLE PRINCE 2002-03 (World premiere)
JULIUS CAESAR 2003-04, 2017-18
THE END OF THE AFFAIR 2003-04 (World premiere)
TURANDOT 2003-04
THE BARBER OF SEVILLE 2003-04
MADAME BUTTERFLY 2004-05, 2010-11
IL TROVATORE 2004-05
IDOMENEO 2004-05
FALSTAFF 2004-05
HGO 50TH ANNIVERSARY GALA CONCERT 2004-05
THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO 2005-06, 2022-23
RENÉE FLEMING HOLIDAY CONCERT 2005-06
DON PASQUALE 2005-06
MANON LESCAUT 2005-06
SIMON BOCCANEGRA 2006-07
DON GIOVANNI 2006-07
THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN 2006-07
A MASKED BALL 2007-08
THE REFUGE 2007-08 (World Premiere – Mainstage and Miller Outdoor Theatre)
LAST ACTS (THREE DECEMBERS) 2007-08 (World premiere)
LA BOHÈME 2007-08
BILLY BUDD 2007-08
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM 2008-09
CHORUS! 2008-09
A BRIEF ENCOUNTER 2008-09 (World premiere)
LOHENGRIN 2009-10
TOSCA 2009-10, 2015-16
THE TURN OF THE SCREW 2009-10
PETER GRIMES 2010-11
DEAD MAN WALKING 2010-11
ARIADNE AUF NAXOS 2010-11
MARY STUART 2011-12
SHOW BOAT 2012-13
TRISTAN AND ISOLDE 2012-13
IL TROVATORE 2012-13
THE PASSENGER 2013-14 (Mainstage and Park Avenue Armory, NYC)
DAS RHEINGOLD 2013-14
OTELLO 2013-14
HGO 60TH ANNIVERSARY GALA CONCERT 2014-15
DIE WALKÜRE 2014-15
THE PRINCE OF PLAYERS 2015-16 (World premiere)
SIEGFRIED 2015-16
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE 2016-17 (World premiere)
VERDI’S REQUIEM MASS 2016-17
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG 2016-17
ELEKTRA 2017-18
NORMA 2017-18
HGO AND PLÁCIDO - COMING HOME! CONCERT 2018-19
THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 2018-19
THE PHOENIX APR-MAY 2018-19 (World premiere)
SAUL 2019-20
LA FAVORITE 2019-20
AIDA 2019-20
THE MAKING OF THE SNOWY DAY 2020-21 (Digital)
HANSEL AND GRETEL 2020-21 (Digital)
JEANINE DE BIQUE CONCERT 2020-21 (Digital)
AN EVENING WITH JONAS KAUFMANN 2021-22
THE SNOWY DAY 2021-22 (World premiere)
DIALOGUES OF THE CARMELITES 2021-22
CELEBRATING CARLISLE FLOYD 2021-22
ROMEO AND JULIET 2021-22
THE WRECKERS 2022-23
FALSTAFF 2023-24
MADAME BUTTERFLY 2023-24
HGO Recital Pianist:
ANDREW KENNEDY PATRON CIRCLE RECITAL 2007-08
TAMARA WILSON CULLEN LIVE RECITAL 2020-21 (Digital)
MICHELLE BRADLEY CULLEN LIVE RECITAL 2020-21 (Digital)