Houston Grand Opera: Opera Cues Vol 62 No. 1 Summer 2021

VOLUME 62 NUMBER 01 | SUMMER 2021

S E E Y O U A T T H E W O R T H A M F O R T H E A L L- N E W 2 0 2 1 – 2 2 S E A S O N | P G . 2 7

An evening with

JONAS KAUFMANN

LOUISE G. CHAPMAN, PRESENTING UNDERWRITER

GREGOR HOHENBERG / SONY CLASSICAL

WITNESS THE SPECTACULAR TALENTS OF THE GERMAN SUPERSTAR THE NEW YORK TIMES CALLS “THE MOST IMPORTANT, VERSATILE TENOR OF HIS GENERATION” DURING A SPECIAL, ONE-NIGHT-ONLY HGO EVENT!

OCTOBER 6 at 7 P.M. WORTHAM THEATER CENTER Jonas Kaufmann’s highly anticipated HGO debut and first-ever Houston performance offers the chance of a lifetime for opera lovers. The powerhouse tenor known for being equally at home singing Wagner and Italian opera (and for, as the Times puts it, his “matinee idol features offset by designer stubble”) takes the Houston stage for a spectacular concert event, performing selections from Wagner and other composers.

HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers conducts the HGO Orchestra during this extraordinary evening.

CONCERT AT 7 P.M. IN THE BROWN THEATER DINNER AT 9 P.M. AT THE FOUR SEASONS HOUSTON HGO.ORG/JONAS A limited number of Special Event gala tickets, including premium concert seating and a post-concert dinner with Jonas Kaufmann, are available at HGO.org/Jonas or by contacting Brooke Rogers at brogers@hgo.org or 713-546-0271.

Individual concert-only tickets on sale starting July 26.

A MESSAGE FROM THE ARTISTIC AND MUSIC DIRECTOR It is a season of rebirth at Houston Grand Opera.

Ushering us into a new era for the company is the arrival of our new general director, Khori Dastoor.

I am so thrilled to welcome Khori and her family to HGO, and to Houston. She has had a meteoric rise in arts administration and comes to us from Opera San José, where she has served as general director since 2019.

Khori is a fresh voice in opera with a reputation for honesty and a unique perspective. She has made a name for herself by championing emerging artists, diversity, and opera as a living, breathing, and ever evolving art form that all communities deserve to experience. We are so lucky to have her here in Houston.

She is joining HGO just as the company returns to the Wortham to launch a blockbuster season of operas that will send spirits soaring as we return to live performance after so long. It is positively packed with everything opera lovers have been craving since life as we knew it shut down. But first, we’ll be hosting one of the most acclaimed tenors in the world for a truly extraordinary event, An Evening with Jonas Kaufmann, at the Wortham.

The season will officially launch with Bizet’s Carmen, in a dance-filled production from Rob Ashford that exudes passion and vibrant physicality as it recounts its heroine’s quest for liberty. It is just the right opera to mark the company’s grand return to the stage.

HGO’s world-premiere holiday opera, Joel Thompson and Andrea Davis Pinkney’s The Snowy Day, based on the children’s book by Ezra Jack Keats, basks in life’s sweet, simple pleasures while celebrating friendship and family togetherness. It too feels perfectly timed to this moment, even though its premiere was delayed by a year due to COVID. Our winter repertoire brings Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites, an opera that asks profound philosophical questions about faith and freedom, performed by an incredible cast of singing actresses willing to plumb their emotional depths on stage. I’ve been dreaming about conducting it for a long time. Winter’s other offering, Barrie Kosky’s cinematic production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, originally was slated for April 2020. We are so excited to finally present this inventive treat for the eyes and ears, and to take our audiences on its mythical adventure.

The fantasy continues with HGO’s spring repertoire and Puccini’s Turandot, a trip to an otherworldly land ruled by a murderous princess. Like the sublime opera, to be led by HGO Principal Guest Conductor Eun Sun Kim, this new production from Robert Wilson is a masterpiece. Finally, the season will close as it opened, with an opera bursting with elemental passion: Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet, presented in a new production that evokes Shakespeare’s Globe. The music is pure transcendence, as beautiful as the timeless story.

How different this summer has been from the last one. Now it’s coming to a close, and a brilliant new season of grand opera awaits. Here’s to HGO’s next era, and to our imminent reunion at the theater!

Patrick Summers Artistic and Music Director Sarah and Ernest Butler Chair

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Editor-in-Chief Catherine Matusow Designers Chelsea Crouse Tamila Amanzholova Contributors Kathleen Brown Jeremy Johnson Alisa Magallón Meredith Morse Andrea Davis Pinkney Brian Speck Patrick Summers Emily N. Wells Advertising Matt Ross/Ventures Marketing 713-417-6857

Enjoy recitals and operatic works from the comfort of home during HGO’s second virtual season.

For information on all Houston Grand Opera productions and events, or for a complimentary season brochure, please email the Customer Care Center at customercare@hgo.org or telephone 713-228-6737.

Houston Grand Opera is a member of OPERA America, Inc., and the Houston Theater District Association, Inc.

FIND HGO ONLINE HGO.org /houstongrandopera

More information at HGO.org/Digital

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/HouGrandOpera /HouGrandOpera

PRODUCTION PHOTO CREDITS: PP. 28–29, 79: LYNN LANE; PP. 23, 30–31, 80: THE EZRA JACK KEATS FOUNDATION; PP. 5, 19, 32–33, 80: SCOTT SUCHMAN; PP. 20, 27, 34–35, 80: STEVEN PISANO; PP. 21, 36–37: MICHAEL COOPER; PP. 38–39, 81: JEFF ROFFMAN

IT’S HERE TO STAY!

Opera Cues is published by Houston Grand Opera Association; all rights reserved. Opera Cues is produced under the direction of Dale Edwards, director of Marketing and Communications, and Natalie Barron, associate director of Marketing and Communications, by Houston Grand Opera’s Advancement Department.

TO TEXAS YOUTH AND EDUCATION SINCE 1932 FEB. 28 – MARCH 20, 2022 at NRG PARK

In 2021 alone, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™ has provided more than $2 million to 54 organizations and programs, including: AFA • Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation • Theatre Under The Stars Glassell School of Art • Houston Ballet • Houston Hispanic Forum Houston Symphony • Alley Theatre • and many others!

HOUSTON GRAND OPERA The Show supports Houston Grand Opera’s Community and Learning initiative, HGOco, including the Student Performance Series, Opera To Go!, and Storybook Opera. HGOco serves nearly 70,000 students every season and has been a Show grant recipient for the past twenty years.

SMALL STEPS NURTURING CENTER

SCHREINER UNIVERSITY

Small Steps Nurturing Center is a comprehensive, high-quality early childhood education program that prepares children living in poverty for success in elementary school and life. Small Steps operates two preschools in Houston at no financial cost to the families they serve. Over the next year, Small Steps expects to serve approximately 180 children.

Schreiner University – Western Art Academy Scholarship Program awards scholarships to 48 students who participate in the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo School Art program each year. These scholarships allow high school students to study Western art and learn traditional studio techniques from practicing professional artists.

Visit rodeohouston.com to learn more.

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IN THIS ISSUE

16

FEATURES

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The Warmest of Welcomes Introducing Khori Dastoor, HGO’s new General Director

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Coming Home The return of Houston Grand Opera’s live performances

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Page to Stage The librettist for The Snowy Day on turning the beloved book into an HGO world premiere opera

THE WARMEST OF WELCOMES

CONTENTS

1 12 42 46 52 56 62 78 83

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A message from Patrick Summers News and Notes HGO Studio HGOco Special Events Impresarios Circle

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NEWS AND NOTES

Annual Support Calendar Plan Your Visit

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SPECIAL EVENTS

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PAGE TO STAGE

IN THIS ISSUE

2021–22 SE ASON

SEASON PREVIEW

JUST THE FACTS

Background, casting, and more on the entire season’s repertoire!

27 H G O. OR G

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HGO Board of Directors 2021-22 OFFICERS Allyn Risley, Chair of the Board Janet Langford Carrig, Senior Chair of the Board; Houston Grand Opera Endowment, Inc. Chair Emeritus Claire Liu, Chair-Elect; Finance Committee Chair James W. Crownover, Chair Emeritus of the Board Lynn Wyatt, Vice Chair of the Board

Christopher V. Bacon, Secretary; General Counsel

Dr. Ellen R. Gritz

Michelle Beale, Governance Committee Chair

Richard Husseini

Astley Blair, Audit Committee Chair Albert Chao Louise Chapman Mathilda Cochran, HGOco Committee Chair Albert O. Cornelison Jr. * Khori Dastoor David B. Duthu *

MEMBERS AT LARGE

Frederic Dyen

Richard E. Agee, Finance Committee Vice Chair

Warren A. Ellsworth IV, M.D., Studio Committee Vice Chair

Thomas Ajamie

Benjamin Fink, Finance Committee Vice Chair

Robin Angly, HGOco Committee Vice Chair John S. Arnoldy *

Michaela Greenan, Audit Committee Vice Chair

Robert C. Hunter * José M. Ivo, Development Committee Vice Chair Marianne Kah, Houston Grand Opera Endowment, Inc. Vice Chair Yolanda Knull, Houston Grand Opera Endowment, Inc. Chair David LePori, Governance Committee Vice Chair

Terrylin G. Neale, Houston Grand Opera Endowment, Inc. Secretary/ Treasurer Ward Pennebaker Cynthia Petrello Gloria M. Portela Matthew L. Ringel Kelly Brunetti Rose Glen A. Rosenbaum Jack A. Roth, M.D., Studio Committee Chair Manolo Sánchez Harlan C. Stai

Gabriel Loperena, Development Committee Chair

John G. Turner *

Richard A. Lydecker Jr.

Margaret Alkek Williams

Alfredo Vilas

Beth Madison * Sid Moorhead

* Senior Director

Sara Morgan

Houston Grand Opera Association Chairs 1955–58 Elva Lobit

1974–75 Charles T. Bauer

1991–93 Constantine S. Nicandros

2009–11 Glen A. Rosenbaum

1958–60 Stanley W. Shipnes

1975–77 Maurice J. Aresty

1993–95 J. Landis Martin

2011–13 Beth Madison

1960–62 William W. Bland

1977–79 Searcy Bracewell

1995–97 Robert C. McNair

2013–16 John Mendelsohn, M.D.

1962–64 Thomas D. Anderson

1979–81 Robert Cizik

2016–18 James W. Crownover

1964–66 Marshall F. Wells

1981–83 Terrylin G. Neale

1997–99 Dennis R. Carlyle, M.D. Susan H. Carlyle, M.D.

1966–68 John H. Heinzerling

1983–84 Barry Munitz

1968–70 Lloyd P. Fadrique

1984–85 Jenard M. Gross

1970–71 Ben F. Love

1985–87 Dr. Thomas D. Barrow

1971–73 Joe H. Foy

1987–89 John M. Seidl

1973–74 Gray C. Wakefield

1989–91 James L. Ketelsen

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1999–2001 Archie W. Dunham 2001–03 Harry C. Pinson 2003–04 James T. Hackett 2004–07 John S. Arnoldy 2007–09 Robert L. Cavnar 2009 Gloria M. Portela

2018–20 Janet Langford Carrig 2020–Present Allyn Risley

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Impresarios Circle IMPRESARIOS CIRCLE $100,000 OR MORE

The Cullen Foundation

Judy and Richard Agee

The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts

Robin Angly and Miles Smith

The Elkins Foundation

Janice Barrow

Drs. Liz Grimm and Jack Roth

Sarah and Ernest Butler

City of Houston The Robert and Jane Cizik Foundation Mathilda Cochran ConocoPhillips Mr. and Mrs. James W. Crownover

Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation

Texas Commission on the Arts

The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Mr. and Mrs. Alfredo Vilas / Novum Energy

Sid Moorhead

Vinson & Elkins LLP

Sara and Bill Morgan

Margaret Alkek Williams

Houston Methodist

Beverly and Staman Ogilvie

The Wortham Foundation, Inc.

The Humphreys Foundation

Jill and Allyn Risley

Lynn Wyatt

Donna Kaplan and Richard A. Lydecker

The Sarofim Foundation

2 Anonymous

Nancy and Richard Kinder

Shell

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo ™

Louise G. Chapman

Beth Madison

Mr. John G. Turner and Mr. Jerry G. Fischer

H-E-B

Anne and Albert Chao

Dian and Harlan Stai

M.D. Anderson Foundation

William Randolph Hearst Foundation

The Brown Foundation, Inc.

Claire Liu and Joseph Greenberg

Schlumberger

To learn more about HGO’s Impresarios Circle members, please see page 56.

Eunice Napanangka Jack, Hairstring, 18” x 65”

Timeless

From the world’s oldest living culture, Australian Aboriginal art reflects ancient traditions in powerful, contemporary patterns.

Booker • Lowe Gallery

For infomation on exhibitions and events: www.bookerlowegallery.com info@bookerlowegallery.com

Aboriginal fine art of Australia

4623 Feagan Street Houston TX 77007 USA

Image © the artist and Booker-Lowe Gallery.

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Premier Underwriters GRAND UNDERWRITER— $50,000 OR MORE

Mr. and Mrs. D. Bradley McWilliams

Anna and Joel Catalano

Mrs. Rosemary Malbin

Ms. Lynn Des Prez

Muffy and Mike McLanahan

Thomas R. Ajamie

Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Nickson

Mr. and Mrs. David Dorenfeld

Dr. and Mrs. Miguel Miro-Quesada

Michelle Beale and Dick Anderson

Glen A. Rosenbaum

Lynn Gissel Beth and Gary Glynn

Mr. David Belanger

Ignacio and Isabel Torras

Ms. Janet Langford Carrig

John C. Tweed

Leonard A. Goldstein and Helen B. Wils

Zane and Brady Carruth

Diane B. Wilsey

Michaela Greenan

Connie Dyer

Nina and Michael Zilkha

Nicholas Greenan

Drs. Rachel and Warren A. Ellsworth IV

Anonymous

Mrs. Brenda Harvey-Traylor

Jennifer and Benjamin Fink Amanda and Morris Gelb

UNDERWRITER— $25,000 OR MORE

Mr. and Mrs. Fred Griffin

Dr. Saúl and Ursula Balagura

Dr. Ellen R. Gritz and Mr. Milton D. Rosenau Jr.

Dr. Gudrun H. Becker

Ms. Marianne Kah

Kenneth Bloom and Sheila Swartzman

Nana Booker and David Lowe Booker · Lowe Gallery

Meg Boulware and Hartley Hampton

Will L. McLendon

Ms. Kiana K. Caleb and Mr. Troy L. Sullivan

Dr. and Mrs. Theodore J. Haywood Sheila Heimbinder Gary Hollingsworth and Ken Hyde

Kathleen Moore and Steven Homer Terrylin G. Neale Cynthia and Anthony Petrello Matthew L. Ringel Michelle and Chuck Ritter Mr. and Mrs. David Rowan John Serpe and Tracy Maddox Mr. and Mrs. Donald G. Sweeney Mr. Veer Vasishta

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Husseini

R. Alan and Frank York

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Knull III

Mr. Trey Yates

Stephanie Larsen

Rini and Edward Ziegler

Carolyn J. Levy

Anonymous

Sharon Ley Lietzow and Robert Lietzow

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Founders Council for Artistic Excellence Houston Grand Opera is deeply appreciative of its Founders Council donors. Their extraordinary support over a three-year period helps secure the future while ensuring the highest standard of artistic excellence. For information, please contact Greg Robertson, chief advancement officer, at 713-546-0274 or grobertson@hgo.org.

Judy and Richard Agee Ajamie LLP Albert and Anne Chao / Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation

Mr. and Mrs. James W. Crownover Connie Dyer Drs. Rachel and Warren A. Ellsworth IV

Robin Angly and Miles Smith

Frost Bank

Baker Botts L.L.P.

Mr. and Mrs. Fred Griffin

Dr. Saúl and Ursula Balagura

Drs. Liz Grimm and Jack Roth

Michelle Beale and Dick Anderson

Dr. Ellen R. Gritz and Mr. Milton D. Rosenau Jr.

Mr. David Belanger

Houston Methodist

Zane and Brady Carruth

Ms. Marianne Kah

The Robert and Jane Cizik Foundation

Donna Kaplan and Richard A. Lydecker

Mathilda Cochran

Carolyn J. Levy

ConocoPhillips

Claire Liu and Joseph Greenberg

Sara and Gabriel Loperena

Jill and Allyn Risley

M. David Lowe and Nana Booker / Booker Lowe Gallery

Glen A. Rosenbaum

Beth Madison Eleanor Searle Whitney McCollum Foundation

Schlumberger Dian and Harlan Stai Mr. and Mrs. Donald G. Sweeney

John P. McGovern Foundation

Mr. John G. Turner and Mr. Jerry G. Fischer

The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation

Vinson & Elkins LLP

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

The Wortham Foundation, Inc.

Margaret Alkek Williams

Sid Moorhead

R. Alan and Frank York

Kathleen Moore and Steven Homer

3 Anonymous

Novum Energy Matthew L. Ringel

The Leadership Council The Leadership Council is a program designed to provide fiscal stability to Houston Grand Opera’s Annual Fund through three-year commitments, with a minimum of $10,000 pledged annually. We gratefully acknowledge these members.

Mr. and Mrs. Frank N. Barnes Dr. Michael and Susan Bloome Mr. and Mrs. Richard Burleson Anna and Joel Catalano Dr. Peter Chang and Hon. Theresa Chang Mr. Anthony Chapman Mr. William E. Colburn Mr. Efraín Z. Corzo and Mr. Andrew Bowen Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Davidson Joanne and David Dorenfeld

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Michelle Klinger and Ru Flanagan

Mr. and Mrs. Mark Metts

Ms. Patricia B. Freeman and Mr. Bruce Patterson

Ms. Elizabeth Phillips

Gerard and Christine Gaynor Leonard A. Goldstein and Helen B. Wils

Terrylin G. Neale Michelle and Chuck Ritter Kelly and David Rose John Serpe and Tracy Maddox

Mrs. Brenda Harvey-Traylor

Mrs. Helen P. Shaffer

Dr. and Mrs. Theodore J. Haywood

Mr. Georgios Varsamis

Ann and Stephen Kaufman Jan and Nathan Meehan

The Production Funders Houston Grand Opera is internationally acclaimed for its onstage excellence. Ensuring the exceptional quality of our productions and the creativity of our artistic forces — singers, conductors, directors, designers — is our highest priority. The art we make onstage is the foundation for everything we do. For information about joining The Production Funders, please contact Greg Robertson at 713-546-0274 or grobertson@hgo.org.

Judy and Richard Agee Bank of America Robin Angly and Miles Smith Janice Barrow BBVA

The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Sara and Bill Morgan

The Brown Foundation, Inc.

National Endowment for the Arts

Sarah and Ernest Butler

Novum Energy

Anne and Albert Chao

Drs. Liz Grimm and Jack Roth

Louise G. Chapman

Fayez and Susan Sarofim

The Robert and Jane Cizik Foundation

Schlumberger

Mathilda Cochran

Dian and Harlan Stai

ConocoPhillips

Mr. John G. Turner and Mr. Jerry G. Fischer

The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts

John C. Tweed

Connie Dyer Frost Bank Houston Grand Opera Endowment, Inc.

Vinson & Elkins LLP Margaret Alkek Williams The Wortham Foundation, Inc.

Finalist – Best Travel Book of 2019

Lynn Wyatt

Foreword Magazine Indies

Houston Methodist

Bronze Medalist – Best Travel Essay

The Humphreys Foundation

Independent Publisher Book Awards

Donna Kaplan and Richard A. Lydecker

Honorable Mention – Best Travel Book

Claire Liu and Joseph Greenberg Will L. McLendon

National Association of Travel Journalists “This book contains some of the most astonishing tales I’ve ever encountered.

One after another. They make for obsessive reading.”

—Tim Cahill, best-selling author of Jaguars Ripped My Flesh “The entire point of travel is to encounter the unimaginable. Gina and Scott Gaille have collected some of the most remarkable tales to ever see the light of day. A hoot to read.”

—J. Maarten Troost, best-selling author of Headhunters on My Doorstep

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NEWS AND NOTES

REMEMBERING ED BERKELEY Teacher, director, mentor, and friend

Ed Berkeley was a teacher and director of rare scope and experience, and countless American singers of the last four decades were directly influenced by his generous teaching style at the Juilliard School, the Aspen Music Festival, and here at HGO. Ed Berkeley's loss is keenly felt by so many at HGO.

The early weeks of this year’s Aspen Music Festival, where I now co-direct the opera program with soprano Renée Fleming, were filled with joy and hopefulness, dominated by the energy of the preternaturally gifted young artists whose studies have been truncated and altered by the pandemic. The last days of Ed’s life were spent directing Mozart’s sublime The Magic Flute in Aspen, and I feel privileged to have collaborated with him on it as conductor. The energy with which the students approached this production could have powered Texas, and Ed took much joy from being with them.

Renée and I have inherited the directorship of the opera program from Ed Berkeley, who ran it for 38 years. Ed was a born teacher who shepherded so many young artists through their first operas, including Renée, that no successor to him could hope to match his achievements. His influence across the opera world is keenly felt at Houston Grand Opera: Richard Bado was one of Ed’s closest friends, making this a time of enormous personal loss for him. Khori Dastoor, HGO’s new General Director, is an Aspen alumna who was mentored by Ed as a young soprano. Brian Speck, Director of the HGO Studio, was an Aspen student and highly influenced by Ed, as was HGO Director of Development David Krohn, who is also an accomplished

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baritone. And HGO Dramaturg Jeremy Johnson, in his dual position as Manager of Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS which began this year, will always feel Ed’s mentorship even though he knew him a short time. Ed’s own work as a director at HGO, which covered a unique range of repertoire – from Copland’s The Tender Land to several iterations of our Studio Showcase, will be remembered fondly across the company.

On July 18, 2021, a few hours before we opened The Magic Flute, Ed died in his Aspen apartment at age 76. The cast learned of his passing at 6:45 before the 7 p.m. performance. His life ended in the place he loved most, in the Rocky Mountains, and it ended with Mozart. His professional life was an unbroken series of opening doors, helping countless artists discover their journeys into a life of music.

Ed’s last lesson was to teach a cast of gifted artists how to perform through heartbroken shock. Mozart, as always, gave us all a glimpse of a world better than any of us can imagine, and we can hope and know that Ed is now at peace in that world as well. —Patrick Summers

NEWS AND NOTES PHOTO BY ARIELLE DONESON

Thanks to this gift, HGO is bringing Goerke back to Houston in January to perform the role of Madame Lidoine in Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites.

It’s a rare opportunity to see this international superstar in an opera HGO hasn’t performed in decades.

“Christine is one of the greatest artists in opera, and she has one of the longest continuous legacies at HGO, having been our radiant Brünnhilde in Wagner’s Ring,” shares HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers. “What a joy that she will lead the Carmelites cast.”

SENSATIONAL SOPRANO Christine Goerke, this season’s Lynn Wyatt Great Artist, makes her thrilling return to Houston.

Christine Goerke is possessed of a voice so incredible, she makes singing Brünnhilde look easy. The powerful dramatic soprano, who stands out even among opera’s most exalted stars, has been named this season’s Lynn Wyatt Great Artist.

The Lynn Wyatt Great Artist Fund, an endowed fund dedicated to bringing the world’s best artists to HGO, was established in 2010 by Oscar Wyatt in honor of Lynn Wyatt’s many years of philanthropy and service to the company.

STAY SAFE!

THAT’S A WRAP!

Together, we can enjoy great art and conquer COVID-19.

HGO Digital: a hit, and here to stay.

As things inch back to normal, it’s important that our audiences feel comfortable, proceed with care, and respect those around them. To ensure that we all remain safe while enjoying the incredible 202122 season, HGO strongly recommends the following:

The very first season of HGO Digital, the Sarah and Ernest Butler Performance Series, was born of necessity during the pandemic. Each month from September 2020 through May 2021, the Opera offered a bimonthly roster of digital performances—including Live from The Cullen recitals, chamber operas, and other operatic works—to an art-hungry public.

So many people tuned in for HGO Digital, we’re bringing it back for the 2021-22 season. Here’s who watched during year one:

• Vaccinate yourself and your loved ones. This is your number one weapon against COVID-19.

• Wear a mask in spaces like the Wortham, including in the Grand Foyer and in your seats.

• Advise HGO if you prefer socially distanced seating.

Goerke last performed with HGO in 2018, as the titular character in Elektra, in a portrayal Summers recalls as “one of the most talked about performances in recent memory.”

218,171

TOTAL HGO DIGITAL VIEWERS, WITH

85%

watching from the U.S.

15%

watching internationally

OF THE U.S. VIEWERS,

65%

watched from Texas

35%

watched from outside the state

• If you feel sick, please stay home!

HGO will honor your tickets at another date.

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NEWS AND NOTES

HGO STUDIO STARS Opera singers who trained in Houston shine at the 2021 Grammys.

Alumni of the HGO Studio, the Opera’s prestigious training program for young artists, were well-represented at this year’s Grammy awards.

A group of HGO Studio alumni including Reginald Smith, Jr. (pictured) won in the Best Opera Recording category.

Eric Owens (1995-97), Denyce Graves (1988-90), Frederick Ballentine (YAVA 2011), and Reginald Smith, Jr. (2013-15) also won, in the Best Opera Recording category, for their work on the Metropolitan Opera’s recording of Porgy and Bess.

HGO Studio Director Brian Speck said it was gratifying to see so many alumni recognized among this year’s winners and nominees. “We are fortunate to have such a high level of talent in our HGO Studio artists,” he said, “and our wish is to see their musical and artistic gifts shared with the world.”

The honorees included Ryan McKinny (2005-08), who won for his work as a soloist in the Best Classical Compendium category for Michael Tilson Thomas’s From the Diary of Anne Frank & Meditations on Rilke.

H O U S T O N

G R A N D

Joyce DiDonato (1996-98) was nominated for a Grammy for Best Opera Recording for Agrippina. Nicholas Phan (2002-05) and Myra Huang (2001-03) were nominated in the Best Classical Vocal Album, for Clairières – Songs by Lili and Nadia Boulanger. And Laquita Mitchell (200205) was nominated in the Best Choral Performance category for Sanctuary Road.

“These artists have a great impact on the world through their performances,” said Speck, “and their deep connection with HGO brings special meaning to these awards for our company and city.”

O P E R A

This six-year multidisciplinary initiative is designed to highlight the universal spiritual themes raised in opera and to expand and deepen Houstonians’ connections to opera and to art.

The theme for 2021-22 is Character and includes Carmen, The Snowy Day, Dialogues of the Carmelites, and Turandot.

LEAD FUNDERS Harlan and Dian Stai Lynn Wyatt

Elizabeth Phillips Mr. and Mrs. Donald G. Sweeney The Wortham Foundation, Inc.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation The Brown Foundation, Inc.

Albert and Anne Chao/Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation

Mathilda Cochran

Mr. John G. Turner and Mr. Jerry G. Fischer

Connie Dyer

Louisa Stude Sarofim Foundation

Claire Liu and Joseph Greenberg

For information on providing leadership support for Seeking the Human Spirit, please contact Greg Robertson at 713-546-0274 or grobertson@hgo.org.

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Khori Dastoor has been tapped to lead HGO into the future.

PHOTO BY LYNN LANE

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Meet Khori Dastoor!

There’s a new general director in town, and we could not be more thrilled to welcome her to the HGO family. We’ll get to know her much better in the months ahead, but here’s a few things to know about her right this minute: Name: Khori Dastoor Hometown: Pasadena, California The start of an operatic love affair: “I joined the LA Children’s Chorus when I was 7 or 8. My experience with opera started that way—with Plácido backstage, and singing in Carmen, and getting home really late, and then going to school the next morning. Ultimately, I couldn’t find anything else that was as thrilling as opera.” She still hasn’t!

Education: Bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from the New England Conservatory of Music; master’s degree in Opera Studies from UCLA; a portion of a doctorate from UCLA, before her career as a soprano took off and she joined Opera San José’s resident ensemble of principal artists

Look for more on HGO’s new general director in the fall edition of Opera Cues!

Experience: “I was a working soprano for 12 years,” Dastoor shares. “I did that out-of-a-suitcase thing, performed in the smoke and in the snow, getting jobs in a lot of different styles, in a lot of different languages, and in a lot of different countries.” She went on to join the Packard Humanities Institute in Silicon Valley, where she was named associate director, responsible for initiatives encompassing arts, music, and archaeology. Her work with the foundation allowed her to gain experience in supporting the grant administration process and to think about funding—how it works, and, she explains, “what organizational health looks like in a creative context.” In 2013 Dastoor joined Opera San José as Artistic Advisor, and in 2019 she became General Director, earning a reputation for hands-on, entrepreneurial artistic and administrative leadership.

Superpowers: Knowing how to pick the right people, whether a spouse, a Violetta, or a director of development. Listening to others—artists, administrators, patrons, other stakeholders—to determine the path forward.

Favorite opera to perform: Massenet’s Manon Favorite opera to watch: Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi Why she loves opera: “When I’m at the opera, I have the privacy and space to experience very big emotions in connection with other people but from the safety of my own seat. I don’t really have other outlets for that in modern life—as a parent, as a wife, as a working person—where that intensity of emotion is something I can experience.”

Family: Husband (“he’s a civilian, which is important”); two daughters Her picks to join her on a (fictional) panel on art and America: Amanda Gorman, Dolly Parton, Philip Glass On her new job with HGO: “I’m still pinching myself. There’s no other institution in the world where I feel that I could have the impact I want to have, pursuing my ambition around creating the new American stories for the stage, for patrons who are going to be consuming it 50 years from now.”

Non-operatic goal as a new Houstonian: “To find the best barbecue in town!”

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Claude Monet, Boats on the Beach at Étretat, 1883, oil on canvas, Bemberg Foundation. © RMN-Grand Palais / Mathieu Rabeau

Henri Matisse, View of Antibes, 1925, oil on canvas, Bemberg Foundation. © 2021 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Photo: © RMN-Grand Palais / Mathieu Rabeau

5601 Main St. • 713.639.7300 • mfah.org/monetmatisse

•

#MonetToMatisseMFAH

•

This exhibition is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Bemberg Foundation in collaboration with Manifesto Expo.

Scan and Learn More Generous funding provided by: The Favrot Fund Samuel F. Gorman Carol and Mike Linn Sidley Austin LLP Ann G. Trammell Additional Museum support provided by a Cultural District grant from

Now Open

The return of Houston Grand Opera’s live performances

By Patrick Summers, Artistic and Music Director, Houston Grand Opera

Dialogues of the Carmelites has no equal in the repertoire.

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T

here is a well known and quite moving tradition in the theater called the ghost light. The ghost is a bright light at center stage that is on whenever a theater is empty, which pre-pandemic meant mostly at night, from the end of a performance to the next working day. The ghost light has a pragmatic purpose, of course, for safety. During the pandemic, though, the ghost light has become a powerful symbol: it says “we will be back.”

And here are the happiest four words I have written in 16 months: we will be back.

The ghost lights of the world’s theaters have been glowing for too long, and too many artists have been severed from what they were born to do. Theaters exist for bringing people together, and that has been the one thing we have not been able to safely do in the wake of a public health catastrophe. HGO has certainly not been idle: to replace the nine productions the coronavirus forced us to cancel, we produced 25 releases for HGO Digital, the Sarah and Ernest Butler Performance Series, plus a few extras, and we are a proud company of all of them. We’ve also produced 50 Monday Night Opera programs, plus much else, all while coming to terms with the same harsh realities of the The season brings Mozart's The Magic Flute as you have never seen it before.

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pandemic being faced all over the world.

Our return to live performances feels like more than just an oasis in a desert; this is a homecoming that arrives at the end, or at least the beginning of the end, of the most profound existential crisis the live performing arts have ever faced.

It is no revelation to anyone that the past 16 months have been devastating to the arts, but it is important to remember that artists have been hit uniquely hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Artists and all of the many others in careers which support them largely had no safety net to protect their free-lancing lives. Artists plan their budgets for children, schools, mortgages, and all of life’s necessities with meticulous care based on what they can predict from their income. Solo artists like opera singers get paid only when they perform, composers when they compose, etc., and all of the many performers and theatrical artisans of all kinds who comprise an arts company are dependent on the live performing arts not only for their livelihood but for their sense of purpose and humanity.

Art is not just a profession—it is a passionate calling on many levels, a spiritual quest, and we long for the ghost light to be turned off, the house lights lowered, and the real lights, those great theatrical lights that make actors come alive and create sunsets and rainstorms, to start their magic again.

So, yes, it has been a long and difficult journey for the family of Houston Grand Opera, as it has been for everyone. Dear audience, we have missed you most of all.

We have missed the live sound of singing and playing. We have missed the stage manager calling “half hour.” We have missed being together. We have missed costumes and make-up and ushers and dinners before the performance and celebratory drinks after. We have missed our colleagues. We have missed Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, and Puccini. We have missed, surprisingly, applause. When it was first mentioned in the summer of 2020 that there might be no live performances in the United States until the autumn of 2021, we were breathless, unable to imagine such a long time away. Yet now, here we are.

There is so much to look forward to next season, so many artists to cherish, and so many things to bring us together: Carmen, The Snowy Day, Dialogues of the Carmelites, The Magic Flute, Turandot, Romeo and Juliet. Are there highlights? An opera season, for me and all of my HGO colleagues, consists entirely of highlights winnowed down from thousands of ideas over the years. But all parents have favored children, and I have mine: The Snowy Day is the most important opera of next season because it is the future of the art. Its brilliant

Turandot showcases Robert Wilson's painterly formalism.

young composer, Joel Thompson, together with the librettist Andrea Davis Pinkney, have found a gentle and moving vision for the future of the art, in an opera that can’t help but make you feel better about life.

Our cast for Dialogues of the Carmelites is a group of profound artists.

Francis Poulenc’s searing and moving opera tells the true story of a group of Carmelite nuns during the French Revolution who refused to renounce their

you can only make one opera next year, make it this one. You’ll never forget it.

A brilliant young cast brings the insights of a new generation to Rob Ashford’s choreographic Carmen. Barrie Kosky, who directed our magnificent Saul production, directs Mozart’s glorious Magic Flute as you have never seen it before, as an Edward Gorey surrealist fantasy—and how we need Mozart’s magnificent journey from nature to culture, full of trials and whimsy.

Robert Wilson’s painterly formalism will transform the fairytale of Turandot into a passionate meditation on otherness, far from the clichés of western portrayals of China. Romeo and Juliet will feature one of today's greatest tenors, Michael Spyres, someone whose vocal artistry harkens back to a golden age.

He leads a thrilling cast, with the Guatemalan soprano Adriana González as his starcrossed Juliet.

I know I speak for every person involved in Houston Grand Opera when I express multiple layers of gratitude to many people: gratitude for you who will join us next season, gratitude that you have supported us through this terrible time, gratitude that we will all be together making music again, and gratitude that we will see each other soon.” faith and were sent to the guillotine. Within this remarkable score we experience every crisis of faith and meaning that humans have faced for generations. This operatic drama has no equal in the repertoire. If

I am in deep gratitude for the many operas I have conducted in Houston over many years here, and I look forward to leading The Snowy Day, Dialogues of the Carmelites, and Romeo and Juliet next season. For the first time in our history, or the first time in the history of any company for that matter, every other opera next season will be conducted by a woman. HGO’s Principal Guest Conductor, Eun Sun Kim, will conduct Turandot, and her colleagues Lidiya Yankovskaya and

Jane Glover​​​​​​join her on the podium next year. I look forward to a time when it is not newsworthy that half of a season’s podium time is privileged with women. HGO welcomes the richness of this moment with these brilliant maestri.

There is lots to look forward to, and I know I speak for every person involved in Houston Grand Opera when I express multiple layers of gratitude to many people: gratitude for you who will join us next season, gratitude that you have supported us through this terrible time, gratitude that we will all be together making music again, and gratitude that we will see each other soon.

Our fellow Texan, Dan Rather, born in Wharton 89 years ago, has eloquently articulated a lot of American life in his long career. Just a few short months before the invisible airborne contagion shaped like a crown reordered our world, he spoke a great truth about art. How could he have been so prescient? On September 8, 2019, Rather wrote: “Somewhere, amid the darkness, a painter measures a blank canvas, a poet tests a line aloud, a songwriter brings a melody into tune. Art inspires, provokes thought, reflects beauty and pain. I seek it out even more in these times. And in so doing, I find hope in the human spirit.”

The ghost light needs a rest. We will see you at the Wortham!

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YOUR LEGACY

COUNTS Who will enjoy world-class opera because of your generosity?

By including HGO in your will or as a beneficiary of your retirement plan or insurance policy, you become a partner with HGO in perpetuating the art form we love, sustaining its vibrant good health for future generations. As a member of the Laureate Society, your legacy gift helps ensure opera forever in Houston.

For more information, please contact Richard Buffett at 713-546-0216 or rbuffett@hgo.org.

HGO.org/LaureateSociety

Ana María Martínez and Brandon Jovanovich in Carmen. Photo by Lynn Lane

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PAGE TO STAGE

The librettist for The Snowy Day reflects on turning the beloved book into an HGO world premiere opera, and why the story resonates as much today as in 1963.

By Andrea Davis Pinkney

I

was a brown-skinned baby born in the inner city. Mommy and Daddy hoped that someday their daughter would grow up to see the great reality of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream—that all children would be judged by the content of their character.

With this in mind, they purchased a copy of The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. The book had just been published. At that very same time, three pivotal things happened. Dr. King delivered his landmark “I Have a Dream” speech, just blocks from where I was born. Weeks later, four Black girls were killed in a racially motivated bombing at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. That same year, 1963, The Snowy Day won the Caldecott medal, the highest honor an illustrated book for children can receive. In the midst of turbulent social change, Keats’s vision for children’s literature held bright promise.

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On the one hand, thanks to Dr. King’s dream, there was great hope on the horizon. And yet, like a dark cloud, anxiety and uncertainty hung in the air around the unthinkable deaths of those little girls.

I can only imagine the fear my parents felt having just welcomed their newborn daughter into the world. Thankfully, The Snowy Day was there to greet me and many children. While a picture book can never erase a tragedy, Keats’s story and colorful illustrations somehow made our troubled world feel better. Among so much upheaval, there was Peter, The Snowy Day’s spirited protagonist, an African American boy in a red snowsuit.

Librettist Andrea Davis Pinkney read The Snowy Day with her parents as a young girl.

The landmark children’s book was groundbreaking. It was the only mainstream book that featured a Black child as the central character. Peter spends his day crunching through the snowy streets of his urban neighborhood. He’s curious, and filled with undeniable exuberance. The story instantly resonated with readers of all races. The Snowy Day never mentions Peter’s skin color, nor does any of the advertising or flap copy that tells readers what the story is about. Peter’s journey is packed with universal appeal. When, like a beautiful snow, that book fell into their lives, readers rejoiced.

We all needed The Snowy Day when it arrived. Now, nearly 60 years later, Ezra Jack Keats’s words and pictures still bring comfort to millions of children and adults, touching the souls of readers from every

leaping onto a sled! Then came countless considerations in adapting the work to be realized in the operatic form.

The Snowy Day is universally beloved by generations of readers. The story’s familiarity brought unique challenges and opportunities. The book has sold ten million copies worldwide, and has been translated into 12 languages. It’s considered by the Library of Congress to be one of the books that has shaped America. In a BBC poll, The Snowy Day was included as one of a select group of stories that has changed the world. It was named one of the 100 Most Important Children’s Books of the 20th Century by the New York Public Library, and is the most checkedout book within that library’s history, including books for children and adults.

There’s a shared consciousness that exists around The Snowy Day. At the same time, a new generation of readers is encountering The Snowy Day for the very first time, or has only a passing familiarity with Keats’s creation.

My first role in crafting the libretto was to approach the storytelling with these aspects in mind. I felt it important to honor the integrity of Keats’s original story, staying as close to its core as possible.

Because many audiences will come to the opera with expectations, I wrote with Keats’s original Snowy Day as my compass, while reconceiving the story as a theatrical piece.

As opera audiences become more diverse, I felt it crucial that, like Keats’s literary canon, the opera be one that crosses ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic lines.” walk of life. Only a great book has the power to do that.

A NEW OPERA When HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers contacted me to craft the libretto for an opera based on the timeless classic, I was like an eager kid 24

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As opera audiences become more diverse, I felt it crucial that, like Keats’s literary canon, the opera be one that crosses ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic lines. It’s been important to me that The Snowy Day bring a vibrant dimension to opera audiences to include those from underserved communities who may have never considered attending an opera. In crafting the libretto, it’s been my hope the production will extend a hand to diverse audiences in ways that have the power to

bring greater equity and inclusion among operagoers.

Pinkney holding the book, which still brings comfort to millions of children and adults nearly 60 years after it was first published.

In embarking on the libretto, the first consideration was how to bring Peter to life. In Keats’s book, Peter, and those around him, don’t speak. The libretto seeks to render the language of Peter’s inner world, and give voice to the characters who inhabit that world. The libretto’s poetry serves as a conduit to the human heart—a connection that brings a visceral experience to the characters and audience.

It’s virtually impossible to turn a book into a theatrical production without altering the material. And it’s even more challenging when adapting a timeless literary masterpiece. In crafting The Snowy Day as an opera, the story has been enhanced.

While there is no event in the opera that doesn’t occur in the book, the opera takes a new look at the original and its characters to create an exhilarating experience that doesn’t just dramatize The Snowy Day, but expands it by creating a theatrically vital event. While writing, I explored several innovative options. In the original Snowy Day, Peter’s mother appears as an ancillary figure. In the opera, her role is central to the story. At the top of the production, she sings Mama’s Misgivings, an aria that expresses the concerns of a Black mother whose child goes out to play while wearing a hoodie. The aria is one that gives voice to the realities of our nation’s racial reckoning.

After The Snowy Day was published, Keats wrote and illustrated several books that explore Peter’s neighborhood, friends, and family. Peter’s dad is introduced in the stories that follow The Snowy Day. In the opera, Peter’s father plays an important role as a means of presenting a fully intact African American family from the start.

DREAM TEAM It is my hope that when the curtain goes up, expectations will be immediately suspended. The audience will be ushered into an immersive theatrical tapestry that lets us fall in love anew with a story that has defined the childhoods of many.

The Snowy Day invites the audience to slip their feet into Peter’s boots and walk

Photos provided by Andrea Davis Pinkney.

with him on his journey toward selfunderstanding and empowerment. As with any theatrical adaptation, each audience member brings their own perspective to the experience. In this case, the goal is not to change Keats’s story, but to illuminate its essence so that each of us feels its power more deeply.

As with any theatrical endeavor, it takes a committed village to bring the vision to life. The Snowy Day has been created by a dream team. Patrick Summers, a brilliant visionary, first heard the music of composer Joel Thompson at the Aspen Music Festival, and immediately knew this rising talent’s singular virtuosity was that of an opera composer. Collaborating with Joel has been a remarkable experience. He’s a genius.

Soprano Raven McMillon, whose vocal powers bring an incomparable depth to the art form, originates the role of Peter, The Snowy Day’s main character. Soprano Karen Slack delivers riveting boldness to the role of Mama. Director Omer Ben Seadia’s directorial brilliance has revolutionized stage direction for both modern operas and classic works. Here, she skillfully expands the canvas on Keats’s classic. Dramaturg Jeremy Johnson’s astute insights throughout the process have illuminated the opera’s breadth in countless ways.

Inspired by this incredible team of collaborators, I’ve written the libretto with an eye toward inviting the music and voices to

celebrate the emotional storytelling that exists beyond the words to create a theatrical experience that’s accessible to the widest possible audience. None of this has been possible without the tutelage and guidance of Deborah Pope, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation, whose immense knowledge of Keats’s literary legacy remains an invaluable resource in staying faithful to his creative vision.

The simplicity of Keats’s storytelling and art allows each of us to draw our own personal meanings from its prism. There are as many interpretations of The Snowy Day as there are readers who love the book. To me, the story expresses the power of enchantment, as seen through a child’s exuberance.

Just as important is the idea that everyone is equal in the eyes of nature’s glistening winter quilt. Snow doesn’t choose where to fall—like an opera, its beauty and wonder are for everyone.

Andrea Davis Pinkney is The New York Times bestselling and Coretta Scott King award-winning author of numerous books, including A Poem for Peter: The Story of Ezra Jack Keats and the Creation of The Snowy Day. She is a four-time NAACP Image Award nominee, and recipient of both the Regina Medal and the Arbuthnot Honor Award, for her singular body of work and distinguished contribution to the field of literature. Pinkney has been inducted into the 2021 New York State Writers Hall of Fame.

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JUST THE FACTS

2021-22 PRODUCTION FUNDERS CARMEN GRAND GUARANTORS

Dian and Harlan Stai

DIALOGUES OF THE CARMELITES

TURANDOT

GRAND GUARANTORS

The Brown Foundation, Inc.

Dian and Harlan Stai GUARANTORS

Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation Margaret Alkek Williams UNDERWRITERS

GUARANTORS

Robin Angly and Miles Smith Janice Barrow Drs. Liz Grimm and Jack Roth UNDERWRITERS

Michelle and Chuck Ritter

Mr. and Mrs. David Rowan

THE MAGIC FLUTE THE SNOWY DAY

GUARANTORS

GRAND GUARANTORS

The Robert & Jane Cizik Foundation Claire Liu and Joseph Greenberg

Dian and Harlan Stai GUARANTORS

Robin Angly and Miles Smith The Robert & Jane Cizik Foundation

Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation UNDERWRITERS

THE ANDREW W.

MELLON FOUNDATION

Sara and Bill Morgan GRAND UNDERWRITER

UNDERWRITERS

Ms. Kiana K. Caleb and Mr. Troy L. Sullivan

Cynthia and Anthony Petrello The Powell Foundation Rini and Edward Ziegler 26

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PRINCIPAL GUARANTOR

GRAND GUARANTORS

Dian and Harlan Stai John G. Turner and Jerry G. Fischer GUARANTORS

The Robert & Jane Cizik Foundation Drs. Liz Grimm and Jack Roth Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation Margaret Alkek Williams Nina and Michael Zilkha UNDERWRITERS

Muffy and Mike McLanahan

JUST THE FACTS GO BEHIND THE SCENES OF HGO’S 2021-22 SEASON WITH DRAMATURG JEREMY JOHNSON

H G O. O R G

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HGO CLASSIC

BIZET

CARMEN Oct.

Oct.

Oct.

Oct.

Nov.

Nov.

Nov. † Nov.

22 24m 28 30 03 05

06

07m

† alternate cast

BACKGROUND Now one of the most famous and recognizable operas in history, Bizet’s Carmen was a critical disaster when it premiered in 1875 at Paris’s Opéra-Comique. Based on Prosper Mérimée’s story of the same name, Carmen depicted women in ways that were considered too scandalous for its time, with one review going as far as to say, “a plague on these females vomited forth from hell!” Bizet tragically died three months later, thinking his Carmen was a total failure.

THE STORY In Seville, Spain, the men of the town watch the cigarette factory women as they take a break from work. One of the women, Carmen, tells her friends that love is “a wild bird that cannot be imprisoned,” as she flirtatiously tosses a flower at a soldier, Don José. Micaela, a shy, modest girl from José’s hometown, brings him a letter from his mother. José resolves to honor his mother’s wishes to marry Micaela. Suddenly, screams are heard from the factory: Carmen has been in a fight and slashed another woman’s face.

José arrests her, but Carmen persuades him to let her escape by promising a future rendezvous.

Two months later, José’s commanding officer, Zuniga, tells Carmen that José was thrown in prison for allowing her to escape, but he has just been released. The bullfighter Escamillo arrives and asks Carmen if she could ever love him. El Dancairo and El Remendado, two smugglers, try to convince Carmen and her friends to accompany them on their next mission, but Carmen refuses, saying she is in love with José and is awaiting his return. When José arrives, Carmen dances for him, but a distant bugle sounds: he must return to the barracks immediately. As he is leaving, José encounters Zuniga, who has come to see Carmen. The jealous José strikes his superior officer. Now an outlaw, he has no choice but to desert the army.

Escamillo has come to the smugglers’ hideout in search of Carmen. He tells José he is in love with Carmen, and they start to fight. Micaela arrives to beg José to return home to his dying mother. Carmen urges him to leave, now bored with his jealousy; José is convinced she wants to get rid of him in order to be with Escamillo. José leaves with Micaela, warning Carmen that he will come back.

At Escamillo’s bullfight, Carmen’s friends warn her that José has been seen in the

Sung in French with projected English translation 28

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crowd. Carmen ignores them and bravely remains for a final encounter. José pleads desperately with her to come back to him. She tells him she can never love him again, and José, realizing that he can never possess Carmen, stabs her to death.

FUN FACT In the third act, Carmen reads her fortune in a deck of cards, and nonchalantly accepts that the cards predict her death. The originator of the role, Célestine Galli-Marié, was performing that scene one night when she coincidentally kept turning up spades, the harbinger of death. At that moment, she saw a premonition of Bizet’s death and fainted—the rest of that performance and the next were canceled: Bizet had died that very night.

“A brilliant young cast brings the insights of a new generation to Rob Ashford’s choreographic Carmen.”

—Patrick Summers CAST AND CREATIVE

CAROLYN SPROULE # SARAH MESKO †

Carmen LIDIYA YANKOVSKAYA * BENJAMIN MANIS †

RICHARD TREY SMAGUR # SCOTT QUINN # †

Don José

CHRISTIAN PURSELL *

Escamillo

HEIDI STOBER #

Micaela

ROB ASHFORD

DAVID ROCKWELL

JULIE WEISS

Conductor

Director/ Choreographer

Set Designer

Original Costume Designer

DONALD HOLDER

ADAM NOBLE

RICHARD BADO #

Lighting Designer

Fight Director/ Intimacy Director

Chorus Master

HOUSTON GRAND OPERA ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS

Sarah and Ernest Butler Chair

A revival co-production with Lyric Opera of Chicago * HGO mainstage debut # Former HGO Studio artist † Alternate cast

H G O. O R G

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WORLD PREMIERE

MUSIC BY JOEL THOMPSON LIBRETTO BY ANDREA DAVIS PINKNEY

THE SNOWY DAY

BASED ON THE SNOWY DAY, A BOOK BY EZRA JACK KEATS Dec.

Dec.

Dec.

Dec.

Dec.

Dec. † Dec.

09 10 11 12m 14 16

Dec.

Dec.

17 18 19m

† alternate cast

BACKGROUND In 1940, Life magazine published a strip of four photos of a little Black boy in Georgia, waiting for a blood test to be administered by a nurse. Ezra Jack Keats, a children’s book illustrator, cut out those photos and hung them on his studio wall as his inspiration. In 1962, those Life magazine photos from 22 years earlier inspired Keats's second book.

Keats wrote and illustrated The Snowy Day, the story of a little boy named Peter who is finally allowed to venture into the snow alone. The book won the 1963 Caldecott Medal, and it broke a persistent color barrier: Peter was the first Black boy to be the main character of a mainstream children’s book.

In 2016, acclaimed children’s author Andrea Davis Pinkney wrote A Poem for Peter, an homage to Keats and his legacy of Peter, the little boy who simply played in the snow. She was the perfect artist to become the librettist of an opera based on The Snowy Day, which would begin to evolve only a few months later.

Star soprano Julia Bullock brought the idea of basing an opera on The Snowy Day to Patrick Summers, HGO’s Artistic and Music Director. He, too, knew the book from his childhood, and the opera started to take form. In the summer of 2017, Patrick was teaching conducting at the Aspen Music Festival, when a 30

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conducting student brought out a score from one of the festival’s composition students—within 30 seconds, Patrick knew that this unidentified composer would be the perfect fit for The Snowy Day. Joel Thompson was that composer, and his unique and colorful musical voice has breathed new life into the story of Peter, beautifully adapted into poetic narrative by Pinkney. Eighty years after those pictures were published, the universal themes of Keats’s simple story jump off the page and into the theater for HGO’s 71st world premiere.

THE STORY Peter wakes up to the first snow of winter— the first winter where his parents have promised to let him play in the snow by himself. Overjoyed at the infinite possibilities of his snowy adventures, he starts to bound outside when Mama and Daddy remind him that he has to eat breakfast and put on his snowsuit. They lovingly tease him as they draw out his bundling as long as they can before letting him go—but not without a gentle warning to be careful.

As Peter enters the snowy world alone for the first time, he innocently wishes that the snow would last forever. Three older boys start a snowball fight, but they become frustrated at Peter’s inability to

keep up—they tease Peter and leave him behind. Peter meets Amy, and they play in the snow until the older boys return. One of them, Tim, stops the teasing when he sees the hurt it causes Peter and Amy. Tim plays with them until their fathers call them home. Peter quietly tucks a snowball into his pocket to bring home and keep forever.

At home, Mama helps Peter get ready for bed while Daddy leaves to work his night shift. Right before bed, Peter goes to get his snowball out of his jacket pocket, only to discover that it has melted. He dreams that his new friends and their snowy day all melt as well, until he awakens to another layer of snow and the promise of another day with his friends. Snow and childhood won’t last forever, but Peter, Amy, and Tim will enjoy both for as long as they can—together.

FUN FACT The Snowy Day has a fan in former first lady Michelle Obama, who told The New York Times it was one of her favorite books growing up. It is also the most checked-out title in the history of the New York Public Library.

“The Snowy Day is the most important opera of next season because it is the future of the art.”

—Patrick Summers CAST AND CREATIVE

RAVEN MCMILLON ‡ FLORA HAWK * †

ELENA VILLALÓN ‡ MARIA VALDES †

KAREN SLACK * AARIANNA LONGINO * †

NICHOLAS NEWTON # BLAKE DENSON ‡ †

ANDRES ACOSTA RICARDO GARCIA ‡ †

CORY MCGEE * ‡ HANS TASHJIAN * †

Peter

Amy

Mama

Daddy/Tim

Papi/Jasper

Billy

JOEL THOMPSON *

ANDREA DAVIS PINKNEY *

PATRICK SUMMERS BENJAMIN MANIS †

OMER BEN SEADIA

Librettist

Conductor

Composer

Director

Sarah and Ernest Butler Chair

AMY RUBIN *

JESSICA JAHN

Set Designer

Costume Designer

JEREMY JOHNSON

HOUSTON GRAND OPERA ORCHESTRA

Dramaturg

MICHAEL JAMES CLARK

Lighting Designer

COURTNEY D. JONES

Choreographer

Music by Joel Thompson, libretto by Andrea Davis Pinkney, based on the children’s picture book by Ezra Jack Keats. Opera initially conceived in collaboration with Julia Bullock. * HGO mainstage debut ‡ HGO Studio artist # Former HGO Studio artist † Alternate cast

Sung in English with projected English translation H G O. O R G

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GRIPPING DRAMA

POULENC

DIALOGUES OF THE CARMELITES Jan.

Jan.

Jan.

Jan.

14 16m 19 22

BACKGROUND In 1794, 16 members of the Carmelite convent in Compiègne, France, were executed by guillotine at the height of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, accused of sympathy for the monarchy and of illegally living as a religious community. In 1931, Gertrud von Le Fort wrote The Last at the Scaffold, an account of the Martyrs of Compiègne that introduces the fictional Blanche de La Force. Georges Bernanos was hired to adapt von Le Fort’s novel into a film screenplay; he died before the film could be produced, but the screenplay was later published as a stage play. Composer Francis Poulenc saw the play and adapted the opera libretto himself; the opera premiered at La Scala in 1957.

world. Blanche joins the order, and she meets Sister Constance, who tells Blanche that she had a vision of the two of them dying young together. On her deathbed, the prioress relates a fitful vision of their convent desecrated; she then places Blanche in the charge of Mother Marie and dies.

THE STORY

Madame Lidoine has been appointed the new prioress and, amid the rising anti-clericalism of the revolution, counsels the order on patience and humility, warning them against the temptation of easy martyrdom.

Blanche’s brother, the Chevalier, arrives to tell her that their father doesn’t think it is safe for her to remain in the convent, but she refuses to leave. Mother Marie thinks the destiny of their Carmelite order may be martyrdom, but Madame Lidoine says that martyrs are not chosen by their own will, only by God’s.

As the French Revolution begins in 1789, Blanche de La Force, the daughter of the Marquis, is surrounded in her carriage by an angry mob demonstrating against the aristocracy. Her timid, fearful nature prompts her to enter a convent, telling her father she doesn’t know how to live in the world. At the Carmelite convent in Compiègne, the prioress Madame de Croissy tells Blanche that the convent is a house of prayer, not a refuge from the

The Legislative Assembly, having already outlawed religious life, has nationalized the convent: as a mob surrounds the convent, two commissioners tell the sisters that they must remove their habits and leave. They will be allowed to live as private citizens, but they cannot have any more meetings or religious services— and they are warned that they will be watched.

The sisters, in Madame Lidoine’s absence, take a vow of martyrdom, but Blanche runs away. When Mother Marie later goes to find

Sung in French with projected English translation 32

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Blanche, she finds her forced into servitude in the pillaged house of her own father, who has been sent to the guillotine.

The Carmelites have been found guilty of illegal assembly and conspiracy against the government, and they are sentenced to death. As the crowds gather to witness the execution, the sisters sing a prayer to the Virgin Mary. One by one, they are led to the guillotine, and Blanche arrives to join her sisters in death.

FUN FACT The famously haunting ending of the opera is the Salve Regina, a Marian antiphon that Poulenc set for the sisters to sing as they go to their execution. Historic accounts of the real Martyrs of Compiègne say that the sisters were transported to the guillotine in an open cart for over two hours, and they reportedly sang the Salve Regina, Miserere, and evening vespers through the streets of Paris.

“This operatic drama has no equal in the repertoire. If you can only make one opera next year, make it this one.

You’ll never forget it.” —Patrick Summers CAST AND CREATIVE

NATALYA ROMANIW #

CHRISTINE GOERKE

Blanche

Madame Lidoine

ANNA CATERINA ANTONACCI *

JENNIFER JOHNSON CANO *

Lynn Wyatt Great Artist

Madame de Croissy

Mother Marie

LAUREN SNOUFFER #

ROD GILFRY

ERIC TAYLOR * ‡

ANTHONY DEAN GRIFFEY

Sister Constance

Marquis

Chevalier

Chaplain

PATRICK SUMMERS

FRANCESCA ZAMBELLO

HILDEGARD BECHTLER *

CLAUDIE GASTINE *

Sarah and Ernest Butler Chair

Director

Set Designer

MARK MCCULLOUGH

RICHARD BADO #

Lighting Designer

Chorus Master

HOUSTON GRAND OPERA ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS

Conductor

Costume Designer

Sarah and Ernest Butler Chair

* HGO mainstage debut

‡ HGO Studio artist

# Former HGO Studio artist H G O. O R G

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VISUAL SPECTACLE

MOZART

THE MAGIC FLUTE Feb. Feb.

Feb.

Feb. Feb. Feb.

04 06m 08 10 12 13m

BACKGROUND The Magic Flute was written in 1791 and was Mozart’s last opera, premiering only two months before his death. It was written as a Singspiel, a German theatrical structure that includes singing and speaking, though in this production the dialogue is removed. Barrie Kosky’s production of The Magic Flute has played internationally in over 20 cities to over half a million people.

Conceived with Suzanne Andrade and Paul Barritt of the British theater company “1927,” the new take on the classic fairy tale creates a silent-film aesthetic with remarkably complex video projections integrated with the singers.

THE STORY Three ladies, attendants of the Queen of the Night, save the young Prince Tamino from a fierce dragon. The Queen of the Night beseeches him to rescue her daughter, Pamina, who is being held captive by an evil sorcerer, Sarastro. The ladies show him a picture of Pamina; he falls instantly in love and agrees to rescue her. To protect him on his mission, the ladies provide him with a magic flute and the unwilling company of the bird-catcher Papageno. Three spirits guide the pair to their destination.

Papageno reaches Sarastro’s palace first and finds Pamina. He tells her that Tamino will be there soon to rescue her.

As Tamino approaches the temple, an old priest lets him in, telling him that Sarastro is not an evil man and that Tamino should not trust the Queen of the Night.

Papageno and Pamina are caught trying to escape, and they are brought in with Tamino before Sarastro, who says that Tamino must go through trials of wisdom and enlightenment in order to be worthy of Pamina’s hand.

Tamino and Papageno are sworn to silence throughout the trials, although Papageno quickly breaks his vow. Before the last trial, the vow of silence is lifted and Tamino and Pamina can speak again. She says she will undergo the final trials with him, and the music of the magic flute protects them as they walk through rooms of fire and water.

As they complete the trials of wisdom and enlightenment, the priests of the temple invite them to enter their brotherhood. The Queen of the Night is magically dispelled into the night, and Sarastro praises the ideals of wisdom and brotherhood.

Sung in German with projected English translation 34

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FUN FACT The highly symbolic text of The Magic Flute is said to be largely based on Masonic principles, as Mozart and Schikaneder were both Freemasons. The Age of Enlightenment had a significant effect on the text as well: enlightened absolutism was a theory of monarchical authority in which enlightened rulers worked for the welfare of all their subjects rather than only for themselves or for the elite classes. Enlightenment rulers prided themselves on their support for the arts, for wisdom, and for intellectual curiosity, all elements of Sarastro’s brotherhood. Emperor Joseph II was a friend and benefactor to Mozart and was considered one of the great Enlightenment rulers.

“How we need Mozart’s magnificent journey from nature to culture, full of trials and whimsy.” —Patrick Summers CAST AND CREATIVE

NORMAN REINHARDT # ANDREA CARROLL #

RAINELLE KRAUSE *

Tamino

Pamina

Queen of the Night

SUN-LY PIERCE ‡

TAYLOR RAVEN *

AARON PEGRAM

RAVEN MCMILLON ‡

Second Lady

Third Lady

Monostatos

Papagena

DAME JANE GLOVER

SUZANNE ANDRADE *

BARRIE KOSKY

TOBIAS RIBITZKI *

ERIK FRIEDMAN *

Original Director

Original Director

Revival Director

Associate Director

ESTHER BIALAS *

DIEGO LEETZ *

PAUL BARRITT *

RICHARD BADO #

KAREN REEVES

Set & Costume Designer

Original Lighting Designer

Animation Designer

Chorus Master

Principal Children Preparation

Conductor

ANTHONY ROBIN SCHNEIDER #

THOMAS GLASS #

Sarastro/Speaker

Sarah and Ernest Butler Chair

A Production of the Komische Oper Berlin

* HGO mainstage debut Co-Produced by Los Angeles Opera and Minnesota Opera Concept by "1927" (Suzanne Andrade and Paul Barritt) and Barrie Kosky

Papageno

‡ HGO Studio artist

SOULA PARASSIDIS *

First Lady

HOUSTON GRAND OPERA ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS

# Former HGO Studio artist

H G O. O R G

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NEW PRODUCTION

PUCCINI

TURANDOT Apr.

Apr.

Apr.

May

May

22 24m 30 03 06

BACKGROUND Between 1163 and 1197, Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi wrote his Khamsa, a quintet of epic poems. Haft Peykar, the fifth of the Khamsa, translates to “the seven beauties,” about the Sasanian king Bahram who builds a palace of seven domes for his seven princess brides. Haft Peykar is further divided into seven, as Bahram visits his brides and they each tell him a tale.

The tale of Turandokht, or Turandot, was included in a collection of Persian tales translated by French writer and Middle East scholar François Pétis de la Croix, which in turn was adapted into a play by Italian playwright Carlo Gozzi. Gozzi imposed the Italian commedia dell’arte tradition onto the tale and moved the action from its historical setting to a fictional, caricaturized China.

Gozzi’s play served as the inspiration for composer Giacomo Puccini and librettists Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.

THE STORY At the Imperial Palace in Beijing, any prince seeking to marry the Princess Turandot must first answer three riddles. If he fails, he will be executed. A young man named Calaf recognizes an old man as his long-lost father, Timur, the vanquished king of the Tartars. Calaf explains that his father’s enemies are pursuing him, and that, like Timur, he is an exile and must keep Sung in Italian with projected English translation 36

SUMMER 20 2 1

his identity a secret. The crowd calls upon Princess Turandot to spare her latest suitor, but she bids the execution to proceed. Calaf is transfixed by her beauty, and he strides to the gong to announce himself as a new suitor for Turandot’s hand. Timur and his servant Liù try to discourage Calaf, but he entrusts his father to Liù’s care and strikes the gong, calling Turandot’s name.

In front of the palace, the aged Emperor Altoum begs Calaf to reconsider, but the young man will not be dissuaded. Turandot recounts the story of the brutal murder of her ancestor Princess Lou-Ling by a conquering prince. In revenge, Turandot has determined that no man shall ever possess her. She poses her first question to Calaf, and he answers correctly. He correctly answers her second riddle, and Turandot is visibly shaken. She delivers her third riddle: What is like ice but burns? Calaf triumphantly cries “Turandot!” In vain, she begs her father not to give her to the stranger.

Calaf offers Turandot a challenge of his own: if she can learn his name by dawn, he will forfeit his life.

In the palace gardens, Calaf hears a proclamation: on pain of death, no one in Beijing shall sleep until Turandot learns the stranger’s name. Because Liù and Timur were seen talking to the stranger, soldiers take them in for questioning. Protecting Timur, Liù protests

that she alone knows the stranger’s identity.

At Turandot’s command, she is subjected to torture, but Liù refuses to betray Calaf. As the soldiers intensify the torture, Liù grabs a dagger and kills herself. Calaf remains alone with Turandot. He reproaches her for her cruelty, then melts her with a kiss. Love stirs her for the first time. She weeps, and in this vulnerable moment, Calaf reveals his name.

Turandot has won. Turandot triumphantly approaches the Emperor’s throne, announcing that she has learned the stranger’s name.

As she looks upon the vanquished Calaf, she tells the court the stranger’s name: it is Love.

Calaf rushes to embrace her, and the court hails the power of love.

FUN FACT The third epic of Ganjavi’s Khamsa, Leyli o Majnun or Layla and Majnun, is one of the most famous Arabic love stories, called—anachronistically, as it was written 400 years earlier—the Romeo and Juliet of the Middle East. The tale inspired the 1992 opera The Song of Majnun by composer Bright Sheng and librettist Andrew Porter, as well as what is considered the first Middle Eastern opera, Leyli and Majnun, by Azerbaijani composer and librettist Uzeyir Hajibeyov in 1908.

“Robert Wilson’s painterly formalism will transform the fairytale of Turandot into a passionate meditation on otherness.” —Patrick Summers CAST AND CREATIVE

TAMARA WILSON #`

KRISTIAN BENEDIKT *

NICOLE HEASTON #

PEIXIN CHEN #

TAKAOKI ONISHI *

Princess Turandot

Calaf

Liù

Timur

Ping

EUN SUN KIM

ROBERT WILSON

NICOLA PANZER

STEPHANIE ENGELN *

Conductor

Stage Director, Set and Lighting Designer

Co-Stage Director

Co-Set Designer

JACQUES REYNAUD *

MANU HALLIGAN *

JOHN TORRES *

TOMEK JEZIORSKI *

Costume Designer

Makeup and Hair Designer

Co-Lighting Designer

Video Artist

RICHARD BADO #

HOUSTON GRAND OPERA ORCHESTRA, CHORUS, AND CHILDREN’S CHORUS

Chorus Master Sarah and Ernest Butler Chair

Co-production with Teatro Real of Madrid, Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre Vilnius, Canadian Opera Company of Toronto, and Opéra National de Paris * HGO mainstage debut ‡ HGO Studio artist # Former HGO Studio artist H G O. O R G

37

NEW PRODUCTION

GOUNOD

ROMEO AND JULIET Apr.

May

May

May

29 01m 07 11

BACKGROUND The famously tragic romance between members of two feuding families originated in an early-16th century, semi-autobiographical novella by Italian writer Luigi da Porto. The story was embellished into a new version by his contemporary Matteo Bandello, which was then translated into English verse by Arthur Brooke and into English prose by William Painter. The English translations became the basis for William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, written in the early 1590s. In 1867, French composer Charles Gounod collaborated with librettists Jules Barbier and Michel Carré to adapt the Shakespeare into a French grand opera.

THE STORY Count Capulet throws a ball in honor of his daughter Juliet’s birthday. Among the crowd are some uninvited guests: Romeo and his friend Mercutio, members of the rival Montague clan. When Romeo catches a glimpse of Juliet, he falls immediately in love with her; and when they meet, she falls in love just as instantaneously. Still unaware of one another’s identity, the would-be lovers are interrupted by Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt.

He recognizes Romeo as a Montague, but he is restrained from attacking him

by Count Capulet so as not to create a scene at the ball.

Unbeknownst to Juliet, Romeo is hiding in the garden beneath her balcony when she calls into the night for him. He reveals himself and they declare their love. They are interrupted by Gregorio and the Capulet servants, who are searching for an intruder.

As they leave one another, Romeo and Juliet promise eternal devotion.

Romeo and Juliet meet with Friar Laurence, who agrees to marry them in the hope that their union may bring an end to the feud between their families. The page Stephano is waiting for his master Romeo, and he sings a disrespectful song which leads to a quarrel. Romeo arrives and tries to stop the fighting, but Tybalt kills Mercutio. In retaliation, Romeo kills Tybalt, but he is then banished from the city.

Count Capulet tells Juliet the dying wish of her cousin Tybalt: she must, on that very day, marry Paris, the nobleman her father has selected to be her husband. Neither Juliet nor Gertrude dares tell Count Capulet that Juliet has already married Romeo. In a plan to avoid her marriage to Paris, Friar Laurence gives Juliet a sleeping potion that will cause her to appear dead for 24 hours. When she wakes

Sung in French with projected English translation 38

SUMMER 20 2 1

up in her tomb, Romeo will be there for her. Romeo arrives, however, not having received the message from Friar Laurence that Juliet is only sleeping. Upon finding her apparently lifeless body, he poisons himself. Juliet awakens and they are reunited, but only briefly. The poison sets in, and Juliet, desiring to be united with Romeo in death, plunges his dagger into her heart.

FUN FACT Dozens of operas have been written about Romeo and Juliet over the last 400 years. Perhaps the most well-known after Gounod’s, Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi, has a rather different storyline from the versions by Shakespeare or Gounod. This is due to the difference in source material: the original da Porto was embellished

by Bordello, the English translations of which became the source for Shakespeare. The da Porto was also adapted into a play by Luigi Scevola, which became the source for librettist Felice Romani—bypassing the English versions altogether.

The set for this new production is inspired by Shakespeare's Globe.

“One of today's greatest tenors, Michael Spyres, leads a thrilling cast, with the Guatemalan soprano Adriana González as his star-crossed Juliet.”

—Patrick Summers CAST AND CREATIVE

MICHAEL SPYRES

ADRIANA GONZÁLEZ *

THOMAS GLASS #

NICHOLAS NEWTON #

Romeo

Juliet

Mercutio

Friar Laurence

PATRICK SUMMERS

TOMER ZVULUN

JOHN CONKLIN

Conductor

Director

Original Set Designer

JULIA NOULIN MÉRAT *

THOMAS HASE *

DONALD BYRD *

ADAM NOBLE

RICHARD BADO #

Lighting Designer

Choreographer/ Associate Director

Fight Director/ Intimacy Director

Chorus Master

Sarah and Ernest Butler Chair

Scenic Adaptation

DONNIE RAY ALBERT

Lord Capulet GREGORY GALE

Costume Designer

HOUSTON GRAND OPERA ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS

Sarah and Ernest Butler Chair

Co-production with The Atlanta Opera and The Dallas Opera * HGO mainstage debut ‡ HGO Studio artist # Former HGO Studio artist

H G O. O R G

39

2 0 2 1 -2 2 SE A S O N

H O U S T O N

G R A N D

O P E R A

Our

NEXT ACT is About to Begin!

Don’t miss your opportunity to be part of Houston Grand Opera’s triumphant return.

CARMEN Oct. 22–Nov. 7

JOEL THOMPSON ANDREA DAVIS PINKNEY

THE SNOWY DAY

Based on The Snowy Day, a book by

EZRA JACK KEATS

Dec. 9–19

POULENC

DIALOGUES OF THE CARMELITES

MOZART

THE MAGIC FLUTE Feb. 4–13

PUCCINI

TURANDOT Apr. 22–May 6

GOUNOD

ROMEO AND JULIET Apr. 29–May 11

Jan. 14–22

713-228-6737 / HGO.org

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Photo by Lynn Lane

BIZET

JENNIFER AND BENJAMIN FINK Chairs HGO’s signature white tie event returns with a dreamy Moroccan adventure and exotic festival of the senses. Join Houston’s most notable leaders and tastemakers for cocktails, dinner, a luxe silent auction, and dancing the night away.

Saturday, April 9, 2022 6:30 P.M. Wortham Theater Center Auction Chairs Teresa and José Ivo Tickets from $1,500* | Tables from $15,000 *Young Professional tickets $750

White Tie HGO.org/operaball

HGO.ORG/SPECIALEVENTS BR OOK E R OGE R S | 713- 546- 0271 | B R O G E R S @HG O. O R G H G O. O R G

41

HGO STUDIO

TAKING THE STAGE

Performing before thousands at the Wortham: more than a feather in a young singer’s cap

By Brian Speck

E

ach year the artists selected to train at the HGO Studio appear in major company productions on the Brown Theater stage. It’s an incredible opportunity that is easily observed from your seat in the house.

But if you turn yourself around and imagine gazing out from the perspective of the stage, you’ll see why this is an even bigger step for a young singer than it first appears. Think about standing on HGO’s stage, and imagine filling the whole theater with your voice— with no amplification, over the sound of an orchestra in the pit—all the while singing with beautiful tone quality, effortless musical phrasing, and precise diction.

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The first appearances in a singer’s career on a professional stage are a critical and eye-opening experience. When singers enter the HGO Studio, it isn’t uncommon to find that the largest theater they have had the opportunity to perform in as a soloist is one quarter the size of the Wortham Center’s magnificent space. Those early opportunities on smaller stages—in school, or with smaller opera companies—are an important part of the singer’s development and provide a safe space for learning the fundamentals. Singers joining the Studio are ready to take the next step, using the skills they’ve built to communicate with a larger audience and trusting their vocal technique to carry their voices into the hall.

So how do we know they’ll be able to do it?

During the audition process for the HGO Studio, we generally hear the singers perform a few arias in the theater, and that gives us the most complete information possible about how their voices will sound to an audience. But even if we don’t have that opportunity, we can imagine a voice in the space by listening for certain qualities in the artist’s singing. Those qualities go far beyond volume; classical singing is about efficiency, not loudness, and sometimes a sound that is incredibly loud up close can’t be heard a few rows into the theater.

The opposite can also be true—a voice that seems modestly sized in a smaller room may send shimmering, beautifully focused

HGO STUDIO

HGO Studio alumna Tamara Wilson is now accustomed to the spotlight.

PHOTO BY LYNN LANE

sound straight to the back row. If the sound is resonant, clear, healthy, and memorable, we can trust that it will carry. It is the clarity of the sound that rings in the space, like a bell. A singer who is forcing, darkening, or otherwise manipulating their voice to sound “big” in a smaller space is less likely to make an impact on a large stage.

who come to Houston to sing leading roles have a great deal of experience performing in large spaces, but for Studio artists, it is largely new. The chance to experiment, ask questions, and receive feedback from great directors builds the experience that allows Studio artists to progress on their journey to becoming leading artists.

Performing in a large theater also requires Studio artists to make adjustments as actors, and the chance to work with the renowned directors who lead HGO’s productions is essential to their professional development. Over the course of their time in the Studio, artists appearing on the stage learn to scale their dramatic choices to “read” in the theater. The visiting artists

This year, three new singers will join the HGO Studio and make their debuts with the company during our 2021-22 season.

Mezzo-soprano Emily Treigle will debut as Mother Jeanne in Dialogues of the Carmelites, alongside tenor Eric Taylor, who appears as the Chevalier. Baritone Luke Sutliff makes his company debut as El Dancairo in Carmen, with returning

Studio members Raven McMillon (Frasquita), Ricardo Garcia (El Remendado), Sun-Ly Pierce (Mercedes), and Blake Denson (Morales) making their mainstage debuts after performing in the alternative HGO Digital season last year, and William Guanbo Su performing the role of Zuniga.

Returning artists Elena Villalón and Cory McGee make their first appearances of the season in The Snowy Day, McGee’s first on the mainstage, joining other Studio members in the opera’s world premiere.

You will see all of the artists again later in the season, as they take advantage of each opportunity to step on the HGO stage to share their gifts with you and build toward their future careers.

H G O. O R G

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HGO STUDIO

THE NEW FACES OF THE HGO STUDIO

Luke Sutliff recently completed his Master of Music degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. For HGO’s 2021-22 season, he will perform El Dancairo in Carmen, M. Javelinot / Thierry in Dialogues of the Carmelites, and Mercutio in alternate cast performances of Romeo and Juliet. At the Shepherd School, he appeared as Kaiser Overall in Der Kaiser von Atlantis and Johannes Zegner in Proving Up. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Juilliard School, where he studied with the late Sanford Sylvan and made his Alice Tully Hall debut performing Fauré’s L’horizon chimérique. Sutliff previously performed the roles of Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Belcore in L’elisir d’amore at the Chautauqua Institute. Last summer, he had been set to make his debut in the role of Elder McLean in Susannah at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, but that was canceled due to COVID-19.

Sutliff joined Santa Fe Opera as an Apprentice Artist for summer 2021, covering the roles of Jon Seward in The Lord of Cries and Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

EMILY TREIGLE Mezzo-soprano New Orleans, LA

ERIC TAYLOR Tenor Saint George, UT

LUKE SUTLIFF Baritone Littleton, CO

Eric Taylor recently completed his Master of Music degree at Rice University, where he performed the roles of Sam Polk in Susannah and Tito in La clemenza di Tito. He was named the second prize winner in HGO’s 2021 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias. For HGO’s 2021-22 season, he will perform Chevalier in Dialogues of the Carmelites, First Armored Man in The Magic Flute, Pong in Turandot, and Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet. While pursuing his undergraduate degree in music at Westminster College, he performed several leading roles, including Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore and Rodolfo in La bohème, in addition to appearing in Carmina Burana with Salt Lake City’s Ballet West.

Taylor has participated in Apprentice Artist programs with Santa Fe Opera, Central City Opera, and Utah Lyric Opera. He had been set to perform in Santa Fe Opera’s Tristan und Isolde and HGO’s Werther and Parsifal last season, but those engagements were canceled due to COVID- 19. He was named a semi-finalist at the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions in 2017.

Emily Treigle was recently named a Grand Finals Winner in the 2021 Metropolitan Opera’s Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition and was the third prize winner in HGO’s 2021 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias. For HGO’s 2021-22 season, she will perform Mother Jeanne in Dialogues of the Carmelites and Gertrude in Romeo and Juliet. This spring, she covered the title role of L’enfant in L’enfant et les Sortilèges at Rice. In 2019, Treigle trained with HGO’s Young Artist Vocal Academy and participated in the Aspen Music Festival, where she portrayed Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night Music. This summer, she returned to Wolf Trap Opera as a Studio Artist for the second time. Previous roles include Bradamante in Alcina and Mrs. Ott in Susannah, an opera made famous by her grandfather, worldrenowned bass-baritone Norman Treigle. Treigle pursued her Master of Music degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where she received her Bachelor of Music degree last year.

HGO STUDIO ARTISTS 2021–22 Raven McMillon, soprano Kathleen Moore and Steven Homer/ Nancy Haywood Fellow Elena Villalón, soprano Mr. and Mrs. Harlan C. Stai Fellow Sun-Ly Pierce, mezzo-soprano Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Nickson/ John Serpe and Tracy Maddox Fellow Emily Treigle, mezzo-soprano Mr. and Mrs. James W. Crownover/ Mr. Veer Vashita Fellow

Ricardo Garcia, tenor Dr. Ellen R. Gritz and Mr. Milton D. Rosenau Jr./Michele Beale and Dick Anderson Fellow Eric Taylor, tenor Jill and Allyn Risley/ Sharon Ley Lietzow and Robert Lietzow/Drs. Rachel and Warren A. Ellsworth IV Fellow Blake Denson, baritone Gloria M. Portela and Richard E. Evans/ Carolyn J. Levy/Liz Grimm and Jack Roth Fellow

Luke Sutliff, baritone Lynn Gissel/Brenda Harvey-Traylor Fellow Cory McGee, bass Beth Madison Fellow William Guanbo Su, bass Anne and Albert Chao Fellow Alex Munger, pianist/coach Gary Hollingsworth and Ken Hyde/ Trey Yates/Dr. Saúl and Ursula Balagura Fellow Bin Yu Sanford, pianist/coach Stephanie Larsen/ Dr. and Mrs. Miguel Miro-Quesada/ Ms. Lynn Des Prez Fellow

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HGO STUDIO FACULTY & STAFF Brian Speck, Director

Kevin Miller, Assistant Conductor

Miah Im, Music Director

Madeline Slettedahl, Assistant Conductor

Jamie Gelfand, Studio Manager Brian Connelly, Piano Instructor Carlisle Floyd, Artistic Advisor Tara Faircloth, Drama Coach Stephen King, Director of Vocal Instruction Sponsored by Jill and Allyn Risley, Janet Sims, and James J. Drach Endowment Fund Patrick Summers, Conducting Instructor and Coach Sarah and Ernest Butler Chair Peter Pasztor, Principal Coach Sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. James A. Elkins Jr. Endowment Fund

Adam Noble, Movement Instructor Christa Gaug, German Instructor Raymond Hounfodji, French Instructor

SAVE THE DATES

Don’t miss these opportunities to hear HGO Studio artists! Purchase tickets to the events listed here online at HGO.org/scheduletickets/ calendar or by telephone at 713-228-6737.

Enrica Vagliani Gray, Italian Instructor Sponsored by Marsha Montemayor Kristine McIntyre, Showcase Director

Kirill Kuzmin, Principal Coach

HGO STUDIO SUPPORTERS The HGO Studio is grateful for the inkind support of the Texas Voice Center.

The Young Artists Vocal Academy (YAVA) is generously underwritten by Mr. and Mrs. Robert N. Wakefield and the HGO Guild.

Carol Lynn Lay Fletcher Endowment Fund

Additional support for YAVA is provided

by Mr. Patrick Carfizzi, Gwyneth Campbell, and David and Norine Gill. HGO thanks Magnolia Houston for outstanding support of the HGO Studio and YAVA programs.

Charlotte Howe Memorial Scholarship Fund

Additional support for the Houston Grand Opera Studio is provided by the following funds within the Houston Grand Opera Endowment, Inc.:

William Randolph Hearst Endowed Scholarship Fund Mr. and Mrs. Melvyn Hetzel

SEPT. 18 HGO STUDIO SHOWCASE The singers and pianists of the HGO Studio perform a program of opera scenes in Wortham Center’s Cullen Theater on Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. Free to season subscribers; nonsubscribers may purchase mezzanine tickets at HGO.org.

Elva Lobit Opera Endowment Fund Marian and Speros Martel Foundation Endowment Fund Erin Gregory Neale Endowment Fund Dr. Mary Joan Nish and Patricia Bratsas Endowed Fund

Sylvia Barnes and Jim Trimble The Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation Endowment Fund Marjorie and Thomas Capshaw Endowment Fund

John M. O’Quinn Foundation Endowed Fund Fellow Shell Lubricants (formerly Pennzoil Quaker State Company) Fund

James J. Drach Endowment Fund

Mary C. Gayler Snook Endowment Fund

The Evans Family

Tenneco, Inc., Endowment Fund

NOV. 11 & 14 HGO STUDIO RECITAL SERIES Hear HGO Studio artists perform in the intimate and elegant salon at Rienzi, the decorative arts wing of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, at 1406 Kirby Drive. Nov. 11 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 14 at 5 p.m.

Weston-Cargill Endowed Fund H G O. O R G

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HGOco

HGOco’s UNIQUE SEASON

Highlights from a year of discovery, adaptation, and learning just how much is possible when you’re determined to make it work

PHOTO BY LYNN LANE

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Zoie Reams stars as Marian Anderson.

HGOco

VIRTUAL REALITY How HGOco created art and meaningful connection while staying safe through COVID By necessity, the 2020-21 season for HGOco, the Opera’s community collaboration and learning initiative, took place almost entirely in the virtual realm or in socially distanced settings.

The season launched in August 2020 with HGO’s annual bootcamp for the incoming class of talented students training with our Bauer Family High School Voice Studio program. Over the course of nine months, students took part from home, working online in monthly masterclasses with a star-studded lineup of teachers: Ryan McKinny, Janai Brugger, Arturo ChacónCruz, Nicole Heaston, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Ryan Speedo Green, and Lindsay Kate Brown. The season concluded with a springtime performance at the Wortham’s Cullen Theater, where this year’s class met in person for the first time and received more than $9,000 in scholarships.

Also last August, Opera to Go! birthed its first filmed production into the world, the HGOco-commissioned world-premiere work, Katie: The Strongest of the Strong.

LIFTING HER VOICE Marian’s Song soars and soars.

With music by Damien Sneed and a libretto

by Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, world-premiere chamber opera Marian’s Song was the final work performed at the Wortham, in March 2020, before everything shut down. The acclaimed HGOco-commissioned work received new life for the 2020-21 season in two iterations: a filmed version offered to audiences during the HGO Digital season, and a pair of live performances in spring 2021 at Miller Outdoor Theatre.

The innovative opera shares the life of boundary-breaking Black American singer Marian Anderson, interspersing scenes from history with the present day as seen through the eyes of a modern-day Black

Starring Houston favorite Cecilia Duarte as real-life Austro-American weightlifter Katie Brumbach, it shares the timely and true story of Katie’s rise to fame and her contributions to the women’s suffrage movement. “I am fortunate to be able to perform during the pandemic, telling the story of a great woman that hopefully will inspire all the young audiences that get to watch it,” Duarte shared. “HGO took care of every detail, so we all felt safe putting this production together.” The program will be offered in virtual/in-person hybrid form for 2021-22. For more, see page 50.

Beloved HGOco program Storybook Opera also continued this season in a virtual format, with teaching artists engaging and entrancing over 2,200 students through computer screens all over Houston. Like Opera to Go!, the program will be available in hybrid form for 2021-22 season, with brand-new stories on offer.

For more on that, see page 48.

New this season was the Texas Opera Alliance, which HGO founded alongside

activist. Fusing spoken word poetry with opera, the work shares Anderson’s belief in the transcendent power of music and the urgent need for racial justice.

Eboni Bell served as assistant director for both the work’s premiere and the HGO Digital version, and director for the performances at Miller. “I got to learn about a piece of American history I was not aware of,” she shares. “Just like the character of Nevaeh from the show, my grandmother knew exactly who Marian was and told me all about the light she shined on opera and performance for the Black community.

I really enjoyed speaking with my grandmother about Marian’s real-life stardom and the positive effect it had on her to watch Marian break barriers.”

Bell also highlighted the importance of representation in opera, both onstage and in the audience. “HGO’s production makes

Austin Opera, The Dallas Opera, Fort Worth Opera, and OPERA San Antonio to share resources and content. Together these companies started the Teen Opera Club of Texas, for which young opera fans across the state met throughout the season, discussing their love of opera and growing their knowledge of the repertoire and industry.

HGOco’s work with The Women’s Home, Interfaith Ministries, Brigid’s Hope, Baker Ripley, and The Beacon began in September with Cultivating Empathy through Music & Storytelling, a program designed in part by Dr. Carleen Graham, which HGOco Community Initiatives Coordinator Andy Horton cleverly adapted for the virtual stage. The season also brought Songs on the Water, a socially distanced outdoor recital in collaboration with Buffalo Bayou Partnership, Carols on the Green in partnership with Discovery Green, and residencies with Houston Methodist and Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions. —Meredith Morse, HGOco Operations Manager

new, diverse audiences aware of Anderson’s struggle for equality, while creating space for representation on a modern stage,” she said. “The themes of Marian’s Song allow new openings into opera for folks who might not see themselves represented on a regular basis.” —MM

Poet Tina B as activist Nevaeh

HGOco

UNIVERSAL CONNECTIONS Collaboration, character, and Seeking the Human Spirit HGO’s six-year initiative, Seeking the Human Spirit (STHS), aims to connect Houstonians to the universal themes in opera through multi-disciplinary programming. The past year was no exception, even as the company shifted to presenting content online.

For example, HGOco innovated two STHS webinar series last season. Religare explored the connection between the elements of music and faith practice—rhythm, melody, harmony, text, and silence—in collaboration with the Institute of Spirituality and Health at the Texas Medical Center.

Guests from all over the country participated in these lively discussions. The second series, Music and Healing hosted by HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers, featured artists, non-profits, and medical professionals who bring art and science together for healing. Both series are available for free on HGO’s YouTube channel.

The company’s thoughts are now turning to the new season, this year’s STHS theme of “character,” and how it is explored in four

mainstage operas for 2021-22: Carmen, The Snowy Day, Dialogues of the Carmelites, and Turandot.

In each, the protagonist faces a choice: find the strength of character within, or succumb to weaknesses and insecurity. What grounds each of these decisions? Is it faith, community morality, self-determination?

Through next season’s programs, we will join our audience in exploring these questions while forging deep connections to the season’s characters. HGOco will conduct programs with partners including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Buffalo Bayou Partnership, the Institute for Spirituality & Health, the Asia Society Texas Center, Discovery Green, the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center, Emancipation Park Conservancy, and Houston Methodist Center for Performing Arts Medicine (CPAM).

Women’s Home for 2021-22. Public activities will include our popular “Songs on the Water” recitals with Buffalo Bayou Partnership, a multidisciplinary event at MFAH, and a second season of Music and Healing, making more connections between music and medicine. We look forward to bringing back in person activities this fall, as public health conditions allow. —Emily N. Wells, HGOco Senior Producing Manager

As they did through the pandemic, HGO’s private STHS programs will continue with Methodist’s CPAM and as part of our Courage to Search program at The

THE EVOLUTION OF STORYBOOK OPERA HGOco teaching artists give voice to new narratives.

Hands down, one of HGOco’s most beloved programs is Storybook Opera.

This staple program for pre-K to second grade students turns picture books and stories into live, interactive, performance-based presentations that highlight teaching artists’ vocal abilities. It is a unique and joyful experience to bring opera into a young person’s world for the first time and witness their wide eyes, giggles, and awe.

From the beginning, the program has reinforced reading and literary skills in students; more recently, it also has emphasized building social and emotional skills including considering others’ perspectives, appreciating diversity, and developing social awareness. Now, HGOco is expand48

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ing Storybook Opera to include absent narratives within our community by developing programming surrounding stories written and adapted by BIPOC artists.

Two new Storybook Opera works will be on offer for 2021-22. Lula the Mighty Griot was commissioned by HGOco, written

by Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, and adapted by artists Chabrelle Williams and Geoffrey Peterson, guided by music consultant Dr. John Cornelius. It recounts the tale of the wise and beautiful Speight Women, rulers of the South, who share stories in the tradition of the griot. Agua, Agüita & Fuego, Fuegito is based on two stories by Salvadoran author Jorge Tetl Argueta, as adapted by artists Blas Canedo and Alejandro Magallón. The work’s

themes center on the power of nature and the respect for the elements, focusing on music as a part of the natural world.

I sat down with the four artists who adapted the works and asked them about creating these exciting new programs: Alisa: How did you approach turning the text for Lula the Mighty Griot into a musical story presentation?

Geoff: I started by thinking about music that is familiar to me, and that has a good hook to it. So I thought back to what we would sing at camp, around the campfire every night, and the melodies that campers and counselors would pick up on maybe

HGOco the second or third time after the chorus came around. While Lula contains a lot of melodies that are original and unique to its story, there are hints of old camp songs, and African American spirituals, influencing all of these melodies.

Chabrelle: After reading through the story, I decided that anything musical added would be improvisatory given its campfire-like storytelling. With that in mind, I had to choose what notes/scale to riff off of.

After our sessions with John Cornelius, I was drawn to the African Pentatonic scale!

Alisa: How did that work for Agua, Agüita & Fuego, Fuegito?

Blas: I focus on the text to find the meaning of the story. I read the text out loud many times to feel the natural syntax and cadences of the language. Then I explore simple melodies, leitmotivs, riffs, and other elements of music, to adapt to the original text and to build on the meaning of the story as a whole.

Alejandro: Talking to the author was of great help; I got firsthand information on how he wrote the stories by sharing his own memories and experiences. The pristine nature of the two stories dictated the way we would approach them musically.

We created a couple of pentatonic motifs that represent the two characters in the now intertwined story.

Alisa: Why is Lula important for young people to hear?

Geoff: This story beautifully talks about embracing the features of one’s own body.

From empowering those with large afros crowned atop their head, to the importance of every part of a living being, Lula shows us that our bodies and our voices have the power to shape not only how we view each other, but also the world around us. Embracing these differences, celebrating the uniqueness of everyone, and valuing the whole person: this is what builds a universal sense of community.

rience so they will have more literature to relate to.

TEACHING ARTISTS

Alisa: What do you hope students take away from Agua, Agüita & Fuego, Fuegito?

Blas: This is a story that highlights the importance of looking at simple, small things...the essential things in life.

Alejandro: This story is fundamentally important, and it could not come at a better time. I believe we’re going through a serious, quite frankly dangerous stage as a society, in which empathy is at risk.

This story not only talks about the importance of love, kindness, and the importance of respecting and preserving our natural resources, but it also gives voice to lost narratives and underrepresented groups.

Alejandro Magallón

Chabrelle: You don’t find many stories, let alone legend-like tales, that feature a group of strong Black women.

I was immediately drawn to this concept as it reminded me of times when I was younger and would listen to the older women in my family just talk and tell each other funny stories about their life and experiences.

Blas: I think the story connects with me because I am Latin American. I am sensitive to how our natives think and feel about life and nature. History teaches us that they have more of a connection to nature and to community life than we usually do.

Alejandro: I was born in a country which has a similar cultural and historical background to the author’s. As I grew up, I had the opportunity to build bonding relationships with people of Nahuatl heritage, and I’m familiar with some of their stories.

Blas Canedo

Alisa: Do you feel a personal connection to Lula’s story?

Geoff: This story brings me back to sitting in an assembly in third grade and hearing the story of Anansi the Spider, and other folktales from both African and Native American traditions.

Not only are they fun to listen to, but they give us purpose.

Alisa: Does Agua, Agüita & Fuego, Fuegito relate to your own experience in any way?

Alisa: What do you hope children learn from experiencing the Storybook Opera program?

Geoff: I hope they look at each other with open hearts and minds, and celebrate the diversity of life!

Chabrelle: I hope they learn to fully embrace all of who they are as they grow.

Chabrelle Williams

Blas: I hope they learn from the wisdom of our natives, and that they appreciate the beauty and the power inside little things, which are essential.

Geoffrey Peterson

Alejandro: I hope they learn about the importance of growing in an environment that lives in harmony, and that they can take an active role in achieving it. – Alisa Magallón, Interim Director of HGOco

Chabrelle: This story is important because there is nothing else like it right now. I would say it’s especially important for young Black and brown youth to expeH G O. O R G

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HGOco

HYBRID ART The Barber of Seville in Texas: Opera to Go! for a world in recovery For HGOco’s 2020-21 season, Opera to Go! went all virtual for the first time with the digital world premiere of Katie: The Strongest of the Strong (Chiao/Dudley).

Now, with uncertainty continuing through fall 2021 due to COVID-19, the need to protect the safety of students and artists remains paramount. And so, HGOco has decided on another new approach: a hybrid digital/live Opera to Go! offering, Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville in Texas, adapted by librettist Kristine McIntyre.

In May of 2021, a team of world-class singers rehearsed and recorded this new bilingual adaption of Rossini’s beloved comic opera, in which language divides a young couple as much as a stubborn uncle.

Opera’s most famous barber, Figaro, plays the role of translator as Rossini’s sparkling, witty score takes center stage. Alternately sung in English and Spanish, this comic opera is sure to engage students and teachers alike.

(Rosina), and Stephen Ash (Almaviva), led by the fearless Cecilia Duarte (Renata in Cruzar la Cara de la Luna) in her directorial debut. Throughout the fall, schools will be able to stream the production for their students and invite artists onto their campuses for a solo “mini recital” that introduces students to the operatic voice and the diverse career paths a singer can take.

In the spring, a fully staged tour will be launched, marking the long-awaited return of HGOco’s flagship learning program.

Filming Opera to Go! works allows HGOco to expand our reach beyond the city limits of Houston. Live performances will always be our bread and butter, but we are so excited with the possibilities a hybrid experience offers to students everywhere.

—Kathleen Brown, HGOco Interim Education Manager

The film features Blas Canedo (Figaro), Hector Vásquez (Bartolo), Jessica Blau

The digital tour for Opera to Go! runs from September-December 2021; inquire for pricing. The program’s in-person tour runs January 19–May 13, 2022; $625 for one performance / $1,100 for two back-to-back performances. Email operatogo@houstongrandopera.org to book either a virtual or in-person experience for your classroom, library, or community center.

HGOco Funders Grand Guarantor

Grand Underwriter

The Elkins Foundation

The Powell Foundation

Guarantors

Underwriters

The Brown Foundation, Inc.

Judy and Richard Agee

City of Houston through the Miller Advisory Board

Ruth and Ted Bauer Family Foundation

ConocoPhillips

Rosemary Malbin

William Randolph Hearst Foundation

R. Alan and Frank York

H-E-B

Wells Fargo Supporters

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™

Adrienne Bond

Kinder Foundation

Nana Booker and David Lowe/ Booker · Lowe Gallery

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Bill and Sara Morgan OPERA America

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Lawrence E. Carlton, M.D., Endowment Fund The Cockrell Family Fund James J. Drach Endowment Fund

Trish Freeman and Bruce Patterson

The NEXUS Initiative

Rachel Le and Lam Nguy

HGOco programs, including Student Performances and HGO’s performances at Miller Outdoor Theatre, are supported through the NEXUS Initiative, which is made possible by:

William E. and Natoma Pyle Harvey Charitable Trust

Anchorage Foundation of Texas

Glen Rosenbaum

BBVA

Dr. Jessica Suarez-Colen and Dr. John Colen

The Brown Foundation, Inc.

The activities of Houston Grand Opera are supported in part by funds provided by the City of Houston and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts.

Shell

George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation Houston Grand Opera Guild Kinder Morgan Foundation

The Wortham Foundation, Inc.

2021/2022 SEASON

THEATRE UNDER THE STARS

OCT. 5 – 17

ROCK OF AGES

NOV. 2 – 14

SISTER ACT

DEC. 7 – 24

DISNEY’S

THE LITTLE MERMAID FEB. 8 – 20

RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN’S

SOUTH PACIFIC NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

MAR. 22 – APR. 3

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

MAY 10 – 22

VISIT TUTS.COM FUNDED IN PART BY

THE CITY OF HOUSTON THROUGH

HOUSTON ARTS ALLIANCE

SPECIAL EVENTS

MY FAVORITE THINGS: SONGS FROM THE SOUND OF MUSIC May 8, 2021 Houston was alive with the sound of live music on May 8 for HGO’s My Favorite Things: Songs from The Sound of Music concert and special event. After having to cancel the entire 2020-21 mainstage season including the highly anticipated production of Rodgers and Hammerstein II’s The Sound of Music, HGO took over the University of Houston TDECU stadium to present the timeless classic like never before with an outdoor, socially distanced concert and singalong for the whole family.

The production starred soprano Jeanine De Bique as Maria and baritone Michael Mayes as Captain von Trapp, with cohosts Daniel Belcher and Megan Marino introducing each song and sharing anecdotes from performers and the HGO team about what the musical means to them. The evening also showcased the live HGO Chorus and Orchestra, led by Maestro Richard Bado, and the talents of the young actors who played the Von Trapp children.

Jeanine De Bique as Maria with Michael Mayes as Captain von Trapp

Judy and Richard Agee with their grandchildren

Helping to ensure that HGO can “climb ev’ry mountain” despite the challenges of the pandemic, the evening raised over $550,000 for the company. Supporters and their guests enjoyed pre-show entertainment in the Lonely Goatherd Lounge, premium seating, and luxury suites complete with Austria-inspired picnic fare. The uplifting evening, full of everyone’s favorite things, concluded with a fireworks display.

Event photos by Melissa Taylor; Production photos by Lynn Lane.

Mylinh Tran and Robert Greenberg

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SPECIAL EVENTS

Mayor Sylvester Turner and Patrick Summers

Gloria Portela and grandson Logan Evans

June Deadrick

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehn, good night

Stephanie Larsen, daughter Bryn Larsen and friends

Brannon and Charissa Fitch family H G O. O R G

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SPECIAL EVENTS

CONCERT OF ARIAS February 5, 2021 The 33rd annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias was one for the books…or rather, for the screens. Despite months of dark theaters, travel restrictions, and devastation in the artistic community, it was crucial that HGO keep its commitment to young artists and continue the HGO Studio’s treasured Concert of Arias tradition.

Prior to the competition, HGO Studio Director Brian Speck and HGO Studio Manager Jamie Gelfand led a collaboration with other opera companies to streamline a virtual audition process for young singers. And on February 5, with myriad COVID-19 safety protocols and back-up plans in place, this year’s awe-inspiring young artists were able to compete thanks to a stellar live-stream production crew and remarkable support from donors including event chair Sid Moorhead.

The entire audience watched the event’s live broadcast via Marquee TV, Facebook, and YouTube, with more than 72,000 viewers ultimately tuning in to the broadcast from home, including live backstage access courtesy of Frost Bank.

Lynn Gissel and Sid Moorhead

Event supporters were encouraged to celebrate the night with small at-home watch parties. Host Tamara Wilson kept things lively on-screen, while City Kitchen Catering and Kirksey Gregg Productions kept things festive at home with deliveries of delectable dinners, wines, and lush rose centerpieces.

In the Cullen Theater’s house, “cheeks in the velvet seats”— cardboard stand-ins for many of the evening’s supporters— served as HGO’s rendition of the Astros’ “fans in the stands.”

A panel including HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers, HGO Artistic Advisor Ana María Martínez, and guest judge/OPERA San Antonio General Director E. Loren Meeker awarded first prize to countertenor Key’mon W. Murrah, second prize to tenor Eric Taylor, and third prize to mezzo-soprano Emily Treigle. Tenor Ángel Vargas, who gave his performance from Italy due to travel restrictions, received the Ana María Martínez Encouragement Award. At-home viewers used text-to-vote to honor soprano Brittany Olivia Logan with the Audience Choice Award.

An injury couldn’t keep 3rd prize winner Emily Treigle away

These young singers were selected to compete from a group of over 800 applicants. Concert of Arias supporters raised over $600,000 to benefit the HGO Studio’s ongoing efforts to identify, attract, and nurture young artists who represent the future of opera.

Photos by Lynn Lane and Wilson Parish.

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At-home watch party host Zane Carruth (center) with guests (from left), Cheryl Byington, Leila Perrin, Maria Lacy, Beth Wolff, Sandra Porter, Zane, Janine Iannarelli, Brittany Clark, Charity Yarborough, and Kristina Somerville

SPECIAL EVENTS

Georges Detiveaux, Brenda Harvey-Traylor, Barbara van Postman, Kathy Sandefer, Kevin Dothage, event chair Sid Moorhead, Anna Dean, Marilyn Ingham, Margaret Corden, and Lynn Gissel

Watch party guests Ellen Gritz and Mickey Rosenau

Live host Tamara Wilson with prize winners Key’mon W. Murrah (1st), Emily Treigle (3rd), and Eric Taylor (2nd)

The 2020-21 HGO Studio artists perform “The Promise of Living” from Copland’s The Tender Land.

At-home watch party hosts Drs. Rachel and Warren Ellsworth H G O. O R G

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IMPRESARIOS CIRCLE The Impresarios Circle is Houston Grand Opera’s premier donor recognition society. These vanguard supporters who provide annual support of at least $100,000 are instrumental to HGO’s success. For information, please contact Greg Robertson, chief advancement officer, at 713-546-0274 or grobertson@hgo.org.

Robin Angly, Chair

JUDY AND RICHARD AGEE HGO subscribers since 2000–01, Judy and Dick are ardent believers in the power of storytelling through words and music. They partnered with the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston Inner-City Catholic Schools to bring HGOco programs to economically disadvantaged students. Judy and Dick, the founder and chairman of Wapiti Energy LLC and Bayou Well Holdings Company LLC, are members of HGO’s Founders Council. Additionally, Judy is the chair of the HGOco Committee and Dick serves as vice chair of the HGO Finance Committee. Beyond their generous support of general operations and HGOco, they also support Concert of Arias, serving as chairs in 2017, and HGO’s mainstage productions.

ROBIN ANGLY AND MILES SMITH HGO subscribers Robin and Miles joined the Founders Council in 2010. The company is honored to have Robin on the HGO Board of Directors and as a member of HGO’s Laureate Society. The couple is very familiar with the view from the HGO stage as well—both are former singers in the HGO Chorus. Robin and Miles have been donors to HGO special events, the Young Artists Vocal Academy, and HGO’s Ring cycle. They are charter members of the Impresarios Circle and generously underwrite a mainstage production each season.

JANICE BARROW Jan’s relationship with HGO extends back to the early 1980s, when she and her late husband, Dr. Thomas Barrow, first became subscribers. Jan is a member of HGO’s Laureate Society and the Founders Council, contributing to HGO’s main stage and special events. She also supports the HGO Studio, having underwritten several rising opera stars over the past 20 years. Jan’s late husband, Tom, former chairman of the HGO Board of Directors, was instrumental in the concept and construction of the Wortham Center. A lifelong lover of music, Jan is past president of the Houston Symphony and has a special affinity for Puccini and Wagner.

THE BROWN FOUNDATION, INC. The Brown Foundation, Inc., established in 1951 by Herman and Margarett Root Brown and George R. and Alice Pratt Brown, has been a treasured partner of HGO since 1984.

Based in Houston, the Foundation distributes funds principally for education, community service, and the arts, especially the visual 56

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and performing arts. HGO is tremendously grateful for The Brown Foundation’s leadership support, which has been critical to the company’s unprecedented growth and success in recent years.

The Brown Foundation was among the lead contributors to HGO’s Hurricane Harvey and COVID-19 recovery efforts.

SARAH AND ERNEST BUTLER HGO subscribers for over 20 years, Ernest and Sarah are the lead underwriters for the company’s digital artistic programming for the 2020-21 season. They also have generously endowed three chairs at HGO: those of HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers, Chorus Master Richard Bado, and HGO Chorus Concertmaster Denise Tarrant. Because supporting young artists is a particular passion for both, HGO’s Concert of Arias is one of their favorite annual events. Ernest and Sarah reside in Austin and are longtime supporters of Ballet Austin, Austin Opera, Austin Symphony Orchestra, the Texas Cultural Trust, and the University of Texas Butler School of Music, which has carried their name since 2008. Ernest and Sarah are world travelers, and they never miss an opportunity to see opera in the cities they visit.

ANNE AND ALBERT CHAO Anne and Albert have been subscribers and supporters of HGO for the past two decades.

While serving as president and CEO of Westlake Chemical Corporation, Albert finds time for numerous cultural causes. He is a member of the HGO Board of Directors and was the co-chair of Inspiring Performance—The Campaign for Houston Grand Opera. Over the years, the Chaos have sponsored HGO special events, the HGO Studio, HGOco’s Song of Houston, and mainstage productions. The couple has also supported the HGO Endowment through their family foundation, the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation.

LOUISE G. CHAPMAN Louise Chapman of Corpus Christi, Texas, a longtime supporter of HGO, recently joined the HGO Board of Directors. Louise’s late husband, John O. Chapman, was a south Texas agricultural businessman and philanthropist. In addition to HGO, the Chapmans have supported numerous organizations in health, education, and the arts, including Texas A & M University, the Corpus Christi Symphony, and the Art Museum of South Texas. Louise and HGO Trustee Connie Dyer have known each other since they were college roommates at The University of Texas.

IMPRESARIOS CIRCLE THE ROBERT AND JANE CIZIK FOUNDATION The Cizik family name is synonymous with passion, devotion, and service to the people of Houston. The Ciziks have always been associated with hard work, high achievement, inspirational leadership, and love for their family. Survived by his wife, Jane, Robert Cizik spearheaded the fundraising and building of HGO’s home, the Wortham Theater Center. The Robert and Jane Cizik Foundation gives generously to many educational institutions and charitable organizations, including UTHealth, Harvard University, the University of Houston, and the University of Connecticut. In 2017, the School of Nursing at UTHealth was re-named the Jane and Robert Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth in recognition of the family’s dedicated support.

MATHILDA COCHRAN Mathilda is a native of New Orleans and a long-time resident of Houston. She is a retired museum educator, having served for many years as Manager of the Docent and Tour Program at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, as well as a volunteer with Taping for the Blind, Inc. She and her late husband, Mike, created the Cochran Family Professorship in Earth and Environmental Sciences to support Tulane University’s School of Science and Engineering. Mathilda currently serves as a member of the HGO Board of Directors and is chair of the HGOco Committee. She has been an HGO subscriber since the 1986-87 season.

CONOCOPHILLIPS For over 40 years, ConocoPhillips has supported various programs at HGO, from special events to mainstage productions, including a long-standing tradition of supporting HGO’s season-opening operas.

In 2009, the company gave a major multi-year grant to establish ConocoPhillips New Initiatives, a far-reaching program that allows HGOco to develop new and innovative education and community collaboration programs. Kelly Rose, general counsel and SVP, serves on the HGO Board of Directors.

JIM AND MOLLY CROWNOVER Jim Crownover was the chairman of the HGO Board of Directors 2016–18. He has been a member of the board since 1987 and has served on the Executive, Governance, Development, and Finance Committees. He and his wife, Molly, have been HGO subscribers for 30 years and are members of HGO’s Laureate Society and Impresarios Circle. In 1998, Jim retired from a 30-year career with McKinsey & Company, Inc., and currently serves on the boards of Chemtura Corporation, Weingarten Realty, Republic Services, Inc., and FTI Consulting.

Jim also serves and supports the Houston Ballet, Rice University, the Houston Zoo, United Way Houston, Project Grad Houston, and a number of other organizations.

THE CULLEN FOUNDATION For more than three decades, The Cullen Foundation has been a vital member of the HGO family. Established in 1947, the Foundation has more than a half-century history of giving generously to education, health care, and the arts in Texas, primarily in the Greater Houston area. The Opera is very grateful for the Foundation’s longstanding leadership support of HGO’s Family and Holiday Opera Series, as well as special support for HGO’s COVID-19 recovery efforts.

THE CULLEN TRUST FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts has been a lead underwriter of HGO’s mainstage season for nearly 30 years. The Trust was established from assets of The Cullen Foundation to specifically benefit Texas performing arts institutions, particularly those within the Greater Houston area. In recent years, The Cullen Trust has provided lead support for memorable productions including HGO’s Family and Holiday Opera Series, and made a leadership contribution to HGO’s Hurricane Harvey recovery fund, as well as a generous gift to HGO’s COVID-19 recovery efforts.

THE ELKINS FOUNDATION Established by Margaret Weiss Elkins and James A. Elkins Jr. in 1956, The Elkins Foundation enriches our community by supporting a wide variety of educational, healthcare, cultural, community, and religious organizations. We are honored that Jenny Elkins and her family have been part of the HGO family for decades.

The Elkins Foundation allows tens of thousands of students to experience opera each season through Opera to Go! and HGOco’s other learning programs. The Foundation is also a generous supporter of HGO’s COVID-19 recovery efforts.

DRS. LIZ GRIMM AND JACK ROTH HGO subscribers since the 2013–14 season, Liz and Jack have both committed themselves to cancer research and patient care through their work at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Jack is a member of the HGO Board of Directors and serves as HGO Studio Committee Chair. Liz and Jack were generous underwriters of HGO’s historic, first-ever Ring cycle and lead supporters of HGO’s German repertoire, including Elektra.

Additionally, Liz and Jack chaired the 2018 Opera Ball and will chair this season’s Concert of Arias on January 21, 2022.

WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST FOUNDATION The William Randolph Hearst Foundation is a national philanthropic resource for organizations working in the fields of culture, education, health, and social services. The Foundation identifies and funds outstanding nonprofits to ensure that people of all backgrounds in the United States have the opportunity to build healthy, productive, and inspiring lives. A dedicated supporter of HGO, the Foundation is a leading advocate for HGOco. The continued support from the Foundation makes it possible for Houstonians of all ages to explore, engage, and learn through the inspiring art of opera.

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IMPRESARIOS CIRCLE H-E-B For over 115 years, H-E-B has contributed to worthy causes throughout Texas and Mexico, a tradition proudly maintained today. And for over 20 years, H-E-B has been a lead supporter of HGOco’s arts education programs for Houston area students. H-E-B’s partnership helps over 70,000 young people experience the magic of opera each season. Always celebrating Houston’s cultural diversity, H-E-B helped make possible last season’s Marian’s Song and this season’s upcoming world premiere, The Snowy Day. HOUSTON GRAND OPERA ENDOWMENT, INC. Established and incorporated in 1982, the Houston Grand Opera Endowment (HGOE) is a vital financial management tool that ensures HGO has a reliable, regular source of income. Today, the Endowment contains over 50 named funds, both unrestricted and restricted, and annually distributes 5 percent of the Endowment’s average market value to HGO, making it the largest single annual funder of the Opera. HGOE leadership includes Chair Yolanda Knull, Senior Chair Tom Rushing, and several members of the HGO Board of Directors.

HOUSTON LIVESTOCK SHOW AND RODEOTM For more than 15 years, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™ has supported HGOco’s arts education programs, helping more than one million Houston area students experience the magic of live opera through Opera to Go!, the Student Performance Series, and Storybook Opera. A 501(c)(3) charity, the Show has committed more than $500 million to the youth of Texas since 1932. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the world’s largest livestock show and rodeo, with more than 2.4 million attendees in 2019.

HOUSTON METHODIST For over ten years, Houston Grand Opera has partnered with Houston Methodist, the official health care provider for HGO. Houston Methodist’s Center for Performing Arts Medicine (CPAM) is the only center of its kind in the country, comprising a specialized group of more than 100 physicians working collaboratively to address the specific demands placed upon performing artists. In addition to the first-rate medical care CPAM provides HGO artists, Houston Methodist also generously supports HGO’s special events and mainstage productions, is a major community partner on Seeking the Human Spirit, and is the presenter of HGO’s young professional programs. HGO is fortunate to have Dr. Warren Ellsworth and Dr. Apurva Thekdi serve as Houston Methodist’s corporate trustees.

THE HUMPHREYS FOUNDATION Based in Liberty, Texas, the Humphreys Foundation has been a major underwriter of HGO’s mainstage season since 1980. Geraldine Davis Humphreys (d. 1961), a member of the pioneer Hardin family of Liberty, Texas, bequeathed her estate to the Humphreys Foundation, which was formally established in 1959. The Foundation 58

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provides support for performing arts in Texas and college scholarship funding for students in the arts. Linda Bertman, Louis Paine, and Robert Wall serve as trustees of the Humphreys Foundation. In recent years, the Foundation’s generous support has helped make possible unforgettable productions, unforgettable productions, such as last May’s My Favorite Things: Songs from The Sound of Music.

DONNA KAPLAN AND RICHARD LYDECKER Richard Lydecker has been an HGO subscriber and supporter for more than three decades. He is a member of the HGO Board of Directors and Impresarios Circle. Richard has great passion for opera, especially Wagner, and he and Donna were underwriters for HGO’s Ring cycle. They are also special events sponsors, supporting Opera Ball and Concert of Arias.

NANCY AND RICHARD KINDER Nancy and Rich became HGO subscribers during the 2000–01 season. Rich is cofounder, chairman, and CEO of Kinder Morgan, and Nancy is a focused philanthropist whose work has positively impacted communities throughout Houston and beyond.

Rich and Nancy established the Kinder Foundation in 1997 to provide impactful gifts to projects dedicated to urban green space, education, and quality-of-life issues in the Greater Houston area.

HGO is indebted to the Kinders for their visionary support in areas including general operations, mainstage productions, special events, and especially HGOco, the Opera’s innovative education and community collaboration initiative.

CLAIRE LIU AND JOSEPH GREENBERG Claire and Joe have subscribed to HGO for many seasons and are members of HGO’s Founders Council for Artistic Excellence.

Claire serves on the HGO Board of Directors and is chair of the Finance Committee. She is newly retired from LyondellBassell Industries where she led the corporate finance team and was formerly a managing director with Bank of America. Joe is founder, president, and CEO of Alta Resources, L.L.C., a private company involved in the development of shale oil and gas resources in North America. Claire and Joe support many organizations, with particular emphasis on educational organizations including YES Prep and Teach for America.

An avid runner, Claire has completed a marathon in all 50 states.

BETH MADISON This season marks Beth’s 23rd as an HGO subscriber. HGO has had the honor of her support since 2004. Past chair of the HGO Board of Directors, she currently serves on the HGO Studio Committee, and is an active member of HGO’s Founders Council. She was the honoree at the 2017 Concert of Arias. Beth generously supports

IMPRESARIOS CIRCLE the HGO Studio, special events, and mainstage operas. Beth has been inducted into the Greater Houston Women’s Hall of Fame and serves on the University of Houston System Board of Regents.

THE ROBERT AND JANICE MCNAIR FOUNDATION Janice and the late Bob McNair, longtime HGO subscribers, are well known for their incredible philanthropy and for bringing the NFL back to Houston. Bob was senior chairman of McNair Interests, a financial and real estate firm, and owner of the Houston Texans. The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation provides leadership support to Houston-area organizations supporting educational opportunities for youth. The McNair Foundation is the lead supporter of HGO’s Family and Holiday Opera Series. Bob was a former chair of the HGO Board of Directors (1995–97).

M.D. ANDERSON FOUNDATION The M.D. Anderson Foundation has provided general operating support to HGO for more than 30 years. The Foundation was established in 1936 by Monroe Dunaway Anderson, whose company, Anderson, Clayton and Co., was the world’s largest cotton merchant. While the Foundation started the Texas Medical Center and was instrumental in bringing to it one of the premier cancer centers in the world, the Foundation’s trustees also looked to improve the wellness of communities through the arts. HGO is privileged to have such a longstanding and committed partner in enhancing the quality of life for all Houstonians.

THE MELLON FOUNDATION Established in 1969, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supports a wide range of FOUNDATION initiatives to strengthen the humanities, arts, higher education, and cultural heritage. The driving force behind so many of HGO’s new commissions, The Mellon Foundation’s longstanding support of HGO helps us tell relevant new stories and add to the operatic repertoire by developing new works, like Joel Thompson and Andrea Davis Pinkney’s The Snowy Day. THE ANDREW W.

MELLON

SID MOORHEAD Sid Moorhead is the owner of Moorhead’s Blueberry Farm in Conroe, Texas, a family business that started as his father’s hobby over 40 years ago. After working for several years as a computer analyst, Sid left the corporate world to run the farm. He’s been an opera lover since he was in college, and he joined the Opera as an HGO Trustee in 2014. Now a member of the HGO Board of Directors who served as chair of Concert of Arias 2021, Sid enjoys traveling to experience opera around the world on our HGO Patron trips. We’re thrilled to have Sid as a valued member of our HGO family.

SARA AND BILL MORGAN Sara and Bill have been supporting HGO since 2002. Sara is a co-founder of the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, where she currently serves on the board. Bill is a co-founder of the Kinder Morgan companies and the retired vice chairman and president of Kinder Morgan, Inc., and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, LP. The Morgans support HGOco, HGO’s special events, and mainstage productions, including the Holiday Opera Series.

HGO is thrilled to have Sara serve on the HGO Board of Directors and as a member and past chair of the HGOco Committee.

NOVUM ENERGY Founded in 2011 in Panama, Novum Energy is an international physical oil supply and trading company committed to industry excellence in delivery standards and customer service. Founder and President Alfredo Vilas serves on the HGO Board of Directors and has over 20 years of experience and a passion for service to the community through cultural, recreational, and philanthropic work.

BEVERLY AND STAMAN OGILVIE HGO subscribers since 1997, Beverly and Staman Ogilvie are true advocates for HGO and the performing arts. Staman is the former Chief Executive Officer of Hines, and is responsible for the development, acquisition, and management of more than 29 million square feet of commercial real estate as well as several thousand acres of planned community developments. Beverly previously served on the HGO Studio Committee. In addition to their commitment to the performing arts, Staman and Beverly established The Staman Ogilvie Fund for Spinal Cord Injury Recovery, Rehabilitation, and Research with Memorial Hermann Foundation. The fund has raised over $10 million toward innovative research to restore function for individuals suffering from spinal cord injuries. The Ogilvies also provided critical support in response to HGO’s COVID-19 recovery efforts.

JILL AND ALLYN RISLEY Jill and Allyn Risley have been HGO subscribers since the 2003-04 season and are members of the company’s Founders Council. Allyn and Jill have been key influencers of HGO programs for many years, with special affection for our esteemed HGO Studio. They co-sponsor HGO Studio Artist Eric Taylor and faculty member Dr. Stephen King, Director of Vocal Instruction. Allyn is Chairman of Gaztransport & Technigaz (GTT) North America, an engineering company specializing in liquid gas containment systems using cryogenics. Allyn has served as Chair of the HGO Board of Directors since August 2020.

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IMPRESARIOS CIRCLE SCHLUMBERGER Schlumberger is a leading corporate contributor to HGO, supporting the main stage and a wide range of special projects over nearly 20 years. Schlumberger’s leadership gift was integral to launching HGO’s ongoing affordability program, the NEXUS Initiative, in 2007—since then, NEXUS has made great opera accessible to more than 275,000 people.

HGO is honored to count Schlumberger among its most dedicated corporate supporters. Fred Dyen, Cameron Group HR director, serves on the HGO Board of Directors.

SHELL Shell is a leader in the Houston arts community, supporting HGO for over 40 years. Shell’s leadership support makes opera more accessible to everyone through the NEXUS Initiative for Affordability and inspires young minds with STEM-aligned arts education opportunities like our annual Opera Camps. Shell was also a major supporter of HGO’s Hurricane Harvey recovery. HGO is honored to have Christos Angelides, external relations general manager of integrated gas ventures, as a Trustee.

DIAN AND HARLAN STAI Harlan, a member of the HGO Board of Directors, and Dian are charter members of HGO’s Founders Council for Artistic Excellence, and their leadership support includes mainstage productions, the HGO Studio, the HGO Endowment, and special events. The Stais have also sponsored HGO Studio artists and they host annual recitals featuring HGO Studio artists at Mansefeldt, their renowned Fredericksburg ranch. HGO was privileged to recognize Dian and Harlan as the honorees of Opening Night 2008 and the 2014 Concert of Arias.

TEXAS COMMISSION ON THE ARTS The mission of the Texas Commission on the Arts (TCA) is to advance our state economically and culturally by investing in creative projects and programs. TCA supports a diverse and innovative arts community in the state, throughout the nation, and internationally by providing resources to enhance economic development, arts education, cultural tourism, and artist sustainability initiatives. Over the years, TCA has provided invaluable support to many HGO projects, including mainstage productions and HGOco education initiatives.

JOHN G. TURNER & JERRY G. FISCHER John and Jerry, based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, travel around the world to experience the best that opera has to offer.

HGO subscribers and donors for over a decade, the couple’s leadership support of Wagner’s Ring cycle (2014–17) was the largest gift ever made to 60

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HGO for a single production. John, a shareholder at Turner Industries Group, is a member of the HGO Board of Directors and past chair of the HGO Studio Committee. Jerry is a board member of Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra. In recent years, John and Jerry have supported HGO mainstage productions, the HGO Studio, and special events. They are members of the Founders Council for Artistic Excellence, and John is a member of HGO’s Laureate Society.

VINSON & ELKINS LLP HGO has been privileged to have the support of international law firm Vinson & Elkins LLP for nearly three decades. For more than 100 years, Vinson & Elkins LLP has been deeply committed to empowering the communities in which it serves. It has enriched the cultural vibrancy of Houston by supporting HGO through in-kind legal services and contributions to special events and mainstage productions, including this season’s Live from The Cullen recital featuring Reginald Smith Jr. The Opera is honored to have two Vinson & Elkins LLP partners serve on its board of directors: from left, Chris Bacon and Glen A. Rosenbaum.

MARGARET ALKEK WILLIAMS Margaret, a longtime singer, possesses a deep affinity for all music, and especially opera, supporting HGO for over 30 years.

Currently, Margaret continues her parents’ legacy as chairman of their foundation, where her son Charles A. Williams serves as president. HGO is humbled by Margaret’s incredible generosity and dedication to the company, both as an individual donor and through her family’s foundation. She has endowed the Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, held by HGO General Director Khori Dastoor, and is a member of HGO’s Laureate Society. A valued member of the HGO Board of Directors, Margaret was the honoree of the 2009 Opera Ball and chairman of the 2014 Ball, and she generously chaired the 2018 Hurricane Harvey benefit Concert HGO and Plácido: Coming Home!

THE WORTHAM FOUNDATION, INC. In the 1980s, the Wortham Foundation contributed $20 million to lead the capital campaign for the Wortham Theater Center, guided by businessman Gus S. Wortham’s early recognition of the vital role of the arts in making Houston an appealing place to live and work. During their lifetimes, Gus and his wife, Lyndall, were dedicated to improving the lives of Houstonians. The Foundation continues to support the Opera through the Wortham Foundation Permanent Endowment and generous annual operating support. This leadership support has been vital to HGO’s growth and commitment to excellence.

The Wortham Foundation’s support of HGO’s Hurricane Harvey recovery helped to bring the company back home, and we are deeply grateful.

LYNN WYATT Lynn’s generosity touches every aspect of HGO. She is a Lifetime Trustee of HGO and serves as the vice chairman of the HGO Board of Directors. She chaired HGO’s Golden Jubilee Gala in 2005. Oscar Wyatt endowed The Lynn Wyatt Great Artist Fund in 2010, honoring Lynn’s service to the company and dedication to bringing the world’s best operatic artists to HGO, and she was the honoree at the 2010 Opera Ball. Lynn and Oscar have been lead supporters of a number of HGO productions and programs, including the multiyear company-wide initiative Seeking the Human Spirit.

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ANNUAL SUPPORT Houston Grand Opera Trustees and Patrons Circle members support the ­Opera with annual donations of $10,000 or $5,000, respectively, and make possible the incredible work of HGO. Trustees and Patrons enjoy many benefits at the Opera, including complimentary valet parking, Masterson Green Room privileges during performance intermissions, behind-the-scenes experiences, personalized ticket service, two tickets to all open dress rehearsals, Opera Guild membership, a discount on Opera Guild B ­ outique purchases, and much more. For information on joining as a Trustee or Patron, please contact Kelly Nicholls at 713-980-8698 or knicholls@hgo.org.

Ms. Anna M. Dean

Mr. Paul Marsden and Mr. Jay Rockwell

Dr. Elaine Decanio

Mr. R. Davis Maxey

Mr. and Mrs. John DiFilippo Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. D. Patrick McCelvey

Dr. and Mrs. Giulio Draetta

Jan and Nathan Meehan

Anna and Brad Eastman

Amy and Mark Melton

C.C. and Duke Ensell

Ginger Menown

Mr. Perry Ewing

Mr. and Mrs. Mark Metts

Michelle Klinger and Ru Flanagan

Dr. and Mrs. William E. Mitch

Carol Lay Fletcher

Marsha L. Montemayor

Janet Gurwitch and Ron Franklin

Erik B. Nelson and Terry R. Brandhorst

Ms. Patricia B. Freeman and Mr. Bruce Patterson

Beverly and Staman Ogilvie

S. Scott and Gina Gaille

Susan and Ward Pennebaker

Dr. and Mrs. Ronald Galfione

Ms. Jeanne M. Perdue

Mr. and Mrs. Scott J. Garber

Ms. Elizabeth Phillips

Gerard and Christine Gaynor

Gloria M. Portela and Richard E. Evans

Dr. Eugenia C. George

Dr. Angela Rechichi-Apollo

Dr. and Mrs. David P. Gill

Ms. Katherine Reynolds

Mrs. Geraldine C. Gill

Mr. Serge Ribot

Mr. Wesley Goble and Mr. Barry Liss

Ed and Janet Rinehart

Sandy and Lee Godfrey

Mr. and Mrs. Walter Ritchie

Mr. and Mrs. Melvyn Hetzel

Mr. and Mrs. Gregory S. Robertson

Dr. Patricia Holmes

Mary Roediger and Ralph Herbert

Lee M. Huber

Mrs. Henry K. Roos

Mr. A. V. Jones Jr.

Kelly and David Rose

Mr. Jon Rex Jones

Mr. and Mrs. Tom Rushing

Ann and Stephen Kaufman

Mr. and Mrs. Manolo Sanchez

Ann Koster

Adel and Jason Sander

Jess and Patricia Carnes

Elizabeth and Bill Kroger

Judy Sauer

Dr. Peter Chang and Hon. Theresa Chang

Mr. and Mrs. Randall B. Lake

Ms. Jill Schaar and Mr. George Caflisch

Ms. Patsy Chappelear

Mr. and Mrs. Richard J. Langenstein

Mrs. Richard P. Schissler Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Clarke

Dr. and Mrs. Ernst Leiss

Mrs. Helen P. Shaffer

Mr. William E. Colburn

David and Lori LePori

Hinda Simon

Dr. Jessica Suarez Colen and Dr. John Colen

Rochelle and Max Levit

Ms. Janet Sims

Mrs. Marilyn Lummis

Mr. Robert L. Cook and Mrs. Giovanna Imperia

Kristina and Paul Somerville

Ms. Michele Malloy

Mr. Jeffrey Stocks

Mr. Efraín Z. Corzo and Mr. Andrew Bowen

Ms. Diane M. Marcinek

Kathy and Richard Stout

Mary Marquardsen

Dr. Laura E. Sulak and Dr. Richard W. Brown

Ms. Gwyneth Campbell, Chair, Patrons Committee TRUSTEE—$10,000 OR MORE Mr. William J. Altenloh and Dr. Susan Saurage-Altenloh Christopher Bacon and Craig Miller Mr. and Mrs. Philip A. Bahr Mr. and Mrs. Frank N. Barnes Sylvia Barnes and Jim Trimble Blanche S. and Robert C. Bast, Jr., MD Mr. and Mrs. Martin D. Beirne Dr. James A. Belli and Dr. Patricia Eifel Drs. Robert S. and Nancy Benjamin Dr. Michael and Susan Bloome Adrienne Bond Walt and Nancy Bratic Mr. Stephen Brossart and Mr. Gerrod George Bill and Melinda Brunger Dr. Janet Bruner Mollie and Wayne Brunetti Mr. and Mrs. Lester P. Burgess Mr. and Mrs. Richard Burleson Mr. Tom Burley and Mr. Michael Arellano Mrs. Carol Butler Drs. Ian and Patricia Butler Ms. Gwyneth Campbell and Mr. Joseph L. Campbell

Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Davidson

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Dr. Laura Marsh

Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Pancherz

ANNUAL SUPPORT Dr. and Mrs. Demetrio Tagaropulos Mr. Minas and Dr. Jennifer Tektiridis Dr. and Mrs. Karl Tornyos Mr. Scott B. Ulrich and Mr. Ernest A. Trevino

Dr. Dennis Berthold and Dr. Pamela Matthews, College Station, TX Mr. Richard E. Boner and Ms. Susan Pryor, Austin, TX

Paul and Maida Asofsky Mr. Neely Atkinson Kate Baker Nancy and Paul Balmert

Tom and Kay Brahaney, Midland, TX

Mr. William Bartlett

Sarah and Ernest Butler, Austin, TX

Mr. and Mrs. James Becker

Ms. Marion Cameron, Chicago, IL

Dr. and Mrs. Joel M. Berman

Julie and Bert Cornelison, La Jolla, CA

Drs. Henry and Louise Bethea

Dr. Thomas S. DeNapoli and Mr. Mark Walker, San Antonio, TX

Mr. and Mrs. Stanley C. Beyer

Brian Hencey and Charles Ross Jr., Austin, TX

Drs. Gloria and E. Wiley Biles

Mr. and Mrs. Robert N. Wakefield Mary Lee and Jim Wallace

Mr. Charles Hendrix, Rancho Mirage, CA

Mr. and Mrs. K.C. Weiner

Edward and Patricia Hymson, San Francisco, CA

Mr. and Mrs. Jess B. Tutor Mr. and Mrs. John Untereker Mr. Georgios Varsamis Mr. and Mrs. James M. Vaughn Jr. Mr. De la Rey Venter Marietta Voglis

Ms. Debra Witges Mr. and Mrs. David S. Wolff Mr. and Mrs. C. Clifford Wright, Jr. Alan and Frank York Mr. and Mrs. David P. Young Mr. Hugh Zhang and Ms. Lulu Tan 3 Anonymous

Ms. Marianne Kah, Santa Fe, NM Mrs. Judy Kay, Dallas, TX Mr. Blair Labatt, San Antonio, TX Dr. and Mrs. Morton Leonard Jr., Galveston, TX Cathleen C. and Jerome M. Loving, Bryan, TX Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Misamore, Sedona, AZ

YOUNG TRUSTEE—$5,000 OR MORE

Mr. John P. Muth, Wimberly, TX

Mr. and Mrs. Bryan W. Bagley

Ms. Wanda A. Reynolds, Austin, TX

Emily Bivona and Ryan Manser

Michelle and Chuck Ritter, Kansas City, MO

Wirt Blaffer and Nina Delano Mr. Ryan Boehner Carrie and Sverre Brandsberg-Dahl

Dr. Sid Roberts and Mrs. Catherine Roberts, Lufkin, TX

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen D. Bickel Dr. Joan Hacken Bitar Larissa Bither Dr. Jerry L. Bohannon Mr. Jeffery Bosworth and Mr. Timothy Bammel Mr. Al Brende and Mrs. Ann Bayless Mr. Chester Brooke and Dr. Nancy Poindexter Ms. Sonja Bruzauskas and Mr. Houston Haymon Mr. Patrick Carfizzi Mr. and Mrs. Juan M. Carreon Mrs. John R. Castano Dr. Beth Chambers and Mr. J. Michael Chambers Ms. Nada Chandler Mr. Robert N. Chanon

James and Nathanael Rosenheim, College Station, TX

Damon Chargois

Ms. Kiana K. Caleb and Mr. Troy L. Sullivan Mr. Anthony Chapman

Dr. and Mrs. Clark D. Terrell, Boerne, TX

Ms. Donna Collins

Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Hanno

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Collier

Matthew Healey

Margaret and Alan Weinblatt, San Antonio, TX

Ms. Kathleen Henry

Mr. Donald Wertz, Austin, TX

Sara and Gabriel Loperena

Valerie and David Woodcock, College Station, TX

Mr. and Mrs. Spencer Mehrens Chadd Mikulin and Amanda Lenertz Dr. Nico Roussel and Ms. Teresa Procter Jennifer Salcich NATIONAL TRUSTEE— $5,000 OR MORE

PATRONS CIRCLE—$5,000 OR MORE Ms. Jacquelyn M. Abbott Mr. and Mrs. W. Kendall Adam Mrs. Nancy C. Allen Mr. and Mrs. Orlando Alvarado

Ms. Jacqueline S. Akins, San Antonio, TX

Shaza and Mark Anderson

Jorge Bernal and Andrea Maher, Bogota, Colombia

Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Ardell

Chris and Michelle Angelides Bill A. Arning and Aaron Skolnick

Mr. and Mrs. Jack Christiansen

Mr. Jerry Conry Dr. Nancy I. Cook Shelly Cyprus Mr. And Mrs. Hiram Davis Dr. and Mrs. Roupen Dekmezian Ms. Elisabeth DeWitts Mr. and Mrs. Tracy L. Dieterich Mr. and Mrs. Larry Dooley Mr. John Ellis Drewer Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Dubrowski Dr. David Edelstein and Mrs. Julie Riggins Kellie Elder and David Halbert Mrs. James A. Elkins III

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ANNUAL SUPPORT Parrish N. Erwin Jr.

Robert and Kitty Hunter

Jerry and Sharyn Metcalf

Mr. and Mrs. J. Thomas Eubank

Dr. Alan J. Hurwitz

Ms. Celia Morgan

Ms. Thea M. Fabio and Mr. Richard Merrill

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Jacob

Ms. Linda C. Murray

Mary Ann and Larry Faulkner

Mr. and Mrs. Malick Jamal

Mrs. Bobbie Newman

Ms. Vicki Schmid Faulkner

Ms. Joan Jeffrey

Drs. John and Karen Oldham

Ms. Ursula Felmet

Mr. and Mrs. James K. Jennings, Jr.

Ms. Claire O’Malley

Nanette Finger

Mr. and Mrs. Basil Joffe

Susan and Edward Osterberg

Ms. and Mrs. Dennis Fish

Charlotte Jones

Mrs. Maria Papadopoulos

Wanda and Roger Fowler

Mr. Raymond Jones and Mr. Paras Trivedi

Mr. and Ms. Carl Pascoe

Mr. John E. Frantz

Sultana Kaldis

Mr. and Mrs. Harry C. Pinson

Ms. Caroline Freeman

Ms. Linda Katz

Mr. and Mrs. Elvin B. Pippert Jr.

Drs. Daniel and Jean Freeman

Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Kauffman

Mr. Robert Pitre

Mr. and Mrs. William B. Freeman Jr.

Mr. Anthony K.

Susie and Jim Pokorski

Dr. Alice Gates and Dr. Wayne Wilner

Mr. and Mrs. George B. Kelly

Suzanne Page-Pryde and Arthur Pryde

Dr. Layne O. Gentry

Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Rice Kelly

Lou and Joan Pucher

Nancy Glass, M.D. and John Belmont, M.D.

Ms. Nancy J. Kerby

Dr. Paul B. Radelat and Ms. Irina Grant

Mr. and Mrs. Albert Kidd

Ms. Judith Raines

Mr. Thomas K. Golden and Mrs. Susan Baker Golden

Mr. Mark Klitzke

Mrs. Gerald Rauch

Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Kolb Dr. and Mrs. Lary R. Kupor

Dr. David Reininger and Ms. Laura Lee Jones

Dr. Helen W. Lane

Carol F. Relihan

Mr. Richard Leibman

Mr. Robert Richter Jr.

Dr. Mike Lemanski

Drs. Alejandro and Lynn Rosas

Dr. and Mrs. Olivier Lhemann

Dr. and Mrs. Franklin Rose

Mr. Stephan Link and Ms. Christy Landes

Dr. and Mrs. Sean Rosenbaum

Mrs. Sylvia Lohkamp and Mr. Tucker Coughlen

Mrs. Shirley Rose

William and Jane Guest Ms. Zahava Haenosh

Ms. Eileen Louvier

Mr. Vance Senter and Mrs. Jane Senter

Ms. Barbara D. Hagood

Ms. Lynn Luster

Dr. Raul Sepulveda

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas C. Halsey

Mr. and Mrs. Paul A. Lynn

Ms. Denmon Sigler and Mr. Peter Chok

Mrs. Mary Hankey

Mr. and Mrs. Harry Mach

Dr. Ioannis Skaribas

Mr. Frank Harmon III and The Honorable Melinda Harmon

Renee Margolin

Virginia Snider and Michael Osborne

Ms. Anastasia Marshall Ana Maria Martinez

Dr. Robert Southard and Mrs. Kristi Southard

Dr. and Mrs. Malcolm Mazow

Diana Strassmann and Jeffrey Smisek

Mrs. Dorothy McCaine

Dr. and Mrs. C. Richard Stasney

Wynn and Shawna McCloskey

Mr. Per A. Staunstrup and Ms. Joan Bruun

Gillian and Michael McCord

Richard P. Steele and Mary McKerall

Mrs. Sarah McCollum

Mrs. Sue Stocks

Mimi Reed McGehee

Ms. Janet Stones

Ms. Janice McNeil

The Drs. Milena and Eddie Suarez

Dr. Alice R. McPherson

Ms. Lori Summa

Keith and Elizabeth McPherson

Mr. Leon Thomsen and Mrs. Pat Thomsen

Kay and Larry Medford

Ms. Susan L. Thompson

Mrs. Anne C. Mendelsohn

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Tobias

Mary Frances Gonzalez Dr. and Mrs. David Y. Graham Joyce Z. Greenberg Dr. and Mrs. Stephen B. Greenberg Mr. W. A. Grieves Ms. Dianne L. Gross Ms. Gabriella M. Guerra

Mr. and Mrs. A. John Harper III Dr. Linda L. Hart Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Hewell Pam Higgins and Tom Jones Mrs. Ann G. Hightower Ms. Tami Hiraoka Deborah and Michael Hirsch Rosalie and William M. Hitchcock Dr. Holly Holmes Alan and Ellen Holzberg Mr. and Mrs. John H. Homier Dr. and Mrs. Gabriel N. Hortobagyi 64

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Ms. Jo Ann W. Schaffer

ANNUAL SUPPORT Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Trainer Jr.

Ms. Joan Sanborn

Mr. Jerre van den Bent, Dallas, TX

Mrs. Ann Gordon Trammell

Ms. Emily Schreiber

Dr. Elizabeth Travis and Mr. Jerry Hyde

Mr. Nicholas Shea

Mr. and Mrs. Alexander van Veldhoven, Dallas, TX

Mr. James Trippett

Mr. and Mrs. Aaron J. Stai

Birgitt van Wijk

Dr. Pavlina Suchanova

Mr. and Mrs. Larry Veselka

Stella and Steven Tang

Greg Vetter and Irene Kosturakis

Mr. and Mrs. Hector Torres

Ms. Marie-Louise S. Viada

Anonymous

Rons Voogt, Huntsville, TX

Dean Walker Geoffrey Walker and Ann Kennedy Mr. and Mrs. M. C. “Bill” Walker III Mr. and Mrs. John Wallace Diane and Raymond Wallace

NATIONAL PATRONS— $2,500 OR MORE Ms. Cynthia Akagi and Mr. Tom Akagi, Madison, WI

Mr. and Mrs. Jay Watkins

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas R. Allison, Olympia, WA

Ms. Pippa Wiley

Dr. Bernd U. Budelmann, Galveston, TX

Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Williams

Ms. Louise Cantwell, San Antonio, TX

Dr. Courtney Williams

Mr. and Mrs. F. H. Cloudman III, Boulder, CO

Ms. Jane L. Williams Loretta and Lawrence Williams Nancy and Sid Williams

Mr. James M. Duerr and Dr. Pamela Hall, San Antonio, TX

Mr. and Mrs. Scott Wise

Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Evans, Coldspring, TX

Mr. Peter Wood and Ms. Silvia Salle

Mr. Jack Firestone, Miami, FL

Mr. and Mrs. John W. Wright

Mrs. Ronald P. Fischer, Chagrin Falls, OH

Ken and Carolyn Yeats

Dr. and Mrs. Marvin A. Fishman, NM

Drs. Edward Yeh and Hui-Ming Chang John L. Zipprich II

Michael Freeburger and Matilda Perkins, Fair Oaks Ranch, TX

6 Anonymous

Dr. Wm. David George, Austin, TX

YOUNG PATRONS—$2,500 OR MORE Ms. Taylor Anne Adams Ms. Elise Bungo Ms. Rebecca Ferrell Meredith and Joseph Gomez Mr. Claudio Gutierrez Lady Kimbrell and Mr. Joshua Allison Miss Ellen Liu and Miss Ilana Walder-Biesanz

Mr. Paul Giguere and Ms. Melinne Owen, Santa Fe, NM Mr. Raymond Goldstein and Ms. Jane T. Welch, San Antonio, TX Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey S. Kay, Austin, TX Mr. Kyle Kerr, Irving, TX Jeff and Gail Kodosky, Austin, TX Ms. Barbara Matens, Baton Rouge, LA Dr. James F. Nelson and Mr. Yong Zhang, San Antonio, TX

Kirby and David Lodholz

John and Elizabeth Nielsen-Gammon, College Station, TX

Mr. Brett Lutz and Mrs. Elizabeth Lutz

Mr. and Mrs. Victor E. Serrato, Pharr, TX

Rachel and Daniel MacLeod

Eleanor and Philip Straub, Metairie, LA

Adam and Tina Outland Adrienn L. Parsons

Dr. David N. Tobey and Dr. Michelle Berger, Austin, TX

Drs. Mauricio Perillo and Lujan Stasevicius

Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Tucker, Bryan, TX

Lauren Randle

Mr. Tom Turnbull and Mr. Darrell Smith, Eunice, LA H G O. O R G

65

ANNUAL SUPPORT

HGO Donors Houston Grand Opera appreciates all individuals who contribute to the company’s success. Support in any amount is received most gratefully. Our donors share a dedication to supporting the arts in our community, and the generosity of these individuals makes it possible for HGO to sustain world-class opera in the Houston area. For information on becoming a Houston Grand Opera donor, please contact Kelly Nicholls at 713-980-8688 or knicholls@hgo.org.

ASSOCIATE PATRONS— $2,000 OR MORE Dr. John P. Anderson Dr. Carlos Bacino Grace and Mark Baker Dr. Alan Bentz and Mrs. Sallymoon Benz Mr. Bob F. Boydston Ms. Susan Carvel

Len Slussler

Mrs. Marie Fay Evnochides

Ms. Karen MacAdam Somer

Sylvia B. Fatzer

Drs. Adaani E. Frost and Wadi N. Suki

Dr. Jack M. Fletcher

Mr. and Mrs. Willie Swisher

Monica Fulton

Nancy Thompson

Lucy Gebhart

Mrs. Paloma Urbano

Mrs. Wendy Germani

Mr. and Mrs. Alton L. Warren

Susan Giannatonio and Bruce Winquist

2 Anonymous

Mr. and Mrs. Kirk Girouard

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Carvelli Kenneth T. Chin

Mr. David Gockley

Vicki Clepper

CONTRIBUTING FELLOWS— $1,000 OR MORE

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur G. Dauber

Mr. and Mrs. Neil Ken Alexander

June Deadrick

Joan and Stanford Alexander

Mr. and Mrs. Blake Eskew

Dr. Lorraine Cornwell and Mr. Matthew Antonelli

Ms. Ann L. Faget Marion and Gary Glober Ms. Janet Graves Mr. and Mrs. Dewuse Guyton Dr. and Mrs. Carlos R. Hamilton, Jr. Ms. Rebecca Hansen Mr. and Mrs. Michael F. Henderek Dr. Sallie T. Hightower

Mr. and Mrs. John A. Barbe Mr. and Mrs. Arturo Barragan Mrs. Deborah S. Bautch Mr. and Mrs. V. G. Beghini Mrs. John E. Bixby Dr. Zach Blailock Jr. Drs. David H. and Joanne Boldt

Mr. Tim Hilt Mrs. Marvin Kaplan Nancy McGregor and Neal Manne Mark and Juliet Markovich Mr. James L. McNett Hal and Terry Meyer Mr. and Mrs. Sidney S. Moran Mr. and Mrs. Chad Muir John Newton and Peggy Cramer Tammy and Wayne Nguyen Mrs. Ulrike Peto Mr. and Mrs. Irving Pozmantier Sharon Ruhly Ramon and Chula Sanchez Christopher B. Schulze, M.D. Dr. Wayne X. Shandera 66

Mrs. Estella Hollin-Avery

SUMMER 20 2 1

Jim and Susan Boone Ms. Zu Dell Broadwater Mr. and Mrs. Charles Brodhead Mr. and Mrs. James Brugman Mr. Paul D. Camp Dorothy E. F. Caram, Ed.D. Mr. and Mrs. Thierry Caruso Dr. Claude Cech Dr. Raymond Chinn Ms. Mary Clark Dr. and Mrs. J. Michael Condit Mr. and Mrs. Warren Dean Mike and Gayle DeGeurin Peggy DeMarsh Dr. and Mrs. R. L. Deter

Rhoda Goldberg Mr. and Mrs. Fred Gott Dr. James E. Griffin III and Dr. Margo Denke Mr. and Mrs. Ira Gruber Mr. and Mrs. Philip Gunnels Mr. and Mrs. William H. Hazlett John Hearn Dr. Ralph J. Herring Dr. Janice L. Hewitt Kay and Michael W. Hilliard Mr. Stanley A. Hoffberger Mr. and Mrs. Clay Hoster Mr. and Mrs. Ronald E. Huebsch Mr. Francisco J. Izaguirre Mr. and Mrs. Richard A. Jackson Mr. and Mrs. John Jordan Lynda and Frank Kelly Mrs. Judy Koehl Mr. Jon T. Lamkin and Dr. Lynn Lamkin Mrs. Yildiz Lee Ms. Nadine Littles Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Y. Lui Ms. Nancy Manderson Dr. and Mrs. Moshe H. Maor Mr. and Mrs. H. Woods Martin Nancy Martin Danita Maseles Dr. Mary Fae McKay

ANNUAL SUPPORT Ms. Maryellen McSweeney

Mr. William K. Rice

Mr. Kiyoshi Tamagawa

Christianne Melanson and Durwin Sharp

Kathryn A. Ritcheske

Stefanie and Ralph Telford

Mrs. Theresa L. Meyer

Mrs. Carol Ritter

Ms. Jennifer Townsend

Mr. Douglas D. Miller

Ms. Mallory Robinson

Andrea Ward and David Trahan

Dr. and Mrs. Stanley Milstein

Mr. Jack Rooker

Dr. David Tweardy and Dr. Ruth Falik

Mr. and Mrs. Marvin H. Mueller

Dr. Roger D. Rossen

Mr. and Mrs. Tim Unger

Mr. William Nicholas

Mr. and Mrs. Eliseo Salazar

Dr. and Mrs. Lieven J. Van Riet

Mr. Dean Niemeyer and Dr. Marlowe D. Niemeyer

Mr. Alan Schmitz

Andrea Ward and David Trahan

Mrs. Carolyn A. Seale and Mrs. Carol Lee Klose

Mr. Jesse Weir

Mr. Eugene Nosal Geoffry H. Oshman

Ms. Joan M. Shack

J. M. Weltzien

Ms. Jo L. Papadakis

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Shearouse

Mr. Peter J. Wender

Dr. and Mrs. Richard B. Pesikoff

Mr. Nick Shumway and Mr. Robert Mayott

Ms. Susan Trammell Whitfield

Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Phillips

Mr. Herbert Simons

Mrs. Dolores Wilkenfeld

Joe and Joanna Phillips

Jan Simpson

Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Woodell II

Mr. and Mrs. Phil Plant

Mr. and Mrs. Louis. S. Sklar

Ms. Pinar Oya Yilmaz

Mrs. Jenny Popatia

Ms. Marylen Smith

6 Anonymous

Dr. and Mrs. Florante A. Quiocho

Mr. and Mrs. George Sneed

Ms. Judy Ramsey

Ms. Linda F. Sonier

Mr. and Mrs. William Rawl

Mr. Brian Speck

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Reynolds

Mr. and Mrs. George Stark

Mr. and Mrs. Gene Steve Rhea

Mr. and Mrs. Winston Talbert

Mr. and Mrs. Darrell Wellen

Join us for our

jubilant return

to the theater!

Subscriptions in the orchestra start at just $95!

houstonballet.org | 713.227.ARTS (2787) H G O. O R G

67

ANNUAL SUPPORT

Corporate, Foundation, and Government Supporters Houston Grand Opera’s corporate, foundation, and government partners make it possible for HGO to create and share great art with our community. We are incredibly proud to work with these organizations and grateful for all they do. For information on joining HGO’s valued team of corporate and foundation supporters, please contact Kelly Finn, director of development, institutional giving, at 713-546-0265 or kfinn@hgo.org.

Michaela Greenan, Corporate Council Chair

CORPORATE, FOUNDATION, GOVERNMENT

Glen Rosenbaum, Vinson & Elkins LLP

Wells Fargo †

Manolo Sánchez, Spring Labs

Westlake Chemical Corporation †

HOUSTON GRAND OPERA CORPORATE COUNCIL

Denmon Sigler, Baker McKenzie Apurva Thekdi, MD, Houston Methodist

SPONSORS—$10,000 OR MORE

Ignacio Torras, Tricon Energy

EY

Tom Van Arsdel, Winstead PC

Locke Lord LLP †

Alfredo Vilas, Novum Energy

Truist

David Young, Union Pacific

Winstead PC

CORPORATE SUPPORTERS

MEMBERS—$1,000 OR MORE

GUARANTORS—$100,000 OR MORE

Alliance Bernstein

Meg Boulware, Boulware & Valoir

ConocoPhillips †

CHANEL

Thierry Caruso, EY

H-E-B †

Patterson & Sheridan LLP

Albert Chao, Westlake Chemical Corporation

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™ †

Maovor, Inc.

Silvia Salle, Bank of America

Novum Energy

Beth A. Colle, EY

Schlumberger †

Adam Cook, Tokio Marine HCC

Shell †

Joshua Davidson, Baker Botts L.L.P.

United Airlines †*

Frederic Dyen, Schlumberger

Vinson & Elkins LLP †*

Thomas R. Ajamie, Ajamie LLP Chris Angelides, Shell J. Scott Arnoldy, Triten Corporation Chris Bacon, Vinson & Elkins LLP C. Mark Baker, Norton Rose Fulbright LLP Marcos Basso, Baker McKenzie Astley Blair, Marine Well Containment Company

Houston Methodist †*

Warren Ellsworth, MD, Houston Methodist Michael Hilliard, Winstead PC

GRAND UNDERWRITERS— $50,000 OR MORE

Richard Husseini, Baker Botts L.L.P.

Ajamie LLP

Rick Jaramillo, Bank of America

Bank of America

William Kopp, Scott & Stringfellow LLC

BBVA †*

Richard Leibman, FROSCH

Nana Booker and David Lowe/ Booker · Lowe Gallery *

Brannon Fitch, Truist

David LePori, Frost Bank Claire Liu, LyondellBasell (Retired) Mark Metts, Sidley Austin LLP Craig Miller, Frost Bank Ward Pennebaker, Pennebaker Gloria M. Portela, Seyfarth Shaw LLP Allyn Risley, GTT North America Susan Rivera, Tokio Marine HCC Kelly Rose, ConocoPhillips 68

SUMMER 20 2 1

IN-KIND CONTRIBUTORS TO OPERATIONS AND SPECIAL EVENTS UNDERWRITERS—$25,000 OR MORE Abrahams Oriental Rugs and Home Furnishings City Kitchen Catering The Events Company Tenenbaum Jewelers SPONSORS—$15,000 OR MORE Kirksey Gregg Productions Magnolia Houston

Frost Bank

Neiman Marcus Precious Jewels

UNDERWRITERS—$25,000 OR MORE

CO-SPONSORS—$7,500 OR MORE

Baker Botts L.L.P. †

BCN Taste and Tradition

Baker McKenzie

Elegant Events and Catering by Michael

Boulware & Valoir

Fort Bend Music Company

Norton Rose Fulbright LLP †

Medallion Global Wine Group

Tokio Marine HCC

Sakowitz Furs Steak48

ANNUAL SUPPORT BENEFACTORS—$5,000 OR MORE

The Cullen Foundation †

The Corinthian at Franklin Lofts

The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts †

David Peck The Lancaster Hotel The Four Seasons Hotel Houston

GRAND GUARANTORS— $250,000 OR MORE

William E. and Natoma Pyle Harvey Charitable Trust † MEMBERS—$1,000 OR MORE George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation †

Masterson Design/Mariquita Masterson

Albert and Anne Chao/Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation †

Shaftel Diamond Co.

The Alkek and Williams Foundation †

Houston Endowment Inc.

Kinder Morgan Foundation

The Elkins Foundation

Houston Saengerbund

MEMBERS—$1,000 OR MORE

The Humphreys Foundation †

The Nathan J. Klein Fund

Brasserie du Parc

The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation †

Chu Okoli Art

Texas Commission on the Arts †

Connie Kwan-Wong/CWK Collection Inc.

Anonymous

* Contribution includes in- kind support † Ten or more years of consecutive support

Dar Schafer Art Elliott Marketing Group

GUARANTORS—$100,000 OR MORE

Ellsworth Plastic Surgery

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation †

Gittings Portraiture

John P. McGovern Foundation †

Glade Cultural Center

M.D. Anderson Foundation †

The Glimmerglass Festival

The Powell Foundation †

Guard and Grace

The Sarofim Foundation

Hayden Lasher

William Randolph Hearst Foundation

The Hotel ZaZa Joan Laughlin Art Kim Ritter Art

GRAND UNDERWRITERS— $50,000 OR MORE

Las Terrazas Resort & Residences

Anchorage Foundation of Texas

Lavandula Design

Carol Franc Buck Foundation

Matt Ringel/Red Light Management

National Endowment for the Arts †

Mayfield Piano Service Megan Murray Photography

UNDERWRITERS—$25,000 OR MORE

Page Piland Art

Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation

Rhonda Lanclos Art

City of Houston through the Miller Theatre Advisory Board †

Sandi Seltzer Bryant Art Shoocha Photography Marcia and Alfredo Vilas

FOUNDATIONS AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES PREMIER GUARANTOR— $1,000,000 OR MORE

Eleanor Searle Whitney McCollum Foundation OPERA America Ruth and Ted Bauer Family Foundation † Stedman West Foundation † Sterling-Turner Foundation Vivian L. Smith Foundation

The Brown Foundation, Inc. † Houston Grand Opera Endowment Inc. †

SPONSORS—$10,000 OR MORE

The Wortham Foundation, Inc. †

Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation †

PRINCIPAL GUARANTORS— $500,000 OR MORE City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance †

Cockrell Family Fund Houston Grand Opera Guild † The Vaughn Foundation

H G O. O R G

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ANNUAL SUPPORT

CORPORATE MATCHING

EQT Foundation

Nintendo Of America

Baker Hughes Foundation

ExxonMobil Foundation

Quantlab Financial, LLC

Bank of America Charitable Foundation

Fannie Mae

Salesforce

BP Foundation

Hewlett-Packard Company

Shell Oil Company Foundation

Chevron Humankind

IBM Corporation

The Boeing Company

Coca-Cola North America

Illinois Tools Works Inc.

Union Pacific

ConocoPhillips

LyondellBasell Chemical Company

Williams Companies

Encana

Macquarie

EOG Resources, Inc.

Microsoft Employee Giving

Laureate Society

Helen Wils, Chair

The Laureate Society comprises individuals who have helped ensure the future of Houston Grand Opera by remembering the Opera in their wills, retirement plans, trusts, or other types of estate plans. The Laureate Society does not require a minimum amount to become a member. Planned estate gifts to the Houston Grand Opera Endowment can be used to support general or specific Opera programs. Houston Grand Opera is deeply grateful to these individuals. Their generosity and foresight enable the Opera to maintain its growth and stability, thus enriching the lives of future generations. For information regarding charitable estate gift planning and how it might positively impact you, your loved ones, and ­Houston Grand Opera, please contact Richard Buffett, director of major gifts and legacy giving, at 713-546-0216 or rbuffett@hgo.org.

LAUREATE SOCIETY MEMBERS

Ms. Zu Dell Broadwater

Lida S. Dahm, M.D.

Ms. Gerry Aitken

Catherine Brock

Darrin Davis

Margaret Alkek Williams

Mrs. Ira B. Brown

Ms. Sasha Davis

Mrs. Judy Amonett

Mr. Richard S. Brown

Ms. Anna M. Dean

Michelle Beale and Richard H. Anderson

Logan D. Browning

Ms. Peggy DeMarsh

Robin Angly and Miles Smith

Richard Buffett

Elisabeth Dewitts

Christopher Bacon and Craig Miller

Mr. Tom Burley and Mr. Michael Arellano

Dr. and Mrs. Russell L. Deter II

Gilbert Baker

Ralph C. Byle

Connie Dyer

Dr. Saúl and Ursula Balagura

Gwyneth Campbell

Mrs. Thomas D. Barrow

Jess and Patricia Carnes

Ms. Gloria M. Portela and Mr. Richard E. Evans

Bill A. Bartlett

Janet Langford Carrig

James M. Barton

Mrs. Sylvia J. Carroll

Mr. Lary D. Barton

Nada Chandler

Mrs. Natalie Beller

Mr. Robert N. Chanon

Dr. Patricia Eifel and Dr. James A. Belli

Ms. Virginia Ann Clark

Mr. and Mrs. Stanley C. Beyer

Mathilda Cochran

Dr. Joan Hacken Bitar

Mr. William E. Colburn

Emily Bivona and Ryan Manser

Mr. and Mrs. Paul L. Comstock

Susan Ross Black

Mr. Jim O. Connell

Dr. Michael and Susan Bloome

C.M. and A.A. Cooper Jr.

Dr. and Mrs. Jules H. Bohnn

Mr. Efrain Z. Corzo

Mr. Andrew Bowen

Mr. Alan M. Craft

Lynda Bowman

James W. Crownover

Judith and Harry Bristol

Shelly Cyprus

70

SUMMER 20 2 1

Joyce and Trey Evans Ms. Thea M. Fabio and Mr. Richard Merrill Ann L. Faget Ms. Vicki Schmid Faulkner Mrs. Jean L. Fauntleroy Ms. Carol Sue Finkelstein Jack M. and Marsha S. Firestone Ms. Carol L. Fletcher Mr. Carlisle Floyd Bruce Ford Dr. Donna Fox Dr. Alice Gates Dr. Layne O. Gentry Mr. Michael B. George

ANNUAL SUPPORT Dr. Wm. David George

Steve Kelley and Charles Dennis

Mrs. James W. O’Keefe

Norine Jaloway Gill and David P. Gill, M.D.

A. Mark Kelly

Geoffry H. Oshman

Lynn Gissel

Kyle F. Kerr

Macky Osorio

Dr. Rollin O. Glaser

Ms. Virginia Kiser

Mrs. Susan Osterberg

Wesley H. Goble

Ann and Sam Koster

Mrs. Joan D. Osterweil

Mr. David Gockley

Ms. Michele LaNoue

Thelma and Richard Percoco

Rhoda Goldberg

Lynn and Jon Lamkin

Mrs. Sara M. Peterson

Mary Francis Gonzales

Marcheta Leighton-Beasley

Nancy Pryzant Picus

Mr. Jon K. Gossett

Carolyn J. Levy

Mr. and Mrs. Harry C. Pinson

Mr. and Mrs. Fred Gott

Willy and Inge Lotte Liesner

Mr. and Mrs. James A. Pokorski

Adelma Graham

Mr. Michael Linkins

Mr. and Mrs. Donald Graubart

Heide and Karl Loos

Mr. Arthur B. Pryde and Mrs. Suzanne Page-Pryde

Dr. Nichols Grimes

Mrs. Marilyn G. Lummis

Dr. Ellen R. Gritz

Dr. Jo Wilkinson Lyday

Mario Gudmunsson

Mr. and Mrs. Paul A. Lynn

Mr. Jas A. Gundry

Ms. Sandra L. Magers

Mr. Claudio Gutierrez

Mrs. Rosemary Malbin

Robert W. Guynn, M.D. Bill Haase

Ms. Michele Malloy

Linda Lloyd Hart

Mr. and Mrs. J. Landis Martin

Ms. Brenda Harvey-Traylor

Nancy Wynne Mattison

Nancy Ferguson-Haywood

Jackie and Malcolm Mazow, M.D.

Miguel and Teresita Hernandez

Mrs. Dorothy McCaine

Dr. Ralph Herring

Mrs. Cynthia Tally McDonald

Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Hewell

Mr. and Mrs. Alexander K. McLanahan

Mr. Edward L. Hoffman

Dr. Will L. McLendon

Dr. Gary L. Hollingsworth and Dr. Ken Hyde

Mr. Allen D. McReynolds

Alan and Ellen Holzberg

Mr. and Mrs. D. Bradley McWilliams

Ms. Kathleen Moore and Mr. Steven Homer

Christianne Melanson

Frank Hood Ms. Ami J. Hooper Ms. Sue A. Shirley-Howard and Mr. Richard H. Howard

Maryellen McSweeney

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Menzie Miss Catherine Jane Merchant Ms. Georgette M. Michko Ms. Suzanne Mimnaugh

Eileen and George Hricik

Sid Moorhead

Ms. Lee M. Huber

Mr. Juan R. Morales

Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Hunter

Mr. and Mrs. Sidney S. Moran

Greg Ingram

Mr. and Mrs. Marvin H. Mueller

Dr. Lamar and Mrs. Jane Jackson Charitable Trust

Ms. Linda C. Murray

Mr. Brian James

Mr. Erik Nelson

Mr. Spencer A. Jeffries

Bobbie Newman

Ms. Charlotte Jones

Mrs. Tassie Nicandros

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Kauffman

Ms. B. Lynn Mathre and Mr. Stewart O’Dell

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen M. Kaufman

Mr. and Mrs. Staman Ogilvie

Ms. Terrylin G. Neale

Dr. Angela Rechichi-Apollo Mr. and Mrs. Conrad Reynolds Wanda H. Reynolds Mr. Bill Richmond and Mr. Dennis Courtney Ed and Janet Rinehart Mr. and Mrs. Edward N. Robinson Mrs. Shirley Rose Glen A. Rosenbaum Mr. John C. Rudder Jr. H. Clifford Rudisill and Ray E. Wilson Mr. and Mrs. Thomas V. Rushing Mr. and Mrs. Terrell F. Sanders Ms. Wanda Schaffner Deborah and Kenneth Scianna Charles and Gudrun Senuta Helen and James Shaffer Mr. Chris Schilling Hinda Simon Mr. Herbert D. Simons Ms. Susan Simpson Janet Sims Bruce Smith, DDS Mr. Robert J. Smouse Ms. Linda F. Sonier Mr. and Mrs. Harlan C. Stai Ms. Darla Y. Stange Catherine Stevenson Bruce Suter Rhonda J. Sweeney Mr. and Mrs. Leonard B. Tatar Mrs. John Ben Taub Quentin Thigpen and Amy Psaris H G O. O R G

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ANNUAL SUPPORT Mr. John G. Turner and Mr. Jerry G. Fischer

Katherine and Mark Yzaguirre

Roberta and Jack Harris

Dr. and Mrs. Efrain Zavala

Jackson C. Hicks

Mr. Paul and Dr. Rhonda Turner

Mr. John L. Zipprich II

Dr. Marjorie Horning

Mr. and Mrs. Jess B. Tutor

26 Anonymous

Mark Lensky

Birgitt van Wijk

Mary R. Lewis

Marietta Voglis

WE HONOR THE MEMORY OF THOSE WHO INCLUDED HGO IN THEIR ESTATE PLANS:

Ms. Rons Voogt

Dr. Thomas D. Barrow

Mr. Constantine Nicandros

Dean B. Walker

Ms. Evelyn M. Bedard

M. Joan Nish

Mr. Gordon D. Watson

Ronald Borschow

Mr. James W. O’Keefe

Rebecca Weaver

Mr. Ira B. Brown

Barbara M. Osborne

Mrs. H. E. Warshaw

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Capshaw

Mrs. Mary Ann Phillips

Mr. Jesse Weir

Dr. Lawrence E. Carlton

Mr. Howard Pieper

Mr. Geoffrey Westergaard

Mr. Tony Carroll, LCSW

Mr. and Mrs. Craig M. Rowley

Ms. Roxanne Cargill and Peter Weston

Michael Cochran

Mrs. Joseph P. Ruddell

Ms. Jane L. Williams

Judy Cummings

Mr. Eric W. Stein Sr.

Helen Wils

Karl A. Dahm

John and Fanny Stone

David and Mary Wolff

Ms. Marilyn R. Davis

Dr. Carlos Vallbona

Dr. L. Fabian Worthing III

Frank R. Eyler

Daisy Wong

Lynn Wyatt

Linda Finger

Miss Bonnie Sue Wooldridge

R. Alan York

Christine E. George

Alfredo Vilas

Mrs. Margaret Love Ms. Marsha Malev

Houston Grand Opera Endowment

Yolanda Knull, Chair

The Houston Grand Opera Endowment, Inc., is a separate nonprofit organization that invests contributions to earn income for the benefit of Houston Grand Opera Association. The Endowment Board works with Paul Comstock Partners, independent investment counsel, to engage professional investment managers. An endowed fund can be permanently established within the Houston Grand Opera Endowment through a direct contribution or via a planned gift such as a bequest. The fund can be designated for general purposes or specific interests. For a discussion on endowing a fund, please contact Richard Buffett, director of major gifts and legacy giving, at 713-546-0216 or rbuffett@hgo.org. HGO acknowledges with deep gratitude the following endowed funds.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Stephen Kaufman

The Brown Foundation Endowment Fund

Officers

Allyn Risley

Yolanda Knull, Chair

Scott Wise

The Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation Endowment Fund Jane and Robert Cizik Endowment

Tom Rushing, Senior Chair Janet L. Carrig, Chair Emertius

GENERAL ENDOWMENT FUNDS

Marianne Kah, Vice Chair

Bauer Family Fund

Terrylin Neale, Secretary/Treasurer

Charles T. (Ted) Bauer Memorial Fund Sandra Bernhard Endowed Fund

Members at Large Tom Ajamie Molly Dill Robert Hunter Richard Husseini 72

SUMMER 20 2 1

The Stanley and Shirley Beyer Endowed Fund Mary Frances Newton Bowers Endowment Fund Pat and Daniel A. Breen Endowment Fund

Michael and Mathilda Cochran Endowment Fund Douglas E. Colin Endowment Fund Mary Jane Fedder Endowed Fund Linda K. Finger Endowed Fund Robert W. George Endowment Fund Frank Greenberg, M.D. Endowment Fund Jackson D. Hicks Endowment Fund General and Mrs. Maurice Hirsch Memorial Opera Fund

ANNUAL SUPPORT Elizabeth Rieke and Wayne V. Jones Endowment Fund

Sarah and Ernest Butler Concertmaster Chair: Denise Tarrant

Lensky Family Endowed Fund

Mr. and Mrs. James A. Elkins Jr. Endowed Chair: Peter Pasztor

Mary R. Lewis Endowed Fund Beth Madison Endowed Fund Franci Neely Endowed Fund Constantine S. Nicandros Endowment Fund Barbara M. Osborne Charitable Trust Cynthia and Anthony Petrello Endowed Fund Mary Ann Phillips Endowed Fund C. Howard Pieper Endowment Fund Kitty King Powell Endowment Fund Rowley Family Endowment Fund The Ruddell Endowment Fund Shell Lubricants (formerly Pennzoil — Quaker State Company) Fund Dian and Harlan Stai Fund The John and Fanny Stone Endowment Fund Dorothy Barton Thomas Endowment Fund John G. Turner and Jerry G. Fischer Endowed Fund John and Sheila Tweed Endowed Fund

David Clark Grant Endowment Fund The Schissler Family Foundation Endowed Fund for Educational Programs

Mr. and Mrs. Albert B. Alkek Chair

OUTREACH FUNDS

James A. Elkins Jr. Endowed Visiting Artist Fund

Guyla Pircher Harris Project

ELECTRONIC MEDIA FUNDS

Spring Opera Festival Fund (Shell Lubricants, formerly Pennzoil—Quaker State Company)

The Ford Foundation Endowment Fund CONCERT OF ARIAS HOUSTON GRAND OPERA STUDIO FUNDS

Eleanor Searle McCollum Endowment Fund

Audrey Jones Beck Endowed Fellowship Fund/Houston Endowment, Inc. The Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation Endowment Fund Thomas Capshaw Endowment Fund Houston Grand Opera Guild Endowment Fund James J. Drach Endowment Fund Evans Family Endowed Chair Carol Lynn Lay Fletcher Endowment Fund William Randolph Hearst Endowed Scholarship Fund

Marietta Voglis Endowed Fund

Charlotte Howe Memorial Scholarship Fund

Bonnie Sue Wooldridge Endowment Fund

Elva Lobit Opera Endowment Fund

The Wortham Foundation Permanent Endowment Fund

Marian and Speros Martel Foundation Endowment Fund Erin Gregory Neale Endowment Fund

PRODUCTION FUNDS Edward and Frances Bing Fund Tracey D. Conwell Endowment Fund The Wagner Fund

Dr. Mary Joan Nish and Patricia Bratsas Endowed Fund John M. O’Quinn Foundation Endowed Fellowship Fund Shell Lubricants (formerly Pennzoil — Quaker State Company) Fund

PRINCIPAL ARTISTS FUNDS

Mary C. Gayler Snook Endowment Fund

The Lynn Wyatt Great Artist Fund

Tenneco, Inc. Endowment Fund Weston-Cargill Endowed Fund

ENDOWED CHAIRS AND FELLOWSHIPS Margaret Alkek Williams Chair: Khori Dastoor

EDUCATION FUNDS Bauer Family Fund

Sarah and Ernest Butler Chair: Patrick Summers, Artistic and Music Director

Lawrence E. Carlton, M.D., Endowment Fund

Sarah and Ernest Butler Chorus Master Chair: Richard Bado

James J. Drach Endowment Fund

Beth Crispin Endowment Fund Fondren Foundation Fund for Educational Programs H G O. O R G

73

DONORS MAKE GREAT ART POSSIBLE Ticket sales cover only 25% of producing great opera. Your contributions make up the rest. It’s donors like you who bring grand opera to the Wortham Stage.

Your gift to HGO gives you exclusive and behindthe-scenes benefits like valet parking, lecture series, and Green Room access.

For more information on benefits, visit HGO.org/DONATE. Please contact David Krohn, director of development, at 713-980-8685 or dkrohn@HGO.org.

$ 100

MEMBER

$ 250

CONTRIBUTING MEMBER

$ 500

FELLOW

$ 1,000

CONTRIBUTING FELLOW

$ 2,000

ASSOCIATE PATRON

$ 2,500

NATIONAL PATRONS CIRCLE

$ 2,500

YOUNG PATRONS CIRCLE

$ 5,000

PATRONS CIRCLE

$ 5,000

NATIONAL TRUSTEE

$ 5,000

YOUNG TRUSTEE

$ 10,000

TRUSTEE

$ 25,000

UNDERWRITER

H G O. O R G

75

76

SUMMER 20 2 1

Sarah Rothenberg Artistic Director

21 / 22 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

Pianist Garrick Ohlsson in An Evening of Chopin

Violinist Christian Tetzlaff in an all-Bach solo recital Bass-baritone Davóne Tines | Recital No. 1: Mass

Elias String Quartet in a once-in-a-lifetime complete Beethoven string quartet cycle And much more!

Subscribe now at 713-524-5050 or DACAMERA.com

SOCIETY FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

JEFF GOLDBLUM & THE MILDRED SNITZER ORCHESTRA Friday, January 28

ALL SHOWS, ON SALE NOW. SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

Neil deGrasse Tyson: Astronomy Bizzare Jeff Goldblum & The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra An Evening with Chris Thile An Evening with Fran Lebowitz Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Seong-Jin Cho Plays Chopin Neil Gaiman —and more.

SPAHOUSTON.ORG

SEASON SPONSOR

OFFICIAL AIRLINE

FUNDED IN PART BY

THE CITY OF HOUSTON

THROUGH HOUSTON ARTS ALLIANCE

PHOTO BY PARI DUKOVIC

H G O. O R G

77

2021-22 CALENDAR

SAVE THE DATES An incredible season full of events you won’t want to miss!

World-renowned tenor Jonas Kaufmann steps onto the Wortham stage on October 6!

PHOTO BY GREGOR HOHENBERG / SONY CLASSICAL

78

SUMMER 20 2 1

2021-22 CALENDAR

SEPTEMBER SEPTEMBER 11

HGOco presents singers from the Bauer Family High School Voice Studio in a masterclass with an HGO artist. 10:30 a.m. Free; public invited. Contact Alisa Magallón at amagallon@hgo.org for information.

Wortham’s Brown Theater.

9 p.m. dinner with Kaufmann at the Four Seasons Houston.

A limited number of Special Event packages, including premium concert seating and dinner, available through Brooke Rogers at brogers@ hgo.org or 713-546-0271.

HGO.org/Jonas

SEPTEMBER 18

HGO Studio Showcase.

The singers and pianists of the HGO Studio perform in a program of opera scenes.

Wortham Theater Center’s Cullen Theater. 7 p.m.

OCTOBER 9, 10, 16, 17

OCTOBER

Opening Night Dinner: HGO celebrates the return of live grand opera and the 2021-22 season following the opening performance of Bizet’s Carmen. Wortham Theater Center. Betty and Jess B. Tutor, Chairs. For information, contact Brooke Rogers at brogers@hgo.org or 713-546-0271.

HGO.org/OpeningNight

HGOco presents Songs on the Water at Buffalo Bayou Park. 4-5 p.m. and 6-7 p.m. each day.

OCTOBER 22

OCTOBER 2

HGOco presents singers from the Bauer Family High School Voice Studio in a masterclass with an HGO artist. 2 p.m. Free; public invited. Contact Alisa Magallón at amagallon@hgo.org for information.

OCTOBER 6

An Evening with Jonas Kaufmann: The German tenor superstar gives his first-ever, one-night-only performance in Houston, accompanied by the HGO Orchestra and Maestro Patrick Summers. 7 p.m. concert in the

OCTOBER 26

High School Night: HGOco hosts high school students and their chaperones at a fulllength performance of Bizet’s Carmen. School groups only.

Wortham Theater Center’s

OCTOBER 22, 24M, 28, 30, NOVEMBER 3, 5, 6, 7M

Performances of Bizet’s Carmen. Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Theater.

Brown Theater, 7 p.m. Visit HGO.org/StudentPerformances to reserve.

NOVEMBER NOVEMBER 11, 14

HGO Studio Recital Series:

Artists of the HGO Studio perform in the intimate and elegant salon at Rienzi, the decorative arts wing of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, at 1406 Kirby Drive. 7:30 p.m.

November 11; 5 p.m.

November 14.

NOVEMBER 14

OCTOBER 4-6

The Barber of Seville in Texas: HGOco and Opera to Go! present Kristine McIntyre’s bilingual adaptation of Gioachino Rossini’s classic comic opera, now set in Texas. Recommended for children in grades 2-8.

Miller Outdoor Theatre, 11 a.m. daily. Free.

A virtual version of this Opera to Go! production will be available from August 30 through December 17.

To schedule a screening or book a teaching artist to lead a screening of this new HGOco performance at your school, library, or community center, visit HGO.org/OperaToGo or call 713-546-0231.

HGOco presents a Holiday Singalong at the JCC focused on The Snowy Day. 3-5 p.m.

DECEMBER DECEMBER 11

HGOco presents Carols on the Green, a holiday singalong at Discovery Green. 7:30 p.m.

DECEMBER 11

HGOco presents Holiday in the Tré, a singalong at Emancipation Park.

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2021-22 CALENDAR

JANUARY JANUARY 21

Concert of Arias: The 34th Annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias, a celebration of the future of opera. 7 p.m. live competition finals and concert. Dinner with the artists follows in the Grand Foyer.

Drs. Liz Grimm and Jack Roth, chairs. For information, contact Brooke Rogers at 713-5460271 or brogers@hgo.org.

HGO.org/COA JANUARY 27-29

The Barber of Seville in Texas: HGOco and Opera to Go! present Kristine McIntyre’s bilingual adaptation of Gioachino Rossini’s classic comic opera, now set in Texas.

Recommended for children in grades 2-8. Houston Community College’s Heinen Theater.

Two performances daily: 9:30 and 11 a.m. Free.

DECEMBER 9, 10, 11, 12M, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19M

Performances of Joel Thompson and Andrea Davis Pinkney’s world premiere opera, The Snowy Day. Wortham Theater Center’s Cullen Theater.

production at your school, library, or community center, visit HGO.org/OperaToGo or call 713-546-0231.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, at 1406 Kirby Drive. 7:30 p.m.

February 5; 5 p.m. February 6.

FEBRUARY

Performances of HGOco world-premiere opera, Nell Shaw Cohen and Megan Cohen’s Turn and Burn. 7:30-9 p.m.

February 25. 2-3:30 p.m. and 7:30-9 p.m. February 26.

FEBRUARY 5, 6

The Opera to Go! program will feature live performances of The Barber of Seville in Texas from January 19-May 20. To schedule this HGOco

HGO Studio Recital Series: Artists of the HGO Studio perform in the intimate and elegant salon at Rienzi, the decorative arts wing of the

FEBRUARY 25, 26

MARCH MARCH 8

Live premiere, presented

by HGOco: Jake Heggie, Margaret Atwood, and Joshua Hopkins’s song cycle, Songs for Murdered Sisters. Panel follows performance. 7 p.m.

Rothko Chapel.

FEBRUARY 4, 6M, 8, 10, 12, 13M JANUARY 14, 16M, 19, 22

Performances of Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites.

Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Theater. Special intermission reception for members of Opening Nights for Young Professionals at the January 14 performance only.

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SUMMER 20 2 1

Performances of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Theater. Special intermission receptions for members of Opening Nights for Young Professionals at the February 4 performance only, and for members of Overture at the February 12 performance only.

2021-22 CALENDAR MARCH 11

APRIL 22, 24M, 30, MAY 3, 6

HGO Studio Recital Series: Artists of the HGO Studio perform at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Audrey Jones Beck Building, 5601 Main Street, 7:30 p.m.

Performances of Puccini’s Turandot. Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Theater. Special intermission reception for members of Opening Nights for Young Professionals at the April 22 performance only.

MARCH 19, 20, 26, 27

HGOco presents Songs on the Water at Buffalo Bayou Park. 4-5 p.m. and 6-7 p.m. each day.

APRIL APRIL 9 Opera Ball 2022: Le Voyage à Marrakech:

MARCH 19

Third annual Giving Voice concert, a celebration of diverse artists in opera. Wortham Theater Center’s Cullen Theater.

Take a dreamy Moroccan adventure when Houston’s only annual white tie gala returns with cocktails, dinner, a luxury auction, and dancing the night away. 6:30 p.m. Wortham Theater Center. Jennifer and Benjamin Fink, chairs; Teresa and José Ivo, auction chairs. Event followed by the ENCORE After Party, Tami Hiraoka and Louis Borrego, chairs. For information, contact Brooke Rogers at 713-546-0271 or brogers@hgo.org. HGO.org/OperaBall

MAY 7

HGOco presents the Bauer Family High School Voice Studio Graduation Recital.

Duncan Recital Hall, Rice University. 6 p.m. Free.

JUNE JUNE 6-24

Opera Camp: After two years of virtual activities, one of Houston’s most in-demand summer camps is coming back with live activities in June 2022! HGOco is proud to announce three unique camps* designed for rising grades K-2, rising grades 3-8, and rising grades 9-entering college. All camps are held at the Wortham Theater Center.

For more information, visit HGO.org/community-programs. *Opera Camps are held at the Wortham Theater Center. The final performance for the Art of Opera camp will be held at the Heinen Theatre on the central campus of Houston Community College. For more information, visit HGO.org/ community-programs.

APRIL 29, MAY 1M, 7, 11

Performances of Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet. Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Theater.

Special intermission receptions for members of Opening Nights for Young Professionals at the April 29 performance only, and for members of Overture at the May 7 performance only.

For information and to purchase tickets for all Houston Grand Opera events, call the Customer Care Center at 713-228-6737 unless otherwise noted. For information about HGOco events, please call 713-546-0230, email HGOco@hgo.org, or visit HGO.org/community-programs unless otherwise noted.

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Houston Grand Opera Guild welcomes you back to the Wortham Theater Center!

The HGO Guild provides you with volunteering opportunities that support activities at Houston Grand Opera. Joining the HGO Guild is your opportunity to meet talented performers and other opera professionals. Visit hgoguild.org for information.

Volunteer opportunities include: • The Artist Hospitality Program gives our visiting guest artists personalized transportation and plenty of attention to detail. Contact Deirdre at deirdremcdowell@me.com for more information.

• The Buddies Program supports visiting performers and Studio Artists through special friendships. You can “adopt” a budding artist with the HGO Studio and be their in-town family. Call 713-546-0269 for more information.

• The Boutique is a pop-up store in the Wortham’s grand foyer that offers opportunities to show your interest in merchandising, retail sales, cashiering, and teamwork! The HGO Boutique’s proceeds are used to fund many of HGO’s opera programs. Contact Kris at ktaylor2106@sbcglobal.net.

Coming Soon!

Houston Grand Opera Guild’s Fall Awards Brunch Join us to celebrate HGO Guild volunteers. For more information, visit hgoguild.org about upcoming special events.

HGO’s 2014 production of Carmen featuring Ana María Martínez and Brandon Jovanovich.

Photo by Lynn Lane.

Guild Underwriters include Maria Bryant, Lynn Gissel, Teresa and José Ivo, Laura and Brad McWilliams, Kathleen Moore & Steve Homer, Jill and Allyn Risley, Shirley Rose, Glen Rosenbaum, Sybil F. Roos & Betsy Garlinger, and Janet Sims.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

PHOTO BY LYNN LANE

PLAN YOUR VISIT Houston Grand Opera offers a wealth of services to enhance your opera experience.

Want to brush up on the opera before you attend? Need directions to the theater?

This information and much more is available on our website where you can also purchase tickets and make a donation: HGO.org.

HGO’s Customer Care Center is another great resource. For performance information, to purchase or exchange tickets, or to make a donation to HGO, contact the Customer Care Center at 713-228-6737.

You can also email customercare@hgo. org. Throughout the season, the Center will be staffed Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. During performance runs, the Center is open until 6 p.m., and on performance days, it is open until curtain time. The Center will be open on Saturdays and Sundays only when there is a performance, from noon until curtain.

Hours are subject to change.

You can purchase tickets and make exchanges in person at the HGO Box Office, located in the Wortham Theater Center at 550 Prairie. Hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. If there is a performance on Saturday or Sunday, the Box Office will be open from noon until curtain.

Hours are subject to change.

BROWN AND CULLEN ALCOVES The Wortham Theater Center’s alcoves were designed with your comfort in mind.

Step inside one of these golden-hued spaces in the Grand Foyer, and you’ll find a calm place to reflect on the evening’s performance over dinner or drinks.

EXCHANGING YOUR TICKETS Full-season and mini-package subscribers may exchange their tickets for a different performance of the same opera without fee, subject to availability. Exchanges can be made by phone until the performance begins. Non-subscription single tickets may be exchanged with a service fee of $10 per ticket. When exchanged for tickets of greater value, the customer will be responsible for the difference; no refunds will be made. No exchanges are permitted after the performance has begun.

LOST OR MISPLACED TICKETS There is no charge for replacing lost ­tickets. Call the Customer Care Center at 713-228-6737 to request replacement tickets. They will be reprinted and held at the Will Call window for your performance.

PATRONS WITH DISABILITIES The Wortham Theater Center features wheelchair access to both theaters with a choice of seating locations and ticket prices. An FM assistive listening device, generously provided by the Houston First Corporation, is available for use free of charge at all performances. Please call the ­Customer Care Center at 713-228-6737 for full details.

Descriptive services for persons with vision loss are available with 48-hour advance reservations. Please call 713-980-8662 for details.

FOOD AND BEVERAGE ­SERVICES Pre-order beverages for intermission at any of the lobby bars when you arrive at the theater. When you return at intermission, your beverages will be waiting for you.

Full-season subscribers in the ­Founders Boxes, Premium Orchestra, and Loge Boxes may dine in the Founders Salon.

Reservations are required, and meals must be ordered in advance. To take advantage of this subscriber-only benefit, Call Elegant Events and Catering by Michael at 713-533-9318.

PARKING Valet parking is a benefit of membership for Patrons Circle donors; the valet station is located on Prairie Street. If you would like information about membership at this level, please contact a member of HGO’s

Development staff at 713-546-0704, or e-mail us at donorservices@hgo.org.

If you have a state-issued disability permit and need valet parking, you may purchase special passes by contacting the Customer Care Center. Parking spots for disabled ticket holders are also available in the Theater District Garage on a first-come, first-served basis.

Parking in the Theater District Parking Garage is $12 on weekends and after 5 p.m. on weekdays. Clearance for trucks and vans is 6’8”.

The recommended entrances for the Theater District Garage are on Prairie or Texas between Bagby and Smith. The recommended entrances for the Alley Theatre Garage are on Smith or Louisiana between Texas ­and Prairie.

STAY SAFE! Together, we can enjoy great art and conquer COVID-19.

As things inch back to normal, it’s important that our audiences feel comfortable, proceed with care, and respect those around them.

To ensure that we all remain safe while enjoying the incredible 202122 season, HGO strongly recommends the following: • Vaccinate yourself and your loved ones. This is your number one weapon against COVID-19.

• Wear a mask in spaces like the Wortham, including in the Grand Foyer and in your seats.

• Advise HGO if you prefer socially distanced seating.

• If you feel sick, please stay home! HGO will honor your tickets at another date.

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HOUSTON GRAND OPERA MANAGEMENT & STAFF

Khori Dastoor General Director and CEO Margaret Alkek Williams Chair

Patrick Summers Artistic and Music Director * Sarah and Ernest Butler Chair

ARTISTIC ADVISOR Ana María Martínez OFFICE OF THE GENERAL DIRECTOR Mary Elsey, Chief of Staff to the Acting Chief Operating Officer Dawn Gillespie, Governance and Business Manager FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION Luis Franco, Office Services Coordinator* Denise Fruge, Accounts Payable Administrator* Matt Gonzales, Database Administrator* Chasity Hopkins, Senior Accountant Michael Hornsby, Director of Information Technology Ty Jones, Network Administrator Debbie Loper, Payroll Manager* Gabrielle Reed, Human Resources Coordinator DEVELOPMENT Richard Buffett, Director of Major Gifts and Legacy Planning Kelly Finn, Director of Development, Institutional Giving* Sydnee E. Houlette, Associate Director of Development-Institutional Giving Scott Ipsen, Director of Patron Services* David Krohn, Director of Development Sarah Long, Development Officer Kelly Nicholls, Director of Development Lindsey Peters, Associate Director of Special Events Brooke Rogers, Director of Special Events Madeline Sebastian, Development Officer MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS Tamila Amanzholova, Graphic Designer Natalie Barron, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications Chelsea Crouse, Creative Manager Jessica Gonzalez, Marketing Coordinator Cynthia Lewis, Team Lead* Catherine Matusow, Editor-in-Chief

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SUMMER 20 2 1

Richard Bado Director of Artistic Operations/ Chorus Master *

Dale Edwards Director of Marketing and Communications Deborah Hirsch Senior Director of Development *

Sarah and Ernest Butler Chorus Master Chair

Molly Dill Acting Chief Operating Officer *

Alisa Magallón Interim Director of HGOco

Joel Nott, Customer Care Center Coordinator Candace Pittman, Digital Marketing Manager Alan Sellar, Videographer THE GENEVIEVE P. DEMME ARCHIVES AND RESOURCE CENTER Brian Mitchell, Archivist* ADVANCEMENT OPERATIONS Ashley Bales, Senior Advancement Data Manager Natalie Burrows, Director of Advancement Operations Ariel Ehrman, Advancement Data Coordinator Catie Lovett, Advancement Operations Coordinator M. Jane Orosco, Marketing Data Manager* Amber Sheppard, Advancement Operations Manager Denise Simon, Advancement Office Administrator* HGOco Kathleen Brown, Interim Education Manager Andy Horton, Community Initiatives Coordinator Meredith Morse, Operations Manager Emily N. Wells, Senior Producing Manager ARTISTIC/MUSIC Richard S. Brown, Orchestra Personnel Manager* Joel Goodloe, Company Manager Carolyne Hall, Associate Company Manager Daniel James, Music Administrator/Artistic Media Manager Jeremy Johnson, Dramaturg Eun Sun Kim, Principal Guest Conductor Kirill Kuzmin, Principal Coach Mark C. Lear, Associate Artistic Administrator* Joshua Luty, Music Librarian

Gregory S. Robertson Chief Advancement Officer * Brian Speck Director of HGO Studio Melissa Williford Director of Human Resources *

Kevin J. Miller, Assistant Conductor Peter Pasztor, Principal Coach* Karen Reeves, Children’s Chorus Director* HOUSTON GRAND OPERA STUDIO Jamie Gelfand, Studio Manager Miah Im, Studio Music Director TECHNICAL/PRODUCTION Kristen E. Burke, Production Manager* Michael James Clark, Lighting Supervisor* Norma Cortez, Head of Costumes* Esmeralda De Leon, Costume Coordinator Nara Lesser, Costume Production Assistant Judy Malone-Stein, Wardrobe Supervisor Melissa McClung, Technical and Production Administrator Joshua C. McIntosh, Technical and Safety Director Megan, Properties Design Director* Dotti Staker, Wig and Makeup Department Head* Myrna Vallejo, Costume Shop Supervisor* Annie Wheeler, Stage Manager*

*denotes 10 or more years of service

HGO SPECIAL EVENTS 2021 / 2022 OPENING NIGHT DINNER CELEBRATION FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2021, 7 P.M. Betty and Jess B. Tutor, chairs

CONCERT OF ARIAS FRIDAY, JANUARY 21, 2022, 7 P.M. Drs. Liz Grimm and Jack Roth, chairs

Performance of Bizet’s Carmen followed by a celebration dinner on the Wortham’s Ray C. Fish Plaza. Black Tie. HGO.org/OpeningNight

The live finals of the annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers, followed by a celebration dinner in the Grand Foyer, Wortham Theater Center. Cocktail.

HGO.org/COA

AN EVENING WITH JONAS KAUFMANN

OPERA BALL 2022: LE VOYAGE À MARRAKECH

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2021, 7 P.M. Louise G. Chapman, presenting underwriter

SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 2022, 6:30 P.M. Jennifer and Benjamin Fink, chairs Teresa and José Ivo, auction chairs

A concert from the German tenor superstar, with the HGO Orchestra led by Maestro Patrick Summers, followed by dinner with Kaufmann at the Four Seasons Houston. Cocktail. HGO.org/Jonas

Houston’s most notable leaders and tastemakers gather for an exquisite evening featuring cocktails, dinner, entertainment, dancing, and a highly curated silent auction. The Wortham Theater Center. White Tie. HGO.org/OperaBall

ENCORE: OPERA BALL AFTER PARTY SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 2022, 10 P.M. Tami Hiraoka and Louis Borrega, chairs The chic late-night party that tops off Opera Ball and turns on the dance floor. The Wortham Theater Center. Black or White Tie. HGO.org/ENCORE

HGO.ORG/SPECIALEVENTS BR OOK E R OGE R S | 713- 546- 0271 | B R O G E R S @HG O. O R G

Keeping

The Pearl Fishers, HGO, 2019. Photo by Lynn Lane.

ELITE PERFORMERS Keeping IN THE SPOTLIGHT ELITE PERFORMERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

At Houston Methodist, we’re proud partners in helping artists achieve peak performance, week in and week out.

We treat artists and their unique needs, while bringing the same level of specialized care to every patient we serve.

713.790.3333 houstonmethodist.org