A HOLIDAY PLAYLIST FROM HGO

This playlist assembles unfamiliar Christmas-themed repertoire spanning a period of over 250 years. Each track has a special Houston Grand Opera tie-in—whether to the composers and artists of our 2025-26 season or to operas the company has recently released on recording. 

Humperdinck’s song evokes a starry night with angels floating over brightly lit houses. The text was written by the composer’s sister, Adelheid Wette, who also penned the libretto for her brother’s beloved opera Hansel and Gretel. Catch this fairytale favorite at HGO beginning in January, and don’t miss the kid-friendly Family Day version on February 14.

"Brightly from every window shines
The wondrous light of Christmas trees,
And the shimmer of joy is painted
On every face.”

In this gentle lullaby from Berlioz’s L’enfance du Christ (The Childhood of Christ), Mary tells the baby Jesus to share the grass in his manger with the lambs. On this recording, Mary is sung by mezzo Sasha Cooke, who will play Hansel in HGO’s production of Hansel and Gretel this winter.

"Oh, my dear son, give this tender grass
To these lambs who come bleating toward you;
They are so sweet! Let them take some.”

This radiant a cappella solo for soprano comes from Puts’s Pulitzer-winning opera Silent Night. It’s sung by the character Anna Sørensen, a fictional opera star who performs a prayer of peace for troops on the Western Front during the Christmas truces of 1914. You can hear Puts’s recently revised version of the score at HGO this winter, in a new production of Silent Night by director James Robinson. 

"Grant us peace.”

For this children’s choral piece, Floyd chose a Christmas hymn text by Katherine Parker. He uses an echo-like canon technique that lends a dreamy, faraway feeling to the recurring phrase “long, long ago.” This March, the young artists of the Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio—which Floyd co-founded in 1977—will perform a two-performance run of the composer’s Of Mice and Men.

"Winds through the olive trees softly did blow,
Around little Bethlehem long, long ago.
Sheep on the hillside lay whiter than snow,
Shepherds were watching them, long, long ago.”

HGO recently released a recording of Massenet’s Werther, the last act of which takes place at Christmas. Massenet also wrote a handful of Yuletide songs, including this extremely unusual (and even blasphemous!) “Pagan Noel.” The text by Armand Silvestre describes a pagan alternative to Christmas celebrated in the flowery spring.

"Beneath the astonished sky,
When May bestows her caresses,
We sing, full of joy:
Noel! Noel! Love is born!”

This nostalgic song comes from Heggie’s Christmas cycle On the Road to Christmas. The lyrics—by none other than mezzo Frederica von Stade—describe her youthful memories of being driven to early mass on Christmas morning. HGO’s recording of the world premiere of Heggie’s opera Intelligence was recently nominated for a Grammy.

"When I was young,
Christmas meant a ride to mass
On Christmas morning.
A car ride to Christmas
In a Chevy with flannel seats.”

In this pastoral Christmas number for soloist and chorus, the shepherds and Magi follow the star to kneel before Jesus. It comes from Rossini’s Péchés de vieillesse (Sins of Old Age), a collection of vocal, chamber, and piano works composed in the last decades of his life, long after he had retired from writing opera. This spring, HGO will perform Rossini’s best-loved opera, The Barber of Seville.

"The sighing zephyr 
Seems to sing a heavenly song.
Let us burn the myrrh as at an altar.
The Magi have come
On their knees in prayer!”

John Jacob Niles penned a number of enduring songs based on Appalachian folk music, including the Christmas carols “I Wonder as I Wander” and “Jesus, Jesus, Rest Your Head.” Film composer John W. Snyder arranged the latter in a stirring version sung by baritone Will Liverman, who plays Figaro in HGO’s 2026 production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.

“Winds were blowing,
Cows were lowing,
Stars were glowing.” 

This classic choral number, a setting of a prophecy from Isaiah 9:6, comes from the Christmas portion of Messiah. HGO will mount a fully staged version of Handel’s masterpiece this spring, in a production by the late Texan director Robert Wilson.

"And His name shall be called:
Wonderful Counsellor, the Mighty God,
The Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace!”

In 2016, HGO premiered Heggie’s operatic adaptation of the cherished Christmas film It’s a Wonderful Life. Like the movie, the opera concludes with a rousing rendition of “Auld Lang Syne.” Patrick Summers, who leads the HGO Chorus and Orchestra on this recording, will make his last appearance in the pit as the company’s artistic and music director to conduct the spring production of Messiah.

“We'll take a cup of kindness yet, 
for auld lang syne.”