Houston Grand Opera Announces its 2026-27 Season

HOUSTON—March 25, 2026—Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is proud to announce its 2026-27 season, which includes a visionary new production of Verdi’s adored Aida; a new staging of Carlisle Floyd’s seminal American opera, Susannah; Gounod’s wickedly tragic Faust; Mozart’s brilliantly imaginative The Magic Flute; R. Strauss’s effervescent comedy of manners, Der Rosenkavalier; and Kern’s sweeping American musical, Show Boat. Subscriptions for the 2026-27 season are available to audiences starting today at HGO.org, with single tickets available starting June 16, 2026.

The 2026-27 season will also usher in a new era of leadership at HGO. Joining General Director and CEO Khori Dastoor to guide the company forward is internationally celebrated arts leader and conductor James Gaffigan, who will assume the role of Music Director Designate before becoming Music Director during the 2027-28 season. At the end of the current season, Patrick Summers will become the company’s Music Director Emeritus and holder of the Robert and Jane Cizik Music Director Emeritus Chair.

“We were inspired to choose our theme for next season—written in the stars—because of the luminous stars who will be leading the six extraordinary masterworks we’re planning for our city,” says Dastoor. “These artists, whose names are spoken with reverence in every great house from Vienna to Milan, will shine in grand productions that leave audiences spellbound. This landmark season will mark the return of the brilliant Maestro James Gaffigan to our podium, and to our company, as our new Music Director Designate. We cannot wait to welcome him back, share these monumental works with Houston, and begin our thrilling next chapter.”

“I feel truly fortunate to be joining HGO at such an exciting time for the company, with such a phenomenal season in the works,” says Gaffigan. “Having spent the last decade building my career in Europe, I am overjoyed to return to the city that helped shape me. It feels especially meaningful that my first engagement as a member of this great company will be at the podium for Susannah, a profoundly American work by a composer who enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with HGO and spent his career mentoring young artists. I look forward to beginning this journey alongside Houston audiences, company supporters, and my new colleagues.”

HGO will open the 2026-27 season with Susannah, continuing the company’s centenary celebrations for opera icon Carlisle Floyd. Set in the hills of Tennessee and inspired by Floyd’s own roots as a minister’s son, the story follows Susannah, a young woman whose life is shattered after she’s seen bathing in a creek by church elders, leading to cruel gossip, judgment, and finally, her harrowing assault.

Shared through a genre-blending score infused with revival hymns and Appalachian folksong—and a libretto, also by Floyd, written in colorful regional dialect—the opera will be presented in a new staging from celebrated soprano-turned-director Patricia Racette. Soprano Angel Blue, an international sensation, makes her role debut as the title character, with leading baritone Rod Gilfry as the Reverend Blitch and rising tenors Bille Bruley and Aaron Blake as Sam and Little Bat. Maestro James Gaffigan conducts.

Also part of HGO’s fall repertoire is Gounod’s Faust, arriving in a dazzling, dance-infused production from visionary director David McVicar. Reimagined as a tormented composer in Belle Époque Paris, the title character makes a fateful pact with Mephistopheles: his soul in exchange for youth and sensual pleasure. After Faust sets his sights on the pure-hearted Marguerite, his passion leads to her ruin—but also her salvation.

Set to one of the most beloved scores in French opera, Faust is full of iconic moments, from the diabolical “Song of the Golden Calf” to Marguerite’s glittering “Jewel Song.” Sublime soprano Pretty Yende makes her company debut as Marguerite, joined by tenor Matthew Polenzani as Faust and bass-baritone Ildebrando D’Arcangelo as Mephistopheles. Giacomo Sagripanti, music director of the Tbilisi Opera House, conducts in his HGO debut. 

The company’s winter repertoire will launch with Verdi’s Aida, in a visionary new production from director Kaneza Schaal and artist Christopher Myers. Inspired by a diverse array of cultures and art forms from across the globe, this staging blooms with colors, flowers, and dance to share the opera’s story of love, betrayal, and sacrifice, set to an iconic score that represents the pinnacle of the Romantic Italian style.

Radiant soprano Ailyn Pérez returns to HGO as enslaved Ethiopian woman Aida, with leading tenors Jonathan Tetelman and Adam Smith sharing the role as her love, Egyptian military commander Radames; Grammy Award-winning baritone Lucas Meachem in his role debut as Aida’s father, Amonasro; and powerful mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis as the revenge-bent Amneris. The celebrated Milanese conductor Michele Gamba makes his company debut at the podium.

Next, HGO presents Mozart’s The Magic Flute, delightfully reimagined by director/choreographer Renaud Doucet and designer André Barbe for modern audiences. The action now unfolds in a whimsical 19th-century hotel, where a cigar-smoking Queen of the Night leads an underground suffragette movement and chef Sarastro’s kitchen staff guards culinary secrets like sacred Masonic rites. Black-and-white storybook sets, puppetry, and laugh-out-loud visual gags will be brought to life by Mozart’s luminous score, performed with virtuosity by the HGO Chorus and Orchestra and a powerhouse cast.

Tenor Paul Appleby stars as sleepwalking hotel guest Tamino opposite soprano Janai Brugger as Pamina, with baritone Joshua Hopkins as Papageno, soprano Aigul Khismatullina in her HGO debut as the Queen of the Night, and bass Grigory Shkarupa as Sarastro. David Chan—artistic director of the Taipei Music Academy and Festival, principal conductor of the Apollo Orchestra, and a recently appointed professor of violin at Rice University—conducts in his company debut.

Spring will bring Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, presented in a stylish production from director Bruno Ravella. The staging transports the 18th-century comedy of manners into the chic world of 1950s Vienna, where the glamorous Marschallin is having an affair with the young Count Octavian—until his heart is captured by Sophie, the innocent fiancée of the blundering Baron Ochs. What follows is a delicious mix of mistaken identities, romantic awakenings, and bittersweet partings, all set to Strauss’s lush, sparkling score, filled with swirling waltzes and opera’s most transcendent final trio.

Sublime soprano Tamara Wilson makes her role debut as the Marschallin, with bass Matthew Rose reprising his acclaimed Ochs, and two rising stars in their company debuts, mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey as Octavian and soprano Soraya Mafi as Sophie. Conductor Henrik Nánási makes his HGO debut in this sumptuous staging of R. Strauss’s most beloved opera.

HGO will close the mainstage season with Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s Show Boat, the American musical that, a century ago, made history with its racially integrated cast and bold portrayal of injustice along the Mississippi. Set aboard the floating theater Cotton Blossom, the story traces the intertwined lives of performers navigating decades of love, loss, and prejudice— backed by a sweeping score that’s influenced by genres from spirituals to ragtime to jazz.

In the 1980s, HGO made history of its own by restoring Show Boat to operatic scale—and now, the company is inviting audiences to again experience this treasured classic with an acclaimed production by Francesca Zambello, performed by a cast of superstars. Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard makes her role debut as Julie, with soprano Lauren Snouffer as Magnolia, baritone Edward Nelson as Gaylord, and bass Morris Robinson as Joe, whose haunting number, “Ol’ Man River,” captures the ceaseless roll of the Mighty Mississippi. Making his first return to HGO in his new role as Music Director Emeritus, Maestro Patrick Summers conducts.

The 2026-27 Season Beyond the Mainstage

Complementing the mainstage season, HGO will engage the Houston community through more programs for students, families, and arts lovers.

Launching the new season on September 13, 2026 is a fan-favorite event, HGO’s annual Butler Studio Showcase, performed by the exceptional emerging artists training with the Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio. Returning and new members will showcase their talents as they present a selection of fully staged, costumed excerpts from a variety of operatic works. Subscribers receive complimentary access to this event, with single tickets going on sale with the rest of the 2026-27 season on June 16, 2026.

On February 13, 2027, the company will present its third annual Family Day, following the success of its first two sold-out events. HGO Family Day Presents The Magic Flute will feature a 90-minute, bilingual English/Spanish, relaxed-environment performance of the opera the company is presenting as part of its winter repertoire. Directed by celebrated soprano Ana María Martínez, an HGO favorite, this show is perfect for young guests, complete with kid-centric lobby activities. Subscribers enjoy presale access to tickets, which will go on sale to the public on June 16, 2026.

February 19, 2027 will bring HGO’s eighth annual Giving Voice, a treasured company tradition that highlights the extraordinary artistry and lasting contributions of Black artists in opera and song. Special for 2027, an opera star adored by audiences across the world—the soprano Angel Blue, who also performs the role of Susannah in the fall—will headline the concert. Subscribers receive priority access to tickets.

On February 26, 2027, HGO will present the 39th annual Concert of Arias, the culminating live round of the Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers. A select group of exceptional emerging artists—chosen through a rigorous international search—will take the stage with the HGO Orchestra, led by Maestro James Gaffigan, to perform two arias each, competing for top honors, cash prizes, and perhaps, an invitation to join the Butler Studio. Subscribers receive priority access to tickets.

HGO’s 2026-27 mainstage season will include two special performances that will allow Houstonarea students to experience the magic of opera during a night out at the Wortham Theater Center. The company will host a Student Matinee of Ana María Martínez’s English/Spanish version of The Magic Flute on February 12, 2027, with Show Boat presented in a High School Night performance on May 4, 2027.

This season, HGO is featuring a variety of ticket offerings, from flexible three-opera packages to the full six-opera season. Full subscriptions start as low as $100. Subscriptions and packages for the 2026-27 season are now available at HGO.org. The deadline for subscription renewal is June 4, 2026.

Subscribers to the company’s 2026-27 season will receive a host of benefits, including a 25 percent discount on additional tickets; free tickets to the company’s popular Butler Studio Showcase; a monthly subscriber newsletter; invitations to online and Houston-area events and lectures to enhance their experience at the opera; and access to Opera America’s Opera Passport program, which offers discounted tickets to performances from Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, and many more companies across the country. Single tickets to all performances, including Family Day, will be available starting June 16, 2026.

As part of HGO’s mission to invite all Houstonians to experience the operatic art form, the company continues to serve audiences through its popular Opening Nights for Young Professionals (ONYP) discounted subscription series; tickets starting at $25 for all productions; discounted single tickets for veterans and active military members, available for 10% off all season; and $25 student tickets to mainstage productions, accessible one month prior to the opening of every performance with a valid student ID.

HGO’s mainstage season will comprise 38 mainstage, 1 family, and 2 student performances of six productions at the Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Theater. Additional details of the upcoming HGO productions are provided below, and more information is available at the company’s website: HGO.org. All repertoire, dates, pricing, productions, and casting are subject to change without notice.