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MAKE PLANS NOW TO SEE HGO’S EXCITING WINTER REP! To purchase tickets, call the Customer Care Center at 713-228-6737 or visit HGO.org.
Catán
Bizet
Jan. 18 | 20m | 26 | 30 | Feb. 3m
Jan. 25 | 27m | Feb. 2 | 5 | 8
Sung in Spanish with projected English translation
Sung in French with projected English translation
In Daniel Catán’s unabashedly romantic Florencia en el Amazonas, the distinction between reality and fantasy is blurred as the opera diva Florencia Grimaldi undertakes a riverboat journey down the Amazon in search of her lost love. With music that has been called a “lush nature painting” (critic David Patrick Stearns), Florencia was commissioned and premiered by HGO in 1996 and revived by popular demand in 2001. It has become one of HGO’s most popular commissions. Ana María Martínez, who sang Rosalba previously at HGO, now takes on the title role, which she performed for the first time at Florida Grand Opera last spring after being urged to sing it by the late composer’s widow. Florencia en el Amazonas is one of HGO’s Seeking the Human Spirit operas for 2018–19, with the theme of transformation. We think you will be blown away by the enchanting, otherworldly transformation that ends the opera.
By popular demand, Georges Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers will be seen for the first time at HGO this winter, in a vivid production designed by Zandra Rhodes, which perfectly creates a fantastical portrait of a 19th-century pearl fishing village in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The Pearl Fishers shows off Bizet’s gifts as a tunesmith and is notable for its evocative orchestration. The opera contains one of the most ravishing duets in the repertoire, “Au fond du temple saint”—quite an achievement for Bizet, who was only 24 when he wrote it, more than a decade before he composed Carmen. Check it out on YouTube, and you will be hooked. International stars Lawrence Brownlee and Mariusz Kwiecień will perform the roles of the pearl fishers Nadir and Zurga and will sing the famed duet, in which they acknowledge their rivalry for the love for the beautiful priestess Leïla (Andrea Carroll) and vow to forget her for their friendship’s sake. Leïla has come to the village to pray for the fishermen’s protection and has taken a vow of solitude. Now, if everyone can only keep their promises.
FLORENCIA EN EL AMAZONAS
Florencia Ana María Martínez ‡
Capitán David Pittsinger *
Costume Designer Catherine Zuber
Rosalba Alicia Gianni ‡
Conductor Patrick Summers
Lighting Designer Mark McCullough
Arcadio Joshua Guerrero * Riolobo Norman Garrett * Paula Nancy Fabiola Herrera * Alvaro Thomas Glass †
Harlan and Dian Stai Fellow
Margaret Alkek Williams Chair
Director Francesca Zambello Associate Director E. Loren Meeker Choreographer Eric Sean Fogel Set Designer Robert Israel
Projection/Video Designer S. Katy Tucker
Nadir Lawrence Brownlee
Conductor Roderick Cox *
Choreographer Eric Sean Fogel
Chorus Master Richard Bado ‡
Leila Andrea Carroll ‡
Director E. Loren Meeker
Chorus Master Richard Bado ‡
Zurga Mariusz Kwiecień
Scenic and Costume Designer Zandra Rhodes
Sarah and Ernest Butler Chorus Master Chair
Houston Grand Orchestra and Chorus
Co-commissioned by Houston Grand Opera Association, Los Angeles Music Center Opera, and Seattle Opera * Houston Grand Opera debut
94
FALL 201 8
THE PEARL FISHERS
Nourabad Federico De Michelis ‡
Lighting Designer Mark McCullough
Sarah and Ernest Butler Chorus Master Chair
Houston Grand Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Production designed by Zandra Rhodes for San Diego Opera and Michigan Opera Theatre.
† Houston Grand Opera Studio artist
‡ Former Houston Grand Opera Studio artist