OperaCues_fall2025-Il trittico

VOLUME 66 NUMBER 01 FALL 2025

YOUR GUIDE TO IL TRITTICO PG. 50

February 14, 2026 / 11 AM T i cke ts o n s a l e n ow w i t h fa m i l y- f ri e n d l y p ri ci n g.

O rch e s tra -l eve l s ea t i n g s t a r t i n g a t $ 2 5 .

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THE CITY OF HOUSTON THROUGH

HOUSTON ARTS ALLIANCE

A MESSAGE FROM THE GENER AL DIRECTOR AND CEO

W

elcome to the Wortham, and the launch of Houston Grand Opera’s luminous new season!

All of you here today are part of a thrilling movement. With HGO seeing record revenue growth again last year, our city has become a true mecca for opera lovers, drawing audiences from across the globe. Underscoring our place on the world stage, HGO has been named the only American nominee for Opera Company of the Year at the 2025 International Opera Awards. Whether you call Houston home or are part of our global family, we know you come to this special company for many reasons— but most of all for the awe-inspiring artists who grace our stage, and together embody a collective light for our times.

The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess is beloved worldwide for its moving story and transformative fusion of opera and jazz, but for us at HGO, its significance runs even deeper. Our legendary 1976 production not only led to a Tony-winning run on Broadway and a Grammy-winning recording, but it also planted a flag for opera as a distinctly American art form, and set HGO on a path of innovation we’re still traveling today.

Performing multiple roles across each piece are the sublime soprano Corinne Winters, named best singer at the 2025 Oper! Awards; Grammy-nominated, superstar mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton; industry-leading bass-baritone Ryan McKinny; and 2024 International Opera Award-winning tenor Arturo Chacón-Cruz.

Il trittico has long been a bucket-list opera for HGO’s artistic and music director, Maestro Patrick Summers, whose light has guided this company for more than a quarter century. As he prepares to step down from his current position at the end of the season, it is a precious gift to experience his virtuosity at the podium. With this production, we honor him, and all of you who recognize great art as essential to a life well lived. Thank you for being here.

Khori Dastoor

While it’s been 30 years since HGO last staged this masterpiece, we’re making up for lost time, roaring back with this classic production from the grande dame of American opera, Francesca Zambello. This is a cast that must be heard to be believed, led by shimmering soprano Angel Blue as Bess and powerful bass-baritone Michael Sumuel as Porgy.

We are honored to bring Maestro James Gaffigan—whose star continues its meteoric rise—to Houston for this showstopping production.

Puccini’s brilliant triptych of one-acts, Il trittico, is another fan favorite, yet this season’s incredible production from director James Robinson represents its first-ever full staging at HGO. To do this monumental artwork justice, one must gather an elite group of the most sought-after stars in opera, and I’m proud to share, that’s exactly what we’ve achieved.

General Director and CEO Margaret Alkek Williams Chair

VOLUME 66 NUMBER 01 FALL 2025

VOLUME 66 NUMBER 01 FALL 2025

A bout the Cover Art

YOUR GUIDE TO P O RG Y A N D B E S S

YOUR GUIDE TO IL TRITTICO PG. 50

PG. 36

Houston artist Nestor Topchy has created a series of artworks representing each of HGO's operas from the 2025-26 season. For more on this special collaboration, please see page 15.

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Opera Cues is published by Houston Grand Opera Association; all rights reserved. Opera Cues is produced under the direction of Chief Marketing and Experiences Officer Jennifer Davenport and Director of Communications Catherine Matusow, by Houston Grand Opera’s Audiences Department.

Editor

Catherine Matusow Designers

Chelsea Crouse Rita Jia Contributors

Colin Michael Brush Joe Cadagin Khori Dastoor Patrick Summers Francesca Zambello Advertising

Matt Ross/Ventures Marketing 713-417-6857 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 Theater District Association, Inc.

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DONATE TODAY!

Opera doesn’t happen without you.

Ticket sales cover less than 20%— your gift makes the music possible.

Support HGO and bring world-class performances to Houston families and students. Give today, and you’ll receive exclusive benefits like invitations to artist recitals and lecture series, plus Green Room access.

For more information, visit HGO. org/Donate. Please contact Sarah Wahrmund, associate director of philanthropy, at 713-546-0276 or SWahrmund@HGO.org.

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I N

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CONTENTS 1

67 Butler Studio

90 Calendar

10 News and Notes

74 Impresarios Circle

92 Plan Your Visit

63 Signature Events

80 Annual Support

A Message from Khori Dastoor

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34

32 A Director's Vision

James Robinson’s approach to Puccini’s trio of one-acts.

FEATURES 15 An Inner Light

21 An American in Europe

34 Director's Note

18 Opera's Leading Lights: A Series

26 The Power of Three

71 Out of Character

Nestor Topchy’s gold-leafed artwork captures HGO’s new season.

Khori Dastoor in conversation with soprano Corinne Winters.

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Conductor James Gaffigan unpacks the jazz roots of Porgy and Bess.

Patrick Summers on Puccini’s extraordinary Il trittico.

Francesca Zambello on the greatest American opera, Porgy and Bess.

Soprano Angel Blue on her deep connection to Porgy and Bess.

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36 PO RGY A N D B E S S 36 Program 37 Quick Start Guide 38 Cast & Synopsis 41 Who’s Who

AT THE

OPERA

A GUIDE TO OUR FA LL REPER TO IRE

50 I L TR IT TICO 50 Program 51 Quick Start Guide 52 Cast & Synopsis 55 Who’s Who

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H G O B OA R D O F D I R E C T O R S 2 0 2 5 -2 6 O FFI C ER S

Mathilda Cochran*

Astley L. Blair, Jr., Chair of the Board

Albert O. Cornelison, Jr.* James W. Crownover

Claire Liu, Senior Chair of the Board; Governance Committee Chair

Khori Dastoor Joshua Davidson Marty Dudley

Allyn W. Risley, Chair Emeritus of the Board Lynn Wyatt*, Honorary Vice Chair of the Board James Loftis, General Counsel; Secretary

David Duthu* Warren A. Ellsworth IV, M.D., Butler Studio Committee Chair Benjamin Fink, Finance Committee Chair

M EM B ER S AT L A R G E

Joe Geagea

Richard E. Agee

Dr. Ellen R. Gritz, Community & Learning Committee Chair

Thomas R. Ajamie Robin Angly*

Selda Gunsel

John S. Arnoldy* Christopher V. Bacon, Audiences Committee Vice Chair Michelle Beale, Butler Studio Committee Vice Chair Janet Langford Carrig Albert Chao

Matthew Healey, Finance Committee Vice Chair Richard Husseini José M. Ivo, Philanthropy Committee Chair Marianne Kah, Houston Grand Opera Endowment, Inc. Chair

Bill Kroger, Audit Committee Chair David LePori, Community & Learning Committee Vice Chair; Governance Committee Vice Chair Gabriel Loperena

Veer Vasishta Alfredo Vilas Margaret Alkek Williams *Senior Directors

Beth Madison* Sid Moorhead Sara S. Morgan Kristin Muessig, Audit Committee Vice Chair Terrylin G. Neale, Philanthropy Committee Vice Chair Ward G. Pennebaker Cynthia Petrello Gloria M. Portela Matthew L. Ringel, Audiences Committee Chair Kelly A. Rose Jack A. Roth, M.D. Harlan C. Stai John G. Turner*

Louise G. Chapman*

OUR ATTORNEYS Scott Gaille THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW SCHOOL Scottow King NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW Max Stubbs THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SCHOOL OF LAW Walter Daniel THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SCHOOL OF LAW

GAILLE ENERGY PROJECTS COUNSEL

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Will Brumfield THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW SCHOOL Tanner Harris THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW SCHOOL Adam Decker THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW SCHOOL Bailey Swainston THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW SCHOOL Luke Riel THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW SCHOOL

ABOUT gaillelaw.com 5847 SAN FELIPE | SUITE 1245 | HOUSTON, TEXAS 77057

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Since 2015, GAILLE PLLC has advised on energy construction projects and services matters in excess of $25 billion.

IMPRESARIOS CIRCLE I M PR E S A R I O S C I R C L E $100,000 OR MORE Judy and Richard Agee Robin Angly and Miles Smith Astley Blair The Brown Foundation, Inc. Carol Franc Buck Foundation Sarah and Ernest Butler

Frost Bank

Nabors Industries

Marianne and Joe Geagea

Novum Energy

Drs. Liz Grimm and Jack Roth

Sarofim Foundation

Matt Healey

Shell USA, Inc.

William Randolph Hearst Foundation

Dian and Harlan Stai

H-E-B

The Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation

Texas Commission on the Arts

Janet and John Carrig

Houston Grand Opera Endowment, Inc.

Anne and Albert Chao

Houston Methodist

Louise G. Chapman

Humphreys Foundation

ConocoPhillips

Elizabeth and Richard Husseini

Veer Vasishta

Joan and Stanford Alexander Family Fund

Vinson & Elkins LLP

Mr. and Mrs. James W. Crownover The Cullen Foundation The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance Ms. Marty Dudley The Elkins Foundation

Carolyn J. Levy Claire Liu and Joe Greenberg M. D. Anderson Foundation Beth Madison

Isabel and Ignacio Torras Mr. John G. Turner and Mr. Jerry G. Fischer Mr. and Mrs. Alfredo Vilas Vitol Margaret Alkek Williams The Wortham Foundation, Inc. 2 Anonymous

Laura McWilliams Sara and Bill Morgan

To learn more about HGO’s Impresarios Circle members, please see page 74.

F O U N D E R S CO U N C I L F O R A R T I S T I C E XC E L L E N C E 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 Deborah Hirsch, chief philanthropy officer, at 713-546-0259 or DHirsch@HGO.org.

Ajamie LLP

Myrtle Jones

Jill and Allyn Risley

Baker Botts L.L.P.

Marianne Kah

Kelly and David Rose

Michelle Beale and Dick Anderson

Latham & Watkins

John Serpe and Tracy Maddox

Bryant Lee

Dian and Harlan Stai

Carolyn J. Levy

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

Nana Booker and Booker · Lowe Gallery Jane Cizik ConocoPhillips Mr. and Mrs. James W. Crownover Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Davidson Drs. Rachel and Warren A. Ellsworth IV Frost Bank Drs. Liz Grimm and Jack Roth Dr. Ellen R. Gritz and Mr. Milton D. Rosenau Jr. Matt Healey Houston Methodist

Claire Liu and Joe Greenberg Michelle Klinger and Ruain Flanagan

Vinson & Elkins LLP Veer Vasishta

Beth Madison

Helen Wils and Leonard Goldstein

John P. McGovern Foundation

The Wortham Foundation, Inc

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Anonymous

Sharyn and Jerry Metcalf Dr. and Mrs. Miguel Miro-Quesada Kathleen Moore and Steven Homer Novum Energy Matthew L. Ringel

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P R E M I E R U N D E RW R I T E R S G R A N D U N D ERWR I T ER — $50,000 OR MORE Joan Alexander

John Serpe and Tracy Maddox Alejandra and Héctor Torres

Dr. Susan Saurage-Altenloh

James M. Trimble and Sylvia Barnes

Thomas R. Ajamie

Mr. and Mrs. Jesse B. Tutor

Dr. Dina Alsowayel and Mr. Anthony R. Chase

Mary-Olga and John Warren

Ken and Donna Barrow

2 Anonymous

Michelle Beale and Dick Anderson

U N D ERWR I T ER — $25,000 OR MORE

Mr. Jack Bell

Christopher Bacon and Craig Miller

Mr. Eliodoro Castillo and Dr. Eric McLaughlin

Leonard A. Goldstein and Helen B. Wils

Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Nickson

Dr. Linda L. Hart

Beverly and Staman Ogilvie

Mrs. Estela Hollin-Avery

Susan and Ward Pennebaker

Gary Hollingsworth and Ken Hyde

Elizabeth Phillips

Marianne Kah Michelle Klinger and Ruain Flanagan Mr. and Mrs. Richard J. Langenstein Stephanie Larsen

Dr. Saúl and Ursula Balagura

Lori and David LePori

Jane Cizik

Mr. and Mrs. Frank N. Barnes

Rita Leader

Mathilda Cochran

Ms. Susan Bloome

Mr. Bryant Lee

Ms. Lynn Des Prez

Nana Booker and Booker · Lowe Gallery

Judy Ley

Misook Doolittle Mrs. Nancy Dunlap Elaine Finger Jennifer and Benjamin Fink Amanda and Morris Gelb Dr. Ellen R. Gritz and Mr. Milton D. Rosenau Jr. Janet Gurwitch and Ron Franklin Myrtle Jones Ms. Diane M. Marcinek Barbara and Pat McCelvey Dr. and Mrs. Miguel Miro-Quesada Franci Neely Mr. and Mrs. Andrey Polunin Jill and Allyn Risley

CO M M U N I T Y A N D LEARNING FUNDERS

Meg Boulware and Hartley Hampton Melinda and Bill Brunger Ms. Kiana K. Caleb Dr. Peter Chang and Hon. Theresa Chang Mr. and Mrs. Michael Clancy Shelly Cyprus Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Davidson Rebecca and Brian Duncan Drs. Rachel and Warren A. Ellsworth IV The Ensell Family Mr. and Mrs. Russell M. Frankel Dr. and Mrs. Ronald Galfione

Mrs. Rosemary Malbin Renee Margolin Prof. and Mrs. D. Nathan Meehan Amy and Mark Melton Sharyn and Jerry Metcalf Mr. David Montague and Mrs. Diane FerrufinoMontague

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo ™

The Brown Foundation, Inc.

Powell Foundation

Mathilda Cochran

Shell USA, Inc.

William Randolph Hearst Foundation

Vitol

Sara and Bill Morgan

U N D ERWR I T ER S

Mr. and Mrs. K. C. Weiner

Ruth and Ted Bauer Family Foundation

The Wortham Foundation, Inc.

Ms. Kiana K. Caleb The Cockrell Family Fund

Mr. and Mrs. David Rowan Mr. Mike Rydin Ms. Jill Schaar and Mr. George Caflisch Jeff Stocks and Juan Lopez Dr. Laura E. Sulak and Dr. Richard W. Brown Rhonda Sweeney Mr. Scott B. Ulrich and Mr. Ernest A. Trevino John C. Tweed Laura and Georgios Varsamis Mary Lee and Jim Wallace Mr. Trey M. Yates Alan and Frank York 2 Anonymous

Sid Moorhead Terrylin G. Neale

S U PP O R T ER S Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Ardell Adrienne Bond Mr. and Mrs. Lester P. Burgess The Lawrence E. Carlton, MD, Endowment Fund City of Houston through the Miller Theatre Advisory Board James J. Drach Endowment Fund

Judy and Richard Agee

Halliburton

Mrs. Geraldine C. Gill

Joan and Stanford Alexander Family Fund

Rosemary Malbin

Rhoda Goldberg

ConocoPhillips

Dr. Laura Marsh Mr. David Montague and Mrs. Diane FerrufinoMontague

George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation

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Kelly and David Rose

Kathleen Moore and Steven Homer

Trish Freeman and Bruce Patterson

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Matthew L. Ringel

Nina and Michael Zilkha

Rebecca and Brian Duncan

H-E-B

Mr. Lee Riley and Mrs. Charlos Ward

Marsha L. Montemayor

G R A N D U N D ERWR I T ER S

The Elkins Foundation

Ms. Katherine Reynolds

Lynn Gissel

GUA R A N TO R S

Vitol

Sharon Ley Lietzow and Robert Lietzow

Gloria M. Portela

William E. and Natoma Pyle Harvey Charitable Trust

Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation Lee Huber Ms. Joan Jeffrey Mr. Geoffry H. Oshman Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Pancherz Texas Commission on the Arts The activities of Houston Grand Opera are supported in part by funds provided by the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.

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Welcome Aboard!

chart the course forward for this great institution.”

Astley Blair, longtime company supporter, steps into key role.

Blair, the Chief Financial Officer of Marine Well Containment Company, will build upon more than two decades of service to HGO with this new leadership role. Since joining the board in 2004, he has steered its Audit Committee, co-chaired the search committee that brought Dastoor to Houston, and joined HGO’s Strategic Advisory Group to help shape the company’s longrange vision.

On August 1, the HGO community was delighted to welcome dedicated arts advocate Astley Blair as the new Chair of the company’s Board of Directors.

“With Astley Blair assuming leadership of the HGO Board, I see no limit to what we can achieve,” says HGO General Director and CEO Khori Dastoor. “Astley brings with him a wealth of global business expertise gained during a dynamic career in the financial and energy sectors, and an entrepreneurial spirit that makes him the perfect choice to help lead HGO through a time of thrilling possibility. I’m honored to welcome him as my partner as together, we Khori Dastoor and Astley Blair

“For decades, HGO has pushed the boundaries of what is possible, and now, with a clear vision of what the future of American opera can be, this is our time,” says Blair. “It’s an honor to serve this board and help lead this storied institution into the future.”

Congratulations to a Beloved Soprano One of Texas’s highest artistic honors goes to Ana María Martínez.

Earlier this year, the Texas Commission on the Arts named HGO favorite Ana María Martínez the 2026 Texas State Musician— Classical. The appointment recognizes her extraordinary artistry and her deep commitment to Texas’s cultural life as a performer, educator, and leader.

“I am thrilled to know that classical music is recognized and celebrated by our great state of Texas,” Martínez said in a statement through Rice University, where she is a professor at the Shepherd School of Music. “It is an honor to be part of the legacy of our state as we recognize and champion all that music can do to lift our community, inspire our nation, and contribute to the betterment of all of society.”

Over more than two decades, Martínez, a Butler

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Studio alumna, has delivered unforgettable performances at HGO as Cio-Cio-San in Madame Butterfly, Marguerite in Faust, and the title roles in Carmen and Florencia en el Amazonas.

She made a special cameo in last season’s West Side Story, portraying the Bridal Shop Owner and stopping the show with her moving rendition of “Somewhere.”

The honor affirms what HGO audiences have long known: Ana María Martínez is a singular voice, both on stage and in our community.

Houston for the Holidays Come celebrate the season at Carols on the Green!

New Album Alert HGO brings Intelligence to global audiences.

HGO has released a new recording of Intelligence, the company-commissioned opera by composer Jake Heggie, librettist Gene Scheer, and director/choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. The world-premiere opera opened HGO’s 202324 season to critical acclaim, hailed as “a groundbreaking masterpiece” by the Houston Chronicle.

Capturing a tour-de-force performance from an acclaimed cast and the HGO Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Kwamé Ryan, the recording is the first release from the new Houston Grand Opera label, created with London Symphony Orchestra’s pioneering label LSO Live. Inspired

by real events, the opera starred mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton as Elizabeth Van Lew and soprano Janai Brugger as Mary Jane Bowser, two women in Civil War-era Richmond who risked everything as Union spies inside the Confederate White House.

“This is a story of gripping power, shared through a sweeping, genre-defying, unmistakably American score,” says HGO General Director and CEO Khori Dastoor. “It is fitting that Intelligence launches our new label, with the goal of sharing world-class recordings of American masterpieces with global audiences.”

It’s become a tradition for Bayou City opera fans looking to get in the spirit of the season alongside fellow arts lovers: HGO’s annual Carols on the Green concert and singalong at Discovery Green. This year’s annual event—curated, conducted, and emceed by Jorge Parodi, music director of the UH Moores Opera Center and general and artistic director of Opera Hispánica—promises to be a festive celebration

of Latin American and Hispanic Culture.

The whole city is invited downtown to enjoy a program of music from Los Pumas Mariachi Band, the Segundo Barrio Children’s Chorus, and members of HGO’s Butler Studio program, Bauer Family High School Voice Studio, and the renowned HGO Chorus during an evening of traditional Spanish songs, carols, mariachi, and more. Grab a holiday sweater and a friend and meet us at the park!

Carols on the Green takes place on December 13, 2025 at 7 p.m. Discovery Green. Free.

Mariachi and opera made last year's event a festive occasion.

The album is out now and makes the perfect gift!

Get a copy at the HGO Boutique or stream it on Apple Music Classical or another major platform.

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Robert Wilson's stunning Messiah production makes its American premiere next spring at HGO.

The Light He Left Us HGO remembers towering artist, designer, director, and son of Texas Robert Wilson (1941-2025).

The work of visionary artists is usually rooted in conflict, so at the end of a great artist’s journey there can be an unexplainable unity that eluded them in life.

Robert Wilson was a fighter through his early career, setting his sights beyond his native Waco, envisioning a type of theater and art that no one had ever conceived before. His art was sometimes divisive but never benign—no one could simply not have a reaction to what they witnessed in a Wilson production. He persevered. He wanted to 12

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create uplifting experiences, but never in a conventional way. His favorite thing was to sit in a silent theater working on light, creating the perfect emptiness which only music could fill. Bob was one of life’s great observers—theatrically abstracting both humanity and the many definitions of light in which we see each other.

Though the bulk of his work was newly written, making his operatic productions few, there were treasures which Houston Grand Opera has been privileged to present: Parsifal, Four Saints in Three Acts, Turandot, and—in spring 2026—the Handel/ Mozart Messiah, which becomes a testament to

his life’s work in his home state.

Bob reached the end of his journey too soon, but his legacy is immense in the lives he touched, in the spaces he transformed, and in the light he made luminous, all of which made us see old things in new ways.

Interviewed in 2012 about the epic Philip Glass opera he helped create in 1976, Einstein on the Beach, a five-hour fantasia on Nevil Shute’s dystopian novel On the Beach, Bob caught his own essence, saying, “It still moves me, and I don’t

know why.” Robert Wilson still moves us, however enigmatically. Rest in peace, dear man, knowing that so many hold your light forever.

—Patrick Summers

H G O

PA R T N E R S

Kirkland & Ellis This summer, HGO welcomed Kirkland & Ellis and the firm’s summer associates for a private backstage reception and performance at the Wortham Theater Center. The evening featured a powerful recital by HGO artists Rafael Moras and Bethany Self, offering guests a unique introduction to the artistry and year-round creative work that define HGO. The event was made possible through the leadership of Richard Husseini, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, HGO Board member, and steadfast supporter of the company since 2002. A champion of the arts in Houston, Husseini has long recognized that world-class cultural institutions like HGO help make Houston a city where talented young professionals want to build their lives and careers.

“At a time when opera companies nationwide are still facing post-pandemic challenges, HGO has bucked the trends—thriving in attendance, participation, and artistic reach,” said Husseini. “In Houston, we have the chance to offer opera at the highest level, with more innovation, more performances, and a spirit that draws people in. It’s part of what makes this city so special.”

With offices around the world, Kirkland & Ellis is consistently recognized for its exceptional workplace culture—named among America’s Greatest Workplaces by Newsweek and America’s Best Midsize Companies by TIME in 2025. That same spirit of collaboration and excellence was reflected in the firm’s decision to highlight HGO as part of its summer recruiting experience. For many of the first- and second-year law students in attendance, the evening revealed a side of Houston they hadn’t expected: a dynamic, international arts hub with deep community roots.

We’re honored to partner with Kirkland & Ellis in celebrating Houston’s cultural richness—and in demonstrating how the arts continue to shape and strengthen the city’s future.

The group got an intimate look at the Wortham Theater and enjoyed a private recital.

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Houston Methodist HGO is proud to partner with the Houston Methodist Center for Performing Arts Medicine (CPAM), the only center of its kind in the nation. CPAM brings together more than 100 specialized physicians who collaborate to meet the unique health needs of artists—ranging from elite professionals to community performers. Each year, CPAM cares for more than 2,000 professional and amateur artists in the Houston area, including guest artists performing with companies such as HGO, Houston Ballet, and the Houston Symphony.

Among CPAM’s many initiatives is Texas Voice Center, a nationally recognized program dedicated to the care of the human voice. Leading this work is Dr. Apurva A. Thekdi, a Houston Methodist otolaryngologist and world-renowned vocal health specialist.

“By working with HGO singers and Butler Studio Artists throughout the season, we witness the rigorous demands of rehearsal and performance,” Thekdi said. “Our team at Texas Voice Center is here to support them, whether that is by building healthy practices or guiding a vocalist through recovery. My goal as their physician is to ensure that their voices can perform at their very best.”

HGO’s partnership with CPAM exemplifies Houston Methodist’s broader mission: to translate the collaborative potential of arts and medicine into world-class care. From emergency backstage consultations to long-term health strategies, the CPAM team plays an indispensable role in the life of the company.

We are deeply grateful to Dr. Thekdi and the Houston Methodist CPAM team for their unwavering support of HGO’s artists and for the vital work they do to keep the voices of HGO strong and the curtain rising.

Left: HGO and Houston Methodist leadership celebrate their partnership at Concert of Arias. Right: an HGO recital at Houston Methodist.

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AN INNER LIGHT Nestor Topchy’s gold-leafed season artwork is rooted in his Ukrainian Orthodox heritage.

Nestor Topchy and HGO General Director and CEO Khori Dastoor at the artist's Heights compound.

By Joe Cadagin, Audience Education and Communications Manager Tucked away in the Houston Heights is a strange little utopia that resembles some kind of scrap-metal monastery. This is the compound of painter and sculptor Nestor Topchy. He deals in a variety of mediums— everything from dyed eggs to welded orbs. One might argue that his greatest creation is the property itself, which comprises a complex of whimsical buildings he constructed out of recycled materials.

But Topchy is best known for his gilded portraits, which draw on traditions of Eastern Orthodox iconography. Houston Grand Opera commissioned a series of seven original paintings by Topchy in this style to be featured as artwork for the company’s 2025-26 season.

Topchy doesn’t consider his paintings to be icons. While some of them depict religious figures, most are representations

of average people. But because they’re created using the same methods and materials as Orthodox icons, he refers to them as “iconic portraits.”

HGO General Director and CEO Khori Dastoor and Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers first encountered Topchy’s work at the Menil Collection in 2024. “Patrick and I both had the same thought after visiting Nestor’s solo show,” recalls Dastoor. “We knew we wanted him to create a body of work that captures the spirit and emotion of the incredible operas we’ll be staging for our city.

“The resulting suite of paintings is stunning,” adds Dastoor, “a wonderful reflection of the great art to come on the Wortham stage, made by and for Houstonians.”

Topchy’s art is rooted in his Ukrainian heritage. His father’s

family hailed from Korsun, a city southeast of Kyiv. After fleeing both the Soviets and the Nazis during World War II, Topchy's father settled with his new wife in New Jersey. The couple gave birth to Nestor in 1963 and raised him in the Orthodox faith. At the family’s church, Topchy first saw icons assembled on a wall known as an “iconostasis.”

Icons flourished as an art form in the Byzantine Empire and spread with Christianity to Slavic regions near the end of the first millennium. In both Old Greek and Old Russian, the verb for “to write” was identical to the word for “to paint.” For this reason, even in English, icons are often said to be “written”— a reflection of their original function as tools for religious instruction. “In the early days, it was the priests that were literate, and the masses looked at icons and saw a story on the iconostasis,” explains Topchy.

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In exploring these cultures, Topchy seeks out what Carl Jung dubbed “archetypes”—basic symbols and stories that can be found in every human society and unite us as a species.

Topchy's gilded portraits draw on traditions of Eastern Orthodox iconography.

In 2004, Topchy studied with master icon artist Vladislav Andrejev, who introduced him to the aesthetic, technical, and deep theological symbolism of iconwriting. “The process is probably the same since about 700 A.D., or even longer,” says Topchy.

An iconic painting begins as a wooden board stretched with canvas, to which Topchy applies a glue known as “gesso.” He then carves an outline of the portrait into the bone-like surface of the hardened gesso. The background is covered in a clay called “bole,” which serves as a backing for the layer of gold leaf.

“Only after the gold leaf is attached does the painting begin, with at least seven layers of egg tempera”—i.e., paint made from mixing egg whites with powdered pigments. The figures are represented in a flat, geometrical manner. Rather than linear perspective, Topchy’s portraits exhibit what he calls “hierarchical perspective”: “What’s important is larger, but if something is of secondary importance, we make it a little bit smaller.”

To make the works his own, Topchy deviates from convention by incorporating aspects of other religious iconography, especially Buddhist imagery. He possesses an intense curiosity for East Asian art and philosophy.

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Such archetypes served as a starting point for Topchy’s HGO artwork. Each of the seven paintings portrays characters from the season repertoire, most modeled after the singers who will play the roles. Topchy surrounded these figures with props and scenic elements from the operas, carefully selecting emblems with universal meanings.

For instance, the pair of dice on the poster for the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess has landed on snake eyes—a reference to serpents as the embodiment of evil. For Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men, Lennie and George’s dream farm rises behind them like Shangri-La. Topchy envelops the property with the kind of curlicued clouds found in Tibetan art. But the tomb-like mailbox angled toward Lennie foreshadows his fate.

Very often, Topchy incorporates symbols that intersect with those found in Orthodox icons.

In his poster for Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell’s Silent Night, peace is symbolized by a dove that resembles iconic depictions of the Holy Spirit. For Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Topchy paints Almaviva climbing a ladder. Likewise, a favorite subject for icon-writers is Jacob’s dream of angels ascending a ladder to heaven.

For Handel’s Messiah, Topchy used an image of Christ he had painted previously. It’s inspired by acheiropoieta—miraculous icons that, according to tradition, aren’t painted by human hands. However, Topchy puts his own twist on Jesus’s likeness.

The eyes, which belong to the

Buddha, are copied from a stupa Topchy saw during a pilgrimage to Nepal.

As in Orthodox icons that illustrate biblical episodes, Topchy’s artworks have a narrative dimension. “Operas, just like fairy tales, are personifications of archetypal wisdom which could help us learn from the lives of others through tragic stories,” he observes. Each of his paintings is a “portrait of phenomena that tell a story—putting a visual reality in just one moment.”

One could imagine an audience member using Topchy’s poster for Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel to tell the plot to a child, in the same way that an Orthodox priest would have interpreted an icon’s message for a congregant. All the essentials of director Antony McDonald’s production are there: the Witch’s house, the vat of chocolate she’s pushed into, and the gingerbread children that Hansel and Gretel free.

But these literal objects are only the surface of Topchy’s paintings.

What sets his portraiture apart is his ability to convey the unseeable—to use humble materials and age-old methods to capture the divinity at the core of every person. In fact, the process of preparing the canvas is meant to evoke God’s creation of Man: “You breathe the life into the clay, and then the spirit comes—that’s the gold leaf that sticks to it.”

This shimmering gilt aura seems to emanate from the subjects themselves. In Topchy’s iconic portraits, we get the sense that the stylized faces are only masks concealing the true essence of a person’s being. “I’m not trying to provide a naturalistic depiction,” Topchy explains. “I’m looking for an inner light.” 

ANATOMY OF AN OPERA POSTER A BRE AKD OWN OF NE S TOR TOPCH Y ’ S ART FOR PUCCINI ’ S IL TRIT TICO

By Joe Cadagin

Egghead: Topchy shows Michele’s barge in the Seine, as well as the knife he uses to kill Luigi. The wrapped head is a reference to the final scene, when Michele conceals the body in his cloak. But it could also represent the child that he and Giorgetta lost. Its shape is suggestive of the Ukrainian pysanky Easter eggs that Topchy dyes.

Language of Flowers: Sister Angelica is a skilled horticulturalist and kills herself with a poison mixed from plants. Topchy has painted a toxic hemlock flower on Angelica’s left, while the lily on her right is associated with the Virgin Mary.

Triple Identity: Soprano Corinne Winters will take on the operatic triathlon of performing all three female leads in Puccini’s trio of one-acters. Topchy depicts each of her characters: Giorgetta in Il tabarro, the titular Suor Angelica, and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi.

Splendida Firenze: Set in Florence, Gianni Schicchi mentions many of the city’s sites. In “O mio babbino caro,” Lauretta threatens to jump from the Ponte Vecchio into the Arno—both of which Topchy includes. Beyond the bridge is Florence Cathedral, which features in James Robinson’s production.

Where there’s a will…: The rolled-up paper is the will of Buoso Donati, whose corpse is propped up in front of a television screen in James Robinson’s production. On its screen, Topchy has painted the engagement ring Lauretta mentions in her aria.

Vesica piscis: This football-like shape is known as the vesica piscis.

It’s an ancient symbol of unity and femininity that recurs throughout Topchy’s art. Here, it represents both the birth canal and the death shroud for Angelica’s child, shown in an inverted-crucifix position.

Nurse Angelica: Director James Robinson has moved the action from a 17th-century convent to a post-WWII hospital staffed by nuns. Topchy’s take on Sister Angelica’s nursing uniform is meant to evoke the Virgin Mary. The veil as well as the dress’s shade of Marian blue are traditional attributes of the Madonna.

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OPERA’S LEADING LIGHTS: PART 1 OF A SERIES

A SOPRANO COMES HOME CORINNE WINTER S MAKE S A TRIUMPHANT RE TURN TO AMERIC A .

By Khori Dastoor, General Director and CEO

W

hen I reach Corinne Winters over Zoom to talk about her career and her upcoming HGO debut in Il trittico, we both have to laugh—at the simple joy of seeing one another, and our shared amazement at the full-circle moment that’s brought us here.

We both remember it like it was yesterday: the two of us were young artists together at a summer festival, fast friends and roommates confiding our operatic dreams, when one day, something unexpected happened. Midway through the festival’s La bohème run, the soprano performing Mimì got sick. Suddenly, the cover—Corinne—found herself stepping into rehearsals, commanding the role that would become her signature.

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revealed herself to be a vessel for Puccini’s sublime music. She seemed to tap into it, so that it poured from her like light.

Corinne nods in recognition. “I have a prayer, or a mantra, that I say every time before leaving the dressing room, which is, I leave my ego here, and I’m going out. Ego, you stay here, and I’m going out to be a channel for the music.”

Seeing her first Mimì at the festival, I had no doubt that she was doing what she was born to do. And the whole world saw that too earlier this year, when Corinne bowed at the Metropolitan Opera as Mimì and—of course— triumphed, giving what New York Classical Review called “a star-making performance.”

The truth is, Corinne has been a star since her 2013 English National Opera debut as Violetta in La traviata. “When I made my debut at ENO and was heard by Europe, they all embraced me immediately,” Winters remembers. “I didn’t have to fight for anything. And I’ve just always been of the belief—in life and in career—that when effort is met by an open door, that’s the right place for you.”

Now Corinne, who resides in Paris, is making her triumphant return to the States for a series of bucket-list engagements including the three leading women across each piece of Puccini’s Il trittico, as she makes her long-awaited HGO debut.

“It’s a huge dream fulfilled,” she says. “To come back, and for my U.S. contracts to be Mimì at the Met, a full Trittico in Houston, and Four Last Songs with the Chicago Symphony—it’s like, this is it. I’m only coming back to the States for my absolute dreams that I will remember on my deathbed. And that’s pretty damn cool.”

Corinne is excited that HGO is mounting Trittico’s three panels together, as Puccini intended. Gianni Schicchi, she says, is the perfect antidote to the heaviness of Il tabarro and Suor Angelica. “You go through all this pain, and then it’s like, life is one big joke. Schicchi is fun, and just youthful and joyful, and an amazing and muchneeded button on the end of the evening. And I love the fact that you walk on stage as a completely different woman in each of those acts,” she says.

Giorgetta, Angelica, and Lauretta: it is no small achievement to perform all three in one outing. Corinne’s family will be there for this milestone moment, she shares, cheering her on inside the Brown Theater as she joins the elite group of great U.S. sopranos, led by Teresa Stratas and Patricia Racette, who have pulled off the same demanding feat.

“There aren’t many people who have done it,” she says. “And to perform these roles in America, at this amazing theater, with Patrick Summers in his last full season, and all these other amazing artists doing multiple roles—it’s going to be something special.”

I couldn’t agree more. 

Winters in rehearsal for HGO's Il trittico with her co-star, Arturo Chacón-Cruz.

Originally from Maryland, Corinne went on to build her career abroad, performing major roles with the great European houses, exploring her Ukrainian heritage, delving into the Slavic repertoire, collaborating with visionary directors like Barrie Kosky and Dmitri Tcherniakov—and growing into the exact artist she was destined to become. As Opera News recently wrote: “Any account of current European operatic stardom would foreground the soprano Corinne Winters.”

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AN AMERICAN IN EUROPE CONDUC TOR JAME S GAFFIGAN UNPACK S THE JA Z Z ROOT S OF THE GER SHWINS ' PORGY AND BESS .

By Joe Cadagin, Audience Education and Communications Manager

© Miguel Lorenzo

ike all great artists of the 1920s, composer George Gershwin made a trip to Paris.

Le jazz was all the rage in France, and Americans like Gershwin who could perform it were a hot commodity.

Gershwin memorialized his continental sojourn with the 1928 orchestral piece An American in Paris, which infused the European tone poem with the musical vocabulary of jazz.

Gaffigan, who conducted the Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias last winter, only recently took on Porgy and Bess for the first time. Unsurprisingly, it was across the Atlantic, in a 2019 production at Dutch National Opera. Now stateside for his second Porgy, the Rice University graduate is an American back in Houston. Ahead of his HGO mainstage premiere, Gaffigan discussed Gershwin’s groundbreaking synthesis of jazz and classical forms in Porgy and why the work remains the quintessential American opera.

A century later, conductor James Gaffigan is following in Gershwin’s footsteps. In 2023, he became an American in Paris himself, leading the Jazz at Lincoln Center ensemble in works by Wynton Marsalis. Presently, Gaffigan is an American in Berlin serving as music director of Komische Oper. He’s in demand across the continent as an interpreter of repertoire by U.S. composers—including An American in Paris.

I would say I knew the famous tunes. I heard pop stars or favorite jazz musicians like Ella Fitzgerald singing them. But I’d never heard them as part of the opera. So I actually came to learn this music without ever seeing a live production. I really thought this was closer to a musical. And what I discovered is, Porgy and Bess is as deep and as rich as Wagner’s Die Walküre.

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How familiar were you with Porgy and Bess before you conducted it for the first time in Amsterdam?

What do you admire most about the score?

I love the depth of character reflected in the music. I couldn’t believe how complex all the characters are. Gershwin develops characters just like Wagner does, with leitmotifs. You know, the Valkyries have this BUM-ba-dum rhythm. I would say Gershwin does something similar with rhythms.

Jazz and classical forms merge in the Gershwins' opera.

“

PORGY AND BESS IS AS DEEP AND RICH AS WAGNER'S DIE WALKÜRE.

suddenly took on the most tragic feeling, just because of this event in real time.

You’ve conducted Gershwin’s works with major orchestras across Europe. Do they get his jazz-rooted style, or does it take an American ensemble to truly play Gershwin well?

© Ole Wuttudal

Crown’s music, for instance, is really rough. He’s one of the most terrifying characters of opera. His music is so rhythmic and relentless. During his fight with Porgy, your heart’s pounding.

And what’s so scary to me is the song Crown has, “A Red-Headed Woman.”

The tune is so good, but it’s such a creepy setting for it—everyone’s watching him get out of control. I get chills thinking about that scene.

What’s very unusual about Gershwin is that some of his music that people might find happy, others find sad.

“Summertime” is a great example. It traces an emotional journey over the three times it appears in the opera.

Absolutely. I always thought that this song could mean so many different things at different times. I have my own memory of how a certain piece of music that I love was played at someone’s funeral. It was Brahms’s Requiem—the movement for solo soprano. The music

It all depends on the place. For example, there’s always been a love for jazz in Holland. Whereas, I remember doing Bernstein excerpts with another European orchestra, and it was like pulling teeth!

How do you explain swinging? You could use all the words in the world, but the players either get it, or they don’t.

Do you think singers performing in Porgy should have a background in popular Black genres like jazz or gospel?

I think it’s important for the chorus. In the storm scene, their music is like a Baptist church sermon. You need to have experienced something like that in your life, where people are mourning or praising the Lord.

You’re referring to the “Six Simultaneous Prayers” during the hurricane. Each of the six choristers is assigned a different overlapping melody. How do you even rehearse that?

When I did it in Amsterdam, we made a plan. Because this is something that needs to be structured. Like in nature: something could look beautifully vague, but inside is structured in a very meticulous way. To make it sound chaotic, you need to make sure they’re not just all on top of each other. So we had plans of repetition—I would show a number at some point, and people knew the next section was happening. It should be organized chaos.

What about the soloists—how much training in jazz do they need?

I don’t think it’s as important for the soprano playing Bess to have any jazz background. That’s the most challenging role by HGO.ORG

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far, because it requires a real operatic singer with a huge voice, like Angel Blue. Porgy needs to be able to swing.

Sportin’ Life needs some jazz. Each character is different.

Soprano Latonia Moore, making her HGO mainstage debut as Serena in Porgy and Bess, performing at HGO's 2024 Giving Voice concert.

Latonia Moore, who plays Serena in HGO’s production, grew up singing in the choir at New Sunrise Baptist Church here in Houston. What was it like working with her on Porgy in Amsterdam?

She was incredible. Serena is extremely challenging to cast because of this kind of gospel or jazz quality. And Latonia can belt, but she can also sing Aida. She made me cry every night when she sang “My Man’s Gone Now,” which is just this heartbreaking two minutes of music.

How much do you allow singers to improvise?

Gershwin would have been all about it. But I think there are boundaries.

And within these boundaries, you have a certain amount of freedom. I don’t believe in changing any pitches or rhythms. But if there’s a fermata and a little moment to shine—like for the Strawberry Woman or the Crab Man, for example. Gershwin wanted these people selling their wares to have their own individual stamp.

What challenges does the score present?

Balance is always an issue, especially all the percussion stuff. I think rhythms, especially jazz rhythms, can’t be haphazard. It needs to be a hundred percent tight. And then it gets more transparent, and you hear the amazing orchestration—all the layers.

Other music is very forgiving. I would even say some Wagner, if it’s played by a B-level orchestra, still sounds pretty damn good. But with Porgy, if it’s sloppy, it loses all its amazing potential.

What Gershwin succeeds in doing is taking jazz and not making it cheesy in an operatic setting. He makes no apologies for his musical language. 

James Gaffigan returns to Houston after conducting Concert of Arias at HGO last season.

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BECAUSE OF PORGY CONDUC TOR JOHN DEMAIN ON HGO ’ S PIVOTAL 1 9 76 PRODUC TION OF THE GER SHWINS ’ OPER A

By Joe Cadagin

John DeMain (above) led HGO's 1976 production of Porgy and Bess, starring Clamma Dale as Bess and Donnie Ray Albert as Porgy (below).

In the decades following the 1935 premiere of Porgy and Bess, the Gershwins’ opera gradually degraded from the creators’ original concept. The 1950s saw the release of a subpar film adaptation and a new theatrical revival directed by Robert Breen. This staging—later taken over by his assistant, Ella Gerber—drastically distorted the opera. “It was losing its authenticity as a depiction of Black community life, as the story set out to do,” says John DeMain, HGO’s former music director.

“They cut the score severely and reassigned songs. It offended people.”

Because of an exclusive contract with the Gershwin estate, Breen and Gerber’s version dominated until the

1970s. “It was time to treat Porgy like other operas get treated,” says DeMain, “where it gets into the hands of other stage directors, other designers.” In 1976, producer Sherwin Goldman approached HGO about mounting a new Porgy to celebrate the American bicentennial. David Gockley, HGO’s ambitious young general director, entrusted DeMain with the task of undoing the damage that had been done to Gershwin’s score.

“I felt very confident that we should let the public hear as much of the piece as we could,” says DeMain. HGO’s 1976 Porgy was the first fully staged production of the near-complete score, with only minor cuts. Lines that had previously been delivered as spoken dialogue were restored to sung recitatives, performed by classically trained vocalists. “This endless discussion of whether it was a musical or an opera is just because of people’s narrow-minded idea of what opera is,” says DeMain.

DeMain was joined by director Jack O’Brien, who would later win a Tony for his 2002 production of Hairspray. “What Jack did was create an environment for the culture to come forward,” explains DeMain. O’Brien treated the cast and chorus as collaborators, drawing on their lived experiences as African Americans. He also brought Black artists onto the creative team, including choreographer/assistant director Mabel Robinson.

After closing in Houston, Porgy moved to Broadway, with DeMain conducting and the original HGO stars reprising the title roles: baritone Donnie Ray Albert as Porgy and soprano Clamma Dale as Bess. (Albert makes a cameo in HGO’s 2025 production as Lawyer Frazier.) “We got to New York, and Leonard Bernstein came to see it,” recalls DeMain. “He came to me backstage afterwards and said, ‘I have waited 40 years to hear this piece done this way. You’ve done it. Now I don’t have to!’”

The production won a Tony, and the cast album was awarded a Grammy. Almost overnight, HGO was transformed from a regional company to a major operatic powerhouse, as DeMain soon discovered. “When I made my first guest conducting trip to Australia, I remember meeting the chorus master and assistant conductor. They said, ‘Oh, we have your recording of Porgy and Bess. It’s so fabulous!’ And that’s when I really got the feeling that Houston Grand Opera now had an international reputation. That’s because of Porgy.” 

Read more about HGO’s 1976 production of Porgy and Bess.

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THE POWER OF THREE GIACOMO PUCCINI ’ S E X TR AORDINARY IL TRIT TICO.

By Patrick Summers, Artistic and Music Director

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In

the perennial tale, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, there are good reasons that Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by three ghosts instead of two or four, just as there are three daughters of Tevye who marry in Fiddler on the Roof. There is a famous artistic “power of three” that aligns with the one inevitability we all share: past, present, and future.

The power of three is tested and proven by one of the greatest of operas, Giacomo Puccini’s transcendent Il trittico. After a quarter century of trying, sometimes quietly, occasionally vehemently, but constantly working to bring this magnificent opera to HGO, I am finally able to conduct it in its first full performances by the company. It arrives in my own final season as the company’s Artistic and Music Director, and I could not be more thrilled.

Is it true, as I’ve said perhaps too often, that Trittico is the “greatest” Italian opera? An opera is great when it fulfills and exceeds its own ambitions, but is Trittico somehow greater than Verdi’s Otello, or Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, or Rossini’s Barber of Seville? Of course, all of these are great operas, but Trittico has something in addition to each of them that makes it unique: it is an homage to all of the Italian operas which came before it, and the plot motivations of Otello, Lucia, and Barber are all within it.

Trittico was Puccini’s last completed work, and to experience it at all is rare. It was, unknowingly for him, the soft end of an era, since his final

opera Turandot, which he did not live to complete, remains the last Italian opera to be regularly performed. The long century of Italian opera’s cultural dominance stretched from Rossini’s Barber, which premiered in 1816, right after the Congress of Vienna re-ordered Europe following the Napoleonic Wars, to Trittico, in 1918, as World War I was ending.

Though composed of three one-act operas, Trittico was conceived all of a piece. In English, “trittico” is best translated as triptych, as in a three-part altarpiece. But there are many other historical associations with the power of three, everything from children’s stories like Goldilocks and the Three Bears to the founding histories of nations: “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, “liberté, égalité, fraternité” in France, and Julius Caesar’s famous veni, vidi, vici.

But there’s more: Puccini’s Trittico is also a modern telling of one of the seminal works of Italian literature, Dante Alighieri’s grandly poetic vision of life after death, Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy). Dante’s epic 14th-century poem is itself a trittico comprised of three books: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. These are represented in Puccini’s Trittico by the emotional hell of Il tabarro, the endless waiting purgatory of Suor Angelica, and of course, the heavenly laughter of Gianni Schicchi. A passing reference in the Thirtieth Canto of Dante’s Inferno provided the germ of the comic plot of Gianni Schicchi, and Dante also gets the final mention of the work, as Gran Padre (great father). Opera is the main remnant of the Florentine and Venetian empires, so the great city of the Renaissance, gorgeous Florence, is ultimately the star of Gianni Schicchi.

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Clockwise from top left: Il tabarro, Gianni Schicchi, and Suor Angelica. Photo credit: Cory Weaver.

“ T RIT TICO WAS . . .

PUCCINI ' S R EAC TION TO THE HOR RORS OF W H AT W E NOW CA LL WOR LD WA R I .”

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And there is still more! Trittico was also, at least in retrospect, Puccini’s reaction to the horrors of what we now call World War I, though during Puccini’s life the conflict was known simply as the Great War, because no one could imagine anything worse, and no one knew what was coming within 20 years.

When Trittico was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, funded by Italian immigrants to the U.S., the war in Europe had no end in sight, and the unbearable reality was setting in: row after endless row of caskets unloaded from every train in every European station. Small churchyard cemeteries were filled with men born in the 1890s—with a few unimaginably young, with birthdates of 1900. American deaths in WWI totaled over 53,000, a number that feels small now only because of the horrible numbers that came later: over 400,000 lost in WWII and nearly 58,000 in Vietnam.

The scale of youthful death was too much to grasp, so Puccini conceived the large-scale arc of Trittico: three diverse operas that each held within

them a powerful unifying theme: the effect of a single death on those left alive. Two of the three are children: the infant child of Michele and Giorgetta, whose death destroys their marriage, and the son of Sister Angelica, a child who passed from this world without ever seeing the eyes of his mother.

The deceased in Gianni Schicchi, the much-sung-about Buoso Donati, is similarly unseen, though in some productions his body is carried off, allowing an actor—or, in many companies, a patron who has purchased their stage debut—the opportunity to momentarily play dead.

Puccini went by his instincts and generally avoided intellectualizing, which has left a constant temptation to portray him as somehow less profound than Wagner or Verdi, in whose shadow he rose. Indeed, his fellow Italians, mourning the death of Verdi in 1901 as the peninsula had mourned very few in its history, turned their eyes toward Puccini to carry the Verdian mantle of Italian pride. But because of the non-Italian settings of Manon Lescaut, La bohème, and Girl of the Golden West, Puccini was criticized for lacking Italianità. And further, because of the appeal of his operas to women, the misogyny of his era labeled him a lightweight, a view of Puccini that lingers to this day in music’s most intellectual spheres. As a young conductor, I remember saying to an older colleague how much I loved

Trittico and other Puccini operas, and he said to me with gravity, “Don’t let anyone hear you say you love Puccini; they won’t take you seriously.”

As Puccini aged, his projects got further apart. Following his string of early successes, some time passed before his next opera, a commission from the United States: La fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West), was, like Butterfly, based on a successful play by David Belasco, and it had a phenomenally successful world premiere at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1910 starring Emmy Destinn and Enrico Caruso, conducted by Toscanini. Many consider Fanciulla to be Puccini’s most adventurous score, even as it has never garnered the wider public of Puccini’s more famous works. It did, though, establish the composer’s connection to New York City and to what was then still considered the “new” world.

Puccini, like Rachmaninoff and a few other of their contemporaries, was out of step with the avant-garde compositional vogues like the Second Viennese School or France’s Les Six, and he held on to melody and traditional harmony as others moved beyond them. Audiences were what Puccini understood, and they loved his operas from the start, but he did have an ambition also to be accepted by the critical currents of his time. Yet the more popular he became with audiences, the more critics were wary of him.

palette, providing a substantial experience when performed together. Each is an hour in length, and the scope of the work subtly moves from orchestral darkness toward light. Il tabarro has a score of tremendous darkness and weight, tempered by a feeling of Debussy in sonic depictions of the Seine, with a constant undercurrent of deep sadness and regret for heartbroken characters. The deep love of the married couple Giorgetta and Michele has dissipated with the death of their child, creating a cascade of tragic decisions, infidelity, and untenable jealousy. The duet between Giorgetta and her husband begins with a tender children’s lullaby played in the orchestra, accompanying a conversation between the couple that is strained in its normalcy; their lost baby is at the forefront of their unexpressed thoughts.

Michele’s emotions about his lost child are raw; he desperately wants to return to a happier time, to a time “before,” but he is permanently imprisoned in a sadness that becomes violent. A mistaken signal, the lighting of a pipe, brings the opera to a quick and violent close, and the double-entendre “cloak” of the title reveals itself.

The mystical and reflective piece of Trittico, Suor Angelica, was Puccini’s favorite of all of his compositions. It is easy to understand why: the opera has an otherworldly musical beauty, as

though composed on a liminal plane between this world and the next.

It is largely sparse and deceivingly dissonant, filled with whole tones and an occasionally severe simplicity. As the tragedy of Angelica’s life becomes more apparent to her and to us, her mystical reunion with her son becomes more and more hallucinatory. The audience is meant to never know if the opera’s ending is real or imagined. The opera doesn’t end in a traditional way; it lingers a bit as if levitating, and it then simply evaporates.

The final opera, the most popular of the three for most audiences, is the masterfully comic tale of divine retribution Gianni Schicchi, a deeply great work that virtually invented cinematic comic timing. The piece is also a wistfully romantic symphony, suffused with Tuscan sunlight as sound, and sparkling ensembles. Schicchi shows Puccini at his tuneful best, including one of the most famous melodies ever composed by anybody, “O mio babbino caro,” as well as the great love tune sung by the opera’s young couple, one of the most soaring the composer ever created.

In Gianni Schicchi, an eccentric Florentine family hires the title

Gianni Schicchi virtually invented cinematic comedic timing.

For Monte Carlo, in 1917, Puccini composed La rondine, a successful attempt to capitalize on the operetta craze of the early 20th century, and this total beauty is still occasionally revived, if not often enough. The composer’s most experimental and innovative creation followed a year later: the trio of operas that gave the clearest indication of the directions he might have taken had he lived longer.

Each of the operas of Trittico has a distinctive musical and linguistic HGO.ORG

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character to impersonate their dying patriarch, Buoso Donati, in hopes of changing his last will and testament to leave his considerable riches to them, but it doesn’t quite turn out as they expect. Puccini has the falsely grieving relatives parody the great Verdi: their off-beat, drooping figure, initially played by the whole orchestra in the opera’s introduction, but eventually given to a lone bassoon, is a transposed and truncated version of Leonora’s Miserere from the final act of Verdi’s Il trovatore.

Rinuccio, the opera’s romantic lead, sings an impassioned hymn to the opera’s Florentine setting, in the style of a Tuscan stornello, or folk song, and the opera’s final moments link the passion of the young duo to the role of Florence as the heart of the Italian soul and the birthplace of the Renaissance, of much art, and of opera itself.

The exquisite score of Gianni Schicchi features several sophisticated and delicate parodies of a lot of music, such as its wicked little tango (“Ecco la cappellina!”), its hysterically obsequious waltz (“oh Gianni, Gianni, nostro salvator!”), and the dissonant pulsating music that mocks the unashamed greed of the Donati family. In several passages, Puccini took digs at Stravinsky and other modernists such as Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, and the young Alban Berg, all of whom absolutely loathed his music and were not shy about saying so. But Puccini has the last laugh in this marvel of an opera. Of his other contemporaries, it is interesting that Janáček, Korngold, Lehár, and Rachmaninoff all admired his operas and melodic abilities.

Sister Angelica’s Aunt is the only major mezzo-soprano role Puccini composed other than Suzuki in Madame Butterfly. She is one of the coldest characters in opera—“a Turandot who never melts” as Conrad Wilson memorably put it—and her scene with Angelica, whose name the Aunt never utters, is the most brooding and harsh music Puccini would ever 30

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“EACH OF THE OPER AS IN TRIT TICO H AS A DISTINC TIVE MUSICA L A ND LINGUISTIC PA LE T TE . . .

A ND THE SCOPE OF THE WOR K MOVES FROM ORCHESTR A L DA R KNESS TOWA RD LIGHT.” compose. This scene is far more than the usual operatic villain dueling with a protagonist; it lays bare so many family cruelties, and the lasting pain people feel from early familial traumas.

There is a special power in threes. When one looks solely at the third symphonies of many composers, one sees a profound pattern. Though certainly not always true, many times the first two symphonies were embryonic compared to a more complete and major third work: the third symphonies of Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Copland, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Mendelssohn (the glorious “Scottish”), Corigliano, Saint-Saëns (the great “Organ Symphony”), Philip Glass, Leonard Bernstein (“Kaddish”), and Charles Ives (“The Camp Meeting”) each give hefty testament to the allure of a third.

Puccini’s Trittico is a masterful individual manifestation of the power of three, an idea explored in enormous depth in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, which might be said to have the same power on steroids: not only does it begin with three chords in the key of E Flat major, which has three flats, but it also has three ladies and three genii, each of whom make three appearances, and each of Papageno’s arias has three verses. What Trittico shares with The

Magic Flute, though, is something more interesting and meaningful than these numerical associations.

Just as The Magic Flute beckons us on a trip through the primal nature of dragons and queens of the night into a world of trials, culture, and enlightened learning, Trittico takes us on a similarly profound journey. Within it, we move through the beginnings of life, the sounds of quietly undulating water, to the sometimesviolent wounds of love. We witness the constant human attempt to understand and/or explain the God force before being plunged into the unbearable and unexplainable pain of human loss, something we will likely never understand, because that understanding is the one gift we don’t have.

Trittico then tops our experience with an ingenious laugh at our own expense, as a father watches his beloved daughter fall in love, crowned with the golden Tuscan light of Florence. What on earth could be better? 

Soprano Andrea Carroll as Nannetta in Falstaff (2023) Photography by Lynn Lane.

KEEPING ELITE PERFORMERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT At Houston Methodist, we are proud partners in helping artists achieve peak performance.

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That’s the difference between practicing medicine and leading it. For you.

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JA M ES ROBINSO N DISCU SS ES H I S TRI PLE VI SI ON FOR HGO’ S F I RST CO MPL E TE PR O DU CT ION OF PUCCI NI ’ S THREE ONE-ACT OPER A S .

By Joe Cadagin, Audience Education and Communications Manager

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Cues: What do you think connects all three operas in Il trittico, and did you attempt to work some kind of throughline into your staging?

JR: I don’t think we tried to bind the productions together in any way. But there are these themes of children and death that run through all three. In Il tabarro, we know that the death of a child caused a rift between Giorgetta and Michele. And then, of course, in Suor Angelica, we have another child who died.

Finally, in Gianni Schicchi, there’s this notion of how far somebody would go for their children. But death is sort of a comic thing in Gianni Schicchi.

Cues: Can you tell us about your concept for Il tabarro?

JR: Il tabarro means “The Cloak.” There’s always something that’s covered— not just at the end when Michele covers up the corpse of Luigi. There are a lot of secrets. Everything is enshrouded with this darkness and mystery. People don’t talk about the present so much as they talk about the future and the past.

They talk about life beyond this barge, but everything is cloaked in a working-class misery. It’s more about what we hear than what we see. When you hear the sounds of Paris—a song seller, a pair of lovers—you know there’s life beyond this miserable barge.

So we wanted to keep it claustrophobic. There are

parts of Paris where barges are docked under bridges, and not in the most beautiful parts of the city. That was one of the reasons why we went with this kind of rusted-out hull for the show.

The other thing that I find so ingenious about Il tabarro is the fact that you always feel like you’re adrift. You’re not on firm ground. There’s something about the pulse of the piece that’s very impressionistic.

At times, you don’t always have a strong downbeat.

Everything feels unmoored.

It shouldn’t come off as a fun European river cruise.

Cues: Of the three operas, Suor Angelica is the most radically reimagined staging in your production. What inspired you to move the action from a 17th-century convent to a 20th-century hospital?

JR: One thing that was important was to figure out what kind of nuns they are—what they do, what their function is. I was looking at some photographs of different orders of nuns in Italy in the 20th century, and there was one image that struck me. It was a hospital, and the nuns were taking care of children who were orphaned after World War II. And we thought that there was something beautiful about that. So we set Suor Angelica in a post-WWII children’s hospital. For Angelica herself, what torture it must be to bear this secret about her own son and then to have to work with children.

This order definitely prays to the Blessed Virgin, and that’s important. The environment is all blue. It’s a little washed out, but it’s a classic color that you see in a lot of 16th- and 17-century paintings to represent the Virgin Mary. I think there are certain similarities between Mary and Angelica, both bearing a child who dies.

In the day room of this facility where the kids are fed, there’s a shrine. When Angelica decides to kill herself, she covers up the statue because she can’t do what she’s going to do under the gaze of Mary.

At the end, there’s one little boy who drifts down the hall and puts his hand up against the glass door.

That’s the image that Angelica is left with when she dies. So the question is, does she interpret that as salvation? Does that boy represent the child who died? Jesus? It’s not important to answer it. It’s more the fact that a kid is peering into this room where there is this strange combination of agony and ecstasy.

type of behavior still exists in many cultures: this type of family dynamic and greed and not marrying into the right family. The Donatis only care about the way they look—they’re very stylish.

And then you have Gianni Schicchi, who’s like the town fixer. If he were a lawyer, he’d have a billboard for getting people out of jail. These are wonderfully despicable characters, but they’re also wonderfully lovable because of their eccentricities.

The environment that we chose is this sort of op-art, black-and-white, Italian-marble pattern.

And Buoso’s room has the best view in Florence since he’s got that much money. It’s an impossible view because no building actually looks down at the Duomo from that angle.

There’s also the hospital equipment—it’s like Buoso has refused to die. But he finally does in this production, with a little help… 

Cues: While your Gianni Schicchi is still set in Florence, you’ve updated the action from the 1290s of Dante’s day to the 1960s of filmmaker Federico Fellini. Why? JR: Anytime I look at a piece I think, “How does it benefit by being updated?” There was just something about bringing Gianni Schicchi into the early ’60s of Fellini that made it a little more recognizable. Because this HGO.ORG

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PORGY AND BESS RETURNS TO HGO

BY FRANCESCA ZAMBELLO, DIRECTOR

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have directed Porgy and Bess many times, and each time I step back into the world of Catfish Row, it feels incredibly rich and satisfying. The unforgettable music, powerful characters, and the hard-hitting story speak directly to the heart. To me it is, without a doubt, the greatest American opera ever written. The story, the lyrics, and music are all extraordinary achievements in their own right, fusing all the operatic elements we love into a powerful work of timeless music and storytelling.

Astonishingly, the premiere Porgy and Bess was not a commercial success.

The opera, which ran for almost four hours, had the misfortune of opening in 1935, in the midst of the Great Depression, which didn’t help ticket sales. Composers like Puccini, Rossini, Verdi, and others had been able to salvage works after unsuccessful premieres, but Gershwin never had the chance to revisit Porgy and Bess; he died of a brain tumor two years after it finally reached the stage. In subsequent years, many other artists and producers turned their attention to Gershwin’s masterpiece, often with drastic cuts and rearrangements. We have Houston Grand Opera to thank for the restoration of the complete original score in 1976; that production won both a Tony Award and a Grammy Award and paved the way for the work’s return to the opera house.

I first directed Porgy 20 years ago.

During the two decades that followed, we have navigated life-changing events in the world outside the theater. As I traveled with the production, the fears and hopes of the Catfish Row community often seemed to mirror the emotions we were experiencing in real life in our rapidly changing societal landscape.

I remember being in rehearsal in Washington, D.C. at the time of Hurricane Katrina, which gave new weight to the pivotal scene in which Jake and Clara are killed in a storm. In the production’s second outing, at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Barack Obama was elected president the night of our dress rehearsal, a real-life amplification of the hope that suffuses the opera’s final moments. The entire cast went together to Grant Park to celebrate as Obama accepted the nomination. Each time the production traveled—to Atlanta, Los Angeles, Cooperstown, and San Francisco—we found something in the lives of these characters that resonated with current events. And now I am thrilled and deeply honored to bring the work to HGO audiences after such a long absence.

When Gershwin was preparing to write Porgy and Bess, he set forth an audacious vision: “The production will be a serious attempt to put into operatic form a purely American theme. If I am successful, it will resemble a combination of the drama and romance of Carmen and the beauty of a Meistersinger, if you can imagine that.”

Like Carmen, Porgy tells the story of ordinary people, not the kings, queens, and cardinals that figure so prominently in so much of operatic literature.

Gershwin’s sweeping score reminds us of the inherent majesty and magnitude of the human spirit, regardless of outer circumstances. As with any family, Heyward and Gershwin’s characters have a unique ability to influence one another—sometimes to hurt, sometimes to heal. Their complex interactions invite multiple interpretations, which also feels very true to the human experience. Some see Porgy’s leaving Catfish Row as a sad event; but for me, the ending feels hopeful. The community has supported Porgy, helping him face an uncertain future with optimism.

Is Porgy’s optimistic decision to strike out and leave Catfish Row foolish, or is it an indication of courage and strength? Each of us may have a different answer, but by reflecting on the question, we learn something about ourselves. As for myself, I will continue striving to hold on to the belief in a brighter future to come. 

PREMIER GUARANTORS

GRAND UNDERWRITERS

The Brown Foundation, Inc.

Janet and John Carrig

Albert and Anne Chao

The Robert and Jane Cizik Foundation

Ms. Marty Dudley Houston Grand Opera Endowment, Inc.

Nina and Michael Zilkha

Mathilda Cochran Molly and Jim Crownover

Claire Liu and Joe Greenberg

Misook Doolittle

Dian and Harlan Stai

Mrs. Nancy Dunlap

The Wortham Foundation, Inc.

The Elkins Foundation

SPONSORS

Anonymous

Amanda and Morris Gelb

Ms. Susan Bloome

Matt Healey GRAND GUARANTOR

The Humphreys Foundation

Saurage Marketing Research Mike Stude

Porgy and Bess

GUARANTORS

Judy and Dick Agee Robin Angly and Miles Smith Carol Franc Buck Foundation Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts Marianne and Joe Geagea Drs. Liz Grimm and Jack Roth Elizabeth and Richard Husseini Carolyn J. Levy Laura McWilliams Margaret Alkek Williams

UNDERWRITERS

Nana Booker and Booker · Lowe Gallery Kiana Caleb Marianne Kah Renee Margolin Muffy McClanahan Prof. and Mrs. D. Nathan Meehan Terrylin G. Neale Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Nickson Ambassador and Mrs. Lyndon L. Olson Jr.

Messiah

Katherine Reynolds Samuels Family Foundation Mary Lee and Jim Wallace Mrs. Charlos Ward and Mr. Lee Riley Helen Wils and Leonard Goldstein Alan and Frank York

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PRODUCTION FU N DERS HGO.ORG

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BY GEORGE GERSHWIN, DUBOSE AND DOROTHY HEYWARD, AND IRA GERSHWIN October 24, 26m, November 1, 5, 7, 9m, 11, 13, 15 A N O P E R A I N T WO PA R T S

Original Washington National Opera production with sets from The Glimmerglass Festival Sung in English with projected English text Brown Theater, Wortham Theater Center The performance lasts approximately 3 hours, including one intermission.

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

FUNDED IN PART BY

THE CITY OF HOUSTON THROUGH

HOUSTON ARTS ALLIANCE

FUNDED IN PART BY

THE CITY OF HOUSTON THROUGH

HOUSTON ARTS ALLIANCE

The worldwide copyrights in the music of George and Ira Gershwin® for this presentation are licensed by the Gershwin Family.

GERSHWIN is a registered trademark and service mark of Gershwin Enterprises. PORGY AND BESS is a registered trademark and service mark of Porgy and Bess Enterprises.

Content Advisory: This production contains depictions of drug use.

It also uses lightning effects.

Quick Start Guide THE OPERA IN ONE SENTENCE In the midst of poverty and racial oppression, Bess finds hope with the disabled beggar Porgy, but their love is threatened by the return of Bess’s ex-boyfriend Crown and the temptations proffered by the drug dealer Sportin’ Life.

BACKGROUND In 1925, DuBose Heyward wrote his novella Porgy, a fictionalized account of a Black working-class community in Charleston. The protagonist was modeled after a real-life beggar named Samuel Smalls, while Catfish Row was inspired by a stretch of tenement housing known as Cabbage Row. Heyward’s characters belong to the Gullah ethnic group, whose culture and dialect are strongly rooted in their West African heritage.

The author and his wife Dorothy later adapted the book into a successful stage drama. This served as the basis for the 1935 operatic collaboration with the Gershwin brothers, a JewishAmerican songwriting duo known for their Broadway shows. Working with lyricist Ira Gershwin, Heyward penned a series of original song texts to replace the traditional spirituals that were featured in the play. To research his score, composer George Gershwin

traveled to the Charleston area, where he attended a Gullah church service and participated in a form of Black worship known as “shouting.”

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR Despite longstanding debates about the work’s genre, Porgy and Bess undeniably belongs to the operatic tradition.

Listen for the title characters’ “Bess, You Is My Woman Now,” which is structured like an Italian love duet. Gershwin also employs Wagnerian leitmotifs—recurring orchestral themes associated with characters. Compare Porgy’s limping yet optimistic motive with Crown’s pounding, syncopated rhythm.

The composer infuses these operatic forms with popular African-American styles like blues, ragtime, and jazz. A handful of numbers were conceived as standalone showtunes in the vein of the Gershwins’ Broadway hits. Listen for these snappier songs that lean toward musical theater: Jake’s “A Woman Is a Sometime Thing,” Porgy’s “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’,” Crown’s “A Red-Headed Woman,” and Sportin’ Life’s “It Ain’t Necessarily So.”

Pull to Get There”), lullabies (Clara’s “Summertime”), or laments (Serena’s “My Man’s Gone Now”). Church music, in particular, helps to bring the citizens of Catfish Row together. Listen for the religious genres represented in the opera, including gospel hymns (Bess’s “Leavin’ for the Promise Lan’”), spirituals (Porgy’s “Oh Lawd, I’m on My Way”), and chanted prayers (Serena’s “Oh, Doctor Jesus”).

FUN FACT Porgy and Bess was not George Gershwin’s first opera. In 1922, he collaborated with legendary lyricist Buddy DeSylva on the 20-minute Blue Monday. The work is one of Gershwin’s earliest experiments in combining jazz and classical idioms. Later renamed 135th Street, the opera is a tale of jealousy and murder among the patrons of a Harlem bar.

But at its core, Porgy is what Gershwin dubbed a “folk opera,” and much of the score is meant to evoke the daily life of a Black community. The numbers often serve a specific function, whether as work songs (Jake’s “It Take a Long

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CAST & CREATIVE C AST (in order of vocal appearance) Clara

Raven McMillon ‡

Mingo

Jonathan Pierce Rhodes *

Sportin’ Life Demetrious Sampson, Jr. † Dr. Dina Alsowayel and Mr. Anthony R.

CR E ATI V E TE A M Conductor James Gaffigan

Richard Bado ‡ (Nov. 11, 13, 15) Director Francesca Zambello Claire Liu and Joe

Chase/ Dr. Eric McLaughlin and Mr. Elliot Castillo/ Alejandra and Héctor Torres/ Mr. Trey Yates Fellow

Jake

Justin Austin *

Associate Director

Joshua Horowitz

Serena

Latonia Moore *

Scenic Designer

Peter J. Davison

Robbins

Edward Graves *

Associate Scenic Designer

James Rotondo *

Jim

Nathan De’Shon Myers *

Costume Designer

Paul Tazewell

Peter

Marlin Monroe Williford *

Assistant Costume Designer

Timm Burrow *

Lily

Tanisha L. Anderson *

Original Lighting Designer

Mark McCullough

Maria

La’Shelle Q. Allen *

Revival Lighting Designer

A.J. Guban

Porgy

Michael Sumuel ‡

Sound Designer

Andrew Harper

Crown

Blake Denson ‡

Original Choreographer

Eric Sean Fogel

Bess Angel Blue

Revival Choreographer

Eboni Adams *

Detective

Fight/Intimacy Director

Olivia Knight

Undertaker Sam Dhobhany † Dian and Harlan Stai Fellow

Music Preparation

Michelle Rofrano *

Annie

Imara Miles *

Lawyer Frazier

Donnie Ray Albert

Tzu Kuang Tan †* Shelly Cyprus Fellow

Nelson

Timothy E. Kilgore *

William Woodard

Chris Hury *

Strawberry Woman Elizabeth Hanje † Ms. Marty Dudley/ Amy and Mark Melton/

Diane Marcinek/ Jeff Stocks and Juan Lopez Fellow

Crab Man

Kameron Alston *

Coroner Jack Young

Greenberg Director Chair

Madeline Slettedahl

Stage Manager

Brian August

Assistant Director

Eboni Bell Darcy *

* Mainstage debut † Butler Studio artist ‡ Former Butler Studio artist

PRODUCTION CREDITS English supertitles by Alexa Lietzow. Supertitles called by Matthew Neumann.

The scenery was originally created for Glimmerglass Festival & Seattle Opera.

Costumes constructed by: Washington National Opera Costume Studio.

Performing artists, stage directors, and choreographers are represented by the American Guild of Musical Artists, AFL-CIO, the union for opera professionals in the United States.

Scenic, costume, and lighting designers and assistant designers are represented by United Scenic Artists, IATSE Local USA-829.

Orchestral musicians are represented by the Houston Professional Musicians Association, Local #65-699, American Federation of Musicians.

Stage crew personnel provided by IATSE, Local #51.

Wardrobe personnel provided by Theatrical Wardrobe Union, Local #896.

This production is being recorded for archival purposes.

Houston Professional Musicians’ association

MP A AFM Local 65-699

LOCAL UNION

®

USHER UNIT IATSE LOCAL B-184 USHER UNIT HOUSTON TEXAS

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P O R G Y

SYNOPSIS

One summer evening in the courtyard of Catfish Row, Clara sings a lullaby to her child as the community rests at the end of the workday. Some of the men are playing craps, including Sportin’ Life and Clara’s husband Jake. Porgy joins the game, and when the others gossip about Crown’s woman, Bess, he defends her. When Jake accuses him of being soft on her, Porgy says he isn’t soft on any woman, as he is a loner.

Crown arrives with Bess. He’s drunk, and when he loses at dice, he starts a fight and accidentally kills Robbins. Crown runs to hide but tells Bess he’ll return for her. Sportin’ Life offers to take her to New York, but she refuses. No one will shelter her before the police arrive except Porgy, who takes her in. Later, Porgy and Bess attend Robbins’s funeral together, where his widow, Serena, leads the prayers. The police enter and arrest Peter as a “material witness.” Bess leads the mourners in a spiritual as they reluctantly allow her a place in their community.

A few weeks later, Jake and the fishermen work on their nets as Porgy looks on. Maria, the matriarch of Catfish Row, chases Sportin’ Life away when he tries to sell his “happy dust.” Lawyer Frazier arrives and convinces Porgy that he must buy divorce papers for Bess so she can be legally separated from Crown before she can be with him. The sale is interrupted by the sighting of an ill-omened buzzard.

All are preparing to leave for a church picnic on Kittiwah Island. Sportin’ Life asks Bess again to come to New York with him and tries to give her drugs, which she refuses.

Porgy chases him away, and he and Bess sing about their newfound happiness. All except Porgy leave on the boat for Kittiwah Island. At the picnic, Sportin’ Life sings about his own brand of religion. Everyone is getting ready to leave when Crown, concealed in the bushes, calls out to Bess. She tells him she’s Porgy’s woman now, but he forcefully refuses to let her go.

PA RT II A few weeks later, on Catfish Row, the fishermen are preparing to leave as Bess raves, still delirious after Crown’s attack on her. Peter wants to send her to the hospital, but Serena prefers to pray over her. Bess is healed and explains to Porgy that she wants to stay with him, but that when Crown arrives, she’ll be forced to leave. Porgy reassures her that she doesn’t have to go with him. A hurricane begins to rise, and Clara, frightened for her husband Jake, calls out to sea.

Everyone gathers in Clara’s room and prays for shelter from the hurricane. There is a knock at the door. Crown enters and tries to take Bess away. He laughs at the frightened townspeople and sings a bawdy song to counteract their prayers. Clara sees Jake’s boat and runs out to find him. Bess calls for a man to go after her. After taunting Porgy and asking him why he won’t go, Crown goes.

After the storm, the women cry for their men; Sportin’ Life teases them and Bess. Crown enters; he and Porgy fight, and Porgy kills him. The police and the coroner arrive at Catfish Row the next morning; they take Porgy to identify Crown’s body. Sportin’ Life warns him that when he looks at Crown, his wound will begin to bleed. Telling Bess that Porgy will be locked up, Sportin’ Life forces some drugs on her and then convinces her to go to New York with him. A week later, Porgy returns and discovers Bess has gone. The community gathers around him and helps him on his way as he decides to leave Catfish Row and follow her. —Francesca Zambello

HGO PER FOR M A NCE H ISTORY HGO previously performed Porgy and Bess in a special summer 1976 production, as well as during the 1986-87 and 1994-95 seasons.

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Setting: Catfish Row and Kittiwah Island, South Carolina, 1950s

HGO ORCHESTRA Patrick Summers, Artistic and Music Director

V IOL I N

DOU BL E BASS

TRU M PET

Denise Tarrant *, Concertmaster

Dennis Whittaker *, Principal

Tetsuya Lawson *, Principal

Chloe Kim *, Assistant Concertmaster

Erik Gronfor *, Assistant Principal

Randal Adams †

Natalie Gaynor *, Principal Second Violin

Carla Clark *

Gerardo Mata

Paul Ellison

Alexander Ramazanov

Miriam Belyatsky *

FLU TE

TROM BON E

Rasa Kalesnykaite *

Henry Williford *, Principal

Thomas Hultén *, Principal

Hae-a Lee Barnes *

Tyler Martin *

Mark Holley †

Carrie Kauk *, Assistant Principal Second Violin

Jordan Milek Johnson †

Chavdar Parashkevov † Anabel Ramirez * Mary Reed *

PICCOLO Tyler Martin *

Erica Robinson * Linda Sanders * Oleg Sulyga * Sylvia VerMeulen * Melissa Williams * Zubaida Azezi Andres Gonzalez Kana Kimura

Brian Logan

T U BA OBOE

Mark Barton *, Principal

Elizabeth Priestly Siffert *, Principal Mayu Isom *

TI M PA N I Alison Chang *, Principal

ENGL ISH HOR N Mayu Isom *

PERCUSSION Yoon Jun Kim, Acting Principal

Mila Neal

Christina Carroll

Rachel Shepard

CL A R I N ET

Emily Zelaya

Eric Chi *, Acting Principal

Hanna Hrybkova

Aaron Martinez

Will Joseloff

Ernesto Vega

HARP

Robert Walzel

Caitlin Mehrtens †, Principal

Eliseo Rene Salazar *, Principal

BASS CL A R I N ET

PI A NO

Lorento Golofeev *, Assistant Principal

Aaron Martinez

William Woodard

Erika C. Lawson *

SA XOPHON E

BA N JO

Suzanne LeFevre †

Aaron Martinez

Stephan Badreau

Matthew Weathers *

Ernesto Vega

Elizabeth Golofeev

Robert Walzel

Graeme Francis

V IOL A

Gayle Garcia-Shepard *

Nicholas Lindell Sarah Mason

* HGO Orchestra core musician

BASSOON Amanda Swain *, Principal

CEL LO

Quincey Trojanowski †

Barrett Sills *, Principal Erika Johnson *, Assistant Principal Dana Rath * Wendy Smith-Butler * Chennie Sung * Shino Hayashi

HOR N Sarah Cranston *, Principal Kimberly Penrod Minson * Spencer Park † Aaron Griffin Gavin Reed

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† HGO Orchestra core musician on leave this production

Richard Bado, Chorus Director

Dunia Baruani

Gregory D. McDaniel, Assistant Chorus Director

Sommer Edgerson

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HGO CORPS DANCERS La’Rodney Freeman Raegan Noëlle Taylor

Martin A. Hargrove

Ardeen Pierre

Tanisha L. Anderson

Jondra Harmon

Saïd Henry Pressley

Denisha Ballew

Audrianna Hughes

Namarea Randolph-Yosea

Alyssa Barnes

Q. Terry Jackson

Jonathan Pierce Rhodes

Kendra Beasley

Timothy E. Kilgore

Rocky Eugenio Sellers

Aza Ashe

Daniel Boyd

LaTetra Lewis

Makaela Shade-Alexander

Luke Fedell

Hannah Marie Bullock

Aarianna B. Longino

Fitzgerald St. Louis

Logan Fontaine

Steve Buza

Norman Mathews

Darius Thomas

Michael Fontaine

Maya Davis

Imara Miles

Kaci Timmons

Elijah A. Franklin

Ayanna Lewis

Tristan G. Montaque

Jasmine N. Washington

Ethan Franklin

Gloria M. Deveraux

Leah Moody

Antonio Watts

Ure Unaka

Samuel James Dewese

David Morgans

Kayla White

Dorian Dillard II

Nathan De’Shon Myers

Taylor J. White

Chantelle Grant

Anya Newsome Hill

Jasmine Williams

Edward Graves

Michael Parham

Marlin Monroe Williford

EJ Grayson

Geoffrey Peterson

Leeza AnnMarie Yorke

B E S S

Kameron Alston

SUPERNUMERARIES

WHO'S WHO JA M ES G A FFIG A N (U N ITED STATES) CONDUC TOR

Previously for HGO, James Gaffigan conducted The Marriage of Figaro (2011) and Concert of Arias (2025).

After his return to Santa Fe Opera in summer 2025 to lead Die Walküre, Gaffigan begins his third season as the General Music Director of Komische Oper Berlin and conducts productions of Salome, Eugene Onegin, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Hansel and Gretel, and The Nose.

Following four seasons as Music Director of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, Gaffigan returns to conduct Salome. Guest engagements include returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, and the Verbier Festival. During the 2024-25 season, Gaffigan led productions of Sweeney Todd, The Magic Flute, and Don Giovanni, among others, with Komische Oper Berlin. At Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, he conducted a staging of The Flying Dutchman and previously led productions of Wozzeck, La bohème, and Tristan und Isolde. In summer 2023, Gaffigan led the Metropolitan Opera in La bohème, as well as the Orchestra de Paris with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra. Gaffigan regularly works with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia

Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and Detroit Symphony Orchestra, among others.

R ICH A R D BA DO (U N ITED STATES) CONDUC TOR (NOV. 11 , 13 , 15)

Richard Bado made his professional conducting debut in 1989 leading Houston Grand Opera’s acclaimed production of Show Boat at the newly restored Cairo Opera House in Egypt. Since then, Bado has conducted at Teatro alla Scala, Opéra National de Paris, HGO, New York City Opera, the Aspen Music Festival, Tulsa Opera, the Russian National Orchestra, the Florida Philharmonic, the Montreal Symphony, Wolf Trap Opera, and has conducted the Robert Wilson production of Virgil Thomson’s Four Saints in Three Acts at the Edinburgh Festival. During the 2025-26 season, Bado conducts The Nutcracker for Houston Ballet. Bado—who holds music degrees from the Eastman School of Music, where he received the 2000 Alumni Achievement Award, and West Virginia University—has studied advanced choral conducting with Robert Shaw. He is the Chief Artistic Officer and Chorus Director for HGO, where he received the Silver Rose Award in 2013. He has appeared on A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. For 12 years, he was the HGO.ORG

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Director of the Opera Studies Program at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. Bado has served on the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Dolora Zajick Institute for Young Dramatic Voices, the International Vocal School in Moscow, the Texas Music Festival, and has served on the music staff of the Metropolitan Opera, Seattle Opera, the Bolshoi Opera Young Artist Program, Opera Australia, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Utah Opera, Chautauqua Opera, and Wolf Trap Opera.

FR A NCESC A Z A M BEL LO (U N ITED STATES) DIREC TOR Claire Liu and Joe Greenberg Director Chair

Internationally recognized opera and theater director Francesca Zambello has been the Artistic Director of the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center since 2013. She is also the Artistic & General Director of the Glimmerglass Festival, Emerita. She served as the Artistic Advisor to the San Francisco Opera from 2005 to 2011 and the Skylight Theatre’s Artistic Director from 1987 to 1992. Zambello’s U.S. directing debut took place at HGO with a production of Fidelio (1984), and she has since directed almost two dozen productions for the company. During HGO’s 202425 season she directed a revival of HGO’s 2018 production of West Side Story and a new production of Tannhäuser.

In 2024, she directed the company’s record-breaking The Sound of Music production. Zambello has worked at more than 50 international and national opera houses, and her theatrical work has been seen on Broadway, regional theaters, and European stages. She has been awarded a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government, a Knight with the Order of the Star of Italy and received the Russian Federation’s Arts Medal for her service to culture. Other honors include three Olivier Awards from the London Society of Theatres and two Evening Standard Awards, and she has twice received the French Grand Prix des Critiques for her work at the Paris Opera. She also received the Medallion Society Award from San Francisco Opera, recognizing 30 years of work for the company, including directing the Ring cycle in 2011 and 2018.

JOSH UA R . HOROW ITZ (U N ITED STATES) A SSOCIATE DIREC TOR

Previously at HGO, opera and theater director Joshua R. Horowitz was the assistant director for Florencia en el Amazonas (2019) and Aida (2020). Past directing credits include Rumpelstiltskin and the Unlovable Children (The Glimmerglass Festival), Journey to Valhalla (Lyric Opera of Kansas City), the Emerging Artist Performance of Romeo and Juliet (Washington National Opera), La bohème (Annapolis Opera), The Barber of Seville (Cincinnati 42

FALL 2025

Opera), and Arias and Barcarolles (The Glimmerglass Festival). As an associate and assistant director, Horowitz’s work has been seen across the country at Washington National Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Seattle Opera, and The Lyric Opera of Kansas City.

PETER J. DAV ISON (U N ITED K I NGDOM) SCENIC DESIGNER

Previously for HGO, Peter J. Davison was set designer for Tannhäuser (2025); West Side Story (2025, 2018); The Sound of Music (2024); Show Boat (2013); Der Rosenkavalier (1995); and Lucia di Lammermoor (1994).

His opera credits include The Marriage of Figaro (Vienna); Die Gezeichneten, Falstaff, and Die Schweigsame Frau (Zurich); Capriccio (Berlin and Torino); Der Rosenkavalier, Carmen, and Mary Stuart (English National Opera); Anna Bolena (Bavarian State Opera); Katya Kabanova (New Zealand); Mitridate Re Di Ponto (Salzburg); Manon Lescaut (Australia); The Rake’s Progress, The Marriage of Figaro, and Cyrano de Bergerac (Metropolitan Opera); The Queen of Spades (London’s Royal Ballet and Opera); Guillaume Tell (Opera Bastille); Fidelio, Die Walküre, Porgy and Bess, Salome, La forza del destino, and La traviata (Washington National Opera); La bohème (Royal Albert Hall), La rondine (La Fenice); Cyrano de Bergerac (La Scala); Porgy and Bess, Show Boat, and Florencia en el Amazonas (Chicago); Carmen and The Tales of Hoffmann (Beijing); Heart of a Soldier (San Francisco Opera); La traviata (Bolshoi Theatre); Two Women (San Francisco, Cagliari, Sardinia); Carmen (Salzburg); Porgy and Bess (Glimmerglass); and Norma (Santiago Chile).

He has created designs for major musicals and been nominated for Tony, Drama Desk, and Olivier Awards.

PAU L TA ZEW EL L (U N ITED STATES) COS TUME DESIGNER

Paul Tazewell made his HGO debut in 2013 as the costume designer for Show Boat (2013). For his work on the 2024 film Wicked, Tazewell won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, a BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design, a Critics Choice Award, the Costume Designers Guild’s Excellence in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film award, a NAACP Image Award, and the Innovator Award from the African American Film Critics Association. Additional accolades include an Academy Award nomination for West Side Story in 2021, and an Emmy for The Wiz! Live. Tazewell designed costumes and won a Tony Award for the 2025 Broadway production Death Becomes Her. His designs for the 2024 production of Suffs earned him a Drama Desk Award and a Tony Award nomination. Tazewell served as costume designer for Harriet (2019), The

Timm Burrow is making his HGO debut as the assistant costume designer for Porgy and Bess.

Burrow’s design credits include: Samson and Delilah, Daughter of the Regiment, Carmen, Let Freedom Sing, Hansel and Gretel, Falstaff, Macbeth, and Enchantment of Dreams for Washington National Opera; Orphie and the Book of Heroes, Alex in Wonderland, Alice, Dancing in the Wings, Pearl, and The Emperor’s New Clothes for the Kennedy Center; Sweeney Todd, Falstaff, Don Pasquale, and The Impresario/Viva la Mama for Wolf Trap Opera; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum for Signature Theater; Il matrimonio segreto and The Marriage of Figaro for the University of Maryland; Goodnight Moon for the Atlas Theatre; Leaving the Summerland for Tribute Productions; The Bayou Legend for The Glorya Kaufman Dance Theater; Peter and the Wolf for the Universal Ballet, Seoul, Korea; and The Marriage Figaro, Così fan tutte, and Don Giovanni of Long Island for The INseries. Burrow was nominated for the NAACP Best Costumes Award for The Geffen Theater’s Pearl.

M A R K MCCU L LOUGH (U N ITED STATES) ORIGINAL LIGHTING DESIGNER

Mark McCullough’s work has been seen at HGO in West Side Story (2025, 2018); The Sound of Music (2024); The Pearl Fishers (2019); Florencia en el Amazonas (2019); A Christmas Carol (2014); and Show Boat (2013). In the 2024-25 season, McCullough served as lighting designer for La traviata at Detroit Opera and Porgy and Bess at Washington National Opera. He has also designed lighting for the Vienna State Opera (Macbeth); Bolshoi Theatre (La traviata); the Metropolitan Opera (The Marriage of Figaro); the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing (The Tales of Hoffmann); La Scala (Cyrano de Bergerac); Teatro Real (Luisa Miller); Opéra national du Rhin (The Beggar’s Opera); London’s Royal Ballet and Opera (The Queen of Spades); Opera North (Eugene Onegin); Ópera Nacional de Chile (Norma), and numerous other productions with WNO, Boston Lyric Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, Dallas Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, Canadian Opera Company, New York City Opera,

RE VIVAL LIGHTING DESIGNER

Previously for HGO, A.J. Guban served as the revival lighting designer for West Side Story (2025).

Guban is an award-winning designer and the longtime lighting director for the Washington National Opera, where he has designed over 40 productions, including Macbeth, Il trovatore, Don Giovanni, Gods & Mortals, The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson, six world premiere operas (An American Soldier, Penny, Better Gods, The Dictator’s Wife, Proving Up, and Taking Up Serpents), and 36 world premiere one-act operas. At the Kennedy Center, Guban serves as a key lighting designer across opera, theater, and musical events. His recent work includes The Kennedy Center at 50 (broadcast on PBS) and A Time to Sing with Renée Fleming and Vanessa Williams. He has also lit productions at Seattle Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Teatro di Cagliari, Opera Cleveland, Opéra de Montréal, New Orleans Opera, Detroit Opera, Atlanta Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Opera Lafayette, among others.

2025-26 projects include The Marriage of Figaro, The Little Prince, and West Side Story at Washington National Opera, and Porgy and Bess at Lyric Opera of Kansas City.

A N DR EW H A R PER (U N ITED STATES) SOUND DESIGNER

Andrew Harper, a sound designer and consultant for theater, opera, and ballet, served as sound designer for HGO productions including West Side Story (2025, 2018); The Sound of Music (2024); Another City (world premiere, 2023); the outdoor singalong My Favorite Things (2021); El Milagro del Recuerdo (world premiere, 2019); The Phoenix (world premiere, 2019); The Flying Dutchman (2018); Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (2018); The House without a Christmas Tree (world premiere, 2017); It’s a Wonderful Life (world premiere, 2016); Carousel (2016); Sweeney Todd (2015); A Coffin in Egypt (world premiere, 2014); and A Little Night Music (2014). During HGO’s 2025-26 season, Harper also serves as the sound designer for Silent Night. Additionally, he has designed sound for productions with Washington National Opera/Kennedy Center, New York City Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Lyric Opera Kansas City, The Atlanta Opera, San Antonio Opera, El Paso Opera, and Houston Ballet, among others. As sound designer for Houston’s Theatre Under the Stars, Harper has designed sound for more than 50 productions since 2013. In the 2025-26 season, he designs American Psycho for Houston Broadway Theatre, West Side Story for Los Angeles Opera HGO.ORG

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A .J. GU BA N (U N ITED STATES)

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TI M M BU R ROW (U N ITED STATES)

Seattle Opera, and San Francisco Opera, including the Ring cycle directed by Francesca Zambello.

P O R G Y

Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2017), and Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert (2018). His designs for Hamilton won him a Tony Award in 2016. He has earned multiple Lucille Lortel Awards, Helen Hayes Awards, and additional accolades from the Costume Designers Guild. He has collaborated with the Metropolitan Opera, the Bolshoi Ballet, and the English National Opera.

and Washington National Opera, and Guys and Dolls for Shakespeare Theatre in Washington D.C.

ER IC SE A N FOGEL (U N ITED STATES)

Dallas Opera, and Washington National Opera, where she made her choreographic debut. Her short film, Grace, was selected as one of the “Best of PFF” shorts at the Pan-African Film Festival. She lent her voice to the Oscarwinning animated short film The Windshield Wiper.

ORIGINAL CHOREOGR APHER

Previously at HGO, Eric Sean Fogel served as choreographer for Tannhäuser (2025); associate director for West Side Story (2025, 2018); associate director/choreographer for The Sound of Music (2024); and choreographer for The Pearl Fishers (2019) and Florencia en el Amazonas (2019). Fogel has been the Head of Stage Movement and Choreography at the Glimmerglass Festival for more than a decade. He is also a guest stage director on staff at the Metropolitan Opera, where he served as revival director for The Magic Flute (2024) and Norma (2023). He directed new productions of The Rake's Progress at The Glimmerglass Festival (2025), The Barber of Seville at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (2024), and Songbird for Washington National Opera (2024). Other WNO credits include Porgy and Bess, Samson and Delilah; Don Giovanni; Candide; West Side Story; The Little Prince; Florencia en el Amazonas; The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me; and La forza del destino. Fogel has created new productions for Opera Australia, Opera Bordeaux, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Opera Theatre, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Linzer Klangwolke, Lyric Opera Kansas City, Los Angeles Opera, Metropolitan Art Museum, Milan Fashion Week, New York Fashion Week, Opera Philadelphia, Paris Fashion Week, Royal Opera of Versailles, Seattle Opera, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Théâtre du Capitole, Theater St. Gallen, and Washington National Opera.

FIGHT/ INTIMACY DIREC TOR

Previously for HGO, Olivia Knight served as Intimacy Director for Il trovatore (2024). Also this season for the company, Knight serves as Fight and Intimacy Director for the Butler Studio Showcase, Intimacy Director for Silent Night, and Fight Director for Hansel and Gretel.

Engagements during the 2024-25 season included Una in Blackbird with Dirt Dogs Theatre Co. and the premiere of Synapse with The Octarine Accord. Knight has led movement, fight, and intimacy workshops at various Houston educational institutions and taught at both the college and high school levels. She was awarded the VCUarts Research Grant in 2021 for her work on The Penelopiad. Previous theatrical credits include Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Gregory in Romeo and Juliet with the Houston Shakespeare Festival (2024); Ursula in Much Ado About Nothing and First Witch/Lady Macduff in Macbeth with the Houston Shakespeare Festival (2023); Ash in Wolf Play with Rec Room Arts (2023); #25 in The Wolves at Quintero Theatre (2023); Princess of France in Love’s Labour’s Lost with Studio 108 (2023); the title role of Rumpelstiltskin and Katherine/Boy in Henry V at the Wortham (2022); Sonia in Our Lady of 121st Street at Quintero Theatre (2021); and Olivia in Twelfth Night at Richmond Catholic Theatre (2020).

EBON I A DA MS (U N ITED STATES)

M ICH A EL SU M U EL (U N ITED STATES)

RE VIVAL CHOREOGR APHER

BA SS-BARITONE— PORGY

Eboni Adams is making her HGO debut. Elsewhere during the season, Adams directs the world premiere of My Name is Florence with Minnesota Opera and La bohème with Austin Opera. During the 2024-25 season, Adams was associate choreographer of Porgy and Bess (Washington National Opera); the stage director and choreographer of The Snowy Day (Minnesota Opera); and assistant director of The Manchurian Candidate (Austin Opera). During the 2023-24 season, she was assistant director for the world premiere of Righteous (Santa Fe Opera); assistant director for La bohème (Florentine Opera); and assistant director and choreographer for The Snowy Day (Portland Opera). An LA-based multidisciplinary artist, she has worked alongside Celine Dion, Cirque du Soleil, and LA Opera, among others.

As a choreographer and assistant director, she has collaborated with such opera companies as Cincinnati Opera, 44

OL I V I A K N IGHT (U N ITED STATES)

FALL 2025

Michael Sumuel, a Butler Studio alumnus, has been seen regularly at HGO in roles such as Sharpless in Madame Butterfly (2024); Marcello in La bohème (2018); Belcore in The Elixir of Love (2016); Papageno in The Magic Flute (2015); Superintendent Frank in Die Fledermaus (2013); Masetto in Don Giovanni (2013), and many more. During the 2025-26 season, Sumuel returns to the Metropolitan Opera to sing Papageno in The Magic Flute. He also makes debuts at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich as Leporello in Don Giovanni, as well as the Deutsche Oper Berlin, performing Alberich in Wagner’s complete Ring cycle and Achilla in Giulio Cesare. During the 2024-25 season, Sumuel returned to the Metropolitan Opera and debuted with Opera Australia in Sydney to sing the title role in The Marriage of Figaro; performed in his first performances as Porgy in Porgy and Bess with

Angel Blue made her HGO debut in 2022 as Violetta in La traviata. She is a two-time Grammy Award winner for Fire Shut Up in My Bones (2023) and Porgy and Bess (2021); a Beverly Sills Award recipient (2020); and a Richard Tucker Award winner (2022). During the 2025-26 season, Blue returns to the Opéra national de Paris to sing the title role in Tosca, and to the Metropolitan Opera to sing both Mimì in La bohème and Liu in Turandot. She performs Florent Schmidt’s Psalm 47 with the Houston Symphony, the Christmas in Vienna concert at the Konzerthaus Vienna, and concerts at the Grafenegg Festival. She also performs recitals with pianist Bryan Wagorn at Reykjavik Arts Festival, Spivey Hall, and Four Arts Palm Beach.

During the 2024-25 season, Blue performed at Last Night of the Proms and then returned to her home stage at the Metropolitan Opera, where she played Margarita Xirgu in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, and made her long-anticipated debut as Aida. She joined Maestro Nézet-Séguin and the Rotterdam Philharmonic on tour and made a company debut as Mimì in the Bavarian State Opera’s production of La bohème. She appeared at Carnegie Hall in recital with the legendary pianist Lang Lang, and again with the Met Opera Orchestra and Maestro Nézet-Séguin.

Additional engagements included a solo recital at the Los Angeles Opera and Aida in concert at the Baltimore Symphony conducted by Jonathon Heyward.

BL A K E DENSON (U N ITED STATES) BARITONE— CROWN

Previously at HGO, Butler Studio and Young Artist Vocal Academy alumnus Blake Denson made his role debut of Ford in Falstaff (2023); Jailer in Dialogues of the Carmelites (2022); Gregorio in Romeo and Juliet (2022); Morales in Carmen (2021); Daddy/Tim in alternate cast performances of The Snowy Day (2021); Giving Voice (2021); Hansel and Gretel as Peter (2021); and Suite Española: Explorando Iberia (2021). Elsewhere during the 2025-26 season, Denson sings as the baritone soloist in the Brahms Requiem with the Minnesota Orchestra and performs the role of Tomaso in A Masked Ball with the Paris Opera. During the 2024-25 season, Denson made his house debuts at LA Opera and Paris National Opera, where he performed as Monterone in Rigoletto. He also

DEM ETR IOUS SA M PSON , JR .

(U N ITED STATES) TENOR — SPORTIN ’ LIFE

Dr. Dina Alsowayel and Mr. Anthony R. Chase/ Dr. Eric McLaughlin and Mr. Elliot Castillo/ Alejandra and Héctor Torres/ Mr. Trey Yates Fellow

A third-year Butler Studio artist from Albany, Georgia, Demetrious Sampson, Jr. performs the roles of Sportin’ Life in Porgy and Bess, The Witch in Family Day Hansel and Gretel, and Lennie Small in the Butler Studio production of Of Mice and Men in HGO’s 2025-26 season.

Elsewhere this season, he will perform the role of Rodolfo in La bohème with Austin Opera. Other roles for 2025 included Macduff in Macbeth at Atlanta Opera and Steuermann in The Flying Dutchman at Des Moines Metro Opera. For HGO’s 2024-25 season, he performed the roles of Ruiz in Il trovatore and Parpignol in La bohème. In HGO’s 2023-24 season, Sampson made his HGO debut as 3rd Esquire in Parsifal. He made his professional debut with Atlanta Opera at the age of 20 as Crab Man in Porgy and Bess, a role he reprised at Des Moines Metro Opera in 2022 as an apprentice artist. In 2023, Sampson joined the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco, and in 2024, he made company and role debuts with Cincinnati Opera as Gastone in La traviata and with Wolf Trap Opera as the Kronprinz in Kevin Puts’s Silent Night. A previous Encouragement Award winner, he was named a National Finalist in the 2024 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. The second place and Audience Choice Winner in HGO’s 2023 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias, Sampson is a 2022 alumnus of HGO’s Young Artists Vocal Academy. He received his bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University.

L ATON I A MOOR E (U N ITED STATES) SOPR ANO — SERENA

A Houston native, Latonia Moore is an acclaimed soprano with a career spanning over 20 years. During the 2025-26 season, she makes her HGO mainstage debut as Serena in Porgy and Bess, a role which she also performs with the Metropolitan Opera, and she takes on the role of HGO.ORG

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A NGEL BLU E (U N ITED STATES)

performed as Monterone at the Metropolitan Opera.

Denson is the winner of the George London Foundation and The International Concurs Tenor Viñas Competition; a Grand Finalist Winner of the 2020 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions; and the recipient of a First Prize/Legacy Award from the National Opera Association.

He has been honored by the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Houston, The Orpheus Vocal Competition, The Perfect Day Competition, The Pasadena Vocal Competition, Partners in Arts Vocal Competition, Annapolis Vocal Competition, Opera Ithaca Vocal Competition, and Opera Mississippi Opera Competition.

P O R G Y

Washington National Opera; and performed as Sharpless in Madame Butterfly with the Canadian Opera Company and LA Opera. Sumuel is the recipient of a Richard Tucker Career Grant. He is a Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Grand Finalist and a winner of the Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition.

Bess in Porgy and Bess at the Teatro Municipal in São Paulo. During the 2024-25 season, Moore performed as Musetta in La bohème at the San Diego Opera, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra; and the title role in Jenůfa with the Cleveland Orchestra.

In the 2023-24 season, Moore performed in HGO’s Giving Voice and returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Sister Rose in Dead Man Walking and Billie in Fire Shut Up in My Bones. Additional highlights include appearances as Cio-Cio-San in Madame Butterfly, the title role in Aida, and Musetta in La bohème at the Metropolitan Opera; Liù in Turandot at Royal Opera Covent Garden; the title role in Tosca and Elisabeth in Don Carlo with Opera Australia; and many more starring roles at the world’s great houses.

Moore is a recipient of the Maria Callas Award from The Dallas Opera, a Richard Tucker Foundation grant, first prize in the Marseilles Competition, first prize in the International Competition dell’Opera in Dresden, and three Grammys for recordings of Porgy and Bess (2021) Fire Shut Up in My Bones (2023), and Champion (2024) with the Metropolitan Opera.

R AV EN MCM I L LON (U N ITED STATES) SOPR ANO — CL AR A

Opera Awards and is a recipient of the 2024 Marian Anderson Vocal Award. He performed with HGO in Joel Thompson’s world-premiere song cycle A Voice Within (2025) and as a featured soloist in HGO’s Giving Voice (2024). Following the summer 2024 world premiere of Damien Geter’s American Apollo at Des Moines Metro Opera, Austin began the 2024-25 season with his house debut at Los Angeles Opera as Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet and returned to sing Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. He performed the role of Lindon in the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s This House at Opera Theatre of St. Louis. In concert, he performed Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem with the Cecilia Chorus of New York at Carnegie Hall and performed selections from Terence Blanchard’s Champion and Fire Shut Up in My Bones at La Jolla Music Society, The Soraya, and Charleston Gaillard Center, among others. He returned to Stuttgart, Germany for a concert with the Stuttgart Philharmonic and Opera for Peace and conceived and co-artistic directed My Brother’s Keeper for New York Festival of Song at Kaufman Music Center. He holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Manhattan School of Music.

L A' SH EL L E Q. A L L EN (U N ITED STATES) CONTR ALTO — MARIA

Previously at HGO, Butler Studio alumna Raven McMillon performed roles including Papagena in The Magic Flute (2022); Frasquita in Carmen (2021); and the leading role of Peter in The Snowy Day (2021). During the 2020-21 HGO Digital season, McMillon performed the roles of Rona Richards in The Impresario; Peter in The Making of The Snowy Day, an Opera for All; and Gretel in Hansel and Gretel. She also featured in the HGO Digital concert Giving Voice and performed as Sister Margaretta in HGO’s My Favorite Things: Songs from The Sound of Music. In the 2024-2025 season, McMillon made two company debuts, first at Minnesota Opera as Peter in The Snowy Day, then with Washington Concert Opera in her role debut as Servilia in La clemenza di Tito. She joined Fort Worth Symphony for the premiere of Jake Heggie’s Earth Song 2 and performed Salome in Stradella’s San Giovanni Battista with Catapult Opera.

McMillon was recognized as a 2021 Grand Finals Winner in the Metropolitan Opera’s Dominique and Eric Laffont Competition. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Vocal Performance at Carnegie Mellon University and completed her graduate degree at the University of Cincinnati College – Conservatory of Music (CCM).

JONAT H A N PIERCE R HODES (U N ITED STATES)

J USTI N AUSTI N (U N ITED STATES)

TENOR — MINGO

BARITONE—JAKE

Jonathan Pierce Rhodes is making his HGO debut. Elsewhere during the 2025-26 season, he joins INSeries for the world premiere of Delta King’s Blues (Geter/Lee) and returns to Washington National Opera as Zodzetrick in Treemonisha. In the 2024-25 season, Rhodes made his

Drama Desk Award-nominated baritone Justin Austin is making his HGO mainstage debut. Austin was named Rising Star of the Year at the 2024 International 46

La’Shelle Allen is making her HGO debut. Allen’s career spans more than 30 years performing in opera houses, theaters, and various event venues in 30 countries. She began touring professionally as a soloist with The Harlem Spiritual Ensemble. Highlights of her solo work include appearances at St. Peter’s Basilica, Grand Théâtre de Genève, North Sea Jazz Festival de Vienne, and Madison Square Garden. Recent engagements include collaborations with Lyric Opera Chicago, Virginia Arts Festival, and The Metropolitan Opera as a member of the Grammy Award-winning cast of Porgy and Bess. In addition to opera, Allen works in jazz, blues, gospel, Broadway, spoken word, and Negro spirituals. She is also a producer, recording/voiceover artist, and teaching artist.

Her recently released solo album, Journey to Freedom, showcases original music and arrangements centering the American Negro spiritual. Allen is the creator of Spirituals in Motion, an outreach program designed to further the conversation around diversity in music and the contribution of underrepresented voices.

FALL 2025

Edward Graves is making his HGO debut. During the 2024-25 season, Graves performed as the Duke in Rigoletto (Opera San Jose), Alfredo in La traviata (Opera Tampa), Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni (Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera), Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor (Opera in Williamsburg), and Rodolfo in La bohème (Opera Delaware and Opera Baltimore). He made his Metropolitan Opera debut as 1st Armored Man (2024) and returned to cover the roles of 1st Armored Man and 2nd Priest in The Magic Flute (2025). Graves is a graduate of the Merola Program and Adler Fellowship at San Francisco Opera.

During his tenure, he performed as Stone/Eunuch in Bright Sheng’s Dreams of the Red Chamber; Gastone in La traviata; covered the roles of Alfredo in La traviata and Lensky in Eugene Onegin; sang Rodolfo in SFO’s Bohème Out of the Box; covered the title role in Omar; and performed as Ruiz in Il trovatore. He also participated in a workshop for Jake Heggie, Gene Scheer, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s Intelligence with HGO. Graves was a 2022 San Francisco District winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from Towson University and a Performer Diploma and Master of Music in Voice Performance from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.

DON N IE R AY A L BERT (U N ITED STATES)

TA N ISH A L . A N DER SON (U N ITED STATES) MEZ ZO -SOPR ANO — LILY

Three-time Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Tanisha L. Anderson is making her HGO debut. In 2014, Anderson became a member of the world-renowned group The Crossing, which won the 2018 and 2019 Grammy for Best Choral Performance. In 2025, she won a Grammy for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media for Maestro. Career highlights include performing in the world premiere of Rhiannon Giddons and Michael Abels’s Omar (2022); the world premiere of Rene Orth’s 10 DAYS IN A MADHOUSE (2023); as part of the ensemble in the American premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s The Listeners with Opera Philadelphia (2024); and background vocals for Michael Bublè, Andrea Bocelli, and Josh Groban.

Anderson has sung throughout the East Coast and in Europe with Opera Philadelphia, The Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds (Charleston and Spoleto, Italy); The National Marian Anderson Museum; Capital Opera Richmond; VoxAma Deus Ensemble; The Salvatones; the New York Philharmonic; and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

BARITONE— L AW YER FR A ZIER

TI MOT H Y E . K I LGOR E (U N ITED STATES)

Donnie Ray Albert is a regular guest of opera companies and orchestras around the world. This season marks

TENOR — NEL SON

Timothy Kilgore is making his HGO mainstage debut as Nelson in Porgy HGO.ORG

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EDWA R D GR AV ES (U N ITED STATES)

50 years since his HGO debut and 50 years since he sang Porgy in the Grammy Award-winning recording of HGO’s groundbreaking production of Porgy and Bess. His many performances with HGO include the roles of Parson Alltalk in Treemonisha (1975), Porgy in Porgy and Bess (1976, 1987), Joe in Show Boat (1982), Tonio in Pagliacci (2000), and Lord Capulet in Romeo and Juliet (2022).

Albert has performed with the Metropolitan Opera as Germont in La traviata; with Los Angeles Opera as Trinity Moses in Mahagonny, Simone in A Florentine Tragedy, and the Father in Hansel and Gretel; and made numerous appearances with Opera Pacific, Florentine Opera of Milwaukee, Dallas Opera, Arizona, and other companies across the U.S., Canada, Europe, and beyond. Recent operatic engagements include a return to the Semperoper Dresden to sing the Four Villains and Germont; his debut with the Glyndebourne Festival as the Doctor in Vanessa; and his return to Copenhagen as Falstaff and to Austin Lyric Opera as Amonasro. In addition to RCA’s Grammy Award- and Grand Prix du Disque-winning recording of Porgy and Bess, he may be heard on NOW’s recording of The Horse I Ride Has Wings with David Garvey on piano, EMI’s Frühlingsbegräbnis and Eine Florentinesche Tragodie by Zemlinsky conducted by James Conlon, and Simon Sargon’s A Clear Midnight on the Gasparo label. Albert is a member of the faculty of the University of Texas in Austin.

P O R G Y

role debut as Timothy Laughlin in Fellow Travelers by Gregory Spears with Opera Parallele. He made his house debut with the Lyric Opera Chicago, where he reprised his role as Policeman 2 and covered the role of The Son in Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson’s Blue; returned to WNO as Mingo in Porgy and Bess; sang the Messenger in Aida with the Baltimore Symphony; and sang Valcour in L’amant anomyme with Finger Lakes Opera. Rhodes is a recent graduate of WNO’s Cafritz Young Artist program. In 2022, the Houston District of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition recognized Rhodes as an Encouragement Award winner. In 2019, he received the first-place Neva Pilgrim Award in the Civic Morning Musicals Competition and was named a recipient of the William Warfield Scholarship Award from the Eastman School of Music. Rhodes holds both a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from The Eastman School of Music/University of Rochester. He received his Master of Music degree in Opera Performance from Rice University.

and Bess. Previously with the company, Kilgore was a member of the HGO Chorus in productions of Simon Boccanegra (2006) and Faust (2007). His other opera credits include Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, Verdi’s La traviata, and William Grant Still’s Highway 1 U.S.A. Kilgore has performed tenor arias in oratorio works such as Handel’s Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Dubois’s Seven Last Words, and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. In addition to his vocal work, Kilgore is a freelance collaborative pianist in Houston and surrounding areas. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in piano from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a graduate degree in education from Concordia University.

CH R IS H U RY (U N ITED STATES) DE TEC TIVE

Chris Hury is making his HGO debut.

He is a veteran stage actor who was last seen in last year’s Alley All New Festival as Magnus in Sharr White’s new play, Wolfie. Other roles include Alan in God of Carnage and Jason in Medea at the Dallas Theater Center, the title roles in both Cyrano de Bergerac and Macbeth at Shakespeare Dallas, and Michael Centanni in Wil Calhoun’s Leavings at the Circle Repertory Company in New York. In addition to his work in the theater, Chris has appeared in numerous commercials and television programs and voiced a variety of characters in the English language versions of popular anime shows. He is an experienced motion capture actor whose work will be seen in the upcoming video games, Doom: The Dark Ages and Borderlands 4.

JACK YOU NG (U N ITED STATES) CORONER

Previously at HGO, Jack Young performed the role of Doc in West Side Story (2018, 2025). Recent appearances include the roles of Duke Vincentio in Measure for Measure with American Shakespeare Center and the title roles in King Lear and Richard III with Houston Shakespeare Festival. Other credits include Uncle Morty in Awake & Sing! (Main Street Theater), Matt in Talley’s Folly (The Warehouse Theatre), Meadows in Hostages (Primary Stages, New York), and Shylock in Merchant of Venice (ACTION! Theatre, Los Angeles, nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role). Young has served as the artistic director of Houston Shakespeare Festival since 2014. A Certified Fight Director with the Society of American Fight Directors, he has choreographed violence for over 100 productions and is the Sword Safety Instructor for the Houston Ballet. Young has led professional training programs at Ohio University, The Warehouse Theatre, and Duke University. He is a Professor of Acting at the University of Houston, where he has received the UH Alumni Association Distinguished Teaching Award and the 48

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University Teaching Excellence Award, the university’s highest teaching honor.

EL IZ A BET H H A N JE (U N ITED STATES) SOPR ANO — S TR AWBERRY WOMAN

Ms. Marty Dudley/ Amy and Mark Melton/ Diane Marcinek/ Jeff Stocks and Juan Lopez Fellow

Second-year Butler Studio artist Elizabeth Hanje, a Tanzanian-American soprano from Vestavia Hills, Alabama, was the first-place winner at HGO’s 2024 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias. In the 2025-26 HGO season, Hanje also sings the roles of First Alms Sister in Suor Angelica (Il trittico), Madeleine Audebert in Silent Night, and Gertrude in Family Day Hansel and Gretel. In the summer of 2025, Hanje was an Apprentice Singer for Santa Fe Opera, where she covered the role of Gerhilde in Die Walküre. Hanje has also been a Young Artist with Merola Opera Program (2024) and an Apprentice Artist with Des Moines Metro Opera (2023). In fall 2024, she made her mainstage debut with HGO as Ines in Il trovatore. In April 2023, she performed the role of Lyra in Alice Tierney in her debut with Opera Columbus. Hanje was the first-place winner at HGO’s 2024 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias and is a 2022 alumna of HGO’s Young Artist Vocal Academy. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin Conservatory.

I M A R A M I L ES (U N ITED STATES) MEZ ZO -SOPR ANO —ANNIE

Imara Miles is making her HGO debut. She has performed roles including Berta in The Barber of Seville, Nettie Fowler in Carousel, Zita in Gianni Schicchi, and Lily in Porgy & Bess. Recent credits include Mercédès in Carmen, Tisbe in Cinderella, Sarah in Ragtime, and Monisha in Treemonisha with Opera Ebony. This season, she covers roles in Complications in Sue with Opera Philadelphia. She is the winner of the Mollie Shapiro Award at Des Moines Metro Opera, a District Award from the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition, and the 2022 Elizabeth Greenfield Award.

Miles was named a finalist in the George Shirley Vocal Competition and a semi-finalist in the Annapolis Opera Vocal Competition, HGO's Concert of Arias, and the Paris Opera Competition. She was a young artist with The Glimmerglass Festival, Grant Park Music Festival, Pensacola Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Toledo Opera, and most recently, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from York College of Pennsylvania and a Master of Music degree from Indiana University.

M A R L I N MON ROE W I L L I FOR D (U N ITED STATES) TENOR — PE TER

Marlin Monroe Williford is making his HGO debut. This production represents Williford’s first return performance in an American opera house after living and performing in Berlin, Germany for 17 years. Williford has performed in opera and music productions all over the world. His voice can be heard in various media: TV, tours, commercials, recordings, and stages. He works as a voiceover singer with Disney (Germany) and is signed to Universal Music (Germany). His opera repertoire focuses on Strauss, Verdi, and Berlioz.

SA M DHOBH A N Y (U N ITED STATES) BA SS-BARITONE— UNDERTAKER Dian and Harlan Stai Fellow

A second-year Butler Studio artist from Brooklyn, New York, Sam Dhobhany received the Ana María Martínez Encouragement Award at HGO’s 2024 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias.

He is a 2022 alumnus of HGO’s Young Artist Vocal Academy.

In HGO’s 2025-26 season, Dhobhany also sings the roles of Notary in Gianni Schicchi (Il trittico), British Major in Silent Night, George Milton in the Butler Studio production of Of Mice and Men, and Officer in The Barber of Seville. In HGO’s 2024-25 season, he made his company debut as Alidoro in HGO Family Day for Cinderella and sang the role of Terry in Breaking the Waves. In the summer of 2025, Dhobhany performed the roles of Zuniga in Carmen and Bartolo in The Marriage of Figaro at Wolf Trap Opera, where in 2021, he was a member of the Studio Artist Program, covering the role of Doctor Grenvil in La traviata. In 2024, Dhobhany sang the role of Angelotti in Tosca with Dayton Opera. He was an apprentice artist with Santa Fe Opera in 2023 and 2024, performing roles including Un Médecin in Pelléas et Mélisande and Marchese d’Obigny in La traviata. Dhobhany was the second-place winner of the 2025 Rocky Mountain Region of The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

K A M ERON A LSTON (U N ITED STATES) TENOR — CR ABMAN

Kameron Alston is making his HGO debut. Recent performances include Don Fernando in the North American premiere of Paër’s Leonora with Chicago Opera Theater; Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Vegas City Opera; and Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet with Central City Opera. Alston has also appeared as Ernesto in Don Pasquale with Piedmont Opera, Carlo in Linda di Chamounix, and the title role in Orlando Paladino at the University of North Carolina HGO.ORG

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B E S S

Nathan De’Shon Myers is making his HGO debut. Also this season for the company, he performs the role of Pinellino in Gianni Schicchi, part of Il trittico. Myers has been a featured soloist with opera companies and orchestras throughout the United States and across Europe, including Theater Neustreliz, Stadttheater Trier, Salzburg Landestheater, Chautauqua Opera, Dallas Opera, Opera Louisiane, the Amalfi Coast Festival in Italy, and Deutsche Oper Berlin where, as a festival soloist, he performed roles such as Dandini in Cinderella, Dancairo in Carmen, Schaunard in La bohème, Ping in Turandot, Marullo in Rigoletto, Matthieu in Andrea Chenier, and more. He also performed the title roles of Gianni Schicchi, Don Giovanni, and Johnny in Ernst Krenek’s Johnny Spielt Auf. Myers released his debut urban gospel album, Making a Way, in 2014 and was a member of the recording ensemble for Kirk Franklin’s Grammy Award-winning album, Losing My Religion, in 2015. He lent his voice and musicianship to the soundtracks of the movies Hidden Figures in 2016 and The Star in 2017. He currently serves on the voice faculty with the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria and is Associate Professor of Voice at Arizona State University.

A N D

BARITONE—JIM

School of the Arts. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Baylor University and both a Master of Music degree and a Professional Artist Certificate from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

P O R G Y

NAT H A N DE ’SHON M Y ER S (U N ITED STATES)

October 30, November 2m, 8, 12, 14 A T R I P T YC H O F O N E -AC T O P E R A S

Il tabarro

S u o r A ng e l i c a

Gianni Schicchi

M U S I C BY Giacomo Puccini

M U S I C BY Giacomo Puccini

M U S I C BY Giacomo Puccini

L I B R E T T O BY Giuseppe Adami

L I B R E T T O BY Giovacchino Forzano

L I B R E T T O BY Giovacchino Forzano

A Houston Grand Opera production

Sung in Italian with projected English supertitles

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

Originating from the Daegu International Opera Festival, South Korea

Brown Theater, Wortham Theater Center The performance lasts approximately 3 hours and 26 minutes, including two intermissions

FUNDED IN PART BY

THE CITY OF HOUSTON THROUGH

HOUSTON ARTS ALLIANCE

FUNDED IN PART BY

THE CITY OF HOUSTON THROUGH

HOUSTON ARTS ALLIANCE

Quick Start Guide THE OPER A IN ONE SENTENCE Three thematically connected stories examine the effects of a death on a set of characters: after the passing of their child, Giorgetta falls out of love with her bargeman husband Michele, leading to a jealous murder; Sister Angelica's life is destroyed when she learns that her illegitimate son has died; and Gianni Schicchi helps the greedy Donati family forge the will of their late relative.

BAC KG R OU N D In 1893, the Metropolitan Opera presented the first double-bill combining Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci—two gritty dramas in the Italian verismo tradition. Hoping to one-up the success of this pairing with his own 1918 Met premiere, Giacomo Puccini conceived Il trittico as a trio of contrasting one-acters. The title, which translates to “the triptych,” refers to three-paneled paintings that typically serve as altarpieces.

Librettist Giuseppe Adami adapted Il tabarro (The Cloak) from Didier Gold’s 1910 play La houppelande, which belongs to a French horror genre known as Grand-Guignol theater. Suor Angelica (Sister Angelica) is an original scenario by Giovacchino Forzano, who

originally wrote the text as a spoken drama. For Gianni Schicchi, Forzano filled out a backstory for the titular fraudster—a real-life Florentine of the 13th century whom Dante damned to hell in his Inferno. Because of this connection, a popular interpretation of Il trittico (first proposed by Puccini biographer Mosco Carner) compares the three operas to Dante’s journey in the Divine Comedy from the Inferno to Purgatory to Paradise.

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR Over the flowing orchestral theme that represents the River Seine in Il tabarro, Puccini assembles a collage of Parisian city sounds: a tugboat whistle, car claxons, an out-of-tune barrel organ, and a street musician selling a song about a girl named Mimì (the composer sneaks in a self-quotation from La bohème). During Michele’s vengeful final monologue, “Nulla! Silenzio!,” listen for the jagged, rising motive that musically represents the cloak that will hide his terrible crime.

In composing Suor Angelica, Puccini made a research trip to the convent where his sister was the Mother Superior. Listen for the nuns’ recurring “Regina Virginum” hymn associated with Mary—it’s the basis for a glorious choral finale. But the emotional heart of the opera is Angelica’s devastating

aria “Senza mamma,” in which she laments her dead son in mournfully descending phrases.

Conceived in the spirit of Italian opera buffa comedies, Gianni Schicchi is an ensemble piece filled with boisterous numbers depicting the Donati family’s bickering and scheming. The work is also a love letter to the city of Florence, which Rinuccio praises in “Firenze è come un albero fiorito,” modeled after a Tuscan stornello folksong. Listen for the opera’s hit aria, “O mio babbino caro,” in which Lauretta begs her father to come to the Donatis’ aid so she can marry Rinuccio.

F U N FAC T Both Rinuccio and Lauretta’s arias are heard on the soundtrack to the 1985 Merchant Ivory film A Room with a View. Based on E.M. Forster’s 1908 novel, the film takes place in Florence and showcases many of the sites mentioned in Gianni Schicchi. During the opening scene, Helena Bonham Carter and Maggie Smith’s characters are disappointed that their pensione room doesn’t overlook the Arno—the river where Lauretta threatens to drown herself in “O mio babbino caro” (sung

by Kiri Te Kanawa in the film).

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C A S T & C R E AT I V E IL TABAR RO C AST (in order of vocal appearance)

GIA NNI SCHICCHI C AST (in order of vocal appearance)

Giorgetta Corinne Winters * Lynn Wyatt Great Artist

Zita

Michele

Ryan McKinny ‡

Luigi Arturo Chacón-Cruz ‡ Novum Artist Tinca

Matthew DiBattista *

Talpa Andrea Silvestrelli A Song Vendor Shawn Roth † Melinda and Bill Brunger/ Drs. Liz

Grimm and Jack Roth/ Drs. Rachel and Warren A. Ellsworth IV/ Kathleen Moore and Steven Homer/ Sharon Ley Lietzow and Robert Lietzow Fellow

Frugola

Jamie Barton ‡

Young Lover Alissa Goretsky † Gloria M. Portela/ Susan Bloome/

James M. Trimble and Sylvia Barnes Fellow

Young Lover Michael McDermott † Michelle Beale and Dick Anderson/

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

SUOR A NGELIC A C AST (in order of vocal appearance)

Jamie Barton ‡

Simone Andrea Silvestrelli Rinuccio Arturo Chacón-Cruz ‡ Novum Artist Ciesca

Emily Treigle ‡

Marco Geonho Lee *† Mr. and Mrs. James W. Crownover/

Dr. and Mrs. Miguel Miro-Quesada/

Dr. John Serpe and Tracy Maddox Fellow

Nella

Meryl Dominguez ‡

Gherardo

Matthew DiBattista *

Betto di Signa

Adam Lau *

Gherardino

Maximus Vu *

Gianni Schicchi

Ryan McKinny ‡

Lauretta

Corinne Winters *

Maestro Spinelloccio Ziniu Zhao † Carolyn J. Levy/ Jill and Allyn Risley/

Dr. Peter Chang and Hon. Theresa Chang and Friends Fellow

Amantio di Nicolao Sam Dhobhany † Dian and Harlan Stai Fellow Pinellino

Nathan De’Shon Myers

Sister Angelica

Corinne Winters *

The Monitor

Emily Treigle ‡

Second Lay Sister

Carolena Belle Lara *

CR E ATI V E T E A M

The Mistress of Novices

Sarah Mesko

Conductor

First Lay Sister

Hannah Roberts *

Sister Osmina

Megan Berti

Director James Robinson Claire Liu and Joe Greenberg

Sister Genevieve

Meryl Dominguez ‡

A Novice

Hillary Schranze *

Sister Dolcina

Ashly Evans *

The Nursing Sister

Alissa Goretsky †

First Alms Sister Elizabeth Hanje † Ms. Marty Dudley/ Amy and Mark

Guccio Johnny Salvesen

Patrick Summers

Director Chair

Scenic Designer

Allen Moyer

Costume Designer

Bruno Schwengl

Lighting Designer

Marcus Doshi

Fight/Intimacy Director

Kyle Clark *

Chorus Director

Richard Bado ‡

Melton/ Diane Marcinek/ Jeff Stocks and Juan Lopez Fellow

Second Alms Sister

Callie Denbigh *

The Abbess

Leia Lensing ‡

Music Preparation Jenny Choo † Dr. Laura E. Sulak and

The Princess

Jamie Barton ‡

Children’s Chorus Director Karen Reeves Italian Diction Coach

Gerardo Felisatti

Dr. Richard W. Brown Fellow

Peter Pasztor ‡ Nicholas Roehler Michelle Rofrano Stage Manager

Annie Wheeler

Assistant Director

Ian Silverman

* Mainstage debut † Butler Studio artist ‡ Former Butler Studio artist

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I L

IL TABAR RO Original setting: Paris, River Seine, 1910 As the day comes to a close, a team of stevedores finishes unloading the cargo from Michele’s barge. His young wife Giorgetta rewards them with wine and dances briefly with the handsome worker Luigi, breaking away when Michele suddenly comes up from the hold. La Frugola, a junk collector, arrives to collect her stevedore husband Talpa. She tells Giorgetta of her dream: a place in the country where she, her man, and her cat can retire.

Giorgetta responds with her own dream: to abandon her nomadic existence on the river and return to her home suburb of Belleville. After the stevedores disperse, Giorgetta and Luigi secretly agree to meet in an hour— Giorgetta will light a match as the signal.

Left alone with Giorgetta, Michele tries to reach his estranged wife. He reminds her of happier nights—how, when their little boy was still alive, Michele used to wrap Giorgetta and the child up in his cloak. Giorgetta descends into the cabin, and Michele explodes with jealousy. Certain that his wife is unfaithful, he vows revenge on whichever man has alienated her affections.

As he ruminates, he lights his pipe, which Luigi—hiding in the shadows—mistakes for Giorgetta’s signal. He bounds onto the barge, only to meet Michele, who forces him to admit his guilt before slitting his throat. Michele conceals Luigi’s corpse beneath his cloak when Giorgetta comes on deck and cruelly confronts his wife with the body of her dead lover.

I N T ER M ISSION SUOR A NGELIC A Original setting: Italian convent, late 17th century A community of nuns assembles after chapel to discuss the miraculous sign from the Virgin that greets them every year on this evening: a ray from the setting sun illuminates their fountain. Their conversation turns into a debate over whether it’s sinful to desire, and they whisper about Sister Angelica, whom they know is harboring a secret wish to hear from her noble family. Just then, the infirmary sister enters seeking relief for a nun who has been stung by wasps.

Angelica, who has knowledge of herbs and flowers, quickly mixes up a salve.

A grand carriage arrives, and the Abbess announces that the visitor is Angelica’s aunt, the Princess. The two relatives are left alone, and the Princess reminds her niece that she’s there to atone: seven years earlier,

Angelica brought shame on the family by having a child out of wedlock. Angelica’s sister is getting married, and the Princess needs the nun to sign over her inheritance to the bride-to-be. Frustrated by her aunt’s coldness, Angelica demands to know about the son who was taken from her. The Princess informs her that the boy died of an illness two years earlier.

Devastated by the news, Angelica prepares a poison from her plants so that she can join her child in heaven.

But having drunk the draught, she realizes she’s committed the unpardonable sin of suicide and begs the Virgin for forgiveness. In her dying moments, she witnesses a vision that promises redemption.

I N T ER M ISSION GIA NNI SCHICCHI Original setting: Florence, 1299 The members of the noble Donati clan are assembled in the home of the family patriarch, Buoso, who has just passed away. But their grief soon turns to rage when they discover his will: Buoso has left his entire fortune to a monastery. Rinuccio Donati summons the city’s shrewdest citizen, his girlfriend Lauretta’s father, Gianni Schicchi.

The Donatis object to taking advice from a commoner who isn’t originally from Florence. And the animosity is mutual—when Schicchi arrives with Lauretta, he refuses to help the money-grubbing family. But Lauretta begs her father to intercede. Without a dowry, Rinuccio’s Aunt Zita won’t allow him to marry Lauretta.

Swayed by his daughter, Schicchi reluctantly agrees and hatches a macabre plot. Posing as Buoso—whose death is still unknown outside the room—he dictates a new will to the notary, equally dividing the deceased’s properties among the Donatis. But they’re unable to stop Schicchi from appending one additional beneficiary: he leaves Buoso’s Florentine residence to himself. After the notary departs, Schicchi chases the Donatis out of what is now his house. Lauretta and Rinuccio bask in their love as they marvel at the heavenly view of Florence. Addressing the audience directly, Schicchi asks whether Dante was right to damn him to hell in the Inferno when his little crime guaranteed such happiness.

HGO PER FOR M A NCE H ISTORY HGO previously performed Il tabarro in the 1962-63 season and Gianni Schicchi in the 1957-58 and 1969-70 seasons.

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T R I T T I CO

S Y NOP S I S

PR ODUC T ION C R E D I T S English supertitles by Alexa Lietzow. Supertitles called by Jeffrey Ragsdale.

Performing artists, stage directors, and choreographers are represented by the American Guild of Musical Artists, AFL-CIO, the union for opera professionalsin the United States.

Scenic, costume, and lighting designers and assistant designers are represented by United Scenic Artists, IATSE Local USA-829.

Orchestral musicians are represented by the Houston Professional Musicians Association, Local #65-699, American Federation of Musicians.

Stage crew personnel provided by IATSE, Local #51.

Wardrobe personnel provided by Theatrical Wardrobe Union, Local #896.

Houston Professional Musicians’ association

MP A

This production is being recorded for archival purposes.

LOCAL UNION

AFM Local 65-699

®

USHER UNIT IATSE LOCAL B-184 USHER UNIT HOUSTON TEXAS

HG O OR C H E S T R A Patrick Summers, Artistic and Music Director

Erika Johnson *, Assistant Principal

TRU M PET

Dana Rath *

Tetsuya Lawson *, Principal

V IOL I N

Wendy Smith-Butler *

Randal Adams *

Denise Tarrant *, Concertmaster

Chennie Sung *

Gerardo Mata

Chloe Kim *, Assistant Concertmaster

Shino Hayashi

Natalie Gaynor *, Principal Second Violin

TROM BON E

DOU BL E BASS

Thomas Hultén *, Principal

Dennis Whittaker *, Principal

Mark Holley *

Miriam Belyatsky *

Erik Gronfor *, Assistant Principal

Jordan Milek Johnson †

Rasa Kalesnykaite †

Carla Clark *

Brian Logan

Hae-a Lee Barnes *

Hunter Capoccioni

Carrie Kauk *, Assistant Principal Second Violin

Chavdar Parashkevov † Anabel Ramirez * Mary Reed * Erica Robinson * Linda Sanders *

FLU TE Henry Williford *, Principal Tyler Martin * Izumi Miyahara

Oleg Sulyga *

PICCOLO

Sylvia VerMeulen *

Izumi Miyahara

Melissa Williams * Andres Gonzalez Hanna Hrybkova Kana Kimura Fiona Lofthouse Mila Neal

OBOE Elizabeth Priestly Siffert *, Principal Pablo Moreno

ENGL ISH HOR N Mayu Isom *

Jacob Schafer Rachel Shepard

CL A R I N ET

Trung Trinh

Eric Chi *, Acting Principal

Emily Zelaya

Justin Best

V IOL A

BA SS C L A R I N ET

Eliseo Rene Salazar *, Principal

Molly Mayfield

Lorento Golofeev *, Assistant Principal Gayle Garcia-Shepard * Erika C. Lawson * Suzanne LeFevre † Matthew Weathers * Elizabeth Golofeev

T U BA Mark Barton *, Principal Cimbasso

TI M PA N I Alison Chang *, Principal

PERCUSSION Christina Carroll, Acting Principal Craig Hauschildt Karen Slotter

HARP Caitlin Mehrtens *, Principal

CE L E ST E Nicholas Roehler

ORG A N Thomas Marvil

BA N DA Danny Kirgan, Trumpet Alexander Ramazanov, Trumpet

BASSOON

Philip Scoles, Trumpet

Amanda Swain *, Principal

Robert McCullagh, Percussion

Quincey Trojanowski*

Jenny Choo, Piano

HOR N

Peter Pasztor, Piano

Sarah Cranston *, Principal

Nicholas Lindell

Kimberly Penrod Minson*

Sarah Mason

Spencer Park *

* HGO Orchestra core musician

Gavin Reed

† HGO Orchestra core musician

CEL LO Barrett Sills *, Principal 54

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on leave this production

Richard Bado, Chorus Director

Karen Reeves, Children’s Chorus Director

Ofelia Adame

Lance Orta

Asa Ambrose

Cristino Perez

Victoria Auyanet

Emmett Adair Scoles

Megan Berti

Patrick Perez

Iris Burke

Macie Joy Speer

Christopher Childress

Abby Powell

Madison Clites

Lora Uvarova

Esteban G. Cordero Pérez

Nicholas Rathgeb

Amelia P. Cruz Goss

Emiliana Villalta

Robert Dee

Gabrielle Reed

Arabelle Howard

Roxana Villalta

Callie Denbigh

Roberto J. Reyna

Anvi Joshi

Maximus Vu

Jacob DeSett

Matthew Reynolds

Raasti Kayani

London Wallace

Ashly Evans

Christina Rigg

Claire Lu

Katherine Yu

Dallas Gray

Francis Rivera

Luciana Madaria

Kaiya Zhang

Sarah Jane Hardin

Hannah Roberts

Amara Mallery

Julie Cathryn Hoeltzel

Emily Louise Robinson

Shreya Puvvada

Jon Janacek

Benjamin Rorabaugh

Edison Salek

Katherine Jones

Priscilla Salisbury

Joe Key

Johnny Salvesen

Alison King

Hillary Schranze

Carolena Belle Lara

Kade I. Smith

Sarah L. Lee

Rebecca Tann

Laura Lisk-McCallum

Lisa Borik Vickers

Alejandro Magallón

T R I T T I CO

HG O C H I L D R E N ' S C HOR U S

I L

HG O C HOR U S

S U PE R N U M E R A R I E S Alessandro DiBagno Ian M. Gallagher Bill Lundgren Gavin Moore

Heath Martin

Christa Ruiz-Lundgren

W HO ' S W HO PATR ICK SU M M ER S (U N ITED STATES) CONDUC TOR

Patrick Summers has been a central figure at HGO for over 25 years, conducting a vast range of repertoire during his tenure. First appointed in 1998 as Music Director, he became Artistic and Music Director in 2011, tasked with elevating the company’s artistic quality.

Highlights at HGO include Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelungen, Tristan und Isolde, and Lohengrin; Verdi’s Requiem, Don Carlo, and La traviata; Mozart’s Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro; Britten’s Peter Grimes and Billy Budd; Handel’s Saul; Puccini’s Madame Butterfly and Turandot; and premieres by Tarik O’Regan, André Previn, Christopher Theofanidis, Jake Heggie, Carlisle Floyd, Rachel Portman, Tod Machover, and Joel Thompson. He conducted Weinberg’s The Passenger at HGO and the Lincoln Center Festival. At the Metropolitan Opera, he has led Lucia di Lammermoor, Rodelinda, Salome, I puritani, and The Enchanted Island. He has enjoyed a long association with San Francisco Opera and was awarded the San Francisco Opera Medal in 2015.

Selected SFO highlights include A Streetcar Named Desire, Il trittico, Moby-Dick, Dead Man Walking, and

Guillaume Tell. He has appeared with the Bregenz Festival, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera Australia, and guestconducted orchestras including LA Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony. He is Co-Director of the Aspen Opera Theater and Vocal Arts program with Renée Fleming. In 2026, Summers will step down from his current role at HGO, concluding a transformative chapter before assuming the role of Music Director Emeritus. His first novel and a volume of poetry were released in 2024.

JA M ES ROBI NSON (U N ITED STATES) DIREC TOR Claire Liu and Joe Greenberg Director Chair

During the 2025-26 season at HGO, James Robinson also directs the company’s new production of Puts and Campbell’s Silent Night. Previously for HGO, Robinson directed Nixon in China (2017); the world premiere of A House Without A Christmas Tree (2017); Julius Caesar (2017, 2003); The Abduction from the Seraglio (2017, 2008, 2002); La bohème (2008, 2002); Don Pasquale (2006); the world premiere of Salsipuedes (2004); Turandot (2004); and Lucia di Lammermoor (2003). Before HGO.ORG

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becoming Seattle Opera’s artistic director in 2024, Robinson was artistic director at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where he mounted world-premiere productions including Ricky Ian Gordon’s This House and 27; Tobias Picker’s Awakenings; Terrence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones (later presented at the Metropolitan Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago) and Champion (later presented at the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, and Opéra de Montréal); and Jack Perla’s Shalimar the Clown. His work has also been seen at the Metropolitan Opera, Australian Opera, Canadian Opera Company, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, New York City Opera, the Washington National Opera, and many more major houses. He is scheduled to direct the American premiere of Tobias Picker’s Lili Elbe at Santa Fe Opera in 2026.

A L L EN MOY ER (U N ITED STATES) SCENIC DESIGNER

Previously for HGO, Allen Moyer designed productions including A House Without a Christmas Tree (2017); Abduction from the Seraglio (2017, 2008, 2002); Nixon in China (2017); La bohème (2008, 2002); and Salsipuedes (2004). His opera credits include Fire Shut Up in My Bones (Metropolitan Opera/Lyric Opera of Chicago/ Opera Theatre of Saint Louis); Champion (Met/Lyric/ Washington National Opera/OTSL); Orfeo ed Euridice (Met); Dolores Claiborne and Il trittico (San Francisco Opera); The Flying Dutchman (Lyric/COC/Dallas Opera); Nixon in China (COC/OTSL); The Elixir of Love (COC); This House, Galileo Galilei, Tosca, Harvey Milk, Awakenings, Shalimar the Clown, Regina, The Grapes of Wrath and Emmeline (OTSL); Dead Man Walking and The Barber of Seville (WNO); Die Entführung Aus Dem Serail (LA Opera); Die Fledermaus (English National Opera/Santa Fe Opera); Curlew River (Tanglewood Festival/BAM); La bohème, M. Butterfly, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, La fille du regiment, and scenery and costumes for The Last Savage, Vanessa, and The Tales of Hoffmann (Santa Fe Opera); scenery and costumes for Virginia and The Ghosts of Versailles (Wexford Festival); and many more productions for major companies, in the U.S. and abroad.

BRU NO SCH W ENGL (AUSTR I A) COS TUME DESIGNER

Previously at HGO, Bruno Schwengl was the costume designer for Romeo and Juliet (2005, 1995).

Schwengl is a set and costume designer who has worked for many prestigious opera houses in Europe and the U.S.: Venice, Rome, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Zürich, London, Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, among others. In recent seasons, he has focused his work in Poland, designing sets for Gluck’s opera Orfeo 56

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ed Euridice, costumes for Gluck’s ballet Don Juan, and scenery, costumes, and lighting for Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin.

M A RCUS DOSH I (U N ITED STATES) LIGHTING DESIGNER

Marcus Doshi is an international award-winning theater maker who designs lighting and sets for theater, opera, and dance. Previously for HGO, Doshi served as lighting designer for La traviata (2022, 2017), The Wreckers (2022), and Julius Caesar (2017). In addition to HGO, his work for opera has been seen in the U.S. with Santa Fe Opera, Minnesota Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Seattle Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Virginia Opera, Spoleto Festival USA, Lincoln Center Festival, Juilliard Opera, and The Greenwich Music Festival, where he was principal designer for many years. Doshi has worked internationally with companies such as London's Royal Opera and Ballet, Canadian Opera Company, La Monnaie / De Munt, Aldeburgh Music, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, and many more companies across the world. He has worked extensively on Broadway.

K Y L E CL A R K (U N ITED STATES) FIGHT/INTIMACY DIREC TOR

Kyle Clark is making his HGO debut. His fight-directing credits include Houston Broadway Theatre (American Psycho), Alley Theatre (The Murder of Roger Ackroyd), TUTS (Newsies), Houston Shakespeare Festival (2022 and 2023), Dirt Dogs Theatre Co. (Bug, Blackbird, Appropriate, The Pillowman, August: Osage County, Misery), Unity Theatre (The Mousetrap, The Game’s Afoot), Rice University (Comedy of Errors, Midsummer Night’s Dream), University of Houston (Big Love), Rec Room Arts (Heroes of the Fourth Turning), and Riverside Theatre (Eden Prairie, 1971). Clark is a faculty member in the Theatre Department at Rice University and a staff member assisting in movement and stage combat at University of Houston. He received his MFA from UH in 2020.

R ICH A R D BA DO (U N ITED STATES) CHORUS DIREC TOR

For information about Richard Bado, please see page 41.

Karen Reeves has been working with young singers at HGO since 1991. This season, she also serves as children’s chorus director for Hansel and Gretel. Reeves served as chorus director for the HGO Children’s Chorus in the Houston Symphony’s performance of Berg’s Wozzeck, which won the 2017 Grammy for Best Opera Performance. She prepared HGO’s Juvenile Chorus for the world premiere of The House Without a Christmas Tree in 2018 and has also prepared the HGO Children’s Chorus and child soloists for such productions as La bohème, The Sound of Music, Werther, Otello, Carmen, Dead Man Walking, Tosca, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hansel and Gretel, and The Little Prince. Reeves was a member of the HGO Chorus for 13 seasons, and was the founding director of HGO’s Bauer Family High School Voice Studio.

She received her Bachelor of Music degree from Southwestern University and her Master of Music degree from Rice University. She taught on the voice faculty at Houston Baptist University and in the voice department of Kinder HSPVA. She has served as a grant evaluator for the Texas Commission on the Arts. She is the opera program administrator at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.

COR I N N E W I N TER S (U N ITED STATES) SOPR ANO — GIORGE T TA / SIS TER ANGELIC A / L AURE T TA Lynn Wyatt Great Artist

Corinne Winters is making her HGO debut. Other highlights of the 2025-26 season include a debut at Berlin State Opera and a return to the Grand Théâtre de Genève as Cio-Cio San in Madame Butterfly, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, Spain, and Nedda in I Pagliacci at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy. In concert, she will join Jakub Hrůša for Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

During the 2024-25 season on the operatic stage, Winters made her leading role debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Mimì in La bohème, her house debut at the Bavarian State Opera in a new production of Káťa Kabanová, and her house debut with the Greek National Opera, reprising both title roles in Iphigénie en Aulide and Iphigénie en Tauride. Additionally, Winters returned to the Royal Ballet and Opera – Covent Garden as Jenůfa and to Teatro dell’Opera di Roma to perform the title role in a new production of Suor Angelica. She also performed the role of Violetta Valéry in a new production of La traviata during the summer of 2025 at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. Winters’s recent debut at the Salzburg Festival in Barrie Kosky’s production of Káťa

RYA N MCK I N N Y (U N ITED STATES) BA SS-BARITONE— MICHELE / GIANNI SCHICCHI

This season at HGO, Butler Studio alumnus Ryan McKinny also performs the role of Lieutenant Horstmayer in Silent Night. McKinny’s many roles at HGO include Jan in Breaking the Waves (2025); Amfortas in Parsifal (2024); Leporello (2024) and the title role (2019) in Don Giovanni; Jokanaan in Salome (2023); and Gunther in Götterdämmerung (2017). Elsewhere this season, McKinny stars as Joseph De Rocher in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking at San Francisco Opera; John Proctor in The Crucible at Washington National Opera; Escamillo in Carmen at Cincinnati Opera; and the title role in Bluebeard’s Castle at Omaha Symphony and Opera Omaha. He has recently appeared as the title character in Don Giovanni (WNO, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Boston Symphony Orchestra); Escamillo in Carmen (Semperoper Dresden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Hamburg); De Rocher in Dead Man Walking (Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago); and Mozart’s Figaro (WNO, Wolf Trap Opera, Seattle Opera, Metropolitan Opera). Other triumphs at major national and international houses include Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde, the title character in The Flying Dutchman, Scarpia in Tosca, Clarence King in Adams’s Girls of the Golden West, and Jokanaan in Salome. McKinny also created the role of Mac in the world premiere of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s opera, Before It All Goes Dark (2024), recently released on Warner Classics.

A RT U RO CH ACÓN- CRUZ (M E X ICO) TENOR — LUIGI/ RINUCCIO Novum Artist

Previously at HGO, Butler Studio alumnus Arturo Chacón-Cruz performed the roles of the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto (2019), Edmondo/Lamplighter in Manon Lescaut (2006), Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly (2004), Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (2005), Alpheus in Lysistrata (2005), High Priest of Neptune in Idomeneo (2005), and Ruiz in Il trovatore (2005). Chacón-Cruz’s repertoire boasts over 60 roles performed in 30 countries. He has performed private recitals for Their Majesties Queen Sofia and King Juan Carlos of Spain, as well as a concert for all the leaders of Iberoamerica and His Majesty King Felipe of Spain. He has been featured in news and entertainment outlets including CNN, FOX, Telemundo, Univision, TV Azteca, Televisa, Vanity Fair, GQ, Esquire, Opera News, People, and more. Chacón-Cruz has collaborated with film directors Sofia Coppola (La traviata) and Woody HGO.ORG

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Kabanová garnered international acclaim, including an International Classical Music Award for Best Opera DVD.

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K A R EN R EEV ES (U N ITED STATES)

Allen (Gianni Schicchi, available on DVD and BluRay by Sony). Recent highlights include the “Noche Española” Concert Series with Plácido Domingo at the Arena di Verona and a concert at the Choregies d’Orange in France. Roles during the 2024-25 season included Manrico in Il trovatore at the Metropolitan Opera, Don José in Carmen in Las Palmas, the title role of Werther at Opera in Liege and Buenos Aires, and the Duke in Rigoletto in Mexico. He is the winner of the 2024 International Opera Awards’ Readers’ Award.

JA M IE BA RTON (U N ITED STATES) MEZ ZO -SOPR ANO — FRUGOL A / THE PRINCESS/ ZITA

This season at HGO, Butler Studio alumna Jamie Barton also performs the role of the Witch in Hansel and Gretel. Barton appears regularly at HGO, including as Elizabeth Van Lew in the world premiere of Intelligence (2023), Leonor de Guzman in La favorite (2020), and Adalgisa in Norma (2018). Other HGO roles include Waltraute/ Second Norn in Götterdämmerung (2017) and Fricka in Das Rheingold (2014) and Die Walküre (2015), all part of the Ring cycle. This season, Barton stars as Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking at San Francisco Opera and Ježibaba in Rusalka at Bayerische Staatsoper and Opéra National de Paris.

Elsewhere, she appears in concert with Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, and Minnesota Orchestra, and in recital with Arizona Opera and the Tucson Desert Song Festival. Named 2020 Personality of the Year at the BBC Music Magazine Awards, Barton is the winner of the International Opera Awards Readers’ Award, Beverly Sills Artist Award, Richard Tucker Award, and BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. Barton’s debut solo album, All Who Wander, won the BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award and was shortlisted for the International Classical Music Awards and Gramophone Classical Music Awards.

Unexpected Shadows, her album with composer and pianist Jake Heggie, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album.

A N DR E A SI LV ESTR EL L I (ITA LY)

Nantes Opéra, and Fasolt in Das Rheingold at Pacific Symphony. Recent performances include the title role in Attila and Thomas Becket in Assassinio nella cattedrale with Opera Festival of Chicago, Hagen in Götterdämmerung and Fafner in Siegfried at the National Taichung Theater in Taiwan, and Sparafucile in Rigoletto at Boston Lyric Opera. Silvestrelli has performed numerous major roles with the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Seattle Opera, Washington National Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Los Angeles Opera, Maryland Lyric Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera. He has performed with leading opera houses including Rome Opera, Teatro Regio di Torino, Bavarian State Opera, Berlin State Opera, Berlin Staatsoper, Dutch National Opera, Covent Garden, Welsh National Opera, and many more.

M ATT H EW DIBATTISTA (U N ITED STATES) TENOR —TINC A / GHER ARDO

Matthew DiBattista is making his HGO debut. During the 2024-25 season, DiBattista made his San Francisco Opera debut as the Doctor in The Handmaid’s Tale; his Carnegie Hall debut as the Teacher in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, recorded on Deutsche Grammophon; and sang King Nebuchadnezzar in The Burning Fiery Furnace for a recording with Enigma Chamber Opera.

With Lyric Opera of Chicago, he sang Normano in Lucia di Lammermoor, Esquire in Parsifal, Faninal’s MajorDomo in Der Rosenkavalier, and others. Recent highlights include Triquet in Eugene Onegin, Goro in Madame Butterfly, and Scaramuccio in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Santa Fe Opera; Beppe in Pagliacci and Monostatos in The Magic Flute with Palm Beach Opera; the Madwoman in Curlew River with Enigma Chamber Opera; Soloist in Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with the Bach, Beethoven and Brahms Society; and the Captain in the Grammy-nominated recording of Corigliano’s Lord of Cries with Odyssey Opera. Further performances include the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, Triquet in Eugene Onegin, and Borsa in Rigoletto with Michigan Opera Theatre; Amrou in La Reine de Saba and the Earl of Surrey in SaintSaëns’ Henry VIII with Odyssey Opera; and many more.

BA SS —TALPA / SIMONE

Previously for HGO, Andrea Silvestrelli performed the roles of Klingsor in Parsifal (2024), Hagen in Götterdämmerung (2017), Fafner in both Das Rheingold (2014) and Siegfried (2016), Philippe II in Don Carlos (2012), Sparafucile in Rigoletto (2009), and Osmin in The Abduction from the Seraglio (2008). Roles during the 2024-25 season the title role in Bluebeard’s Castle and Osmin in Abduction from the Seraglio at Teatro Verdi Trieste, L’Orco in Mascagni’s Il piccolo Marat at Angers 58

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M ERY L DOM I NGU EZ (U N ITED STATES) SOPR ANO — SIS TER GENE VIE VE / NELL A

Previously for HGO, Butler Studio alumna Meryl Dominguez performed as First Esquire/Flower Maiden in Parsifal (2024), as well as Skyspace Woman in Another City, Slave in Salome, and Violetta in La traviata at Miller Outdoor Theatre (all in 2023). She was a finalist in HGO’s

MEZ ZO -SOPR ANO —THE MONITOR / CIESC A

Previously at HGO, Butler Studio alumna Emily Treigle performed as Tisbe in Cinderella (2024); Suzuki in Madame Butterfly (2024); Meg Page in Falstaff (2023); Kätchen in Werther (2023); Miss Violet in Another City (world premiere, 2023); Mother Jeanne in Dialogues of the Carmelites (2022); Flora Bervoix in La traviata (2022; Miller Outdoor Theatre 2023); and Gertrude in Romeo and Juliet (2022). During the 2025-26 season, Treigle performs as Second Lady in the holiday presentation of The Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera, Mère Marie in Dialogues of the Carmelites at New Orleans Opera, and Despina in Così fan tutte at Madison Opera. During the 2024-25 season, Treigle attended the Académie at Festival d’Aix en Provence in France; made her international debut with the Canadian Opera Company as Filipyevna in Eugene Onegin and Lucia in Cavalleria rusticana; was named a winner of the George and Nora London Foundation Competition; and returned to Wolf Trap Opera, where she performed as Despina in Così fan tutte. An undeniable legacy, Treigle’s grandfather was world-renowned bass-baritone Norman Treigle.

L EI A L ENSI NG (U N ITED STATES) MEZ ZO -SOPR ANO —THE ABBESS

Previously for HGO, Butler Studio alumna Leia Lensing sang Mary in The Flying Dutchman (2018). Elsewhere in the 2025-26 season, she returns to Glyndebourne Festival Opera as

SA R A H M ESKO (U N ITED STATES) MEZ ZO -SOPR ANO — MIS TRESS OF NOVICES

Previously for HGO, Sarah Mesko performed the title role of Carmen (2021). During the 2025-26 season, she returns to the roster of the Metropolitan Opera. In the 2024-25 season, she returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Marcellina in The Marriage of Figaro and debuted with Sag Harbor Song Festival as a guest soloist for its 2024 festival concerts. During the 2023-24 season, she sang the title roles in Carmen at Vancouver Opera and Handel’s Julius Caesar at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Mesko was a national finalist in The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, performing with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. She has won first place in competitions including those of the George London Foundation, the National Society of Arts and Letters, Annapolis Opera, Virginia Opera, Young Texas Artists, Sun Valley Opera, and the Franco-American Vocal Academy. She is a two-time winner of the Richard F. Gold Career Grant, at Washington National Opera and Central City Opera.

A DA M L AU (U N ITED STATES) BA SS — BE T TO DI SIGNA

Adam Lau is making his HGO debut.

Elsewhere this season, he performs as Timur in Turandot with Florida Grand Opera and Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville with Calgary Opera. During the 2024-25 season, Lau performed the role of Samuel in A Masked Ball at the San Francisco Opera; Frère Laurent in Romeo and Juliet at Minnesota Opera ; and Narbal in Les Troyens and Angelotti in Tosca at Seattle Opera. He recorded with Pentatone, EuroArts, and San Francisco Classical Recording Company, and performed as Oroveso in Norma in Romania and Lord Chief Justice in Gordon HGO.ORG

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Prosperina in L’Orfeo. Last season, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as the Fifth Unborn in Die Frau ohne Schatten and joined the company for its production of Queen of Spades. She also sang the Third Wood Nymph in Rusalka at the Staatsoper Stuttgart.

Other recent performances include Waltraute in Die Walküre and the Third Secretary in Nixon in China (Staatsoper Stuttgart), Third Lady in The Magic Flute (Glyndebourne Festival Opera), and the title role of Savitri (Wolf Trap Opera). Lensing has performed with Ars Lyrica Houston numerous times. She joined the Metropolitan Opera for its productions of The Magic Flute and La traviata. She was the 2018 first prize winner of HGO’s Eleanor McCollum Competition and won first prize in Shreveport Opera’s Mary Jacobs Smith Singer of the Year in 2020. She is a former Apprentice Artist of Santa Fe Opera and Des Moines Metro Opera.

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2022 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias.

During the 2024-25 season, Dominguez performed as Soprano Soloist in Matthew Aucoin and Peter Sellars’s Music for New Bodies; Second Unborn in Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Metropolitan Opera; Violetta in La traviata at Vero Beach Opera; Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at Livermoore Valley Opera; and Salud in De Falla’s La vida breve at the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle. She made her international debut in the title role of Norma with Musica Viva Hong Kong and returned to the company in the title role of Mary Stuart.

Dominguez was a resident artist at Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts, where she performed roles such as Violetta (La traviata), Juliet (Romeo and Juliet), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus), Adina (The Elixir of Love), and Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), which she also performed with Knoxville Opera. As an apprentice artist at Santa Fe Opera, Dominguez sang the role of Naiade in Ariadne auf Naxos. She has Bachelor of Arts degrees in Dance and Voice Performance from Oberlin College and Conservatory.

Getty’s Plump Jack at Skywalker Sound. In the 2023-24 season, Lau performed in concert with the Metropolitan Opera at Carnegie Hall and on a European tour; sang Sarastro in The Magic Flute; covered Kobun in The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs at San Francisco Opera; and sang a Noble in Lohengrin. He performed in Bruckner’s Te Deum with the Atlanta Symphony, and sang the title role in The Marriage of Figaro at Utah Opera and Commendatore in Don Giovanni at Arizona Opera. He received top honors at the George London Competition (First Prize), the Jensen Vocal Competition, the Palm Springs Opera Guild Competition, and the Young Patronesses of the Opera Competition.

GEON HO L EE (SOU T H KOR E A) BARITONE— MARCO

Mr. and Mrs. James W. Crownover/ Dr. and Mrs. Miguel Miro-Quesada/ Dr. John Serpe and Tracy Maddox Fellow

A first-year Butler Studio artist from South Korea, Geonho Lee won first place and the Audience Choice Award at HGO’s 2025 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias. Other HGO roles this season include William Dale in Silent Night; Peter in Family Day Hansel and Gretel; Slim in the Butler Studio production of Of Mice and Men; and Fiorello in The Barber of Seville. Lee was a 2024 semifinalist in the renowned Operalia Competition. He was a student of advanced studies at the University of Music and Theatre Munich, where he participated in frequent performances and productions. He has been an active member of the August Everding Academy and holds a prestigious scholarship from the Bühnenverein. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance from Seoul National University, where he won several distinguished competitions.

SH AW N ROT H (U N ITED STATES) TENOR —A SONG VENDOR

Melinda and Bill Brunger/ Drs. Liz Grimm and Jack Roth/ Drs. Rachel and Warren A. Ellsworth IV/ Kathleen Moore and Steven Homer/ Sharon Ley Lietzow and Robert Lietzow Fellow

Second-year Butler Studio artist Shawn Roth, from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, made his HGO debut in the 2024-25 season as Heinrich der Schreiber in Tannhäuser.

During HGO’s 2025-26 season, Roth also sings the role of Curley in the Butler Studio production of Of Mice and Men. In the 2024-25 season, he competed in the final round of the Neue Stimmen competition in Gütersloh, Germany, and won third prize in the Houston Saengerbund Awards. Other 2024-25 engagements included his debut with the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra as Don José in Carmen, and his return to Des Moines Metro Opera to perform Pásek in The Cunning Little Vixen and cover Erik in The Flying Dutchman. In the 2023-24 season, Roth won the Pittsburgh District of 60

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the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, covered the role of Narraboth in Salome at Des Moines Metro Opera, and took the top prize in the Wagner Society of New York’s 2024 Grant Awards. In 2024, he earned his artist diploma from the Academy of Vocal Arts. Roth holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin Conservatory, and is a three-time fellow of Music Academy of the West, where he won the Marilyn Horne Song Competition in 2021.

M ICH A EL MCDER MOTT (U N ITED STATES) TENOR —YOUNG LOVER

Michelle Beale and Dick Anderson/ Dr. Ellen R. Gritz and Mr. Milton D. Rosenau Jr. Fellow

A third-year Butler Studio artist from Huntington Beach, California, Michael McDermott was the third-place winner in HGO’s 2023 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias. During HGO’s 2025-26 season, he also sings the role of Carlson in the Butler Studio production of Of Mice and Men. In 2025, McDermott sang the role of Nicias in Thaïs at the Spoleto Festival, and served as an Apprentice Artist for Santa Fe Opera, covering the role of Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw. His 2024-25 HGO roles include Messenger in Il trovatore, Don Ramiro in student and Family Day performances of Cinderella, and Rodolfo in La bohème; and 2023-24 HGO roles include Bardolph in Falstaff and 4th Esquire in Parsifal. He sang Arbace in Idomeneo at Aspen Music Festival (2023) and Camille de Rosillon in The Merry Widow at the Glyndebourne Festival (2024).

He won first prize in the 2024 Grand Concours Vocal Competition, first prize in the Schmidt Vocal Competition, and first prize in the Scholarship Division of the National Opera Association’s Carolyn Bailey Argento Competition. McDermott received his bachelor's degree from The Juilliard School and pursued his master’s degree at Rice University. He is a 2021 alumnus of HGO’s Young Artists Vocal Academy.

A L ISSA GOR ETSK Y (U N ITED STATES) SOPR ANO —YOUNG LOVER / NURSING SIS TER

Gloria M. Portela/ Susan Bloome/ James M. Trimble and Sylvia Barnes Fellow

Second-year Butler Studio artist from Los Angeles, Alissa Goretsky was the third-place winner of HGO’s 2024 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias. In HGO’s 2025-26 season, she also performs as Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel; Gretel in Family Day Hansel and Gretel; Curley’s Wife in the Butler Studio production of Of Mice and Men; and Berta in The Barber of Seville. Goretsky was a 2025 Apprentice Singer for Santa Fe Opera, covering the roles of Mimì in La bohème and Helmwige in Die Walküre. During the 2024-25 season, she made her HGO debut as Clorinda in Cinderella and performed the role again for the

MEZ ZO -SOPR ANO — SIS TER OSMINA

Previously for HGO, Megan Berti has performed the roles of Second Bridesmaid in The Marriage of Figaro (2023); an immigrant soloist in the world premiere of O’Regan’s The Phoenix (2019); and Female Emilia in the world premiere of Floyd’s Prince of Players (2016). Berti debuted with Lone Star Lyric in 2025 as Mrs. Wintry in Stephen Schwartz’s opera Séance on a Wet Afternoon. During the 2024-25 season, she debuted as a soloist in Duruflé’s Requiem with Cantare con Vivo in California and made her directorial debut with HOPERA in an original arrangement of Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor, re-titled The Producer. Recent role debuts include Hannah Older in Kaminsky’s As One; the title role of Carmen; and Signora Naccarelli in The Light in the Piazza. Other highlights include Angelina in Cinderella, Hansel in the Rec Room’s Hansel and Gretel, Isabella in The Italian Girl in Algiers and Concepción in L’Heure Espagnole with Operativo, and Prince Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus with Opera in the Heights. Berti is also the Artistic Director and Founder of HOPERA in Houston.

ASH LY EVA NS (U N ITED STATES) MEZ ZO -SOPR ANO — SIS TER DOLCINA

Ashly Evans is making her HGO mainstage role debut. Evans is starting her 12th season with HGO, where she has served as a member of the HGO Chorus since 2013. She serves as an assistant principal in the Houston Independent School District, where she is dedicated to fostering high-quality instruction and supporting student achievement. Before moving into administration, she taught choir for five years, inspiring young musicians and cultivating a love for the arts. Evans holds advanced degrees in vocal performance and has performed in numerous operatic and concert roles nationwide.

H A N NA H ROBERTS (U N ITED STATES) SOPR ANO — FIRS T L AY SIS TER

C A ROL ENA BEL L E L A R A (U N ITED STATES) MEZ ZO -SOPR ANO — SECOND L AY SIS TER

Carolena Belle Lara is making her HGO mainstage role debut. Lara has a deep passion for research, teaching, and performing.

She served as an associate chorister with HGO during the 2022-23 season before being promoted to regular chorister for the company in the 2023-24 season. She completed her Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Italian at the University of Oklahoma. She holds Master of Music (2018) and Doctor of Musical Arts (2022) degrees in Vocal Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music, where she was awarded Honorable Mention for her lecture recital “Modernizing Spanish-Language Vocal Music,” which highlights Latin American song and dialects and analyzes Irma Urteaga’s Canticos para soñar (Canticles for Dreaming).

H I L L A RY SCH R A NZE (U N ITED STATES) MEZ ZO -SOPR ANO —A NOVICE

Hillary Schranze is making her HGO mainstage role debut. She is entering her fourth season as a member of the HGO Chorus. She made her chorus debut in Tosca and has since performed in Madame Butterfly, Parsifal, La bohème, Don Giovanni, and Il trovatore. Most recently, she originated the role of Young Ray Bradbury in One Ounce Opera’s premiere of Ray Bradbury, Age 12 at the Circus. Her other notable roles include Sister Sophia in The Sound of Music with Charlottesville Opera, and Dame Carruthers in The Yeomen of the Guard and The Plaintiff in Trial by Jury, both with Gilbert & Sullivan Austin. Onscreen, Schranze appeared as the Maid in Bank Street Productions’s Villa Diodati. She is a member of the Bard Festival Chorale, regularly performing at Carnegie Hall and the Bard Music Festival.

Hannah Roberts is making her HGO HGO.ORG

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mainstage role debut. Roberts is beginning her tenth season as a member of the HGO Chorus. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and the Eastman School of Music, she resides in Houston, where in addition to HGO, she has performed with the Houston Ballet, Cantare Houston, and Christ Church Cathedral. Her role highlights include Despina in Così fan tutte, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, and Sister Constance in Dialogues of the Carmelites. Roberts has performed as a concert soloist with Mercury Chamber Orchestra, the Fort Worth Symphony, and CORO. She received the Encouragement Award at the Houston District auditions of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and was a finalist in the Jessie Kneisel Lieder Competition.

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company’s Family Day production. She made her operatic debut as Gismonda in Ottone at Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall in 2019. In 2024, she performed the role of Ma Zegner in Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up, also at Caroline Hume Hall. Goretsky is a National Winner of the 2025 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. She holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

EL IZ A BET H H A N JE (U N ITED STATES) SOPR ANO — FIRS T ALMS COLLEC TOR

Ms. Marty Dudley/ Amy and Mark Melton/ Diane Marcinek/ Jeff Stocks and Juan Lopez Fellow

For information on Elizabeth Hanje, please see page 48.

C A L L IE DEN BIGH (U N ITED STATES) MEZ ZO -SOPR ANO — SECOND ALMS COLLEC TOR

Callie Denbigh is making her HGO mainstage role debut. She is an active member of the HGO Chorus and began her journey as a member of the company’s Bauer Family High School Voice Studio. Denbigh was an Opera Works Artist with English National Opera (2014-15) and a Young Artist with DACAMERA of Houston (2016-18).

She has performed with the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Houston, Opera Danube, Longborough Festival Opera, and Co-Opera Co. (U.K.). Favorite roles include Dido (Dido and Aeneas), Edith in Pirates of Penzance; the Fox in The Cunning Little Vixen; Mercedes in Carmen; the Witch from Into the Woods; and Constance Partlett in The Sorcerer. Denbigh is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and Southern Methodist University. She maintains a private voice studio in Houston.

SA M DHOBH A N Y (U N ITED STATES) BA SS-BARITONE—AMANTIO DI NICOL AO Dian and Harlan Stai Fellow

For information on Sam Dhobhany, please see page 49.

M A X I M US V U (U N ITED STATES ) TREBLE­­­— GHER ARDINO

Maximus Vu makes his HGO mainstage debut as Gherardino in Gianni Schicchi, part of Puccini’s Il trittico. Previously for HGO, he performed as part of the Children’s Chorus in La bohème (2025). Vu sings in his school choir, plays piano, and recently appeared in two school musicals, Shrek Jr. (Baby Shrek) and Seussical Jr. (JoJo). He would like to thank his family and voice teachers, Elena Fray and Andie White, for their continuing support.

NAT H A N DE ’SHON M Y ER S (U N ITED STATES)

ZI N I U ZH AO (CH I NA)

BARITONE— PINELLINO

BA SS — MAES TRO SPINELLOCCIO

For information on Nathan De’Shon Myers, please see page 49.

Carolyn J. Levy/ Jill and Allyn Risley/ Dr. Peter Chang and Hon. Theresa Chang and Friends Fellow

A second-year Butler Studio artist from Shandong, China, Ziniu Zhao was the second-place winner at HGO’s 2024 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias and a winner of the San Francisco District in the 2025 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. In HGO’s 2025-26 season, he also sings the roles of French General in Silent Night and Candy in the Butler Studio production of Of Mice and Men. In the summer of 2025, Zhao sang Leporello in a concert version of Don Giovanni at the National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing. During the 2024-25 season, he made his HGO debut as Don Magnifico in the company’s Family Day production of Cinderella and performed the role of Reinmar von Zweter in Tannhäuser. Zhao was a member of the Opera Talent Training Program of the China National Arts Foundation and has won several prestigious awards, including first prize at the Colorado International Music Competition, the Rossini Singing Award at the Fiorenza Cedolins Opera Competition in 62

Italy, and the Maria Callas Award at the Vincerò International Opera Competition, also in Italy. In 2023, he performed a solo concert in Shandong. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.

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JOH N N Y SA LV ESEN (U N ITED STATES) BA SS — GUCCIO

Johnny Salvesen is a member of the HGO Chorus. He made his HGO mainstage role debut in spring 2024 as Admiral von Schreiber in The Sound of Music. Roles during the 2024-25 season at HGO include Sergeant in La bohème and Sadistic Sailor in Breaking the Waves.

He performed the roles of Sergeant of Police in The Pirates of Penzance in 2023 and Old Adam Goodheart in Ruddigore in 2024 with the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Houston. Salvesen is the Director of Music at Messiah Lutheran Church, where he plays piano and organ. He also maintains a private piano studio. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from Texas Christian University and Master of Music Theory degree from the University of Houston.

S I G N AT U R E

E V E N T S

O PE R A BA LL 2 0 2 5 APRIL 5, 2025 Margaret Alkek Williams, Chair Dian and Harlan Stai, Honorees HGO’s Opera Ball 2025: Love Is in the Air, was an unforgettable evening of glamour and generosity, led with signature grace by chair Margaret Alkek Williams, who this season celebrates her remarkable 90th birthday. The event raised more than $2 million, setting a new record and highlighting Williams’s extraordinary legacy of support for HGO. More than 450 guests, many dressed in vibrant spring hues, filled the Wortham Theater Center’s Grand Foyer, which was transformed into a lush Roman garden by The Events Company, complete with over 14,000 stems of fresh flowers. They were warmly welcomed by HGO General Director and CEO Khori Dastoor before enjoying a playful cocktail hour featuring bubbles drifting through the air from J&D Entertainment, immersive 360° photo experiences, and bespoke haikus crafted by The Haikuists.

The evening honored longtime supporters Dian and Harlan Stai, celebrating their steadfast dedication to HGO. The program reached a magical crescendo when beloved mezzosoprano Frederica von Stade delivered a breathtaking rendition of Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns,” accompanied on piano by HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers. After a show-stopping dinner from City Kitchen Catering, The Party Feels kept the dance floor lively, flower girls glided through the crowd in joyful motion, and guests enjoyed late-night cotton candy spun by Twirl.

The event was more than a dazzling gala; it was a joyful testament to the power of artistry, community, and generosity.

Frederica von Stade

Patrick Summers, Margaret Alkek Williams, Khori Dastoor

Claire Liu, Terrylin Neale

The next Opera Ball will take place on April 11, 2026. HGO.org/OperaBall Photography by Emily Jaschke and Michelle Watson/Catchlight Group Andrea Siso, Tara Goodwin

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E V E N T S

Dr. Ilyas Colombowala, Elizabeth Abraham

Cheryl and Michael Clancy

Adel and Jason Sander, Dr. Ilyas Colombowala

Elizabeth and Richard Husseini

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Brigitte Kalai, Alicia Smith, Hallie Vanderhider

Rahul Ramdas, Dr. Kira Ramdas, Marguerite Swartz, Elizabeth Barron

Marty Dudley, Teresa and José Ivo

Matt Healey, Denise Reyes

S I G N AT U R E

Hector and Alejandra Torres

Brian Dunham and Allyson Pritchett

Nancy Gonzalez, Denise Reyes, Christina Jack, Destiny Fernandisse

Cynthia and Tony Petrello

E V E N T S

Lori and David LePori

Anne and Albert Chao

Honorees Harlan and Dian Stai

Fady Armanious, Hallie Vanderhider, Bill Baldwin

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E V E N T S

PATRO N S C I RC LE R EC ITA L MAY 5, 2025 Houston Grand Opera’s annual Patrons Circle Recital, sponsored by Frost Bank, was a night to remember at the Corinthian in downtown Houston. Internationally acclaimed soprano Tamara Wilson captivated guests with a breathtaking program that showcased her artistry, power, and grace. To the delight of the audience, Wilson closed the evening with “They Don’t Let You in the Opera (If You’re a Country Star)” by Dan Lipton and David Rossmer, making the performance all the more unforgettable. For information on how to access an array of experiences like this one through Patrons Circle memberships, contact Madeline Sebastian at MSebastian@HGO.org.

Photography by Katy Anderson

Maureen Zoltek and Tamara Wilson

Fritz Kolb and Mary Lou Viada

Janet Sims and Constance Rose-Edwards

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JP Anderson and Alfredo Tijerina

Lori and David LePori

Sharon Ley Lietzow and Robert Lietzow

Sarah and Bryant Lee

B U T L E R

HOUSTON’S GIFT TO THE WORLD

S T U D I O

Above: Michael Sumuel In Porgy and Bess at Washington National Opera.

Below: Tamara Wilson in Tannhäuser at HGO.

T H E BUT L E R STU DIO’ S GLOBAL ALUM N I ARE SH API N G M ODE RN O PE R A . By Colin Michael Brush, Butler Studio Director

F

or nearly 50 years, the Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio has been Houston’s gift to the world of opera. Alumni sing in the great houses of Europe and America, they return to Houston as stars, and they shape the art form behind the scenes. What unites them is a foundation built here: a devotion to the human voice, a disciplined technique, individual artistic perspective, and confidence to turn that craft into a career. Modern opera’s story cannot be told without the artists who began in Houston.

The clearest proof of that reach lies in the names that have become synonymous with the art form. Denyce Graves (1988-90) was the defining Carmen of her generation and remains one of the most famous American opera singers in history. Her career alone would have secured the Butler Studio’s place in history. Joyce DiDonato (1996-98) stands alongside her as today’s reigning mezzo-soprano superstar. Beloved as much as admired, she has filled every major world opera house, won Grammys and Olivier Awards, and consistently reached

audiences beyond opera insiders. In Houston she undertook a full technical rebuild of her voice, laying the disciplined foundation that launched her international career. Tamara Wilson (2005-07) has become a phenomenon in Verdi and Wagner. Houston first heard her power when, as a Butler Studio artist, she stepped in at the last minute to sing Amelia in Un ballo in maschera. That readiness and security now carry her through some of the most demanding roles in the repertoire on the world’s greatest stages. Rachel Willis-Sørensen (2009-11), still young by industry standards, has already become indispensable. Companies across Europe and the United States program seasons around her blend of elegance and power. Her career shows how quickly disciplined technique and imagination can combine to create an artist who defines her generation.

The legacy of those household names is already visible in the Butler Studio’s rising generation. Mané Galoyan (2015-18), Elena Villalón (2019-22), Sun-Ly

Pierce (202022), Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen (201718), and Luke Sutliff (2021-23) are stepping into the world’s most important houses, from the Met to Covent Garden to Glyndebourne, and all have earned top prizes at Operalia, the profession’s most prestigious competition. This shows that when the opera world looks for its future stars, it keeps pointing to Houston. What makes them remarkable is not simply the accolades, but how unmistakably individual they are. At the Butler Studio we insist that every artist emerges with both a solid technical base and the freedom to shape their own voice and vision. That combination is what turns promise into a career, and it is what audiences now see in these singers: artistry that is disciplined yet personal, polished yet alive.

What makes the story even more powerful is how often these artists return to Houston for leading roles and major debuts. This season, Michael Sumuel (2009-11), an acclaimed interpreter of Mozart and Handel, joins Porgy and Bess in the title role. Jamie Barton (2007-09), Arturo Chacón-Cruz (2003-05), and Ryan McKinny HGO.ORG

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S T U D I O

Raven McMillon in The Snowy Day at HGO.

(2005-08) all household names in opera, join us for Il trittico. Blake Denson (2020-22) has already established himself internationally and will sing Crown in Porgy and Bess. Raven McMillon (2020-22) joins the same production as Clara. Jennifer Ringo (1978-80), who has now built a distinguished career as a diction coach, is again in our rehearsal rooms guiding singers with her expertise.

The Butler Studio’s influence also reaches into the leadership of the field. Richard Bado (1983-85), once a Butler Studio member and later Butler Studio Music Director, is now HGO’s Chief Artistic Officer, simultaneously serving as Chorus Director. He has conducted at the Paris Opera and La Scala, taught at the Aspen Music Festival, and helped establish Rice University’s opera program as one of the country’s strongest. Myra Huang (2001-03) is Head of Music for the Met’s Lindemann Program and Director of Musical Administration and Head Coach for Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS. Joshua Winograde (2000-03), former Senior Director of Artistic Planning at LA Opera and Associate Artistic Administrator at the Met, now heads Opera Studies at Rice University. Craig Terry (2000-02) is Music Director of the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago and is a Grammy Award-winning pianist and arranger. Eric Melear (2002-04) leads the National Opera Studio in the U.K. Michael Baitzer (1998-99) is Head of Music Staff at Washington National Opera. Mark Trawka (1989-91) is Director of Musical Studies and Chorus Master at Pittsburgh Opera. Carol Anderson (1995-97) spent 18 years as

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principal coach for Utah Symphony and Utah Opera. Joseph Li (2007-09) is Vice President for Artistic at Minnesota Opera. Blair Salter (2017-19) is Head Coach at the Domingo-Colburn-Stein program at LA Opera.

Ultimately, the Butler Studio exists to nurture and train artists who will make a real impact on the field, singers who take the skills they learn here and build careers that last. That requires determination, imagination, and above all technique, the kind of foundation that lets a voice carry in the largest theaters with strength and freedom. No one demonstrates this better than Greer Grimsley (1980-83). Among the Butler Studio’s earliest members, he has spent four decades commanding some of opera’s most demanding roles, from Wotan in Wagner’s Ring to Claggart in Billy Budd. This past summer at Glimmerglass, nearing 70, he sang Scarpia in Tosca with undiminished force and authority. His artistry shows what the Butler Studio has always stood for: voices trained to endure, to communicate with individuality, and to remain vital for a lifetime.

For almost 50 years, the Butler Studio has sent singers into the world with the skills and the courage to build lasting careers. They stand on the great stages as masterful technicians and as artists with something urgent to share, able to move hearts, lift spirits, and remind us of the unparalleled power and truth of the human voice. That, more than anything, is what connects every generation of Butler Studio alumni, and it is what will carry the program forward for the next 50 years.  Ryan McKinny in Don Giovanni at HGO.

B U T L E R

S T U D I O

BUTLER STUDIO ARTISTS 2025 –26 Jenny Choo, Pianist/Coach

Michael McDermott, Tenor

Sam Dhobhany, Bass-Baritone

Shawn Roth, Tenor

Dr. Laura E. Sulak and Dr. Richard W. Brown Fellow Dian and Harlan Stai Fellow

Alissa Goretsky, Soprano

Gloria M. Portela/ Susan Bloome/ James M. Trimble and Sylvia Barnes Fellow

Elizabeth Hanje, Soprano

Ms. Marty Dudley/ Amy and Mark Melton/ Diane Marcinek/ Jeff Stocks and Juan Lopez Fellow

Geonho Lee, Baritone

Mr. and Mrs. James W. Crownover/ Dr. and Mrs. Miguel Miro-Quesada/ Dr. John Serpe and Tracy Maddox Fellow

Michelle Beale and Dick Anderson/ Dr. Ellen R. Gritz and Mr. Milton D. Rosenau Jr. Fellow Melinda and Bill Brunger/ Drs. Liz Grimm and Jack Roth/ Drs. Rachel and Warren A. Ellsworth IV/ Kathleen Moore and Steven Homer/ Sharon Ley Lietzow and Robert Lietzow Fellow

Demetrious Sampson, Jr., Tenor

Luka Tsevelidze, Tenor

Donna and Ken Barrow/ Barbara and Pat McCelvey/ Irina and Andrey Polunin/ Ms. Rita Leader/ Jill A. Schaar and George Caflisch Fellow

Ziniu Zhao, Bass

Carolyn J. Levy/ Jill and Allyn Risley/ Dr. Peter Chang and Hon. Theresa Chang and Friends Fellow

Dr. Dina Alsowayel and Mr. Anthony R. Chase/ Dr. Eric McLaughlin and Mr. Elliot Castillo/ Alejandra and Héctor Torres/ Mr. Trey Yates Fellow

Tzu Kuang Tan, Pianist/Coach Shelly Cyprus Fellow

B U T L E R S T U D I O FAC U LT Y & S TA F F Colin Michael Brush, Director

Sponsored by Christopher Bacon and Craig Miller, Mr. Jack Bell, Lynn Gissel, and Lynn Des Prez

Madeline Slettedahl, Assistant Conductor

Alley Theatre, Acting Instruction

William Woodard, Assistant Conductor

Stephen Neely, Dalcroze Eurhythmics Instructor

Mr. and Mrs. Albert B. Alkek Chair

Nadya Mercado, Butler Studio Intern

Tiffany Soricelli, Finance Instructor

Kiera Krieg, Butler Studio Manager

Christa Gaug, German Instructor

Nino Sanikidze, Russian Diction Coach

Stephen King, Director of Vocal Instruction

Enrica Vagliani Gray, Italian Instructor

Margo Garrett, Guest Coach

Maureen Zoltek, Music Director

Sponsored by Jill and Allyn Risley, Janet Sims, and the James J. Drach Endowment Fund

Peter Pasztor, Principal Coach

Sponsored by the Mr. and Mrs. James A. Elkins Jr. Endowment Fund

Nicholas Roehler, Assistant Conductor

Sponsored by Marsha Montemayor

Neda Zafaranian, English Instructor Brian Connelly, Piano Instructor Mo Zhou, Showcase Director and Guest Acting Faculty

Warren Jones, Guest Coach Hemdi Kfir, Guest Coach Thomas Lausmann, Guest Coach

BUTLER STUDIO SUPPORTERS The Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio is grateful for the underwriting support of Mrs. Estela Hollin-Avery, Ms. Marty Dudley, Ms. Stephanie Larsen, and Mr. and Mrs. Richard J. Langenstein. The Butler Studio is also thankful for the in-kind support of the Texas Voice Center and for the outstanding support of the Magnolia Houston hotel.

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

The Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation Endowment Fund

Charlotte Howe Memorial Scholarship Fund

Marjorie and Thomas Capshaw Endowment Fund

Elva Lobit Opera Endowment Fund

James J. Drach Endowment Fund

Marian and Speros Martel Foundation Endowment Fund

The Evans and Portela Family Fund

Erin Gregory Neale Endowment Fund

Carol Lynn Lay Fletcher Endowment Fund

Dr. Mary Joan Nish and Patricia Bratsas Endowed Fund

William Randolph Hearst Endowed Scholarship Fund

John M. O’Quinn Foundation Endowed Fund

Jackson D. Hicks Endowment Fund

Shell Lubricants State Company Fund Mary C. Gayler Snook Endowment Fund Tenneco, Inc., Endowment Fund Weston-Cargill Endowed Fund

The Young Artists Vocal Academy (YAVA) is generously supported by Ms. Donna Saurage, Mr. and Mrs. Robert N. Wakefield, Gwyneth Campbell, and David and Norine Gill. Additional in-kind support is generously provided by the Magnolia Houston hotel.

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Theo (Faye) Nangala Hudson Fire Country Dreaming, 18"x36" Image©the artist and Booker • Lowe

HOLD A LIGHT FOR OPERA . COMMUNITY. PURPOSE.

Visit HGOGuild.org or the HGO Guild Boutique in the Grand Foyer to learn more

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OUT OF CHAR ACTER

angel

blue

By Catherine Matusow

The Wall Street Journal recently called Angel Blue’s Aida at the Met “sensational.” The New York Classical Review said her performance was “superb.” And the New York Times described her as a “shining soprano.”

Yet Blue herself hasn’t read a word of those stories. Her friends, mom, or husband might tell her about them, but she never reads her own reviews. “I know a lot of artists say that,” she says, “but it’s true. The last time I really read a review was 2010.” That piece upset her so much, she explains, it threw her off as a performer for the rest of the show’s run. And Blue will never allow anything to stand between her and her artistry.

In fact, the celebrated soprano is so intent upon avoiding distraction, she keeps a separate phone for social media. Which is why, in 2021, when a friend texted her regular phone to congratulate her on her first Grammy nomination, she thought it was a joke.

“I went and looked on the social media phone,” she laughs, “and it was full of messages, everybody telling me that we were nominated.”

That nomination, and eventual win (she’s since won another), was for Best Opera Recording for her Bess in Porgy and Bess at the Met, and it solidified Blue as the

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“ B ess is somebody.” defining Bess of her generation. Now, as she returns to Houston to sing the iconic role—following her show-stopping HGO debut in 2022, as Violetta in La traviata— she shares more about her journey, her passion for opera, and her deep connection to the Gershwins’ American masterpiece.

How did you decide on opera as a career?

It’s been my dream since I was a little girl. This is going to sound maybe a little crazy, but when I was 7 or 8, I used to put on records of my favorite singers in my bedroom. And I would take the sheet off of my bed, and I’d put it around my shoulders like it was a shawl, because this is what I had seen on PBS—on Great Performances, these grand divas have these big shawls. I would let the whole record play, and I would stand there with my hands up, and I’d wait for the applause. When the audience started applauding, I’d start bowing in front of my mirror. And I still feel like I’m that 4-year-old, 7-year-old, 8-year-old, 15-year-old Angel in a grown woman’s body, just living out her dreams, you know? And I’m thankful. I’ve worked really hard to be here, and I have to keep working hard to stay here.

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How did coming from a musical family influence your path?

Tell us about your journey with Porg y and Bess .

My grandfather was a coal miner in West Virginia, and he was a part of a barbershop quartet. He was a baritone, and his favorite opera singer was Enrico Caruso. So my dad grew up listening to Caruso and the old, old, great Italian opera singers like Luisa Tetrazzini. And he decided to study opera at what was then called Cleveland Institute of Music.

He loved Leontyne Price—he saw her perform in person. He loved Richard Tucker. He loved all of the opera, and he passed that on to me.

The opera itself has played a big role in my life. I started out singing Clara.

Every time I would sing for an audition, I would sing “Summertime.” When San Francisco Opera was doing Porgy and Bess, I flew up to San Francisco from Los Angeles, where I’m from. And I was invited to be Clara in this huge production by Francesca Zambello. I was 26, and just like a deer in headlights at that point. But it was just an amazing experience. Then I sang Clara at the Berlin Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Opera, and La Scala.

When I was 4 years old, I told him that I wanted to be an opera singer, because I saw this concert of this lady in the light.

That’s what I called her. It was Turandot, and I said I wanted to be like her. And my dad smiled and said, “you can absolutely be like the lady in the light.”

Music was everything in our household.

We had a family band, really, when we would travel for my dad’s work, because he was a pastor. I played bass, my brother was on drums, my mom played piano, and my sister and my dad sang.

Music was a huge, huge part of our lives.

It really brought us together as a family, that and our faith.

I first sang Bess in 2018 at Seattle Opera.

I took Bess from there to the Napa Valley Festival in California, in concert, and then the Metropolitan Opera. I also sang Serena on a recording with Marin Alsop and the Philadelphia Orchestra. So it’s been an interesting journey. I know what a great work Porgy and Bess is, how important it is to the United States and to our culture, but also just the story itself being so universal. It resonates with people no matter where they’re from.

Left: Angel Blue as Bess, with Alfred Walker as Porgy, at Seattle Opera. Right: Blue as Violetta at HGO.

As an artist, did you ever fear being pigeonholed into Porg y roles?

No, I didn’t. It’s funny. I think my situation was a little bit different, where I felt like, “darn it, they’re doing Porgy and Bess again. How come they didn’t hire me?”

But I understand the concern of being pigeonholed. I think that often, it’s like, “oh, we’re doing Porgy and Bess. We need Black artists. Let’s get them. Here they are. Go.” And then maybe the companies don’t think, “oh, we’re doing Der Rosenkavalier next season. So-andso sounds like she would be a really good Sophie. Let’s audition her for Sophie.” Or: “we’re doing Le nozze di Figaro. Well, you know what? The young man who sang Jake, he really sounded like he’d be a great Count.” Sometimes I think it’s a disconnect—these artists you can put in other places. They can be in other operas.

Do you feel a personal connection to this story?

My parents were pastors, so I saw a lot of interesting stuff. I saw people who were strung completely out on drugs who would roll into church on Sunday. And there would be someone in the church like Serena who’s like, “shame on you.”

Then there are people like my mom who would go up to them and not judge them at all and say, “do you need some water? What can I get for you?” Bess is somebody. And if there was a way for me to help her in any way, I would love to.

When I look at these characters—even Violetta, who I’m singing right now, I think she’s just a normal person. Art imitates life.

Is HGO’s Grammy-winning Porg y and Bess album from 1976 in your rotation?

I’ve listened to it religiously. What’s great is that the singers aren’t just singing.

They’re acting. And I think that’s what I love the most about it. I can almost see Clamma Dale when she’s in this argument with Crown. I can almost see her getting thrown around. You can hear it in her voice. It’s just a really beautiful recording.

The conductor of that ’76 Porg y was John DeMain, who was also at the podium when you sang Bess in Seat tle.

He taught me the role! He’s hilarious. He would say, “Angel.” And I said, “yes, Maestro?” And he would say, “just ten minutes. Just ten minutes. Ten minutes.” And we’d go off, and we’d have a pianist, and he would say, “this section goes like this.” And he’d say, “the Gershwins, they really want it to start swinging right here. So this part is straight, and this part is swung. Let’s try it.” So everything, all of the nuances of the piece, John taught me.

Which singers from the past do you most enjoy as Bess?

get it. But what she chooses to go get isn’t something that’s good for her. So I think that my Bess is—she’s a little bit harsher. A little bit more—for lack of a better word, she’s a little bit more gangster when I’m playing her.

Why do you think this opera is so enduringly popular?

I brought my great-uncle to see Porgy and Bess before he passed away. He was 89. And his exact words were, that’s the only opera I can tap my toe to. So I think that’s one of the reasons, as simple as that may sound. I mean, it’s Gershwin.

He’s an icon and a legend in our country, and his opera is no different. It’s a real story, and it grabs our hearts. It makes us think, hopefully, about loving each other, caring for one another, and also being gracious and kind to those who don’t have as much. Porgy and Bess is us. It’s about Black people in the South, but it’s our story—not just Black people’s. I mean us, the United States. It’s our story.

It’s our music. 

“Violetta is just a .normal person.” .

I love Audra McDonald.

The version they did on Broadway was slightly different, but she’s just as classically trained as I am.

Of course, Clamma Dale, for the level of intensity that she gives to Bess.

Laquita Mitchell sounded great. She portrayed Bess in a way that was softer than I had ever thought of her. And that’s beautiful, because Bess has all of these many different facets to her character, and it’s very hard to show all of them in one evening. Marquita Lister is a wonderful Bess. But my Bess is a little different than theirs.

How so?

In large part, because I find Bess to be a hard woman, a woman who is very stubborn. And I think she is similar to me in that way—I want this, I’m going to go HGO.ORG

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I M PR ESA R IOS

CI RCLE

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 Deborah Hirsch, chief philanthropy officer, at 713-546-0259 or DHirsch@HGO.org.

JUDY AND RICHARD AGEE

THE BROWN FOUNDATION, INC.

Robin Angly, Chair

HGO subscribers for more than two decades, 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 expand student access to HGO Community & Learning programs. Judy and Dick, the founder and chairman of Wapiti Energy LLC and Bayou Well Holdings Company LLC, also support mainstage productions. Dick is a member of the HGO Board of Directors.

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 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 STANFORD AND JOAN ALEXANDER FOUNDATION

The Carol Franc Buck Foundation has generously supported HGO since 1986. Carol was an avid adventurer and supporter of the arts, and she fondly remembered going to the San Francisco Opera with her mother as a child. Since her passing in 2022, the Foundation has continued her vision of supporting the arts across the United States, with a special emphasis on Wagner’s operas. The Foundation supported HGO's brand-new production of Wagner's Tannhäuser in the 2024-25 season and continues their commitment to new productions this year with support of Silent Night.

THE CAROL FRANC BUCK FOUNDATION

The Stanford and Joan Alexander Foundation has been a steadfast supporter of HGO for more than two decades. The Foundation's deep commitment to Houston’s community is exemplified by their support of public programs such as Giving Voice and HGO’s summer opera camps, which expand access to the arts for young people and families across the city. In addition to championing these vital community initiatives, the Foundation has helped make possible HGO’s world-class productions, ensuring that opera remains accessible and inspiring for all Houstonians.

SARAH AND ERNEST BUTLER ROBIN ANGLY AND MILES SMITH

HGO subscribers Robin and Miles joined the Founders Council in 2010. The company is honored to have Robin as a senior member of the HGO Board of Directors and a member of HGO’s Laureate Society.

The couple is 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 signature events, the Young Artists Vocal Academy, and HGO’s Ring cycle, as well as Community & Learning Initiatives. They are charter members of the Impresarios Circle and generously underwrite a mainstage production each season.

ASTLEY BLAIR

An HGO subscriber for over 20 years, Astley is the current Chair of the HGO Board of Directors. He is currently the CFO of the Marine Well Containment Company, and his experience is built on years of technical education with the Association of Accounting Technicians. Active throughout Houston, Astley gives his time to Houston Food Bank, United Way, and initiatives to support STEM education. He is the past chairman of the Center for Houston’s Future and a board member of the Houston Airport System Development Corporation. Astley is an enthusiastic supporter of HGO signature events and chaired the Opening Night Dinner for the 2014-15 season.

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HGO subscribers for over 35 years, Sarah and Ernest made the largest gift to HGO in company history in 2023, creating a new fund within the HGO Endowment valued at $22 million and becoming the naming partner for the Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio. They are also the lead underwriters for the company’s digital artistic programming and have generously endowed three chairs at HGO: those of HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers, Chorus Director Richard Bado, and HGO Orchestra Concertmaster Denise Tarrant. 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. Sarah and Ernest are world travelers, and they never miss an opportunity to see opera in the cities they visit.

JANET AND JOHN CARRIG

Janet and John have been HGO supporters and subscribers since 2007. Both worked at ConocoPhillips before retiring, Janet as Senior Vice President and John as President and Chief Operating Officer.

Active members of their community, Janet and John serve on many boards including the advisory board of the National Association of Corporate Directors, the Council of Overseers for the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School

I MPRE S ARI O S of Business at Rice University, and The Alley Theater in Houston. Janet also serves as Chair Emeritus on the HGO Board of Directors and Chair Emeritus on the HGO Endowment’s Board of Directors. The company is grateful to Janet and John for helping underwrite our 2025-26 season.

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serves on the Butler Studio Committee. She also serves on the Advisory Board of The Shepherd Society at Rice University and the Houston Ballet Board of Trustees (past Executive Committee and Ballet Ball chair). In addition to chairing both Concert of Arias and Opening Night Dinner, Molly and Jim have been honorees at both events.

ANNE AND ALBERT CHAO

Anne and Albert have been subscribers and supporters of HGO for over 20 years.

While serving as Executive Chairman of the Board of Westlake Corporation, Albert finds time for numerous cultural causes including serving on the board of Rice University and the Asia Society Texas Center. 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 signature events, the Butler Studio, Song of Houston, and mainstage productions. The couple has also supported the HGO Endowment. In April 2023, they chaired the Opera Ball.

LOUISE G. CHAPMAN

Louise Chapman of Corpus Christi, Texas, a longtime supporter of HGO, is a member of 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.

CONOCOPHILLIPS

For over 40 years, ConocoPhillips has supported various programs at HGO, from signature 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 the Opera to develop new and innovative education and community collaboration programs. Kelly Rose, general counsel and SVP, serves on the HGO Board of Directors.

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 a long history of giving generously to education, health care, and the arts in Texas, primarily in the Greater Houston area.

HGO is grateful for the Foundation’s longstanding leadership support of HGO’s season activities.

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. The Cullen Trust has provided lead support for memorable productions including HGO’s Family Opera Series and, most recently, has funded an expansion of partnerships with MacGregor Park and other Third Ward organizations. HGO is grateful to the Trust for their many years of steadfast support.

MS. MARTY DUDLEY

Ms. Marty Dudley became a lover of HGO when she started subscribing and attending HGO signature events in 2023. A member of the HGO Board of Directors, Marty currently serves as the vice president and secretary of the Dudley Family Foundation and believes deeply in funding research and education at Houston Methodist Hospital, Inova Health System, and Purdue University, to name a few. Her profound love of education and young artists make Marty a wonderful supporter of the Butler Studio. This season, Marty is underwriting second-year Butler Studio artist and 2024 First Prize Concert of Arias winner Elizabeth Hanje.

THE ELKINS FOUNDATION

MOLLY AND JIM CROWNOVER

Molly and Jim have been HGO subscribers for over 30 years and are members of the Impresarios Circle and Laureate Society. Jim has been a member of HGO’s Board of Directors since 1987, including service as chairman from 2016-18 and on the Executive, Governance, Development, and Finance Committees. In 1998, Jim retired from a 30-year career with McKinsey & Company, Inc. and has served on myriad corporate and non-profit boards including Rice University (past board chair), United Way (past campaign chair), and most recently as M.D. Anderson Foundation President. Molly

This year marks the 25th anniversary of HGO’s partnership with The Elkins Foundation. Each year since 1956, The Elkins Foundation has contributed to numerous organizations serving Houston and the Greater Gulf Coast. They are guided by a belief that a community’s strength lies in the vision of its people and the health of its institutions. The Elkins Foundation’s support for HGO’s Community & Learning programs makes it possible for thousands of children across greater Houston to experience the transformative power of opera and the arts. The Foundation also supports HGO’s thrilling musical theater series, introducing families and newcomers to the magic of HGO.

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FROST BANK

Frost Bank has supported HGO for over a decade, helping bring to life some of the world’s most treasured operas as well as sponsoring one of the company’s most beloved events, the Patrons Circle Recital. Since Frost’s founding in 1868, the bank has invested in the communities it serves through hard work, customer service, and support of the arts, education, economic development, and health and human services. Michelle Huth, Executive Vice President, serves on the HGO Corporate Council.

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’s Community & Learning initiatives, the Foundation helps Houstonians of all ages to explore, engage, and learn through the inspiring art of opera.

JOE AND MARIANNE GEAGEA

Joe and Marianne have been supporters and subscribers of HGO since 2022. After a distinguished 40-year career with the Chevron Corporation, Joe retired in June 2022 as Executive Vice President and Senior Advisor to Chevron’s Chairman and CEO. Joe and Marianne love all manner of art and support institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Houston Ballet where Marianne serves on the board of trustees. Joe has been on the HGO board of trustees for three years and is currently leading our strategic planning committee.

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 served as Butler Studio Committee Chair. Liz and Jack were generous underwriters of the company’s historic, first-ever Ring cycle and lead supporters of its German repertoire, including Elektra. Additionally, Liz and Jack chaired the 2018 Opera Ball and the 2022 Concert of Arias.

MATT HEALEY

Matt Healey serves on the HGO Board of Directors. He is Senior Vice President, Finance and Treasury, at Cheniere Energy, responsible for budgeting, capital planning, forecasting, and capital raising. He also owns El Segundo Swim Club, a full-service bar and swimming pool in the historic Second Ward. Matt became a huge fan of HGO the moment the curtains opened on the water tank Rhinemaidens in Das Rheingold in 2014. Although he has seen the Ring cycle in Chicago, New York, and San Francisco, the HGO production is by far his favorite. A passionate fan of German repertoire, he underwrote Salome in the 2022-23 season, Parsifal in the 2023-24 season and Tannhäuser in the 2024-25 season.

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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 HGO’s arts education programs for Houston area students. H-E-B’s partnership helps over 145,000 young people experience the magic of opera each season. Always celebrating Houston’s cultural diversity, H-E-B supports thrilling programming like HGO’s Giving Voice concert and various Community & Learning initiatives.

CITY OF HOUSTON / HOUSTON ARTS ALLIANCE

Houston Arts Alliance partners with HGO to bring operatic excellence to Houston. A subsidiary of the City of Houston, Houston Arts Alliance works to implement the City of Houston’s vision, values, and goals for its arts grantmaking and civic art investments. HGO is also grateful to Houston Arts Alliance for their civic leadership and generous support.

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 4.5 percent of the Endowment’s average market value to HGO, making it the company’s largest single annual funder. The HGOE Board is led by Marianne Kah. 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 mainstage season and partners frequently on Community &

I MPRE S ARI O S Learning collaborations. HGO is fortunate to have Dr. Warren Ellsworth and Dr. Apurva Thekdi serve as Houston Methodist’s corporate trustees.

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 Humphreys Foundation, which was formally established in 1959. The Foundation provides support for performing arts in Texas and college scholarship funding for students in the arts. Linda Bertman, Louis Paine, and Jeff Paine serve as trustees of Humphreys Foundation. The Foundation is a lead supporter of HGO’s musical theater series, including last season’s critically accalimed production of West Side Story.

ELIZABETH AND RICHARD HUSSEINI

We like to think that HGO helped “set the stage” for Elizabeth and Richard Husseini’s love story. When a set malfunction at the end of the first act of HGO’s The Flying Dutchman forced Maestro to re-start the opera from the top, the two seatmates bonded in their shared delight that they got to hear more Wagner! The two got engaged one year later (at HGO, of course). Richard is a tax partner at Kirkland & Ellis, a generous HGO corporate supporter, and a member of both the HGO Board of Directors and the HGO Endowment Board.

Elizabeth retired from Baker Botts as a corporate and securities partner and devotes her attention to family and community matters, including Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, Preservation Houston, the Junior League, and River Oaks Baptist School, which the Husseinis’ two sons attend. Enthusiastic supporters of the young artists and alumni of the Butler Studio, the couple chaired the 2019 Concert of Arias. True to their love of Wagner, the Husseinis generously underwrote last season's production of Tannhäuser.

CLAIRE LIU AND JOE GREENBERG

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

Claire, a current member and former Chair of the HGO Board of Directors, serves a Senior Chair of the Board and Chair of the Governance Committee. She is retired from LyondellBassell Industries, where she led the corporate finance team, and was formerly a managing director with Bank of America. Joe is founder 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 Beatrice Mayes Charter School. An avid runner, Claire has completed marathons in all 50 states.

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M. D. ANDERSON FOUNDATION

The M. D. Anderson Foundation has provided general operating support to HGO for more than 30 years, as well as several innovative investments to advance HGO’s digital infrastructure. 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.

BETH MADISON

Beth has been an HGO subscriber for more than two decades. HGO has had the honor of her support since 2004. Past chair of the HGO Board of Directors, she is a senior director of the HGO Board of Directors, serves on the Butler 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 the Butler Studio, signature events, and mainstage operas. She has been inducted into the Greater Houston Women’s Hall of Fame and serves on the University of Houston System Board of Regents.

LAURA MCWILLIAMS

A devoted HGO subscriber for over 35 years, Laura McWilliams has long been a passionate advocate for the company, a joy she shared until recently with her late husband, Brad. A longtime Trustee, Laura previously served on the HGO Finance Committee and chaired the Annual Fund Drive, and currently serves on the Laureate Society Council. Laura and Brad’s generosity has touched nearly every area of the company, including its signature events—they chaired the 32nd Annual Concert of Arias in 2020.

Most recently, they created the McWilliams Fund for Artistic Excellence to underwrite HGO’s mainstage operas for the 2022-23, 2023-24, and 2024-25 seasons. Brad’s commitment to HGO was deeply felt, and his presence will be profoundly missed.

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 Community & Learning initiatives, HGO’s signature events, and mainstage productions. HGO is thrilled to have Sara serve on the HGO Board of Directors and as a member and past chair of the Community & Learning Committee.

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NABORS INDUSTRIES

Nabors Industries is a leading provider of advanced technology for the energy industry. The company owns and operates one of the largest land-based drilling rig fleets and is a provider in numerous international markets. By leverage its core competencies, Nabors aims to innovate the future of energy and enable the transition to a lower carbon world. HGO is grateful for the generous support of Nabors, and Tony and Cynthia Petrello, for HGO’s first ever Family Day Presents: Cinderella.

NOVUM ENERGY/ MARCIA AND ALFREDO VILAS

Alfredo Vilas is a passionate lover of opera, serves on the HGO Board of Directors, and together with his wife Marcia chaired HGO’s unforgettable “Cielito Lindo” Opera Ball in 2019. Vilas is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Novum Energy, a global supplier and logistics group of companies founded in 2011 with its original operations focused on Latin America. Novum Energy has been a leading corporate sponsor of HGO for more than a decade, and this year, the Vilases, Novum Energy, and the Novum Foundation will expand their partnership to support HGO’s Latin American initiatives.

SAROFIM FOUNDATION

Established by Fayez Sarofim, the Sarofim Foundation was created in gratitude for the opportunities that this country and Houston provided him as an emigrant from his native Egypt. The Foundation has had a significant, lasting impact on Houston and beyond, particularly in education, healthcare, and the arts. HGO is grateful to the Sarofim Foundation for its continued dedication to the arts and the unique power of opera.

featuring Butler Studio artists at Mansefeldt, their renowned Fredericksburg ranch. HGO was privileged to recognize Dian and Harlan as the honorees of Opening Night 2008, as well as the 2014 Concert of Arias and the 2025 Opera Ball.

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 (like this season’s Porgy and Bess) and a wide array of Community & Learning initiatives.

ISABEL AND IGNACIO TORRAS

Isabel and Ignacio “Nacho” Torras are proud supporters of HGO. After coming to Houston in 1989, Nacho launched Tricon Energy in 1996 and grew it into the leading multinational commodities trading platform it is today. Inspired by their love for Spanish food, they own and operate Houston restaurants MAD, Rocambolesc, and BCN Taste & Tradition, which was recently awarded a Michelin star. They are generous supporters of the arts, academic research, and initiatives for the inclusion of neurodiverse people. At HGO, they chaired the 2024 “Mirror” Opera Ball and supported the inclusion of a neurodiverse performer in last winter’s La bohème, among other projects.

JOHN G. TURNER & JERRY G. FISCHER

SHELL USA, INC.

Shell USA, Inc. is a leader in the Houston arts community, supporting HGO for over 40 years. Shell USA, Inc.’s leadership support makes opera more accessible across Houston through HGO's community programs that integrate the arts with STEM-based discovery. HGO is honored to have Selda Gunsel, Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Technology for Shell globally, as a member of the HGO Board of Directors.

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. Their leadership support has touched every part of HGO, including mainstage productions, the Butler Studio, the HGO Endowment, and signature events. The Stais have also sponsored Butler Studio artists, and they host annual recitals 78

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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 the company for a single production.

John, a shareholder at Turner Industries Group, is a senior member of the HGO Board of Directors and past chair of the Butler Studio Committee. Jerry is a board member of Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra. In recent years, John and Jerry have supported HGO mainstage productions, the Butler Studio, and signature events. They are members of the Founders Council for Artistic Excellence, and John is a member of the Laureate Society. During the 2025-26 season, John and Jerry will be chairing Opera Ball.

I MPRE S ARI O S VEER VASISHTA

Veer Vasishta is a passionate lover of opera and a proud member of the HGO Board of Directors and Impresarios Circle.

Following his education in mechanical engineering and a successful career in finance, Veer co-founded a technology firm based in Montreal, Canada, with staff in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the U.K., and Asia. He trained as a classical guitarist after a short time playing violin and in a rock band in high school. Veer began attending HGO performances as soon as he arrived in Houston.

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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 HGO through the Wortham Foundation Permanent Endowment and generous annual operating support. This leadership support has been vital to the Opera’s growth and commitment to excellence.

HGO has been privileged to have the support of international law firm Vinson & Elkins LLP for 40 years. For more than 100 years, Vinson & Elkins LLP has been deeply committed to empowering the communities in which it serves. The firm has enriched the cultural vibrancy of Houston by supporting HGO through in-kind legal services and contributions to signature events and mainstage productions, including last season’s production of Puccini’s La bohème.

VITOL

Established in 2006, The Vitol Foundation was created to make a difference in people’s lives. For the past three years, Vitol has made that difference through its support of HGO’s Community & Learning programs. Vitol’s commitment to education gives children in the greater Houston area the opportunity to experience the magic of opera no matter their background, including through HGO’s partnership with YES Prep Public Schools, where students benefit from attending dedicated performances. HGO is grateful to Vitol for underwriting Opera Ball in 2022, 2023, and 2024.

MARGARET ALKEK WILLIAMS

Margaret, a longtime singer, possesses a deep affinity for all music, and especially opera, and has supported 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. She also generously chaired the 2018 Hurricane Harvey benefit concert, HGO and Plácido: Coming Home! Last season, Margaret chaired the most successful Opera Ball in HGO's history.

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SU PPORT

A N N UA L S U P P O R T Houston Grand Opera Trustees and Patrons Circle members support the O ­ pera 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 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 Madeline Sebastian at MSebastian@HGO.org.

CHAIR, DONOR EN G AG EM EN T CO M M I T T EE Ms. Gwyneth Campbell, Co-Chair, Donor Engagement Committee Mauricio Perillo Co-Chair, Donor Engagement Committee T R U S T EE — $ 1 0 , 0 0 0 O R MORE Chris and Michelle Angelides Blanche S. and Robert C. Bast, Jr., MD

Joanne and David Dorenfeld

Ms. Janice McNeil

Mr. and Mrs. David S. Wolff

Mr. James Dorough-Lewis and Mr. Jacob Carr

Chadd Mikulin and Amanda Lenertz

Mr. and Mrs. C. Clifford Wright, Jr.

Mr. Bob Ellis

Dr. Indira Mysorekar Mills and Dr. Jason Mills

Mr. and Mrs. John W. Wright

Ms. Mary Foster Mr. John E. Frantz Caroline Freeman Trish Freeman and Bruce Patterson

Dr. Selda Gunsel and Mr. Don Pferdehirt

Mrs. Geraldine C. Gill Mr. Wesley Goble Ms. Dianne L. Gross

Drs. Robert S. and Nancy Benjamin

Ms. Julia Gwaltney

Mollie and Wayne Brunetti Mr. and Mrs. Lester P. Burgess Mrs. Carol Butler Drs. Ian and Patricia Butler Mr. Robert Caballero Ms. Gwyneth Campbell

Doug Hirsch and Maureen Semple-Hirsch Ann Hightower Dr. Patricia Holmes Alan and Ellen Holzberg Lee M. Huber Dr. Alexandra Ikeguchi Ann and Stephen Kaufman Mr. and Mrs. George B. Kelly Ms. Carey Kirkpatrick

Patricia and Jess Carnes

Mr. Mark Klitzke and Dr. Angela Chen

Mr. Robert N. Chanon

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Knull III

Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Clarke

Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Kolb

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Collier

Ann Koster

Dr. Laurence Corash and Ms. Michele Corash

Elizabeth and Bill Kroger

Julie and Bert Cornelison Mr. Robert L. Cook and Mrs. Giovanna Imperia Jayne and Peter Davis Ms. Sasha Davis Anna M. Dean Dr. Elaine DeCanio Dr. and Mrs. Roupen Dekmezian Ms. Elisabeth DeWitts Valerie and Tracy Dieterich Jeanette and John DiFilippo Dr. William F. Donovan

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Geoffry H. Oshman

Dr. and Mrs. David P. Gill

Mr. and Mrs. James Becker

Dr. Janet Bruner

Kelly and Cody Nicholson Susan and Edward Osterberg

Sandy Godfrey

Nancy and Walt Bratic

Diane K. Morales

Gina and Scott Gaille

Dr. Gudrun H. Becker

Stephanie and Dom Beveridge

Dr. and Mrs. William E. Mitch

Mrs. Connie Kwan-Wong Mr. and Mrs. Blair Labatt Mr. and Mrs. Randall B. Lake Mr. Alejandro Langarica Alfred W. Lasher III Dr. and Mrs. Ernst Leiss Mr. and Ms. Frank Liu Mr. Ransom C. Lummis + Mrs. Isabel S. Lummis Ms. Michele Malloy Mr. and Mrs. Tony Massoud Mary Marquardsen Mr. R. Davis Maxey Dorothy McCaine

Mr. Mark Poag and Dr. Mary Poag Dr. Angela Rechichi-Apollo Carol F. Relihan Mr. Todd Reppert Ed and Janet Rinehart Mr. and Mrs. Walter Ritchie Mr. and Mrs. Jeremy Rosen Adel and Jason Sander Judy Sauer Mrs. Helen P. Shaffer Merrill Shields and Ray Thomasson Ms. Janet Sims Diana Strassmann and Jeffrey Smisek Mr. and Mrs. George Sneed

Rini and Edward Ziegler 3 Anonymous YO U N G T R U S T EE — $ 5 , 0 0 0 O R MORE Emily Bivona and Ryan Manser Meredith and Joseph Gomez Ms. Ellen Liu and Ms. Ilana Walder-Biesanz Emily and Adrian Melendez Mr. Andrew Pappas Drs. Mauricio Perillo and Luján Stasevicius Dr. Nico Roussel and Ms. Teresa Procter Mr. Parashar Saika and Ms. Lori Harrington Jennifer Salcich Melanie Smith Mr. Michael Steeves Mrs. Stella Tang and Mr. Steven Tang Dr. Yin Yiu 1 Anonymous

Mr. and Mrs. Aaron J. Stai Bruce Stein Kathy and Richard Stout Mrs. Carolyn Taub Mr. Minas and Dr. Jennifer Tektiridis Dr. David Tweardy and Dr. Ruth Falik Mr. and Mrs. John Untereker Ms. Kristine Vikmanis and Mr. Denny Creighton Mr. and Mrs. Robert N. Wakefield Mr. and Mrs. Yuichi Watanabe Mr. and Mrs. Jay Watkins Mr. and Mrs. K.C. Weiner Dr. Courtney Williams Loretta and Lawrence Williams

N AT I O N A L T R U S T EE — $ 5 , 0 0 0 O R MORE Ms. Alissa Adkins, Corpus Christi, TX Ms. Jacqueline S. Akins, San Antonio, TX Mr. Murray Beard, Cordova, TN Jorge Bernal and Andrea Maher, Bogota, Colombia Dr. Dennis Berthold and Dr. Pamela Matthews, College Station, TX Mr. Richard E. Boner and Ms. Susan Pryor, Austin, TX Mr. Tom Burley and Mr. Michael Arellano, Philadelphia, PA

ANNUAL Mrs. Carol W. Byrd, Wetumka, OK

Alexander Sanger, New York, NY

Mr. and Mrs. Cabrera Franklin, TN

Donna Saurage, Baton Rouge, LA

Dr. Raymond Chinn, San Diego, CA

Mrs. Carolyn A. Seale and Mrs. Carol Lee Klose, San Antonio, TX

Mr. Bryce Cotner, Austin, TX Dr. Thomas S. DeNapoli and Mr. Mark Walker, San Antonio, TX Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Evans, Coldspring, TX Jack Firestone, Miami, FL Mr. Raymond Goldstein and Ms. Jane T. Welch, San Antonio, TX Mr. Charles Hanes, San Jose, CA Brian Hencey and Charles Ross Jr., Austin, TX Edward and Patricia Hymson, San Francisco, CA

In memory of Mrs. Ora Lee Seale

Charlie and Arienne Williams, Dallas, TX David Woodcock, College Station, TX Drs. Edward Yeh and Hui-Ming Chang Little Rock, AR PAT R O N S CIRCLE—$5 ,000 OR MORE Ms. Jacquelyn M. Abbott Mr. W. Kendall Adam Mrs. Nancy C. Allen

Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey S. Kay, Austin, TX

Alfredo Tijerina and JP Anderson

Mrs. Judy Kay, Dallas, TX

Shaza and Mark Anderson

Dr. and Mrs. Morton Leonard Jr., Galveston, TX

Dr. Tom Anderson

Paul and Judy Lerwick, Asheville, NC Cathleen C. and Jerome M. Loving, Bryan, TX Barbara and Camp Matens, Baton Rogue, LA Mr. Kenton McDonald, Corpus Christi, TX Judy Miner, San Francisco, CA Mr. Juan Moreno, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Ms. Heidi Munzinger and Mr. John Shott, Coronado, CA Mr. John P. Muth, Wimberly, TX Dr. James F. Nelson and Mr. Yong Zhang, San Antonio, TX Ms. Claire O’Malley, San Antonio, TX Mr. and Mrs. Don Patterson San Francisco, CA

Dr. Julia Andrieni and Dr. Robert Phillips Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Ardell Mr. Neely Atkinson Heather and Richard Avant Nancy and Paul Balmert Mr. William Bartlett H. M. F. Beaudoin Family Foundation Dr. and Mrs. Joel M. Berman Mr. and Mrs. Stanley C. Beyer Mr. and Mrs. Stephen D. Bickel Dr. Joan Hacken Bitar Dr. Pamela Blake Dr. Jerry L. Bohannon Mr. Al Brende and Mrs. Ann Bayless Mr. Chester Brooke and Dr. Nancy Poindexter Joan M. C. Bull, M.D. Mrs. John R. Castano

Matilda Perkins, Santa Fe, NM

Drs. Danuta and Ranjit Chacko

Ms. Wanda A. Reynolds, Austin, TX

Dr. Beth Chambers and Mr. J. Michael Chambers

Michelle and Chuck Ritter, Kansas City, MO

Alejandra Chamorro

James and Nathanael Rosenheim, College Station, TX Mr. Bruce Ross, Los Angeles, CA Mr. and Mrs. Bob Ryan, San Francisco, CA

Dr. Cindy Childress and Mr. Jack Charles

Mr. and Mrs. Sam Cooper

Mr. and Mrs. John H. Homier

Jodi and Michael Cortez

Dr. and Mrs. Gabriel N. Hortobagyi

Mr. and Mrs. Larry Dooley Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Dubrowski Mrs. Eliza Duncan Mr. John Egbert and Mrs. Kathy Beck Dr. Patricia Eifel Kellie Elder and David Halbert Mrs. James A. Elkins III Parrish N. Erwin Jr. Ms. Thea M. Fabio and Mr. Richard Merrill Ms. Ann L. Faget Mr. Brian Faulkner and Ms. Jackie Macha

Ms. Heather Hughes Mr. and Mrs. Paul Jacob Mr. and Mrs. Malick Jamal Mr. David Jaqua and Mr. John Drewer Ms. Joan Jeffrey Mr. and Mrs. Basil Joffe Dr. Susan John and Mr. Darrell John Charlotte Jones Mrs. Robert J. Kauffman Mr. Anthony K. Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Rice Kelly

Ms. Vicki Schmid Faulkner

Mr. and Mrs. Albert Kidd

Ms. Ursula Felmet

Mr. Lannis E. Kirkland

Ms. Jianwei Feng and Mr. Yujing Li

Ms. Rie Kojima Angeli

Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Fish Wanda and Roger Fowler Cece and Michael Fowler Mr. and Mrs. William B. Freeman Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Scott J. Garber Mr. Mauro Garcia-Altieri Dr. Layne O. Gentry Dr. Eugenia George Mr. and Mrs. Damian Gill Nancy Glass, M.D. and John Belmont, M.D.

Dr. and Mrs. Lary R. Kupor Mr. Kenny Kurtzman Dr. Helen W. Lane Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Le Mr. Richard Leibman Ms. Eileen Louvier Mr. Glenn Lowenstein Ms. Lynn Luster Mr. and Mrs. Paul A. Lynn Ms. Cora Sue Mach Mark and Juliet Markovich Dr. and Mrs. Malcolm Mazow

Rhoda Goldberg

Shawna and Wynn McCloskey

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

Gillian and Michael McCord

Mary Frances Gonzalez

Mimi Reed McGehee

Sue Goott

Elizabeth and Keith McPherson

Mrs. Gwynn F. Gorsuch

Mr. Bob McLaughlin

Dr. and Mrs. David Y. Graham

Kay and Larry Medford

Michaela and Nicholas Greenan

Mrs. Anne C. Mendelsohn

Ms. Dianne Halford Mr. and Mrs. Thomas C. Halsey Mrs. Mary Hankey Mr. Frank Harmon III and The Honorable Melinda Harmon Mr. and Mrs. A. John Harper III Mr. and Mrs. Melvyn Hetzel Pam Higgins Deborah and Michael Hirsch

Janet Clark

Rosalie and William M. Hitchcock

Dr. Nancy I. Cook

Dr. Kevin Hude

Mary Ann and Larry Faulkner

Mr. and Mrs. Richard T. Clark Dr. and Mrs. J. Michael Condit

S U PPO RT

Dr. Holly Holmes

Terry and Hal Meyer Mr. Steve Morang Ms. Shannon Morrison Ms. Linda C. Murray Erik B. Nelson and Terry R. Brandhorst Mrs. Bobbie Newman Ms. Geri Noel Ms. Lisa L. Ng Drs. John and Karen Oldham Mrs. Maria Papadopoulos Carl and Julie Pascoe

HGO.ORG

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Mr. David Peavy and Dr. Stephen McCauley Linda Peterson Mr. and Mrs. Jerod Pierce

Diane and Raymond Wallace Mr. and Mrs. John Wallace Ms. Pippa Wiley

Mr. and Mrs. Harry C. Pinson

Randa Duncan Williams and Charles Williams

Mr. and Mrs. Elvin B. Pippert Jr.

Ms. Jane L. Williams

The Radoff Family

Nancy and Sid Williams

Ms. Judith Raines

Geraldina and Scott Wise

Ms. Deree Reagan

Ms. Debra Witges

Dr. David Reininger and Ms. Laura Lee Jones

Dr. Randall Wolf

Mr. Robert Richter Jr. Mrs. Carol Ritter Kate and Greg Robertson Drs. Alejandro and Lynn Rosas Dr. and Mrs. Franklin Rose

Ms. Cyvia Wolff Mr. and Ms. Min Zheng John L. Zipprich II 6 Anonymous

Joshua and Rebekah Wilkinson Mr. and Mrs. Jamie Yarbrough Mr. Kenneth Young and Mrs. Emmelie Young N AT I O N A L PAT R O N S — $2, 500 OR MORE Ms. Cynthia Akagi and Mr. Tom Akagi, Madison, WI Yoko and Tom Arthur, Santa Fe, NM Mr. Murray Beard, Cordova, TN Kathy Boyle and James Parsons, Dallas, TX Tom and Kay Brahaney, Midland, TX

Mrs. Shirley Rose

YO U N G PAT R O N S — $2, 500 OR MORE

Dr. Bernd U. Budelmann, Galveston, TX

Dr. and Mrs. Sean Rosenbaum

Mr. Robert Anderson

Dr. and Mrs. Steve Rosenbaum

Sarah and Steve Bond

Ms. Marion Cameron-Gray, Chicago, IL

Mr. David D. Schein and Ms. Karen Somer

Mr. and Mrs. Christian Carrion

Drs. Daniel and Ximena Sessler Mr. and Mrs. Dayo Seton Mr. and Mrs. Charles Shearouse

Mr. Michael Daus Dr. Mhair Dekmezian Ms. Karen Ding Mr. and Mrs. Earl Flowers Mr. Albert Garcia Jr.

Hinda Simon

Ms. Roya Gordon

Ms. Diana Skerl

Taryn and Lauren Gore

Kris and Chris Sonneborn

Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Hanno

Dr. and Mrs. C. Richard Stasney Mr. Per A. Staunstrup and Ms. Joan Bruun Richard P. Steele and Mary McKerall Drs. Adaani E. Frost and Wadi N. Suki Ellen Susman Ms. Karen Tell Ms. Susan L. Thompson Mr. and Mrs. Charles Tobias Fiona Toth Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Trainer Jr. Dr. Elizabeth Travis and Mr. Jerry Hyde Mr. Alvin Tucker Gregoria and Frances Vallejo Mr. and Mrs. Larry Veselka Greg Vetter and Irene Kosturakis Ms. Marie-Louise S. Viada

Alecia Harris Ms. Kathleen Henry Lauren and Birk Hutchens Ms. Sabrina Kesler Mr. Brett Lutz and Mrs. Elizabeth Lutz

Mr. and Mrs. Terry Cloudman, Boulder, CO Hon. Griffin Collie, Dallas, TX Mr. Arthur A. Crais Jr., New Orleans, LA David Edelstein, Carbondale, CO Ms. Susan English and Mr. Michael Kalkstein, Los Gatos, CA Dr. and Mrs. Marvin A. Fishman, NM Dr. Wm. David George, Austin, TX Ms. Gabriella M. Guerra, San Antonio, TX

Tara and Liam McElhiney

Mr. Brian Hackfeld, Dallas, TX

Mr. Stephen Miranda and Mr. Blake Mudd

Mr. Mark Jacobs, Dallas, TX

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Muri Madeline Nassif Lucas and Jonathan Lucas Renee Palisi Ms. Morgan A. Pfeil Ms. Shaniese Posey Ms. Nicole Rennalls Ms. Constance Rose-Edwards Mr. Justin Rowinsky and Ms. Catarina Saraiva Emily Schultz and Pavel Blinchik

Mr. and Mrs. M. C. “Bill” Walker III

Mr. Jake D. Stefano

Geoffrey Walker and Ann Kennedy

Ms. Gabriella Tantillo

FALL 2025

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Carvelli, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

Rachael and Daniel MacLeod

Ms. Vera D. Vujicic

82

Ms. Louise Cantwell, San Antonio, TX

Mr. Jeff Taylor

Ms. Gail Jarratt, San Antonio, TX Ms. Alison D. Kennamer and Joyce Kennamer, Brownsville, TX Jeff and Gail Kodosky, Austin, TX Wendy Lee-Graham, West Sussex, United Kingdom Mr. and Mrs. Spencer Mehrens, Longview, TX Ms. Chris Miller and Mr. Gary Glaser, Fort Worth, TX Kristin and Peter Muessig, Amherst, NH Mr. William Nicholas, Georgetown, TX

John and Elizabeth Nielsen-Gammon, College Station, TX James Parsons and Kathy Boyle, Dallas, TX Mr. James R. Rogers, College Station, TX Mr. Victor E. Serrato, Pharr, TX Ms. Alice Simkins, San Antonio, TX Ms. Lori Summa, Lancaster, NH Dr. David N. Tobey and Dr. Michelle Berger, Austin, TX Mr. Tom Turnbull and Mr. Darrell Smith, Eunice, LA Mr. Jerre van den Bent, Dallas, TX Mr. and Mrs. Kirk Weaver, Washington, D.C. Martin R. Wing, Oklahoma City, OK

ANNUAL

S U PPO RT

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 Madeline Sebastian at MSebastian@HGO.org.

A S S O C I AT E PAT R O N S — $2,000 OR MORE Ms. Cecilia Aguilar Mr. and Mrs. V. G. Beghini

Mr. and Mrs. Marvin H. Mueller Ms. Maria C. (Macky) Osorio Suzanne Page-Pryde and Arthur Pryde

Dr. James E. Griffin III and Dr. Margo Denke Mr. and Mrs. Ira Gruber Mr. and Mrs. David Guenther

Mr. Rick Pleczko

Mr. and Mrs. Philip Gunnels

Ms. Felecia Powell-Williams

Mr. Donald Hang

Vicki Clepper

Dr. and Mrs. Florante A. Quiocho

Mr. and Mrs. Cordell Haymon

Mr. Jerry Conry

Mr. and Mrs. Risher Randall

Ms. Joyce Cramer

Mr. Edgar Rincon

Mr. John Dazey

Ms. Jo Ann W. Schaffer

Ms. Linnet Frazier Deily

Christopher B. Schulze, M.D.

Elena Delauney

Ms. Elizabeth D. Williams

Peggy DeMarsh

Ms. Sandy Xu

Mr. and Mrs. Blake Eskew

Bin Yu

Travis Fenstermaker

Drs. William and Huda Yahya Zoghbi

Ms. Sonja Bruzauskas and Mr. Houston Haymon Kenneth T. Chin

Monica Fulton Dr. Alice Gates and Dr. Wayne Wilner Susan Giannatonio and Bruce Winquist Mr. Michael Gillin and Ms. Pamela Newberry Mr. David Gockley Ruzena Gordon Dr. and Mrs. Carlos R. Hamilton, Jr.

3 Anonymous CO N T R I B U T I N G FEL LOWS — $ 1 , 0 0 0 O R MORE Mrs. Linda Alexander Mr. and Mrs. Neil Ken Alexander Dr. Robert E. Anderson Mr. Robert K. Arnett Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. Michael F. Henderek

Ms. Dorothy B. Autin and Mr. Daniel Coleman

Ms. Susan Hirtz

Dr. Carlos Bacino

Mr. Stanley A. Hoffberger

Mrs. Deborah S. Bautch

Mr. Steven Jay Hooker

Ms. Jessica Burton

Dr. Alan J. Hurwitz

Clayton Cannon

Mr. and Mrs. Richard A. Jackson

Dr. Claude Cech

Linda Katz Mr. John Keville Lynn Lamkin Ms. Nadine Littles Dr. Robert Louis Mr. and Mrs. J. Stephen Marks Ana María Martínez Mrs. Barbara Mayer Dr. Mary Fae McKay Mr. James L. McNett Jody Meraz Mr. Nicolo Messana Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Moynier

Mr. and Mrs. James Collins Mr. and Mrs. Larry Corona Mr. Arthur A. Crais Jr.

Dr. Ralph J. Herring Dr. Janice L. Hewitt Kay and Michael W. Hilliard Mr. Edward L. Hoffman Deronica Horn Mr. Brian Horrigan Greg Ingram

Mr. and Mrs. Kirk Girouard Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Goldgar

Mr. Frederick Schacknies Kenneth and Deborah Scianna Mr. Alan Schmitz Ms. Lynda G. Seaman Ms. Valerie Serice Dr. Paul E. Setzler Ms. Joan M. Shack

Mr. Herbert Simons

Rachel Keen

Len Slusser

Lynda and Frank Kelly

Mr. Cooper Smith

Dr. Milton and Gail Klein

Ms. Linda F. Sonier

Mr. and Mrs. John Lattin

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Stoddard

Mr. Marshall Lerner

Mr. Leon Strieder

Dr. Robyn T. Lincoln

Mr. Kiyoshi Tamagawa and Mr. Bill Dick

Mr. Robert Lorio Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Y. Lui Ms. Nancy Manderson Dr. and Mrs. Moshe H. Maor Onalee and Dr. Michael C. McEwen

Ann Tornyos Ms. Donna Van Fleet Dr. and Mrs. Lieven J. Van Riet Mr. Arie Vernes Mr. Albert T. Walko

Dr. Gilda McFail

Dr. Jackie Ward

Mr. and Mrs. Ernie McWilliams

J. M. Weltzien

Keith and Shawntell McWilliams

Mr. Peter J. Wender

Mrs. Theresa L. Meyer Mr. and Mrs. Mike Newman

Mr. Rawley Penick and Mrs. Meredith L. Hathorn

Mr. Enrico R. Giannetti

Kathleen and Jed Sazama

Dr. Ruth Simmons

Mr. and Mrs. Hiram Davis

Mr. Blake Frere

Alan J. Savada

Mr. and Mrs. John Jordan

Barbara Paull

Israel and Pearl Fogiel

Dr. Mo & Mrs. Brigitte Saidi

The Jewels

Mr. Carl R. Cunningham

Mr. and Mrs. Peter J. Ferenz

Sharon Ruhly

Mr. Nick Shumway and Mr. Robert Mayott

Mr. George Crow

Dr. John Edwards

Mr. Jack Rooker

Mr. Francisco J. Izaguirre

Mr. Eugene Nosal and Mrs. Grace Phillips

Mr. and Mrs. Warren Dean

Mr. William K. Rice

Mrs. Dolores Wilkenfeld Kay Wilson Mr. Tim Wright Robert and Michele Yekovich 3 Anonymous

Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Phillips Susie and Jim Pokorski Ms. Helen B. Preddy Dr. Eamonn Quigley Ms. Sina Raouf Mr. and Mrs. William Rawl Mr. and Mrs. Richard Reynolds HGO.ORG

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CO R P O R AT E , F O U N DAT I O N , A N D G OV E R N M E N T S U P P O R T E R S 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 Gabriella Wise Smith, assistant director of philanthropy, at GWiseSmith@HGO.org.

CORPORATE, FOUNDATIONS, GOVERNMENT HOUSTON GRAND OPERA CORPORATE COUNCIL Thomas R. Ajamie, Ajamie L.L.P. J. Scott Arnoldy, Triten Corporation Astley Blair, Marine Well Containment Company Meg Boulware, Boulware & Valoir Albert Chao, Westlake Corporation Adam Cook, Tokio Marine HCC Joshua Davidson, Baker Botts L.L.P. Nick Deshi, Latham & Watkins Susan R. Eisenberg, Kirkland & Ellis L.L.P. Warren Ellsworth, MD, Houston Methodist Richard Husseini, Kirkland & Ellis L.L.P.

Apurva Thekdi, MD, Houston Methodist

UNDERWRITERS—$25,000 OR MORE

FOUNDATIONS AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

Ignacio Torras, Tricon Energy

Abrahams Oriental Rugs and Home Furnishings

PREMIER GUARANTOR— $1,000,000 OR MORE

ALTO

Houston Grand Opera Endowment Inc. †

Alfredo Vilas, Novum Energy CORPORATE SUPPORTERS GUARANTORS—$100,000 OR MORE ConocoPhillips † Frost Bank † Houston Methodist †*

Kirksey Gregg Productions

Nabors Industries

Magnolia Hotel Houston

Novum Energy Vinson & Elkins L.L.P. †*

CO-SPONSORS—$7,500 OR MORE

Vitol, Inc.

BCN Taste and Tradition

GRAND UNDERWRITERS— $50,000 OR MORE Ajamie L.L.P. Bank of America † Nana Booker and Booker · Lowe Gallery

Bill Kroger, Baker Botts L.L.P.

Kirkland & Ellis L.L.P.

Bryant Lee, Latham & Watkins

Shell USA, Inc. †

Claire Liu, LyondellBasell (Retired) Craig Miller, Frost Bank Kristin Muessig, Vitol, Inc. Ward Pennebaker, Pennebaker Anthony Petrello, Nabors Industries Gloria M. Portela, Seyfarth Shaw L.L.P. Allyn Risley, GTT North America Susan Rivera, Tokio Marine HCC Kelly Rose, ConocoPhillips Silvia Salle, Bank of America Susan Saurage-Altenloh, Saurauge Marketing Research

84

FALL 2025

Jackson & Company Catering SPONSORS—$15,000 OR MORE

Michelle Huth, Frost Bank

Bryce Lindner, Bank of America

The Events Company

H-E-B †

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™ †

David LePori, Frost Bank

City Kitchen Catering

UNDERWRITERS—$25,000 OR MORE Baker Botts L.L.P. Boulware & Valoir Halliburton Latham & Watkins Tokio Marine HCC Westlake Corporation SPONSOR—$10,000 OR MORE Infosys MEMBER—$1,000 OR MORE USI Insurance Services IN-KIND CONTRIBUTORS TO OPERATIONS AND SPECIAL EVENTS GRAND UNDERWRITER— $50,000 OR MORE The Houston Chronicle

Elegant Events and Catering by Michael Medallion Global Wine Group BENEFACTORS—$5,000 OR MORE The Corinthian at Franklin Lofts David Peck The Lancaster Hotel Masterson Design/ Mariquita Masterson Shaftel Diamond Co. MEMBERS—$1,000 OR MORE Brasserie du Parc Connie Kwan-Wong/ CWK Collection Inc.

Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation The Wortham Foundation, Inc. † PRINCIPAL GUARANTORS— $500,000 OR MORE The Brown Foundation, Inc. † City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance † Anonymous GRAND GUARANTORS— $250,000 OR MORE The Alkek and Williams Foundation † The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts † Humphreys Foundation † The Sarofim Foundation Anonymous GUARANTORS—$100,000 OR MORE Joan and Stanford Alexander Family Fund M.D. Anderson Foundation † Carol Franc Buck Foundation The Cullen Foundation † The Elkins Foundation

Dar Schafer Art Elliott Marketing Group Ellsworth Plastic Surgery Gittings Portraiture Glade Cultural Center Hayden Lasher The Hotel ZaZa Chef Ashley James La Colombe d’Or Hotel

William Randolph Hearst Foundation Dr. M. Lee Pearce Foundation Texas Commission on the Arts † GRAND UNDERWRITERS— $50,000 OR MORE Mellon Foundation † The Powell Foundation †

Las Terrazas Resort & Residences

UNDERWRITERS—$25,000 OR MORE

Lavandula Design

Ruth and Ted Bauer Family Foundation †

Mayfield Piano Service Shoocha Photography

Cockrell Family Fund John P. McGovern Foundation †

ANNUAL OPERA America †

CULTURAL PARTNERS

Fannie Mae

Vivian L. Smith Foundation

Consulate General of Italy in Houston

Hewlett-Packard Company

Stedman West Foundation † Sterling-Turner Foundation SPONSORS—$10,000 OR MORE Samuels Family Foundation National Endowment for the Arts William E. and Natoma Pyle Harvey Charitable Trust MEMBERS—$1,000 OR MORE City of Houston through the Miller Theatre Advisory Board †

Italian Cultural Institute in Los Angeles * Contribution includes in-kind support † Ten or more years of consecutive support

LyondellBasell Chemical Company Macquarie Microsoft Employee Giving Nintendo of America Salesforce

Baker Hughes Foundation

Shell USA, Inc. Foundation

Bank of America Charitable Foundation

The Boeing Company

BP Foundation

George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation †

CITGO Petroleum

The Nathan J. Klein Fund

Illinois Tools Works Inc.

Quantlab Financial, LLC

Chevron Humankind

Houston Saengerbund

IBM Corporation

CORPORATE MATCHING

Aaron Copland Fund for Music

Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation

S U PPO RT

Union Pacific Williams Companies

Coca-Cola North America ConocoPhillips Encana EOG Resources, Inc. EQT Foundation ExxonMobil Foundation

L AU R E AT E S O C I E T Y

Craig Miller, 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 Amanda Neiter, director of legacy giving, at 713-546-0216 or ANeiter@HGO.org.

LAUREATE SOCIETY MEMBERS Ms. Gerry Aitken Margaret Alkek Williams Mr. William J. Altenloh and Dr. Susan Saurage-Altenloh Robin Angly and Miles Smith Bill A. Arning and Aaron Skolnick Christopher Bacon and Craig Miller

Jack Bell

Mr. Richard H. Buffett

Mrs. Natalie Beller

Mr. Tom Burley and Mr. Michael Arellano

Dr. James A. Belli and Dr. Patricia Eifel Mr. and Mrs. Stanley C. Beyer

Ms. Gwyneth Campbell

Dr. Joan Hacken Bitar

Roxi Cargill and Peter Weston, M.D.

Susan Ross Black Ms. Susan Bloome Jerry L. Bohannon Dr. and Mrs. Jules H. Bohnn

Gilbert Baker

Adrienne Randle Bond

Dr. Saúl and Ursula Balagura

Ms. Lynda Bowman

Mr. William Bartlett

Mr. and Mrs. Harry W. Bristol

Mr. James Barton

Catherine Brock

Mr. Lary Dewain Barton

Myra Brown

Michelle Beale and Dick Anderson

Mr. Richard S. Brown

Marcheta Leighton-Beasley

Mr. Ralph Byle

Mr. Logan D. Browning Dr. Bernd U. Budelmann

Mr. Efraín Z. Corzo and Mr. Andrew Bowen Mr. and Mrs. James W. Crownover Shelly Cyprus Mr. Karl Dahm Dr. Lida Dahm

Jess and Patricia Carnes

Mr. Darrin Davis

Ms. Janet Langford Carrig

Ms. Sasha Davis

Sylvia J. Carroll

Ms. Anna M. Dean

Ms. Nada Chandler

Peggy DeMarsh

Mr. Robert N. Chanon

Ian Derrer and Daniel James

Ms. Virginia Ann Clark

Ms. Elisabeth DeWitts

Mathilda Cochran

Jane H. Egner

Mr. William E. Colburn

Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Evans

Mr. and Mrs. Paul L. Comstock

Ms. Thea M. Fabio and Mr. Richard Merrill

Mr. Jim O. Connell Mrs. Christa M. Cooper

Ms. Ann L. Faget

HGO.ORG

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Ms. Vicki Schmid Faulkner

Cynthia J. Johnson

Mr. and Mrs. Sidney S. Moran

Mrs. Thomas Fauntleroy

Ms. Marianne Kah

Mr. and Mrs. Marvin H. Mueller

Jack Firestone

Mrs. Robert J. Kauffman

Julie Fischer

Ann and Stephen Kaufman

Heidi Munzinger and John Shott

Nancy Fischer

Charles Dennis and Steve Kelley

Mr. Bruce Ford Dr. Donna Fox Dr. Alice Gates and Dr. Wayne Wilner

Mr. Anthony K. Ms. Virginia E. Kiser Ann Koster

Dr. Layne O. Gentry

David Krohn

Mr. Michael B. George

Dr. Helen Lane

Dr. Wm. David George

Dr. Lynn Lamkin

Dr. and Mrs. David P. Gill

Ms. Michele LaNoue and Mr. Gerald Seidl

Lynn Gissel Mr. Wesley Goble Mr. David Gockley Rhoda Goldberg Leonard A. Goldstein and Helen B. Wils Mary Frances Gonzalez and Ross I. Jackson

Mr. and Mrs. Karl R. Loos Mrs. Marilyn Lummis

Mr. and Mrs. Fred Gott

Dr. Jo Wilkinson Lyday

Mr. and Mrs. Donald Graubart

Mr. and Mrs. Paul A. Lynn

Claire Liu and Joe Greenberg

David Maib

Dr. Nichols Grimes

Mrs. Rosemary Malbin

Dr. Ellen R. Gritz and

Dr. Brian Malechuk and Mr. Kevin Melgaard

Mr. Jas A. Gundry Mr. Claudio Gutierrez Mr. and Mrs. William Haase Dr. Linda L. Hart Ms. Janet Hassinger Mrs. Brenda Harvey-Traylor Nancy Haywood Teresita and Michael Hernandez Dr. Ralph J. Herring Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Hewell Mr. Edward L. Hoffman Gary Hollingsworth and Ken Hyde Alan and Ellen Holzberg Mr. Frank Hood Ms. Ami J. Hooper Lee M. Huber Robert and Kitty Hunter Greg Ingram José and Teresa Ivo Brian James Spencer A. Jeffries and Kim Kim Hawkins Ms. Charlotte Jones 86

FALL 2025

Ms. Darla Y. Stange

Erik B. Nelson and Terry R. Brandhorst

Dr. and Mrs. C. Richard Stasney

Mrs. Bobbie Newman

Catherine Stevenson

Mrs. Tassie Nicandros

Patrick Summers

Beverly and Staman Ogilvie

Rhonda Sweeney

Geoffry H. Oshman

Susan Tan

Ms. Maria C. (Macky) Osorio

Mrs. Carolyn Taub

Susan and Edward Osterberg

Mr. Quentin Thigpen and Ms. Amy Psaris

Mr. and Mrs. Richard A. Percoco

Jon Kevin Gossett

Mr. Milton D. Rosenau Jr.

Dian and Harlan Stai

Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Liesner

Virola Jane Long

Ms. Michele Malloy Emily Bivona and Ryan Manser Mrs. J. Landis Martin Ms. B. Lynn Mathre Ms. Nancy Wynne Mattison Dr. and Mrs. Malcolm Mazow Mrs. Dorothy McCaine Mrs. Sarah McCollum Deirdre McDowell Muffy McLanahan Mr. Allen McReynolds Ms. Maryellen McSweeney Mr. and Mrs. D. Bradley McWilliams Christianne Melanson and Durwin Sharp Mr. and Mrs. Robert Menzie Ms. Georgette M. Michko Drs. Indira and Jason Mills Ms. Suzanne Mimnaugh Kathleen Moore and Steven Homer

Fiona Toth Mr. and Mrs. William Tsai

Mauricio Perillo, PhD and Luján Stasevicius, PhD

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

Sara M. Peterson

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Turner

Mark and Nancy Picus

Mr. and Mrs. Jesse B. Tutor

Mr. and Mrs. Harry C. Pinson

Birgitt van Wijk

Susie and Jim Pokorski

Mr. and Mrs. Alfredo Vilas

Gloria M. Portela

Mrs. Rons Voogt

Suzanne Page-Pryde and Arthur Pryde

James and Mary Waggoner

Dr. Angela Rechichi-Apollo Mr. Todd Reppert Conrad and Charlaine Reynolds Ms. Wanda A. Reynolds Ed and Janet Rinehart Gregory S. Robertson Edward N. Robinson Mrs. Shirley Rose Constance Rose-Edwards Mr. John C. Rudder Jr. H. Clifford Rudisill and Ray E. Wilson

Dean Walker Mr. William V. Walker Shirley Warshaw Mr. Gordon D. Watson Ms. Rebecca Weaver Mr. Jesse Weir Mr. Geoffrey Westergaard Pippa Wiley Ms. Jane L. Williams Mr. and Mrs. David S. Wolff Dr. Fabian Worthing Jo Dee Wright Lynn Wyatt

Mr. and Mrs. Tom Rushing

Alan and Frank York

Dr. Mo & Mrs. Brigitte Saidi

Mr. and Mrs. Mark Yzaguirre

Mr. and Mrs. Terrell F. Sanders

Mrs. Lorena Zavala

Ms. Wanda Schaffner

John L. Zipprich II

Mr. Chris Schilling

21 Anonymous

Kenneth and Deborah Scianna Mr. and Mrs. Charles Senuta Mrs. Helen P. Shaffer Ms. Sue A. Shirley-Howard Hinda Simon Mr. Herbert Simons

Sid Moorhead

Ms. Susan Simpson

Diane K. Morales

Ms. Janet Sims

Juan R. Morales

Ms. Linda F. Sonier

Terrylin G. Neale

Mrs. Joan D. Osterweil

Ellen Liu and Ilana Walder-Beisanz

Colden A. Snow

Ms. Linda C. Murray

Carolyn J. Levy Mr. Michael Linkins

Mr. Joseph Sims and Ms. Janis Doty

ANNUAL

S U PPO RT

H OU STON GR AND O PE RA E N D OWME N T

Marianne Kah, 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 CAPTRUST, an 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 Deborah Hirsch, chief philanthropy officer, at 713-546-0259 or DHirsch@HGO.org. HGO acknowledges with deep gratitude the following endowed funds.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Officers Marianne Kah, Chair Mark Poag, Vice Chair Carolyn Galfione, Secretary; Treasurer Yolanda Knull, Senior Chair Tom Rushing, Chair Emeritus Members at Large Thomas R. Ajamie Astley Blair Khori Dastoor Richard Husseini Stephen Kaufman Terrylin Neale Scott Wise GENERAL ENDOWMENT FUNDS Susan Saurage-Altenloh and William Altenloh Endowed Fund The Rudy Avelar Patron Services Fund Barrow Family Endowed Fund Charles T. (Ted) Bauer Memorial Fund Sandra Bernhard Endowed Fund The Stanley and Shirley Beyer Endowed Fund Ronald C. Borschow Endowment Fund Mary Frances Newton Bowers Endowment Fund Pat and Daniel A. Breen Endowment Fund The Brown Foundation Endowment Fund Joan Bruchas and H. Philip Cowdin Endowed Fund Sarah and Ernest Butler Endowment Fund Jane and Robert Cizik Endowment Michael and Mathilda Cochran Endowment Fund

Douglas E. Colin Endowment Fund

Mary Ann Phillips Endowed Fund

ENDOWED CHAIRS AND FELLOWSHIPS

The Gerald and Bobbie-Vee Cooney Rudy Avelar Fund

C. Howard Pieper Endowment Fund

The Renee and Benjamin Danziger Endowed Fund

Kitty King Powell Endowment Fund

Margaret Alkek Williams Chair: Khori Dastoor, General Director and Chief Executive Officer

In loving memory: Gail and Milton Klein Family and Leslie Danziger

Mary Jane Fedder Endowed Fund Linda K. Finger Endowed Fund Robert W. George Endowment Fund Harold Gilliland Endowed Fund The Leonard Goldstein and Helen Wils Fund for the Future Adelma Graham Endowed Fund Frank Greenberg, M.D. Endowment Fund Roberta and Jack Harris Endowed Fund Jackson D. Hicks Endowment Fund General and Mrs. Maurice Hirsch Memorial Opera Fund Ann Holmes Endowed Fund Ira Brown Endowment Fund Elizabeth Rieke and Wayne V. Jones Endowment Fund

Glen Rosenbaum Endowment Fund Rowley Family Endowment Fund The Ruddell Endowment Fund Sue Simpson Schwartz Endowment Fund Shell Lubricants (formerly Pennzoil—Quaker State Company) 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 Marietta Voglis Endowed Fund Bonnie Sue Wooldridge Endowment Fund The Wortham Foundation Permanent Endowment Fund PRODUCTION FUNDS

Lensky Family Endowed Fund

Edward and Frances Bing Fund

Beth Madison Endowed Fund Frances Marzio Fund for Excellence Franci Neely Endowed Fund Constantine S. Nicandros Endowment Fund Barbara M. Osborne Charitable Trust Cynthia and Anthony Petrello Endowed Fund

Mr. and Mrs. Albert B. Alkek Chair: Maureen Zoltek James A. Elkins Jr. Endowed Visiting Artist Fund ELECTRONIC MEDIA FUNDS The Ford Foundation Endowment Fund

Dian and Harlan Stai Fund

Leech Family Resilience Fund Mary R. Lewis Endowed Fund

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

Tracey D. Conwell Endowment Fund The Wagner Fund PRINCIPAL ARTISTS FUNDS Jesse Weir and Roberto Ayala Artist Fund The Lynn Wyatt Great Artist Fund

SARAH AND ERNEST BUTLER HOUSTON GRAND OPERA STUDIO FUNDS Audrey Jones Beck Endowed Fellowship Fund/ Houston Endowment, Inc. The Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation Endowment Fund Marjorie and Thomas Capshaw Endowment Fund Houston Grand Opera Guild Endowment Fund James J. Drach Endowment Fund Evans and Portela Family Endowed Chair Carol Lynn Lay Fletcher Endowment Fund William Randolph Hearst Endowed Scholarship Fund Charlotte Howe Memorial Scholarship Fund Elva Lobit Opera Endowment Fund Marian and Speros Martel Foundation Endowment Fund Laura and Brad McWilliams Endowed Fund Erin Gregory Neale Endowment Fund

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Dr. Mary Joan Nish and Patricia Bratsas Endowed Fund

The Schissler Family Foundation Endowed Fund for Educational Programs

John M. O’Quinn Foundation Endowed Fellowship Fund

OUTREACH FUNDS

Shell Lubricants (formerly Pennzoil—Quaker State Company) Fund Mary C. Gayler Snook Endowment Fund Dian and Harlan Stai Fund Tenneco, Inc. Endowment Fund Weston-Cargill Endowed Fund

Guyla Pircher Harris Project Spring Opera Festival Fund Shell Lubricants (formerly Pennzoil—Quaker State Company) Fund CONCERT OF ARIAS Eleanor Searle McCollum Endowment Fund

EDUCATION FUNDS

COMMUNITY AND LEARNING

Bauer Family Fund

Geoffry Hillel Oshman Community and Learning Fund

Sandra Bernhard Education Fund Lawrence E. Carlton, M.D., Endowment Fund

2025 - 2026 SEASON 11.2

RÉQUIEM DE LOS MUERTOS

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COMFORT & JOY

Beth Crispin Endowment Fund

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AMOR

James J. Drach Endowment Fund

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THIS IS WHY WE SING

Fondren Foundation Fund for Educational Programs David Clark Grant Endowment Fund

FOR TICKETS & AUDITION INFO

HOUSTONMASTERWORKS.ORG

COME CELEBRATE OUR VETERANS AND ACTIVE-DUT Y MILITARY PERSONNEL AT MILITARY APPRECIATION DAY K E V I N P U T S A N D M A R K C A M P B E L L’ S

S U N DAY, JA N UA RY 2 5 , 2 0 2 6 AT 2 P. M .

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OCT. 24

Opening Night Dinner: HGO celebrates the launch of the 2025-26 season following the opening performance of the company’s production of the Gershwins’ Porgy & Bess.

Wortham Theater Center.

Dina Alsowayel and Tony Chase, chairs. For more info, visit HGO.org/OpeningNight, or contact Special Events at SpecialEvents@HGO.org or 713-546-0700.

OCT. 24, 26, NOV. 1, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15

Performances of the Gershwins’ Porgy & Bess.

Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Theater. Ticketholders are invited to Opera Insights lectures, held in the Brown’s Orchestra section 45

minutes prior to each performance. Pre-show and intermission receptions for audience members under 40 years old at Under 40 Friday at the Nov. 7 performance only, and Overture at the Nov. 9 performance only.

OCT. 30, NOV. 2, 8, 12, 14

Performances of Puccini’s Il trittico. Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Theater.

Ticketholders are invited to Opera Insights lectures, held in the Brown’s Orchestra section 45 minutes prior to each performance. Pre-show and intermission reception for members of Opening Nights for Young Professionals at the Oct. 30 performance only.

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DEC. 5 & 7

Rienzi Recitals: HGO’s Butler Studio artists perform an intimate one-hour long recital at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Rienzi Collection. Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 7 at 5 p.m.

DEC. 13

Carols on the Green, an evening full of music— opera, holiday hits, mariachi, and more—at Discovery Green. 7 p.m. Family-friendly and free!

JAN. 9

Panel discussion: Silent Night. 6:30 p.m. The Alliance Française de Houston.

JAN. 23, 25, 31, FEB. 4, 8

Performances of Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell’s Silent Night. Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Theater. Ticketholders are invited to Opera Insights lectures, held in the Brown’s Orchestra section 45 minutes prior to each performance. Pre-show and intermission receptions for members of Under 40 Friday and Opening Nights for Young Professionals at the Jan. 23 performance only.

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JAN. 25

Military Appreciation Day, a special day honoring veterans and activeduty service members, at Silent Night.

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JAN. 30, FEB. 1, 7, 13, 15

Performances of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Theater.

Ticketholders are invited to Opera Insights lectures, held in the Brown’s Orchestra section 45 minutes prior to each performance. Pre-show and intermission receptions for Overture at the Feb. 7 performance only.

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FEB. 6

Concert of Arias and Dinner: The 38th annual Eleanor McCollum Concert of Arias, an evening of music featuring the most talented emerging artists in opera.

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

Concert tickets start at $30.

Gala dinner will follow the performance. Drs. Rachel and Warren Ellsworth, chairs. For more info, visit HGO.org/ConcertofArias, or contact Special Events at SpecialEvents@HGO.org or 713-546-0700.

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FEB. 12

Student Matinee: HGO hosts an English-language performance of Hansel and Gretel for students grades 6-12 and their chaperones.

Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Theater. 10 a.m. For information, email Community@HGO.org.

FEB. 14

HGO Family Day Presents Hansel and Gretel: a 90-minute, Englishlanguage, relaxed-environment performance, directed

by Sasha Cooke, with pre-show and intermission Grand Foyer activities.

Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Theater. 11 a.m.

FEB. 20

Giving Voice: HGO’s 7th annual concert celebrates Black artists in opera and song. 7:30 p.m. Tickets available starting Jan. 7 at HGO.org/GivingVoice.

MAR. 13 & 15

Performances of Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men, a Butler Studio production honoring the composer’s centenary. Wortham Theater Center’s Cullen Theater.

Ticketholders are invited to Opera Insights, held in the theater 45 minutes prior to

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each performance. Mar. 13 at 7 p.m. and Mar. 15 at 2:30 p.m.

Orchestra section 45 minutes prior to each performance. Pre-show and intermission receptions for audience members under 40 years old at Under 40 Friday, May 1 performance only.

discounted for group sales.

For information, email Community@HGO.org.

MAR. TO JUN.

Opera to Go! Presents The Velveteen Rabbit! This year’s touring production for students and families presents the story of a toy rabbit who dreams of being real, with music by Mary Carol Warwick and libretto

by Kate Pogue.

Recommended for children grades 2-8. To book this show at your school, community center, or other venue, email OperaToGo@ HGO.org or visit HGO.org/ OperaToGo. 5

APR. 11

Opera Ball: Enjoy cocktails, dinner, a silent auction, dancing, and more! 6 p.m.

Wortham Theater Center.

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

Patrick Summers, event honoree. For information, visit HGO.org/OperaBall.

APR. 17, 19, 25, 29, MAY 1, 3 6

Performances of Handel’s Messiah (arr. by Mozart).

Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Theater.

Ticketholders are invited to Opera Insights lectures, held in the Brown’s

APR. 19

Post-performance talk: Messiah. HGO’s Khori Dastoor and Patrick Summers in conversation with a special guest.

APR. 24, 26, 30, MAY 2, 6, 8, 10 7

Performances of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.

Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Theater. Ticketholders are invited to Opera Insights lectures, held in the Brown’s Orchestra section 45 minutes prior to each performance. Pre-show and intermission receptions for members of Opening Nights for Young Professionals at the Apr. 24 performance only and Overture at the Apr. 30 performance only.

APR. 28

High School Night: Bring your students to HGO for Rossini’s comical and mischievous The Barber of Seville. Tickets are

APR. 30

Pride Night, a celebration of Houston’s LGBTQIA+ community, at The Barber of Seville.

MAY 4

Patrons Circle Recital: HGO presents a private recital for Patron Circle Members.

6 p.m. The Junior League of Houston.

MAY 8

Noche de Ópera, a celebration of Houston’s Latinx community, at The Barber of Seville.

THROUGHOUT THE 2025-26 SEASON 8

Storybook Opera: HGO brings children’s books to life through song as teaching artists present an engaging and enjoyable introduction to opera at locations including Levy Park and branches of the Houston Public Library and Harris County Public Library systems. Grades PK-2. Visit HGO.org for information.

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MAKE IT MEMORABLE

OUR G UI D E TO A FANTAST IC OPERATI C EXPE RI EN CE

KNOW B E FO R E YO U G O : VI S I T H G O.O R G

ENJOY THE WORTHAM

Take advantage of the company’s user-friendly one-stop shop for everything HGO. Resources include:

We encourage our guests to make full use of the Wortham Theater Center when they come to the opera. You’re invited to:

Your all-access guide to performances,

on the mainstage and in the community: HGO.org/On-Stage The Backstage Pass blog, for taking a deep dive into the season’s operas, company artists, and more: HGO.org/Backstage-Pass

Relax and reflect: Find a spot in one of the Wortham Theater Center’s Brown or Cullen alcoves, or another area in the concourse—now with expanded seating!

from parking options, to hotel recommendations, to FAQs, and more: HGO.org/Plan-Your-Visit

Explore our Stories to Stage Gallery: Don’t miss the chance to learn more about HGO’s fall operas, with history displays, behind-the-scenes looks at productions, and more. Now on view in the Grand Foyer East Wing.

HGO’s Customer Care Center,

Browse the merchandise: Volunteers

including performance information, ticket assistance, and more: HGO.org/Contact-Us

from the HGO Guild operate a gift and souvenir boutique in the Grand Foyer.

P lan Your Visit information,

S oak in the scene over lunch or dinner:

And much more!

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Make sure to build in time to enjoy the Wortham before the show—and get to your seats. Late seating may take place at designated moments

Food services are available prior to each

during each act’s first 20 minutes, either in an alternate location in the theater or, in some cases, a TV viewing area in the Grand Foyer. Latecomers may take their ticketed seats after the next intermission.

Have a bite in the lobby, not in the theater, but do enjoy a drink at your seat—just make sure it’s in a special container from the bar.

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performance in the Grand Foyer. For something quick, find parfait kits, naan sandwiches, and much more at the Grab N Go station.

Have a drink: The lobby bars are open before each performance and during intermission. Don’t forget—premium wine selections are available in the center bar of the Grand Foyer. And don’t miss Happy Half Hour— guests receive $2 off all beer, wine, and cocktails at all bars for the first 30 minutes the theater is open (each bar begins service 90 minutes before performance time).

Pro-tip: Pre-order beverages for intermission at any of the bars when you arrive at the theater, and your drinks will be waiting for you!

Dine at the Founders Salon: Enjoy a prix-fixe, seasonally inspired menu.

Reservations are required, with a priority reservation window open for Patrons Circle members up to 72 hours before the performance date. Reservations then open to full-season subscribers. To reserve, call 713-533-9318 or email Cafe@ ElegantEventsByMichael.com.

Attend a free Opera Insights lecture:

Brush up on the day’s opera during one of HGO's popular pre-show talks from HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers. Join us on the Orchestra level of the Brown Auditorium 45 minutes before curtain time.

Enjoy music from solo instrumental artists including Gilbert Sedeño: Tunes

fill the lobby both before each show and during intermission.

Unwrap candies and cough drops before curtain, and remain popular with your peers!

Silence or turn off your phone and other devices such as smart watches, then put them away. You’ll avoid blinding lights, distracting noises, and vexing your neighbors.

Save conversation for intermission or after the show.

You can break down the performance with your neighbor at the break!

Bring the young arts lover in your life to the opera.

Just remember: disruptors, however cute, should be escorted to the lobby.

More info at HGO.org/Plan-Your Visit

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Khori Dastoor General Director and CEO Margaret Alkek Williams Chair Patrick Summers Artistic and Music Director * EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP GROUP Richard Bado, Chief Artistic Officer/ Chorus Director * Jennifer Bowman, Director of Community and Learning Kristen E. Burke, Director of Production * Jennifer Davenport, Chief Marketing and Experience Officer Elizabeth Greer, Chief Financial Officer Deborah Hirsch, Chief Philanthropy Officer * OFFICE OF THE GENERAL DIRECTOR Mary Elsey, Chief of Staff to the General Director and CEO Monica Thakkar, Director of Strategic Initiatives Joel Thompson, Composer-in-Residence Tyler Thormählen, Governance Administrator ARTISTIC Colin Michael Brush, Director of the Butler Studio Nico Chona, Music Administrator and Orchestra Personnel Manager Joel Goodloe, Director of Artistic Operations Matthew Kalmans, Rehearsal Coordinator Kiera Krieg, Butler Studio Manager Mark C. Lear, Associate Artistic Administrator * Alexa Lietzow, Artistic & Music Coordinator Nadya Mercado, Butler Studio Intern Reagan Nattinger, Artist Services Coordinator Lucas Nguyen, Music Librarian Peter Pasztor, Principal Coach * Karen Reeves, Children’s Chorus Director * Nicholas Roehler, Assistant Conductor Jack Ruffer, Rehearsal Planning Administrator Madeline Slettedahl, Assistant Conductor Lisa Vickers, Bauer Family High School Voice Studio Manager William Woodard, Assistant Conductor

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Maureen Zoltek, Head of Music Staff and Butler Studio Music Director Mr. & Mrs. Albert B. Alkek Chair AUDIENCES Marc Alba, Customer Sales and Service Specialist Vince Balkcom, Jr., Customer Sales and Service Representative Ellen Bergener, Customer Sales and Service Representative Steve Butler, Video Producer Joe Cadagin, Audience Education and Communications Manager Gray Campbell, Customer Sales and Service Representative Nicholas Chavez, Group Sales Coordinator Chelsea Crouse, Sr. Creative Manager Jessica Gonzalez, Marketing Manager Sofia Heggem, Sr. Guest Experience Coordinator Mary Hierholzer, Digital Marketing Specialist Scott Ipsen, Sr. Director of Patron Experience * Rudy Avelar Chair Rita Jia, Graphic Designer Latrinita Johnson, Customer Sales and Service Specialist Ashlyn Killian, Communications Coordinator Tory Lieberman, Director of Marketing Aaron Marsh, Guest Experience Manager Sam Mathis, Patron Services Manager Catherine Matusow, Director of Communications Matt McKee, Associate Director of Sales and Service Brian Mitchell, Archivist, The Genevieve P. Demme Archives and Resource Center * Michelle Russell, Ticketing & Marketing Data Manager Dorian Valenzuela, Digital Content Manager COMMUNITY AND LEARNING Fernando Barajas, Administrative Manager Emily Haas, Programs Associate of Community and Learning Dr. Kiana Day Williams, Associate Director of Community & Learning FINANCE AND OPERATIONS Christian Davis, Associate Director of Human Resources

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Ariel Ehrman, Business Intelligence Manager Luis Franco, Office Services Coordinator * Matt Gonzales, Associate Director of Information Systems * George Heathco, Operations Projects Manager Vicky Hernandez, Revenue & Receivables Administrator Chasity Hopkins, Accounting Manager Sam Lee, Information Technology Support Manager Elia Medina, Payroll Administrator Noorwali Punjwani, Controller Sarah Saulsbery, Accounts Payable Administrator Denise Simon, Human Resources Coordinator * Christopher Staub, Director of Operations & Institutional Projects * Grace Tsai, Manager of Data and Analytics Ahna Walker, Human Resources Generalist Chaedron Wright, Information Technology Assistant Joy Zhou, Director of Information Services PHILANTHROPY Lyanne Alvarado, Philanthropy Officer Stephen Beaudoin, Director of Individual Giving Brooke Caballero, Philanthropy Coordinator Katherine Cunningham, Associate Director of Signature Events Kelly Dolan, Donor Events Specialist Ross S. Griffey, Director of Institutional Partnerships David Krohn, Sr. Director of Philanthropy Tessa Larson, Major Gifts Officer Olivia Lerwick, Philanthropy Writer Ana Llamas, Prospect Researcher and Manager Claire Padien-Havens, Sr. Director of Institutional Giving Patrick Long-Quian, Philanthropy Operations Manager Meredith Morse, Assistant Director of Institutional Giving Amanda Neiter, Director of Legacy Giving Allison Reeves, Director of Signature Events

Madeline Sebastian, Director of Philanthropy Martalisa Tsai, Philanthropy Officer Sarah Wahrmund, Associate Director of Philanthropy Gabriella Wise Smith, Assistant Director of Institutional Partnerships PRODUCTION Noe Aparicio, Costume Technician Philip Alfano, Lighting Associate & Principal Draftsman * Brian August, Stage Manager Kathleen Belcher, Assistant Director Maya Bowers, Assistant Technical Director Dung Bui, Junior Stitcher Isabella Cabrera, Costume Coordinator Michael James Clark, Head of Lighting & Production Media * Andrew Cloud, Properties Manager * Janine Colletti, Assistant Director Norma Cortez, Costume Director * Eboni Bell Darcy, Assistant Director Meg Edwards, Assistant Stage Manager * Heather Rose Ervin, Wig and Makeup Assistant Caitlin Farley, Assistant Stage Manager Joseph B. Farley, Production Manager Vince Ferraro, Head Electrician * Bridget Green, Wig and Makeup Assistant David Heckman, Costume Coordinator Assistant John Howard, Head Carpenter * Esmeralda De Leon, Costume Coordinator * Nara Lesser, Costume Production Assistant * Jae Liburd, Operations Driver Beth Mathis, Assistant Stage Manager Melissa McClung, Technical and Production Administrator Tatyana Miller, Junior Draper Amanda Mitchell, Wig & Makeup Design Director Cam Nguyen, Costume Technician Bradley Roast, Technical Director Emma Rocheleau, Assistant Stage Manager Colter Schoenfish, Assistant Director Ian Silverman, Assistant Director Rachel Smith, Assistant Head Electrician and Board Operator Stephanie Smith, Assistant Director

H O U S T O N Meghan Spear, Assistant Stage Manager Dotti Staker, Principal Wig Maker and Wig Shop Manager * Bryan Stinnet, Assistant Carpenter/Head Flyperson Paully Tran, Sr. First Hand * Phillip Tyler, Head of Sound Myrna Vallejo, Costume Shop Supervisor * Sean Waldron, Head of Props * Annie Wheeler, Production Stage Manager * Eric Wirfel, Associate Technical Director

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2025/2026 SEASON

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A Little Night Music (Sondheim) OH! Holiday Celebration Concert Lucidity (Kaminsky/Cote) Don Pasquale (Donizetti)

*denotes 10 or more years of service

713.861.5303 www.operaintheheights.org

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TAKE HOME AN EXCLUSIVE MEMORY THAT WILL LAST AFTER THE CURTAIN CLOSES .

Fin d it in t h e G ran d Foye r, n ex t to t h e Ca fé .

NEW PRODUCTION

JAN 23 – FEB 8

NEXT ON STAGE! JOIN US FOR OUR WINTER PRODUCTIONS, TICKETS START AT $25

F A M I LY D AY, F E B 1 4

JAN 30 – FEB 15

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