Opera Cues Winter 2023 - Madame Butterfly

VOLUME 64 NUMBER 02

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WINTER 2024

YOUR GUIDE TO MADAME BUTTERFLY PG. 52

A M E S SAG E F RO M TH E G E N E R A L D I R EC TO R A N D CEO

Welcome to the Wortham Theater Center, and an extraordinarily special time for Houston Grand Opera. If you did not have Parsifal on your HGO 2023-24 season bingo card, you’re not alone. This is the company’s second-ever presentation of Wagner’s epic opera, which our city hasn’t seen since 1992. There is something so improbable about this moment—and so perfect.

Parsifal isn’t just a holy grail story. From performing the work to seeing it to producing it, this is also the holy grail of operas. Those of us present—here in this theater, in Houston, Texas, in 2024—have grasped the opportunity of a lifetime.

This is an opera that requires tremendous investment: intellectual, artistic, financial, educational, experiential, institutional, emotional… If you want a chance at unlocking a piece like this, you cannot hold anything back. I am so grateful that HGO has the resources required to undertake this quest.

Just as essential, the stars have aligned such that a group of operatic unicorns, each able to meet Wagner’s near-impossible vocal demands—tenor Russell Thomas (Parsifal), soprano Elena Pankratova (Kundry), bass Kwangchul Youn (Gurnemanz), and bass-baritone Ryan McKinny (Amfortas)—could convene here, together, to perform for you alongside the world-renowned HGO Orchestra and Chorus, with HGO Principal Guest Conductor Eun Sun Kim at the podium.

It takes mature artistry, a dash of Don Quixote, and a deep grasp of Wagner’s esoteric masterpiece for a director to attempt a project of this magnitude. No one embodies those qualities like John Caird. We at HGO are thrilled to present his stunning production.

Perhaps the most achingly gorgeous opera ever written, Madame Butterfly, is the perfect foil to Parsifal. One needs no historical knowledge—only a beating heart—to understand the power of this story and be moved by Puccini’s music.

For that reason, it’s this opera that has sparked a lifetime love of the art form for so many of us.

From its premiere in 1904 at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala until the present day, this piece has been welcoming new audiences to the world’s operatic stages. Our own beloved artistic and music director, Patrick Summers, has conducted Madame Butterfly more than 300 times. What a gift to have him at the podium for this opera.

And what a cast HGO has brought together to join Maestro Summers for Michael Grandage’s acclaimed production: soprano Ailyn Pérez as our Cio-Cio-San, tenor Yongzhao Yu as Pinkerton, bass-baritone Michael Sumuel as Sharpless, and mezzo-soprano Sun-Ly Pierce as Suzuki. I’m so grateful that we as Houstonians get to experience artistry at this level—one that is unsurpassed anywhere in the world.

Thank you for joining us on this journey.

Khori Dastoor General Director and CEO Margaret Alkek Williams Chair HGO.ORG

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JOIN US

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 Jennifer Bowman John Caird Khori Dastoor Amber Francis Kunio Hara Alisa Magallón Patrick Summers

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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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For more information, contact Brooke Rogers 713-546-0271 | HGO.org/operaball

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5 7 5 N O I L L I M $ $ 75 MILLION 5 TO TEXAS YOUTH AND EDUCATION SINCE 1932

In 2023 alone, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™ has provided more than $2 million to 50 organizations and programs including: AFA • Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation • Big Brothers Sisters Lone Star Glassell School of Art • Houston Ballet • Houston Police Foundation • Houston Symphony Houston Zoo • Children’s Museum of Houston • Theatre Under The Stars • and many others!

HOUSTON GRAND OPERA

SMALL STEPS NURTURING CENTER

SCHREINER UNIVERSITY

The Show supports Houston Grand Opera’s Community and Learning initiative, including the Student Performance Series, Opera To Go!, and Storybook Opera. The program serves nearly 70,000 students every season and has been a Show grant recipient for the past 20 years.

Small Steps Nurturing Center is a comprehensive, high-quality early childhood education program that prepares children living in poverty for success in elementary school and life.

Small Steps operates two preschools in Houston at no financial cost to the families they serve. Over the next year, Small Steps expects to serve approximately 180 children.

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

HOUSTON LIVESTOCK SHOW AND RODEO™

FEB. 27 - MARCH 17, 2024

VISIT RODEOHOUSTON.COM TO LEARN MORE

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CONTENTS 1

A Message from Khori Dastoor

12 News and Notes 66 Special Events 70 Butler Studio 75 Impresarios Circle 80 Annual Support 92 Calendar

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94 Plan Your Visit

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FEATURES 18 Truth and Opera: A Series

Khori Dastoor in conversation with soprano Ailyn Pérez.

20 Love's Call

Patrick Summers on the eternal appeal of Madame Butterfly.

24 Parsing Parsifal

John Caird’s interpretive approach to Wagner’s final opera.

30 Taking the Plunge

A dive into The Big Swim with composer Meilina Tsui and librettist Melisa Tien.

34 Traveling with Madame Butterfly Cultural consultant Kunio Hara on his journey with Puccini's opera.

64 Portrait of a Wagnerian

Matt Healey on the minute the composer’s work grabbed him—and never let go.

72 Out of Character: Sun-Ly Pierce The mezzo-soprano performs in both Madame Butterfly and The Big Swim.

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Photo credit: Chris Singer

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AT THE

OPERA A GUIDE TO OUR WINTER REPERTOIRE

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52

PARSIFAL

MADAME BUTTERFLY

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Program Quick Start Guide Cast & Synopsis Who’s Who

Program Quick Start Guide Cast & Synopsis Who’s Who

Photo credit: Robert Kusel

HGO.ORG

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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 3 -2 4 O FFI CER S

Joshua Davidson

Sid Moorhead

Claire Liu, Chair of the Board

David B. Duthu *

Sara Morgan

Allyn Risley, Senior Chair of the Board

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

Terrylin G. Neale, Houston Grand Opera Endowment, Inc. Secretary; Treasurer

Janet Langford Carrig,

Chair Emeritus of the Board

Benjamin Fink, Finance Committee Chair

Ward Pennebaker, Audiences Committee Co-Chair

Lynn Wyatt, Vice Chair of the Board

Joe Geagea

Cynthia Petrello

Michaela Greenan, Audit Committee Vice Chair

Gloria M. Portela

MEMB ER S AT L A R GE

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

Matthew L. Ringel, Audiences Committee Co-Chair

Richard E. Agee Thomas R. Ajamie Robin Angly * John S. Arnoldy * Christopher V. Bacon Michelle Beale, Governance Committee Chair Astley Blair, Audit Committee Chair Albert Chao Louise G. Chapman Mathilda Cochran, Community & Learning Committee Chair

Kelly Brunetti Rose

Selda Gunsel

Glen A. Rosenbaum Secretary; General Counsel

Matt Healey, Finance Committee Vice Chair Richard Husseini

Jack A. Roth, M.D., Butler Studio Committee Chair

José M. Ivo, Philanthropy Committee Vice Chair

Harlan C. Stai John G. Turner *

Myrtle Jones

Veer Vasishta

Marianne Kah, Houston Grand Opera Endowment, Inc. Chair

Alfredo Vilas Margaret Alkek Williams

David LePori, Governance Committee Vice Chair

James W. Crownover

Gabriel Loperena, Philanthropy Committee Chair

Khori Dastoor

Beth Madison *

Albert O. Cornelison Jr. *

Allyson Pritchett

*Senior Director

H O U S T O N G R A N D O P E R A A S S O C I AT I O N C H A I R S 1955–58 Elva Lobit

1974–75 Charles T. Bauer

1991–93 Constantine S. Nicandros

2009 Gloria M. Portela

1958–60 Stanley W. Shipnes

1975–77 Maurice J. Aresty

1993–95 J. Landis Martin

2009–11 Glen A. Rosenbaum

1960–62 William W. Bland

1977–79 Searcy Bracewell

1995–97 Robert C. McNair

2011–13 Beth Madison

1962–64 Thomas D. Anderson

1979–81 Robert Cizik

2013–16 John Mendelsohn, M.D.

1964–66 Marshall F. Wells

1981–83 Terrylin G. Neale

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

1966–68 John H. Heinzerling

1983–84 Barry Munitz

1968–70 Lloyd P. Fadrique

1984–85 Jenard M. Gross

1970–71 Ben F. Love

1985–87 Dr. Thomas D. Barrow

1971–73 Joe H. Foy

1987–89 John M. Seidl

1973–74 Gray C. Wakefield

1989–91 James L. Ketelsen

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

2016–18 James W. Crownover 2018–20 Janet Langford Carrig 2020–22 Allyn Risley 2022–present Claire Liu

IMPRESARIOS CIRCLE IMPR E S A R I O S CIR CL E $100,000 OR MORE Judy and Richard Agee Robin Angly and Miles Smith The Brown Foundation, Inc. Carol Franc Buck Foundation Sarah and Ernest Butler Anne and Albert Chao Louise G. Chapman The Robert and Jane Cizik Foundation Mathilda Cochran ConocoPhillips Mr. and Mrs. James W. Crownover The Cullen Foundation The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts

City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance Connie Dyer Edgar Foster Daniels Foundation The Elkins Foundation Frost Bank Gordon Getty

Novum Energy

Elizabeth and Richard Husseini

Allyson Pritchett

Donna Kaplan and Richard A. Lydecker

Jill and Allyn Risley Glen A. Rosenbaum

Claire Liu and Joe Greenberg

Susan D. Sarofim

Beth Madison

Shell USA, Inc.

Paul Marsden

Dian and Harlan Stai

The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation

Texas Commission on the Arts

Mr. and Mrs. D. Bradley McWilliams

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

M. D. Anderson Foundation

Veer Vasishta

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Diane B. Wilsey

Matt Healey

Sara and Bill Morgan

Vinson & Elkins LLP

H-E-B

National Endowment for the Arts

Margaret Alkek Williams

National Endowment for the Humanities

Lynn Wyatt

Drs. Liz Grimm and Jack Roth Nancy Haywood William Randolph Hearst Foundation

Houston Grand Opera Endowment, Inc. Houston Methodist Humphreys Foundation

John L. Nau, III

The Wortham Foundation, Inc.

Nina and Michael Zilkha 2 Anonymous

To learn more about HGO’s Impresarios Circle members, please see page 75.

HON. THERESA AND DR. PETER CHANG, CHAIRS

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2 C U LLE N TH E ATE R

HGO.ORG/COA

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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 Greg Robertson, chief philanthropy officer, at 713-546-0274 or GRobertson@HGO.org.

Ajamie LLP

Frost Bank

Baker Botts L.L.P.

Marianne and Joe Geagea

Dr. Saúl and Ursula Balagura

Drs. Liz Grimm and Jack Roth

Michelle Beale and Dick Anderson

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

M. David Lowe and Nana Booker Booker · Lowe Gallery

Matt Healey

Anne and Albert Chao Jane Cizik ConocoPhillips Mr. and Mrs. James W. Crownover Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Davidson Connie Dyer Drs. Rachel and Warren A. Ellsworth IV

Houston Methodist Myrtle Jones Marianne Kah Carolyn J. Levy Claire Liu and Joe Greenberg Gabriel Loperena Beth Madison Paul Marsden John P. McGovern Foundation

The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Sharyn and Jerry Metcalf Dr. and Mrs. Miguel Miro-Quesada Kathleen Moore and Steven Homer Sid Moorhead Novum Energy Allyson Pritchett

Dian and Harlan Stai Sheila Swartzman Rhonda Sweeney Mr. John G. Turner and Mr. Jerry G. Fischer Vinson & Elkins LLP Veer Vasishta Helen Wils and Leonard Goldstein R. Alan and Frank York Anonymous

Matthew L. Ringel Jill and Allyn Risley Kelly and David Rose Glen A. Rosenbaum John Serpe and Tracy Maddox

HGO.ORG

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P R E M I E R U N D E RW R I T E R S GR A ND UND ERWR I T ER — $50,000 OR MORE

Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Nickson

Thomas R. Ajamie

Isabel and Ignacio Torras

Ken and Donna Barrow

Alejandra and Héctor Torres

Mrs. Mercedes Bass

Mr. and Mrs. Jesse B. Tutor

Michelle Beale and Dick Anderson

2 Anonymous

Nana Booker and M. David Lowe Booker · Lowe Gallery Meg Boulware and Hartley Hampton Janet and John Carrig Dr. Peter Chang and Hon. Theresa Chang

Ms. Katherine Reynolds

UND ERWR I T ER — $25,000 OR MORE Dr. Dina Alsowayel and Mr. Anthony R. Chase Christopher Bacon and Craig Miller

Lynn Gissel

Beverly and Staman Ogilvie

Leonard A. Goldstein and Helen B. Wils

Cynthia and Anthony Petrello Elizabeth Phillips

Michaela and Nicholas Greenan

Gloria M. Portela

Janet Gurwitch and Ron Franklin

Kelly and David Rose

Dr. Linda L. Hart Brenda Harvey-Traylor Gary Hollingsworth and Ken Hyde Myrtle Jones Marianne Kah

Matthew L. Ringel

Ms. Jill Schaar and Mr. George Caflisch John Serpe and Tracy Maddox Dr. Ioannis Skaribas and Dr. Evelina Skaribas Jeff Stocks and Juan Lopez

Dr. Saúl and Ursula Balagura

Kirk Kveton and Daniel Irion

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

Mr. and Mrs. Frank N. Barnes

Mr. and Mrs. Richard J. Langenstein

Sheila Swartzman

Ms. Marty Dudley

Dr. Gudrun H. Becker

Drs. Rachel and Warren A. Ellsworth IV

Ms. Helen Berggruen

Marianne and Joe Geagea Amanda and Morris Gelb

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

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

Mr. Eliodoro Castillo and Dr. Eric McLaughlin

Mr. Jay Hiemenz

Shelly Cyprus

Muffy and Mike McLanahan

Stephanie Larsen

Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Davidson

Will L. McLendon

Alfred W. Lasher III

Ms. Sasha Davis

Amy and Mark Melton

Carolyn J. Levy

Dr. Elaine DeCanio

Barbara and Pat McCelvey

Lynn Des Prez

Dr. and Mrs. Miguel Miro-Quesada

Laura and Brad McWilliams

Rebecca and Brian Duncan

Terrylin G. Neale

C.C. and Duke Ensell

Franci Neely

Jennifer and Benjamin Fink

Melinda and Bill Brunger

Michelle Klinger and Ruain Flanagan

Stephanie Larsen Lori and David LePori Sharon Ley Lietzow and Robert Lietzow Mrs. Rosemary Malbin Dr. Laura Marsh

Mr. David Montague Kathleen Moore and Steven Homer

Rhonda Sweeney James M. Trimble and Sylvia Barnes Mr. Scott B. Ulrich and Mr. Ernest A. Trevino John C. Tweed Laura and Georgios Varsamis Mary Lee and Jim Wallace Helen Wils and Leonard Goldstein Mary and David Wolff Mr. Trey M. Yates Alan and Frank York 2 Anonymous

Sid Moorhead Diane K. Morales

T H E L E A D E R S H I P CO U N C I L The Leadership Council is a program designed to provide fiscal stability to Houston Grand Opera’s Annual Fund through three-year commitments, with a minimum of $10,000 pledged annually. We gratefully acknowledge these members.

Mrs. Susan Bloome

Anna and Brad Eastman

Elizabeth and Bill Kroger

Adel and Jason Sander

Mr. and Mrs. Lester P. Burgess

John E. Frantz

Jan and Nathan Meehan

Mrs. Helen P. Shaffer

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Burleson

Christine and Gerard Gaynor

Terrylin G. Neale

Mr. and Mrs. John Untereker

Dr. Peter Chang and Hon. Theresa Chang

Dr. and Mrs. David P. Gill

Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Pancherz

Georgios and Laura Varsamis

Mr. Anthony Chapman Ms. Anna M. Dean Elisabeth DeWitts

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Ms. Dianne L. Gross Brenda Harvey-Traylor Ann and Stephen Kaufman Ann Koster

Dr. Angela Rechichi-Apollo Ed and Janet Rinehart

Mary Lee and Jim Wallace

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

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Husseini

OPERA America

Robin Angly and Miles Smith

The Edgar Foster Daniels Foundation

Marianne Kah

Allyson Pritchett

Bank of America

The Elkins Foundation

Ms. Katherine Reynolds

Nana Booker and M. David Lowe Booker · Lowe Gallery

Drs. Rachel and Warren A. Ellsworth IV In memory of Warren A. “Chip” Ellsworth III

Donna Kaplan and Richard A. Lydecker

Judy and Richard Agee

Meg Boulware and Hartley Hampton/ Boulware & Valoir

Ron Franklin and Janet Gurwitch

Kirkland & Ellis

Dian and Harlan Stai

Michelle Klinger and Ruain Flanagan Carolyn J. Levy

The Brown Foundation, Inc.

Claire Liu and Joe Greenberg

Carol Franc Buck Foundation

Marianne and Joe Geagea

Muffy and Mike McLanahan

Kiana K. Caleb and Troy L. Sullivan

Amanda and Morris Gelb

The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation

Louise G. Chapman

Drs. Liz Grimm and Jack Roth

The Robert and Jane Cizik Foundation

Linda Hart

ConocoPhillips The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts Sasha Davis Dr. Elaine DeCanio Connie Dyer

Brenda Harvey-Traylor Matt Healey Mr. Jay Hiemenz Houston Grand Opera Endowment, Inc.

Laura and Brad McWilliams Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Sara and Bill Morgan

Margaret Alkek Williams Helen Wils and Leonard Goldstein Dede Wilsey Mary and David Wolff The Wortham Foundation, Inc. Alan and Frank York

Nabors Industries John L. Nau, III Terrylin G. Neale Franci Neely

Houston Methodist

Norton Rose Fulbright LLP

Humphreys Foundation

Novum Energy

HGO OPERA CAMP

Mr. John G. Turner and Mr. Jerry G. Fischer Vinson & Elkins

Frost Bank

Gordon Getty

Glen Rosenbaum

A RT O F O PE R A A three-week camp at the Wortham Theater Center (grades 9-12)

J ULY 1–19, 2024* * no ca mp on weekend s or Ju ly 4 -5.

CREATE AN OPERA Two weeklong camps at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church (grades 3-8) R EGISTER TODAY AT HGO.ORG!

J UN E 10– 14 & 17 –21, 2024 HGO.ORG

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HGO PARTNERS WITH APPLE MU SIC CL ASSICAL This fall, HGO made a thrilling announcement: that the company had become the second opera company in the country to join forces with Apple Music Classical, Apple Music’s new app for classical music lovers.

“As an international company serving an international city, one that each season hosts singers and musicians of peerless artistry, we invite you to join us from around the globe,” HGO General Director and CEO Khori Dastoor said in a statement. “We are thrilled to expand our programming to a worldwide audience through our strong new partnership with Apple, whose commitment to excellence and innovation is in perfect alignment with our own long history.”

The company will use the platform to release new music alongside remastered selections from its trove of historic recordings—the first of which is now available. Download the Apple Music Classical app to access HGO’s iconic 2011 album, Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, now remastered in Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos for an unparalleled immersive, multidimensional listening experience.

There is much more to come—including a recording of this fall’s world premiere, Intelligence, also composed by Heggie—so stay tuned!

Scan QR code to access Apple Music Classical and listen to Dead Man Walking

BIG WINS FOR THE BUTLER STUDIO AT OPERALIA For the past three decades, Plácido Domingo’s Operalia, the World Opera Competition has convened professional opera singers from across the world for its exciting annual event, always held at a different international locale. Hundreds of performers auditioned to compete in Operalia 2023, which took place this fall at the Artscape Theatre Center in Cape Town, South Africa, with only a handful selected as finalists.

This year’s competition was a thrilling success for two alumni—and one current member!—of the Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio. It was gratifying for all of us at HGO to witness the artists from our Studio receiving international recognition at the highest level.

Join us in congratulating these inspiring singers: • Baritone Luke Sutliff, United States, Butler Studio class of 2023: Second Prize • Soprano Elena Villalón, United States, Butler Studio class of 2022: Third Prize; Rolex Prize of the Audience • Baritone Navasard Hakobyan, Armenia, second-year Butler Studio artist: Third Prize; The Don Plácido Domingo Ferrer Prize of Zarzuela

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Clockwise from left: Navasard Hakobyan, Luke Sutliff, Elena Villalón.

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Soprano Nicole Heaston at Giving Voice 2023

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JOIN US IN SONG! Giving Voice celebrates five years with amazing music and community engagement.

Last year’s Giving Voice concert at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church was an event unlike any other HGO has produced in its 68-year history. The crowd of nearly 2,000 (along with 11,000 viewers on YouTube) experienced an uplifting evening of Black history through music and tributes.

The Giving Voice concert series, created by American tenor Lawrence Brownlee, will return to WABC on Friday, March 8, 2024—International Women's Day. With Women’s History Month also celebrated throughout March, the fifth annual event promises to be sensational as it highlights the artistry and contributions of Black women in opera and the Houston community.

The concert will feature spectacular arias sung by world-class operatic soloists including Grammy Award-winning soprano Latonia Moore, tenor Limmie Pulliam, and baritone Justin Austin; rousing choral works by a mass choir of singers from WABC, the Houston Ebony Opera Guild, and HGO; and a special performance from Houston’s emerging spiritual ensemble, Voices of Houston. The event also brings the world premiere of songs by HGO Composer in Residence Joel Thompson. The music, based on poems by former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove, will be performed by second-year Butler Studio soprano Renée Richardson, accompanied by Thompson on the piano.

Giving Voice is just a portion of the partnership between our organizations. Last summer, Wheeler was the site of HGO’s Create an Opera Summer Camp, and HGO recently hosted the church’s members for a production of Falstaff during Wheeler Night at the Opera.

Butler Studio artist and soprano Renée Richardson at the concert last year

Richard Bado conducting the 2023 concert

Tickets for Giving Voice are now available at HGO.org.

HGO.ORG

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CO M PA N Y H O LD S L A RG E S TE V E R CH I LD R E N ’ S AU D ITI O N S This fall, 450 young singers registered to audition for HGO’s spring production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music. Over the course of 12 hours at the Wortham Theater Center, they sang their best renditions of “The Sound of Music” and “Do-Re-Mi,” hoping to be cast as one of the von Trapp children in the beloved musical.

After a day of callbacks, six talented young performers were selected, with an additional six in cover roles. Those cast will receive the incredible opportunity to appear on the Wortham stage alongside HGO’s acclaimed Chorus, Orchestra, and world-class opera stars including superstar mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, who will perform the role of Maria after making her acclaimed company debut last season as Charlotte in Werther.

The children’s auditions for the family-friendly show were the largest in HGO history, making for an exciting day for both the company and the young hopefuls. Whether or not they were cast, it’s safe to say quite a few of the aspiring performers will be there in the theater, cheering along, when the curtain rises on the classic musical this spring. “Our family all loves The Sound of Music,” one mother said. “My daughter was adamant about coming back to see the show, no matter what happens.”

Albert and Ethel Herzstein

Gallery for Judaica Announcing the Museum’s new gallery showcasing works of art made for Jewish communities around the world to fulfill the practice of their faith. Learn more at mfah.org/Judaica.

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SUPPORT HOUSTON GRAND OPERA. VOLUNTEER WITH THE

HGO GUILD! BECOME A MEMBER, AND YOU’LL GET THE CHANCE TO: •

Engage the community through opera and classical music education that expands the imagination,

•

Lend your talents to provide services from program delivery, to welcoming artists, to fundraising,

•

Recruit new members to enrich audiences’ opera experience through outreach and events,

•

And MUCH more!

Visit guild@hgoguild.org or call 713-546-0269 for info.

HGO.ORG

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Dear Opera Patron, On behalf of Vinson & Elkins LLP, welcome to the Wortham Theater Center for a stunning performance of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, presented by Houston Grand Opera. Our firm is proud to underwrite this wonderful production in HGO’s 2023-24 season.

Vinson & Elkins LLP was founded in Houston more than 100 years ago. Today, we are a pre-eminent global law firm, with 11 offices and more than 700 lawyers. A cornerstone of our firm’s culture is our belief in using our talents and resources to enhance the local community, including supporting the world-class arts and culture partners, like HGO, that make Houston such a vibrant city.

Vinson & Elkins LLP cherishes its long history and strong relationship with HGO. In addition to underwriting this season’s production of Madame Butterfly, the firm also supports HGO through board leadership, special events, and pro bono legal services as the organization’s General Counsel, a position we have held for 40 years.

Thank you for joining us. We are excited to share this performance with you, and hope you enjoy your experience at HGO. Sincerely, Keith Fullenweider Chair, Vinson & Elkins LLP

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2023/24 SEASON

Guettel-Lucas

The Light in the Piazza Feb. 16, 17, 18

Puccini

LaApr.Bohème 5, 7, 12, 13

713.861.5303 www.operaintheheights.org

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For a personal appointment to view our current collection, or for more information about our services, please contact us at: info@bookerlowegallery.com • 713.880.1541

Joicie Pitjarra Morton My Country 36” X 30” Image © the artist and Booker • Lowe

HGO.ORG

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TRUE TO HERSELF A CONVER SATION WITH SOPR ANO AILY N PÉREZ

By Khori Dastoor General Director and CEO

Ailyn Pérez joins HGO after taking center stage at the Met. Photo credit: Dario Acosta

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L

ike her character at HGO this season, Madame Butterfly, the enchanting soprano Ailyn Pérez is undergoing a transformation.

At the time of our chat, she’s in New York, rehearsing something else: her role debut as the title character in Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas at the Metropolitan Opera. It’s a big moment.

Expectations are sky-high. Ailyn can be seen on billboards throughout the city. The opera, which made its world premiere at HGO in 1996, is the first Spanishlanguage work the Met has presented in more than a century, and as the daughter of Mexican immigrants, Ailyn feels the weight of that.

But she feels ready—not only when it comes to preparing for the role, but also for playing the lead in other ways. “At this stage,” she says, “I’ve finally figured out what it really takes to arrive on the first day and be a leader, to be an encourager.” The opportunity, she explains, has come at the right moment in her career. A moment of evolution.

As we talk, I’m struck by Ailyn’s honesty and vulnerability—the kind that only comes paired with confidence. She tells me about a challenge she encountered making her role debut as Cio-Cio-San in Madame Butterfly this past September, at Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. Something kept throwing her off at the top of Act Three, when Butterfly realizes that Pinkerton has finally returned to Japan.

“Suzuki!” Ailyn would sing. “Dove sei?” At that moment, something would interrupt her rhythm: seeing Kate, Pinkerton’s American wife. “If Kate is anywhere in my visuals, I’m going to lose it,” Ailyn explains. “I kept telling the director, Please move her! Put her in the darkness.

Put her in the wings. Put her in the orchestra. Don’t put her in front of me.”

I understand what she’s saying. To fully inhabit her role, to feel Butterfly’s truth and continue in her steadfast belief that she’ll be reunited with Pinkerton, Ailyn cannot yet have her eyes on the character who embodies his new life—and Butterfly’s destruction.

In Ailyn’s interpretation, Butterfly’s path is her choice.

She is so in love that she has made the decision to honor that above all else, and having done that, nothing can convince her that she and Pinkerton won’t be together, “Un bel dì.”

We reflect on the way others try to convince Cio-Cio-San that her marriage is not, and never was, real. But Butterfly knows the incontrovertible truth.

It is right there, embodied in her child with Pinkerton. “Her love, I think, personifies into her son,” says Ailyn. “And she says, When your father comes back, your name will be Joy. Gioia, you know? And I think that she’s waiting for that rebirth.”

I ask Ailyn about her own rebirth, as she moves toward heavier roles. With candor, she admits the rite of passage has, at times, been scary. Taking on the famously difficult role of Madame Butterfly, “I thought, What’s it going to be like? Can I do it? Can I get through it?” And then she did, and she realized: “I don’t have to be afraid. It’s perfect. It fits.”

She thinks of the great Cio-Cio-Sans she’s seen. Now she’s one of them, and she cannot wait to return to Houston to perform the role again with Patrick Summers, whom she calls a “visionary,” at the podium.

She knows she can live up to “the way Puccini loves to pile on all the colors at the same time,” that she possesses “the emotional depth” the role requires.

And—different from before—she knows those things not because someone else said them, but because they are her truth. “Before, I was waiting for a leader, a maestro, a director to inform me, to give me the affirmation instead of it coming from within.

And as I’ve grown and matured, I’ve realized, I was waiting for the outer world to affirm something that only I can give myself.” Welcome to your next era, Ailyn. It’s going to be the best yet. ∎

Ailyn is that kind of artist. I will never forget seeing her superb Tosca in San Francisco, or her astounding Rusalka this summer in Santa Fe. She leaves it all on the stage, reaching into herself as she seeks the truth in the characters she portrays. And she brings a vision that puts her in the pantheon of great sopranos.

In the case of Cio-Cio-San, that vision comes down to one word: agency. Ailyn doesn’t play Butterfly as a 15-year-old, or as a victim, or as crazy. “I don’t think that she’s a fool, you know? I don’t think she’s a fool.”

Photo credit: Lynn Lane

Tenor Alexey Dolgov as Pinkerton and soprano Ana María Martínez in HGO's 2015 production of Madame Butterfly.

Photo credit: Lynn Lane

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LOVE'S CALL The eternal appeal of the opera, Madame Butterf ly

By Patrick Summers, Artistic and Music Director

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iacomo Puccini was one of the first to experience a type of accident unknown before his era: in 1903 his car flipped over, nearly killing him, and his slow recovery delayed Madame Butterfly’s composition. No one in 1903 could have predicted how cars would change the world, nor how dangerous they could be—and they also would never have imagined the tremendous staying power nor the controversies surrounding Puccini’s most famous opera that has starred a huge range of sopranos as his beloved Cio-Cio-San. “Povera Butterfly!” (“Poor Butterfly!”), is famously sung by the character of Suzuki in the opera’s final act, though we might sometimes say “Povero Puccini!” The composer of three of the world’s most popular operas, Madame Butterfly, Tosca, and La bohème, Puccini (1858–1924) has always been treated with neglect by all but the very upper echelon of critics, particularly when one considers the effusive approbations showered onto other composers of his era: Mahler, Stravinsky, Richard Strauss, and Jean Sibelius, among others, who are invariably classified within the pantheon of the earlier masters. Puccini was maligned for everything: for the attention-grabbing (i.e., non-Italian) settings of many of his operas; for effeminacy, which had a different meaning then from now: it meant the particular appeal of his operas to women. Even after he proved to be the most original and clever of his age, he was accused of recycling his own music. His greatest work, and one of the greatest of all operas, is not his most famous: his extraordinary Trittico, a Metropolitan Opera commission in 1918. In Trittico, one hears the full depth of his musical and theatrical imagination, and within it he virtually invented what would just a few years later become the musical language for generations of cinema lovers.

Puccini was expected to assume the operatic and patriotic mantle of Giuseppe Verdi, whose death in 1901 left the newly united Italy without a unifying

figurehead. Puccini was in every way a lighter-hearted man, a true child of the gilded age. He aspired only to entertain and transport; he exerted no ambition to write the darkly psychological and dense works penned by Wagner, and one could scarcely imagine Puccini reading and adoring Italian translations of Shakespeare and Schiller, as Verdi did throughout his life. In an art form where aesthetics so freely float, it seems churlish to accuse Puccini of failing to achieve something to which he didn’t aspire.

Puccini’s epic Madame Butterfly is beloved by many generations of the operatic public, and it is one of the few operas with its own audience, many of whom have no interest in Parsifal or Don Giovanni. Butterfly also has handily survived the vast number of interpretational eccentricities foisted upon it, and they have been numerous over the years, but it almost didn’t survive its world premiere at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala in 1904—a night so filled with poison and partisan jealousy that it threatened to bury the work forever. Initially, it appeared that the vicious cabal that launched the audience on the attack had succeeded. Puccini withdrew his opera before its second performance.

Historians have tried to piece together the reason for the failure, but it is all too clear, given human nature: several jealous Italian composers and music publishers had a vested interest in the failure of any Puccini opera.

Puccini refunded his commission money to La Scala, and in place of the scheduled second performance, the company performed Gounod’s Faust. In the following months, Puccini revised Butterfly for the Italian city of Brescia, where it was a success. London heard the work a little over a year later, and by the time Puccini’s beloved heroine made it to New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 1907, starring the famed Geraldine Ferrar, Enrico Caruso, and conducted by Toscanini, the opera was fully resuscitated from its rocky initiation.

It has been, thankfully, an indestructible staple of the repertoire ever since.

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The genesis of Puccini’s opera is well documented, if often somewhat embellished for dramatic effect: he was in London for the British premiere of Tosca when he saw a one-act play by David Belasco, Madam Butterfly, based on a short story by John Luther Long, Madame Butterfly (the “Madam,” “Madame,” and “Madama” distinctions are rarely made today, as an international work the opera is called all three). Long’s popular story was itself based partly on Pierre Loti’s 1887 novel Madame Crysanthéme and on stories by his sister Jeanne, who had lived in Nagasaki in the late nineteenth century, about a geisha girl abandoned by a foreign husband and driven to despair.

Much has been made of the fact that Puccini spoke barely a word of English when he attended Belasco’s play, but it’s probably a good thing; one reads Belasco’s play now and cringes at the syrupy writing and ethnically-clichéd Asian English-isms, none of which appear in the final libretto of the opera. You will never see a revival of the play on which the opera, Madama Butterfly, is based, and that fact says a lot about the power of Puccini’s opera. Since Puccini couldn’t understand a word of the play, the scenes that made the deepest impression on him were the scenes requiring no words at all: the all-night vigil, for which Puccini wrote the atmospheric “humming” chorus, and the final tragic scene, both inventions of Belasco not found in the source materials. Long’s story is a period piece that is either quaint or sinister, depending on your vantage point, appearing as it does only a few years after Japan was opened to the trading west in 1860, the same temporal distance between right now and the Clinton administration. The perceived exoticism of Asia was intoxicating to the European and American world, made even more so by the burgeoning art of photography. Japanese art swept the world at this time, as painting and ceramic techniques from the land of the rising sun were taken up by Manet, Monet, Degas, and a host of others. Japan became, in this era, an integral part of the international cultural world for the first time.

And so did Puccini’s title role: many types of sopranos have enjoyed success in the iconic role. Rosina Storchio, Puccini’s first Cio-Cio-San, had a light and lyric voice—she was a Susanna in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, and Gretel in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel.

Verdian sopranos of a heavier variety have also sung the part. One of Puccini’s favorite interpreters of the role was Italian soprano Toti dal Monte, a famous Gilda in Rigoletto, among many other lighter roles for which she was famous. Puccini often spoke about dal Monte’s sfumato quality, a word associated with Italian painting, as it was one of the four qualities of Renaissance brush work, perfected by Leonardo da Vinci: an ability to shade, to draw a veil over a scene. Our heroine here this season at HGO, Ailyn Pérez, joins the legacy of 22

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distinguished sopranos who have drawn on a wide range of Puccini’s inspirations.

It frustrates some that operatic casting is so utterly different from any other art. This is because operas are an acoustic musical and theatrical art, and so opera is an art in which the great life force of the human singing voice is a primary consideration.

Great voices come in all kinds of bodies and from all kinds of cultures.

Is Madame Butterfly even about Japan? Or is it an Italian opera that happens to be set in Japan? Puccini had a music box from China that had tunes he later incorporated into Madame Butterfly and Turandot.

This wasn’t insensitivity, though we may classify it as such retroactively—it was simply that Japan was his setting and not his subject. Music boxes from Asia were the extent of musicological research by most European composers in the late 19th century, and the music boxes were themselves a product of colonialism, mostly acquired at auctions following the Boxer Rebellion. We can take an absolutist view of Madame Butterfly, or insist it be treated as a documentary instead of a transitory acoustic art. Another option is to approach it with nuance and try to live up to its own aspirations as best we can in any given era. We have choices.

The Japanese soprano Yoko Watanabe had a substantial career singing many Italianate roles like Tosca and Mimi, and she was a wonderful colleague with whom I had the privilege to work several times.

With her beautiful lyric soprano voice, she also had great acclaim in Madame Butterfly, which she knew was partly because of her own cultural heritage. Yet, she always claimed, “I am Japanese, and my figure is Japanese, but the music is Italian, so I try not to do too much of what we would think of as Japanese theatrical movement. In Japanese theater, our movements are very small. We walk in small steps; we make small gestures. I don’t believe those would really convey the character of Butterfly fully to the public. After all, this is a very dramatic opera.” What her statement says to us, I believe, is the Cio-Cio-San is a character for the ages, and her appeal and empathy is beyond nationality or culture. This is the quality that great roles empower: the actor playing Hamlet does not need to be Danish to ignite the role for us.

There are few passages in opera as musically entrancing as the entrance of Cio-Cio-San in Madame Butterfly. Firstly, the words are utterly honest, childlike, and sadly prescient, “I have answered love’s call…I came to love’s threshold where the good is gathered of those who live and those who die.” A delicate solo violin, viola, and cello, with lush answering chords on the harp and glockenspiel, accompany her to the stage. Pinkerton,

so often dismissed as just a bad guy, is more complicated: he is a naive youngster, lost in what he considers to be a play land, traveling where he’s sure he’ll never be again, and his music is that of a swaggering and overly confident frat boy, not a monster. His heartfelt and touchingly remorseful third-act aria can feel false to today’s audiences, accustomed as they are to PR-firm-scripted displays of remorse.

Puccini’s musical quote of “The Star Spangled Banner” is interesting. The tune is very old, written in the 1760s as a drinking song for the Anacreontic Society, a London men’s club named after the bawdy Greek poems of Anacreon. Fifty years later, Francis Scott Key wrote his poem to commemorate a battle of the War of 1812. Key has an interesting Texan connection.

He was only an amateur poet—by profession he was an attorney, and he was the defense for Sam Houston himself, in his trial for assaulting a fellow congressman, which forced his immigration to what was then Mexican Texas. Only during the Hoover Presidency, in 1931, did the song become the official anthem of the United States. In 1904, it would have had specific associations only with the U.S. Navy, which in the late 1880s had begun to play the song upon arrival in foreign ports. Puccini uses the music several times later in the opera, most movingly when Cio-Cio-San triumphantly declares the triumph of her faith in her husband’s return on the USS Abraham Lincoln.

HGO has presented Madame Butterfly a dozen different times throughout the years. Clockwise from top left: historic images from productions in 2010, 1972, 1968, 1983, and 1998.

We hear an authentically Japanese melody at the end of Cio-Cio-San’s entrance music. A short time later in Act One, Puccini transforms this music into one of Madame Butterfly’s most affecting passages, a brief and childlike aria accompanied by a quietly fluttering harp. One of opera’s most beloved heroines confesses that she will happily forego the religion of her youth to accept the foreign faith of her new husband. In a subtle microcosm of cultural destiny, masked by beauty and momentary expectation, the inexorable tragedy is set quietly into motion. It explains, as well, the everlasting appeal of this beautiful opera.

Io seguo il mio destino e piena d’umilta, Al Dio del signor Pinkerton m’inchino. È mio destino.

Nella stessa chiesetta in ginocchio con voi Pregherò lo stesso Dio. (I follow my destiny and, full of humility, I bow to Mr. Pinkerton’s God. It is my destiny.

In the same little church, kneeling with you, I’ll pray to the same God.) ∎

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PA R S I N G

CELEBR ATED DIREC TOR JOHN C AIRD ON HI S INTERPRE TIVE APPROACH TO WAGNER ’ S FINAL OPER A .

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ome consider redemption to be the overall theme of Wagner’s Parsifal. Just as frequently people seem to think it’s all about compassion. But it’s about both, isn’t it?

John Caird: Compassion and redemption. Yes, one is very dependent on the other. The theme of redemption— Parsifal’s redemption—is entirely tied up with whether or not he learns compassion. That’s the fundamental story of the work that the opera is based on: Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival from the early 13th century.

Parsifal has to grow up and become a proper man by understanding what compassion is. In the original story, his inability to feel compassion for Amfortas when he first meets him is proof that he needs to redeem himself before he is worthy of the Grail. Wagner has closely followed that story line.

You mentioned the idea that Wagner was using the piece as a vehicle to redeem himself. How is it an autobiographical work, and what was he redeeming himself from?

Caird: Wagner seems to fill all his characters with some autobiographical elements. Most obviously he is Parsifal, the questing knight, just as he was in life. Wagner quested after new developments in music—in a long and quite lonely aesthetic journey, just as Parsifal, the holy fool, quests for the truth in his journey. But Wagner is also present in Amfortas, the psychologically and sexually wounded man. He was, all his life, an extraordinarily self-inquiring man. He couldn’t leave himself alone in terms of his thought processes and artistic accomplishments. He felt slights against him very deeply; indeed, he felt all his personal relationships very deeply, with family, friends, and enemies. The portrait of Amfortas as a man who needs healing, who needs redemption, is undoubtedly autobiographical.

Wagner is there, too, in Klingsor, the libertine, the sybaritic man who kicks against the conventional world by indulging himself and defying the social proprieties around him. In a strange way he’s even present in Kundry— as the man who just wants to serve others. All of this is another way of saying that Wagner’s writing technique involved steeping himself in the characters he was writing—acting them out in his imagination as he wrote them, which was why they’re all written, in their way, so sympathetically.

There aren’t villains and heroes in the sense of one character being evidently superior or more morally worthy than another. Even Klingsor is written passionately from Klingsor’s point of view. You can feel the pain of the man, and the deep emotional commitment needed to conquer his enemies as he develops his stratagems.

You’ve spoken about this being “a hermetically sealed male society.”

Caird: This is the theme from which Wagner has strayed furthest from the original source material. In the Wolfram von Eschenbach story, the exploits of the knights are all being done in service of ladies. The knights’ primary mission is to be worthy of their womenfolk. Indeed, that is the overriding theme of most medieval romance literature. Wagner has chosen to lose that side of the story completely, and it’s interesting to ask why. It explains a lot about Wagner himself: he wanted his hero to be motivated by a pure sense of self-exploration untainted by the weakness he associated with sexual desire. His radical simplification of the original story also had a musical motive, because he wanted Kundry to be the only female voice in the work. The only other women he is interested in are drawn from Eschenbach’s original story—the women who are imprisoned by Klingsor. Wagner seems far more fascinated by women who need rescuing than by women who require to be served!

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They seem to be the women he found most alluring.

But having said that, in Act Two he does write a wonderfully semi-erotic scene with the Flower Maidens and Parsifal—with Kundry at the very center of an absorbingly female world. His writing is glamorous there—and sensual. Wagner’s need is to have Parsifal strong enough to deny himself the pleasure of those females, and indeed, deny himself the pleasure of a real relationship with Kundry when she tries to seduce him. This provides a difficulty for the performers and director.

Kundry is for the most part painted quite sympathetically, but at the heart of Act Two she is required to be a heartless femme fatale. And having experienced that sensual scene, Parsifal then returns to Monsalvat seeming to have forgotten about her and indeed about all the other women. But Wagner leaves us a clue in Act Three: after the repentant Kundry has washed his feet, Parsifal sings about the beauty of the countryside and remembers the Flower Maidens, wondering if they too will be redeemed.

Is Parsifal a truly religious piece?

Caird: It is a religious piece; there’s no question of that. Wagner’s decision to present the dénouement of the work on Good Friday and to infuse Parsifal’s quest with so much Christian imagery—it can’t be regarded as a completely secular piece. But I think it’s also a deeply philosophical work. Toward the end of his life, Wagner got more and more interested in Buddhism and Asceticism. He was also deeply influenced by the work of the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer—and especially fascinated by his theories about collective consciousness, the subjugation of the will, and compassion toward the animal kingdom. Parsifal is a strange and rich mixture of Schopenhauerian philosophy on the one hand and Christian mythology on the other. It’s almost as if Wagner is trying to reconcile the two ideologies, partly because he was so influenced by both and at the end of his life wanted to reconcile them within himself—and partly out of a brave though rather grandiose desire to distill the real truth about human existence into one great work.

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When you hear from people or read that this is the most explicitly anti-Semitic and ideologically suspect of any of the Wagner operas, how do you respond?

Caird: I don’t think the text of the libretto supports that argument, and it’s rather a circular one. It never would have occurred to anyone to suggest anti-Semitic elements in Parsifal if Wagner himself hadn’t written anti-Semitic essays earlier in his life, which he certainly did. And there’s no question at all that Wagner was anti-Semitic. But I don’t believe there is evidence that his reprehensible views make any appearance in Parsifal, or that he was writing the opera as a way of expressing those views.

Bryan Magee has written very eloquently about this in his book Wagner and Philosophy. Wagner’s anti-Semitism was so extreme that he publicly repudiated the idea that a Jewish character should even be represented on stage. Of course, one could say that the complete absence of any reference to Jews or Jewishness constitutes in itself a kind of anti-Semitism, and one might have a reasonable point.

It is also widely believed, but completely untrue, that Parsifal was a work greatly favored by the Nazis, the exact opposite being the case. The work was banned in Germany from 1933 onward as being “ideologically unacceptable.”

Buddha explained in his first sermon that desire is the cause of suffering, and taught that to realize enlightenment, a person must develop two qualities: wisdom and compassion. Do you think the Buddhist element at all important?

Caird: It’s part of the central theme— Buddhist philosophy overlapping with Christian faith. And of course, the two have a great deal in common. The central event of Christianity, the crucifixion, tells of the death of a man who has the wisdom and compassion to understand that he is laying down his life for his fellow man.

How do you view the idea of the piece as a “stage-festival consecration play”?

Caird: The action is static, and what drama there is takes a long time to develop. For its period, the libretto is not standard operatic fare: there’s nothing melodramatic in it, the plot doesn’t rely on weird coincidences,

there are no romantic heroes and villains, there isn’t a central romantic love story in it. In Bernard Shaw’s phrase—it doesn’t have a soprano and a tenor trying to make love and a baritone trying to stop them!

Parsifal is far more contemplative than most operas of its period. But it’s an opera, nonetheless!

Amfortas speaks of “the agony of ecstasy”—is that a useful idea?

Caird: Amfortas is a man whose wound is as much psychological as it is physical. If it was simply a case of a man with a painful illness or disease, then that’s not a very dramatic event on which to build a whole story. His real agony is that he needs the Grail to continue living. But his continuing life is a torture to him because he feels unworthy of the Grail, and unworthy of the respect of the brotherhood because he knows he has let them down. He’s a man living in the grip of a terrible failure.

I suppose, in a way, that is the most mortal of all wounds, especially for someone who is in any way a moral or spiritual figure, or in the case of his creator Wagner, an

This page, previous and next: John Caird's Parsifal.

Photo credit: Robert Kusel

artistic giant. His agony is that his journey is incomplete, that his relationship with God has been sullied, that he can’t live happily and he can’t die happily. That’s his great torture.

Having said that, it is hard not to imagine that the woman who seduced Amfortas in Klingsor’s realm was Kundry in one of her many incarnations. So, to some extent, one might think of him as suffering the pangs of unrequited love! It is certainly significant that Kundry is with Amfortas at the end of the story when Parsifal salves away his pain with the spear.

The ritual in the second scene of Act I: How specific and detailed do you want this to be? What’s the overall spirit of the moment?

Caird: What is being sung by the brotherhood is an anthem of faith in God, faith in one another, faith in the spiritual world, faith in something beyond the physical. They proclaim their faith in the future in the face of deprivation and suffering. It’s interesting: in the source that Wagner is drawing from—the

Eschenbach source—the Grail is described as a stone. It’s Wagner who has made it much more an emblem of the Christian faith, like the chalice of the Last Supper.

Eschenbach describes something more like a philosopher’s stone, an alchemical force that can create magical feasts and effects, with an array of different drinks and meals. But if Wagner has created his own form of Holy Communion, he has added some highly original touches. He has his younger squires singing a verse about their expectation that the Innocent Fool will come one day and bring enlightenment to all. Again, the dramatic focus here is the all-important element. While the service continues, Parsifal witnesses it, unaware that he himself is the Innocent Fool who will one day become the Redeemer.

What is your vision for Klingsor, and the red world he’s in?

Caird: It comes from feeling that there is a great deal of imagery in the piece about blood. The killing of the swan in the first act, Amfortas’s wound, the blood of the Saviour, Klingsor’s self-mutilation. Amfortas and Klingsor are really different aspects of

the same character, both suffering similar fates. Klingsor has castrated himself and is living in a sexless world but holding to himself all the available females in the story, including Kundry. Klingsor is ruling over a world of the purely sensual and purely selfish. It’s a world that has one man at the center controlling everything around him—all women, all men, the future, anything that comes within his ambit. In other words, he’s set himself up as a god, just as Lucifer did when he fell from grace.

How do we make sense of the totally different sides of Kundry, the opera’s most complicated character?

Caird: Wagner only wanted one major female character in the piece. I think musically he didn’t hear another female protagonist, and he didn’t want Kundry just to be the mighty sorceress who affects the plot against Parsifal in the first instance and then his favor in the second, as in the Eschenbach. He wanted her to represent all the other aspects of the feminine; the maternal, the sexual, the alluring, the manipulative, the caring—so he’s rolled all these all these female attitudes up into HGO.ORG

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one character. Inevitably that makes for a complicated mix!

She’s longing for Parsifal to yield to her, yet at the same time longing for him to resist her, since that way she’ll be redeemed.

Caird: Wagner makes it very clear that she is unwilling to seduce Parsifal until Klingsor threatens her and forces her to do it. At the start of Act Two, she is completely under Klingsor’s magic control. As such, it is Parsifal’s perceptiveness in interpreting the way she behaves toward him in their long scene, he works out that he is making love to a woman—or he is talking love to a woman—who is not being true to herself.

In other words, he sees through her false seductiveness to something underneath.

In fact, he sees his mother, or perhaps all women in the form of his mother, a psychologically fascinating and potent moment. In doing so, he sees that there is something more important than sex—or something more important than mere sex, put it that way.

What does the Good Friday Spell represent to you in the piece, and how do you hope to represent it onstage?

Caird: Amfortas has Christ-like aspects to him—but so does Parsifal himself.

If Kundry is Mary Magdalen and Mary Mother rolled into one, Amfortas is the crucified Christ and Parsifal is Christ on the road to Emmaus. Wagner keeps changing the emphases of these religious allusions,

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partly because he wants to create his own mythology, and partly because he was perhaps a little scared of getting too specific. He was writing at a time when one couldn’t mimic the rituals of the church without getting into considerable difficulty.

The end of Parsifal has always felt to me like the end of a war: as if everyone has been wounded, damaged by a long period of terrible experience but finally released from pain into salvation, just as the great Passions of Bach end by celebrating the peaceful joy and deep rest that are the natural successors to pain and death. I think Wagner was very influenced by the Passion story and the long journey that finally ends with a homecoming of happiness, resolution, and compassion.

Personally, I can’t see how that story can possibly end with only the blokes as celebrants. That’s not how stories have their happy endings. With only men onstage at the end, all I would be able to think is, Here we go again: Parsifal is the new Amfortas, Amfortas is the new Titurel, and we’re back at the beginning. Nothing’s been decided, it’s the same dysfunctional all-male society, and nobody’s learned anything.

That’s why I bring the Flower Maidens back from Klingsor’s realm in the Good Friday scene and then integrate them in the previously all-male society of Monsalvat.

That seems to me to constitute both a cure for Amfortas’s wound and a healthy recipe for a functioning society in the future.

What can we say to people who are new to the piece?

Caird: Newcomers to Wagner can look forward to one of the greatest operatic works by one of the greatest 19th-century composers, in the form of his artistic and philosophical masterwork. For anybody who has a real interest in religion or philosophy, in the spiritual life, this is a beautifully contemplative way of thinking about the most important things in this world—humanity, compassion, and man’s relationship with God and nature. It’s an opera that will be well understood by people who are ready to sit and listen and appreciate—and not be in too great a hurry to get to the end!

You need to be ready to invest emotionally and intellectually in a production of Parsifal. You won’t sit there in floods of tears from one moment to the next as the protagonist characters tear themselves and one another to emotional pieces—this is a very different palette of colors from that of Puccini or Verdi. But you will sit there and have profound thoughts about the nature of human life and how philosophy and religion, bravery and self-knowledge can combine as a salve to the greatest tribulations in our lives. ∎ This interview with director John Caird is presented courtesy of Lyric Opera of Chicago.

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TAKING THE PLUNGE A DIVE INTO THE BIG SWIM WITH COMPOSER MEILINA T SUI AND LIBRE T TI S T MELI SA TIEN

By Amber Francis Communications Coordinator

I

t was 2021, and Melisa Tien’s flight was about to take off. She decided to check her email one last time. She and composer Meilina Tsui had submitted their proposal for a new chamber opera to HGO a few months prior. They’d been waiting to hear back. Tien refreshed her inbox—and there it was! She shouted something unpublishable.

“Everybody around the airplane looked at me. And I was like, No, good. This is good stuff. Good news. Good news, you know? And then I had to shut off my phone.”

She spent the entire flight in disbelief. She and her new creative partner were going to write HGO’s 76th world premiere. They would name it The Big Swim.

The duo had answered HGO’s call for proposals from composers and librettists to create a new opera commissioned by the company in partnership with the Asia Society Texas. The Asia Society was looking for an operatic work to share at their Museum District theater as part of their Lunar New Year festivities—something that would become an annual tradition. “They were looking for their Nutcracker: an enduring piece of work that could be performed year after year and bring out the spirit of the holiday for everybody,” Tsui explained last fall, when we reached the two creative partners over Zoom.

Their idea was to retell the story of the great race between the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac— re-envisioned as an interactive experience for a modern, family-friendly audience. In a brilliant stroke, they wrote a story that could be adapted for any Zodiac animal's year.

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After getting the green light, Tsui and Tien launched a creative process of more than two years, taking a series of trips to Houston, getting to know the city, and workshopping their story and music. When we reached them, they were preparing to return to town for a November orchestra workshop at the Asia Society Texas Center, their first time to experience their full story and score. A few months later, in February 2024, their new opera was set to finally make its world premiere. “I honestly can’t wait any longer,” Tsui declared. “After everything finally comes together, I’ll be able to breathe again.”

During a fun conversation, Tsui and Tien shared more about their new opera.

Tell us about the story.

Tien: I grew up knowing this story, and the thing is, it’s a simple story. You can tell it in a single sentence. There are 12 animals, they race each other, and the order in which they finish the race is the order that they end up in the zodiac. So, I started thinking, what points in that story would I be most excited to experience? The first thing that came to mind was the gathering of the animals and wanting to get to know them. Then actually seeing the race and watching them try to get ahead of each other, thinking that this is the only goal. I just thought, What if they had to work together so that they could stay alive? And then I thought, Okay, I want to make that happen. I don’t know how I’m going to make that

happen, but I want that to be the story: that they have to work together in order to all win, essentially.

lighthearted and fun to watch but had a serious message at their core. I really like stories like that. So, I let that be my North Star.

I understand you kicked off the project with a trip to Houston.

Tien: Right around Lunar New Year of 2022, we came to Houston for a research trip and met the HGO and Asia Society teams, which I thought was amazing.

That’s something that I would have wanted to do on my own because neither of us are from Houston. It was a really good idea to just be in the city and get a feel for the communities, go to all these Lunar New Year festivities that are homegrown Houston. We did everything from exploring the temples to going out for dim sum. I remember coming back from that trip and going, That city is so cool. I had no idea. (laughs) I mean, it’s bigger than I thought. And it’s way more diverse than I had originally thought it would be.

Tsui: I had Disney’s Lion King at the back of my head throughout the creation of this piece. It’s a beloved animated film about animals that sing and have human qualities, so it was a great model for us to work from. I tried to get down to what made it so appealing for not just kids, but adults too. I think it’s just got so much diversity with different styles of music, and lots of catchy tunes. I wanted it to be fun and entertaining, yet simple enough for people to remember after the show ends.

How did the chance to workshop the libretto help your process, creatively?

Tsui: The libretto workshops were especially helpful.

Even though I didn’t write the text, hearing how it’s spoken, how it’s read—the rhythm of it, the pacing, the stresses—really helped me through composing.

Melina Tsui and Melisa Tien.

Tien: The librettist’s job becomes a lot harder if the first time they hear the words is when they’re already set to music. There’s something about speaking the rhythm and knowing how the words live in a person’s mouth— that gives you a sense of whether it’s singable and whether it’s too much or too little in the moment, dramatically. So, it was helpful to have that libretto workshop and be able to make those changes as we went along. Having the time and space to do that felt luxurious.

What was your approach to writing for families?

Tien: I think of the shows I liked watching as a kid, because they weren't talking down to me. They were

What are some interactive elements in The Big Swim?

Tien: The piece opens with the characters inviting the audience into the space, so they’re already interacting with the audience before the music even starts. I want to draw a line from that to this idea that the story is not just about the animals. It’s about humans, too, you know? And so, trying to involve the audience is really saying, look, you’re part of this story, too.

Tsui: Musically, I try to highlight the parts where the characters on stage are speaking directly to the audiences by, all of a sudden, making them not sing, but talk to them instead. Any time we have the characters interact with the audience, they want people to do something with them, so we really need to get their attention.

What message do you want audiences to take away from this?

Tsui: The most important message probably would be community first and competition second. It’s not all about winning or being the fastest or being the strongest, the biggest. It’s about helping each other as a community.

Tien: I would say that the theme is that rather than competing with each other, it’s better to work together toward a common goal. And I hope that the characters discover that by the end. I think they do—all of them.

The production has a pan-Asian look. Does this amalgamation of cultures extend into the music as well?

Tsui: I grew up in Hong Kong and was surrounded

by Chinese music, Cantonese music, and all sorts of Asian music. I absorbed it all, and it naturally became a part of my compositional voice. I wouldn’t say that I assigned a specific musical style to each character— like this character is going to be Vietnamese and this

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character’s Korean or anything like that. It would’ve felt too hokey, so I avoided that.

Occasionally I would draw inspiration from certain places, though. For example, let’s say—I took a scale from Japanese traditional music and used it in Snake’s aria. Small, little touches like that.

This marks an HGO debut for the both of you. How has your experience with the HGO team been?

Tien: It’s our collaboration, Meilina and I, but I honestly feel that HGO is like an invisible third collaborator on this. They gave us a lot of time and guidance. I can’t stress enough how valuable that is.

What does receiving the opportunity to tell this story, with an all-Asian cast, set to have its world premiere at the Asia Society Texas, mean for you?

Tien: It’s great to be able to tell a story that we’re familiar with to a community that doesn’t often see itself getting represented. I think that it’s a nice way to look to a story from our culture, and take what is useful from our present, and combine them, and make it entertaining. I don’t often get the chance to do this. The fact that there are going to be so many people watching year after year is amazing.

Tsui: It means everything, really. ∎

At right: AST's Michael Buening and HGO's Khori Dastoor.

Photo credit: Lawrence Elizabeth Knox

HGO AND THE A SIA SOCIE T Y TE X A S: A S TRONG PARTNER SHIP The Big Swim is far from the first collaboration between the Asia Society Texas and HGO. Over the past decade, this long-time partnership has seen four other HGO world premieres performed at AST: Bound by Huang Ruo, River of Light by Jack Perla, The Memory Stone by Marty Regan, and New Arrivals by John Glover.

Now the two organizations are bringing a fifth opera to the Brown Foundation Performing Arts Theater stage at AST, through a creative process that has inspired from day one. “It has been a joy to watch The Big Swim take shape over the last three years,” shares Michael Buening, the Asia Society Texas's Director of Performing Arts and Culture. “Meilina, Melisa, and the creative team have created a work that is heartfelt, festive, and enjoyable for all ages.

It celebrates the traditions of Lunar New Year with a contemporary verve, and we know it will capture the hearts of Houstonians as much as it has touched everyone at Asia Society.”

Excitement is mounting as the February 16-18 performances draw near. “It has long been a goal for Asia Society Texas to have a premier performance centered on Lunar New Year as it is one of the most important holiday traditions in Asia and for Asian Americans,” says Bonna Kol, President of Asia Society Texas. “We are so pleased to partner with Houston Grand Opera to make this goal a reality. We believe The Big Swim will become a new holiday tradition that all Houstonians will enjoy for years to come.” —Alisa Magallón, Associate Director of Programming and Engagement, Community and Learning

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

UNDERWRITERS

Rhoda Goldberg

Robin Angly and Miles Smith

Joan and Stanford Alexander Family Fund

The Brown Foundation, Inc.

Ruth and Ted Bauer Family Foundation

George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation

William Randolph Hearst Foundation

Rebecca and Brian Duncan

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Rosemary Malbin

Sara and Bill Morgan

Dr. Laura Marsh

National Endowment for the Humanities

Mr. David Montague

The Wortham Foundation, Inc.

National Endowment for the Arts

William E. and Natoma Harvey Charitable Trust Houston Grand Opera Guild Lee Huber

Vivian L. Smith Foundation

Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Pancherz

Judy and Richard Agee

SUPPORTERS

City of Houston through the Miller Theatre Advisory Board

Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Ardell

ConocoPhillips

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.

Adrienne Bond Mr. and Mrs. Lester P. Burgess

The Elkins Foundation

The Lawrence E. Carlton, MD, Endowment Fund

H-E-B

The Cockrell Family Fund

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo ™

James J. Drach Endowment Fund

Powell Foundation

Trish Freeman and Bruce Patterson Monica Fulton

OPERA America Mr. Geoffry H. Oshman

GRAND UNDERWRITERS

Mathilda Cochran

Ms. Rachel Le and Mr. Lam Hguy

HGO’s Community and Learning programs, including Student Performances and performances at Miller Outdoor Theatre, are made possible by: The Brown Foundation, Inc. The Wortham Foundation, Inc., and Shell USA, Inc. Shell USA, Inc.

DONORS BRING ART TO ALL Ticket sales cover less than 20% of the cost of producing great opera. Your contributions make up the rest.

It’s donors like you who bring grand opera to families and students across Houston.

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

For more information on benefits, visit HGO.org/DONATE. Please contact Sarah Bertrand, philanthropy officer, at 713-546-0276 or SBertrand@HGO.org.

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TRAVELING WITH MADAME BUTTERFLY

T

By Kunio Hara

he first time I experienced Giacomo Puccini’s Madame Butterfly performed live on stage was in Warsaw, Poland at the Teatr Wielki when I was a teenager in the early 1990s. In November 1990, my family and I had moved from Japan to Warsaw when my father was assigned a post at the Japanese embassy in that city. The transition from living in Japan at the height of its bubble economy to a life in a former Soviet Bloc country during its enormous social, economic, and cultural transformation was eye-opening to say the least. However, the move also granted me affordable and plentiful access to a wide range of musical experiences, including an open-air concert of Chopin piano pieces in the park, events at the celebrated new music festival of Warsaw Autumn, concerts of orchestral music at the Warsaw Philharmonic, and even colorful and vibrant showcases of Polish regional folk dances. But above all, it was in Warsaw that I became enthralled with opera.

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Although I only have fragmentary memories of the night I saw Madame Butterfly, I do remember being startled at the odd spectacle of a mostly Polish cast donning costumes and make-up that vaguely looked Japanese and the curious, cartoonish gestures they made. I was told by someone in the know that the production was sung in Polish except for the part of Cio-Cio-San performed by an Italian soprano, who used her native tongue. I knew that the opera was a story that took place in Nagasaki, Japan, but what I saw did not resemble anything like the place I just left behind. Yet, within this disorienting experience, I did recognize a handful of Japanese tunes such as “Sakura,” about the beauty of cherry blossoms in

8 spring; “Kimigayo,” the Japanese national anthem; and “Miyasan,” the cheerful sounding children’s song.

Hearing tunes familiar to me and other Japanese people sung in Polish and Italian to a roomful of nonJapanese audience members struck me as a bizarre and captivating phenomenon that made me wonder how Puccini, an Italian composer who never visited Japan, got ahold of them.

The experience stuck with me as I moved to the United States to pursue my studies in music and encountered bits and pieces of the opera in different contexts. While I was a music student in Cincinnati, I ended up writing an undergraduate thesis on the libretto of Madame Butterfly and its source materials and later a master’s thesis on Puccini’s use of Japanese melodies in the opera. In the process, I came to understand that, in addition to the tunes I recognized, Puccini had also incorporated Japanese tunes that I was unfamiliar with, such as pieces of Japanese traditional music “Echigojishi” and “Oedo Nihonbashi,” as well as nowforgotten popular songs from the turn of the twentieth century such as “Suiryōbushi” and “Kappore hōnen.”

Tracing the routes through which these songs traveled from Japan to Italy taught me the history of musical exchanges that took place between Japan and the West through Japanese performing artists who toured in Europe, as well as American and European musicians who were invited by the Japanese government to introduce Western music and music education. In other words, the score of Madame Butterfly contains the traces of not only how Europeans understood and imagined Japanese music to be but also how Japanese musicians sought to acquire knowledge about Western music on their own volition during the late nineteenth century. Through Puccini’s “Japanese tragedy,” then, I had made my way to this history of how two groups of people living on the opposing ends of the world exchanged their musical traditions.

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But this kind of cultural exchange was not always accomplished on equitable terms. The turn of the twentieth century, when the opera premiered, saw Western colonial power exert their influences around the globe while they witnessed Japan’s effort to rapidly modernize and transform itself into a regional colonial power. Considering this background, it was inevitable that Puccini’s opera should contain widely circulating European prejudices and anxieties toward the distant and ancient but rapidly developing nation of Japan. Indeed, the opera contains various elements in its libretto, score, and stage directions that present Japanese people and their culture in unflattering and offensive ways that are reflective of this time in history. Audience members in Japan have always been

attuned to these elements since the first excerpted performance of the opera took place in that country in 1914. Japanese performers, writers, and critics have been grappling with Puccini’s Madame Butterfly ever since, seeking to balance their drive to understand and master this piece of European opera with their desire to represent their own culture on their own terms. In the United States too, many Asian American artists and activists have long questioned the value of continuing to promote the opera considering its negative repercussions.

Emerging from the series of traumatic events the world has experienced in the recent years, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of physical violence and verbal abuse against people of Asian descent, more and more individuals as well as opera companies are raising their voices to seriously assess and engage with the opera’s colonial undertones.

In May 2021, Boston Lyric Opera decided to halt its scheduled production of Madame Butterfly, already postponed due to the pandemic, and instead began an extensive series of online and in-person discussions highlighting the voices of artists of Asian descent titled The Butterfly Process. Similar efforts were undertaken

by Canada’s Amplified Opera and the Metropolitan Opera in 2022. The year 2023 alone saw multiple new productions of the opera in the U.S. by directors of Asian descent including Aria Umezawa (New Orleans Opera), Amon Miyamoto (San Francisco Opera), Matthew Ozawa (Cincinnati Opera), and Phil Chan and Nina Yoshida Nelsen (Boston Lyric Opera). Through innovative framing devices and thoughtful interventions to the text of the opera, these directors invite us the audience to reflect on the concerns shared by many people of Asian descent. What is remarkable and significant in these revivals of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly is the central roles that Asian and Asian American individuals have taken not only in leading the conversation but also presenting their own visions.

In my capacity as a cultural consultant for the Houston Grand Opera’s production of Madame Butterfly, I hope to assist the artists and the production team as well as the local community of opera lovers to explore and reflect on this rich legacy of the opera. More than 30 years after encountering Madame Butterfly for the first time, I hope to help us find a way of traveling with Butterfly in a way that acknowledges its checkered history but also imagines a path forward toward a new horizon. ∎

Kunio Hara, HGO's cultural consultant for Madame Butterfly this season, is an associate professor of music history at the University of South Carolina.

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Keeping

ELITE PERFORMERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT At Houston Methodist, we’re proud partners in helping artists achieve peak performance, week in and week out. We treat artists and their unique needs, while bringing the same level of specialized care to every patient we serve.

713.790.3333 houstonmethodist.org

2 0 2 3 -2024

PRODUCTION FUNDERS WINT E R R EP GRAND GUARANTORS

GRAND UNDERWRITERS

UNDERWRITERS

Janice Barrow

The Brown Foundation, Inc.

Muffy and Mike McLanahan

Louise G. Chapman

Connie Dyer

James M. Trimble and Sylvia Barnes

Drs. Rachel and Warren A. Ellsworth IV In memory of Warren A. “Chip” Ellsworth III

John C. Tweed

Marianne and Joe Geagea

Alan and Frank York

GUARANTORS

The Robert and Jane Cizik Foundation Drs. Liz Grimm and Jack Roth Donna Kaplan and Richard A. Lydecker Mr. John G. Turner and Mr. Jerry G. Fischer

Mary Lee and Jim Wallace

Amanda and Morris Gelb Matt Healey Carolyn Levy Beth Madison Laura and Brad McWilliams

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PA R S I FA L

Jan. 19, 21m, 27, 31, Feb. 4m

MUSIC AND L I B R E T T O BY Richard Wagner A Production of Lyric Opera of Chicago Sung in German with projected English translation The performance lasts approximately 4 hours and 45 minutes, including two intermissions.

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

BROWN THEATER

QUICK START GUIDE THE OPER A IN ONE SENTENCE Parsifal, a young man raised in the forest, journeys through time and space from the Kingdom of the Holy Grail to the realm of the evil sorcerer Klingsor, becoming the next King of the Grail.

BACKGROUND Parsifal was Wagner’s final opera, receiving its premiere at his Bayreuth Festspielhaus in July of 1882.

It is loosely based on three variations of the medieval legend Percival, one of King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table. Wagner first read Wolfram von Eschenbach’s 13th-century version of the legend in 1845, and it most influenced the composer’s opera. It took Wagner the next 37 years of on-and-off composing—during which he also composed his entire Ring cycle, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Tristan und Isolde—to finish his epic Parsifal, widely considered to be Wagner’s paramount statement on spirituality and Christian symbolism.

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR Fans of Wagner will be familiar with his compositional leitmotifs, recurring musical themes associated with different aspects of the drama. While many of Wagner’s earlier works largely paired leitmotifs with objects and characters, Parsifal intensified this strategy by symbolizing emotions and abstractions such as agony, faith, innocence, and transformation.

The opening melody of the Act I Prelude offers a complex example: a grand and stoic melody rises in a solemn tempo, “Sehr langsam” (very slowly), before giving way to a minor tonality. The melody crests on the same note on which it began, an octave higher, yet functioning rather differently within this minor key. This duality of purpose for the note that starts the melody in one tonality, but peaks the melody in another, has a piercing effect on the ears—a highly symbolic effect in the context

of this opera’s spiritual symbolism, which centers the piercing of Christ’s side on the cross. Often called the “Abendmahl” motif, or the “Last Supper” motif, this melody evokes Jesus’s “holy agony”— that of sharing his flesh and blood with his disciples on Holy Thursday, and of the piercing of his side on the cross on Good Friday.

The Abendmahl motif is heard most prominently in the chorus’s Act I music as they perform the rite of the Last Supper, “Nehmet hin meinen Leib, nehmet hin mein Blut” (“Take this, my body; take this, my blood.”). But the music also returns in many symbolic moments as characters feel pain themselves, whether their own or the pain of another. Listen to the melody in the opera’s opening seconds, first in the woodwinds and strings in a calm, low register; then, as it evolves into a higher register in the oboes and trumpet, an achingly sublime effect to begin the opera. Notice it when it returns in the chorus during the rite of the Last Supper, and again at a pivotal moment in the opera—when Parsifal feels the pain of Amfortas (“the wound I saw bleeding now bleeds in me”), as he fulfills the prophecy of the Grail, becoming wise through compassion.

FUN FACT Wagner’s will prohibited Parsifal from being performed anywhere other than Bayreuth. He wanted to maintain the spiritual mystery of his symbolic work, and he also thought it would provide a steady stream of income for his wife, Cosima, and their children. Bayreuth allowed concert performances of the work, but no staged productions. In 1903, Heinrich Conried, the new general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, offered Cosima $25,000 to produce Parsifal; when she refused, a court ruled that she and Bayreuth had no standing to forbid productions in the United States. The Met went ahead with its 1903 production, and Bayreuth officially rescinded its monopoly in 1914.

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PA R S I FA L

C A S T & CR E ATI V E CAST (in order of vocal appearance)

CR EATI V E TEA M

Gurnemanz

Kwangchul Youn *

Conductor

Second Knight

Cory McGee ‡

Director John Caird

Second Esquire /Flower Maiden Ani Kushyan †* Donna and Ken Barrow/

Barbara and Pat McCelvey/

Jill A. Schaar and George Caflisch Fellow

First Esquire /Flower Maiden Meryl Dominguez † Mr. and Mrs. Harlan C. Stai

Fellow

First Knight

Lunga Eric Hallam *

Kundry Elena Pankratova *

Eun Sun Kim

Original Scenic and Costume Designer

Johan Engels

Associate Scenic Designer

David Farley

Original Lighting Designer

Duane Schuler

Revival Lighting Designer

Michael James Clark

Choreographer

Tim Claydon

Fight Director/Intimacy Director

Adam Noble

Amfortas Ryan McKinny ‡

Chorus Director Richard Bado ‡ Sarah and Ernest Butler Chorus

Third Esquire Demetrious Sampson, Jr.†* Dr. Dina Alsowayel and Mr.

German Diction Coach

Anthony R. Chase/ Eric

McLaughlin and Elliot Castillo/

Alejandra and Héctor Torres/ Mr. Trey Yates Fellow

Fourth Esquire Michael McDermott † Michelle Beale and Dick

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

Director Chair

Anja Burmeister

Musical Preparation Peter Pasztor ‡ Teddy Poll Madeline Slettedahl William Woodard Stage Manager

Annie Wheeler

Assistant Director

Colter Schoenfish

Parsifal Russell Thomas Titurel André Courville * Voice from Above/Flower Maiden Erin Wagner † Amy and Mark Melton/ Drs. Liz

Grimm and Jack Roth/ Mrs. Nancy Haywood Fellow

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

Klingsor Andrea Silvestrelli Flower Maidens Renée Richardson † Kathleen Moore and Steven

Homer/ Carolyn J. Levy/ Jeff Stocks and Juan Lopez Fellow

Emily Louise Robinson Kaitlyn Stavinoha

PRODUCTION CR EDITS English supertitles by Scott F. Heumann. Supertitles called by Judy Frow.

Production owned by Lyric Opera of Chicago, and generously made possible by an Anonymous Donor, The Elizabeth Morse Genius Trust, The Elizabeth Morse Charitable Trust, Marlys A. Beider, and The Kenneth L. Harder Trust.

Scenery constructed by Bay Productions Limited, Cardiff, Wales, U.K. Costumes constructed by Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago, IL and Seams Unlimited, Racine, WI. Flowermaiden specialty painting and dyeing by Iris Color Studio, Minneapolis, MN. 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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S Y N O PS I S ACT I

INTER MISSION

Near the castle of Monsalvat, Gurnemanz, knight of the Holy Grail, rises from sleep. Two other knights arrive to prepare a morning bath for the ailing Amfortas, the King of the Grail Knights, who has an incurable wound. They are interrupted by Kundry, an ageless woman of many guises, who has a balsam for Amfortas. The King and his suite now enter, accept the gift, and proceed to the lake. As Gurnemanz bewails Amfortas’s wound, his companions ask him to tell them about Klingsor, the sorcerer who is trying to destroy them. Gurnemanz explains that Klingsor had tried to join the knightly brotherhood. Denied because of his lustful nature, he tried to gain acceptance by castrating himself and was rejected.

Now an implacable foe, Klingsor once entrapped Amfortas with a beautiful woman; while the King was lying in her arms, Klingsor snatched the Holy Spear, which had pierced Christ’s side, and stabbed Amfortas. A prophecy has since revealed that the wound can be healed only by “an innocent youth made wise through compassion.” After Gurnemanz explains this, a swan falls to the ground: the knights drag in the young Parsifal, whom Gurnemanz gently rebukes for killing the bird. The boy discards his bow and arrows in shame but cannot explain his conduct or even state his name. Kundry arises to tell the youth’s history: his father, Gamuret, died in battle; his mother, Herzeleide, reared the boy in the forest, but now she too is dead. As Kundry falls into a trance, Gurnemanz leads Parsifal to the castle of the Grail, wondering if he may be the prophecy’s fulfillment.

ACT II

In the Hall of the Grail, Amfortas and his knights prepare to celebrate the Last Supper. The voice of the King’s father, the aged Titurel, bids him uncover the holy vessel and proceed, but Amfortas hesitates as his anguish rises in the presence of the blood of Christ. Titurel orders the esquires to uncover the chalice.

As the bread and wine are offered, an invisible choir is heard from above. The silent Parsifal understands nothing, but when Amfortas cries out in pain, he is moved, seeming to suffer with the King.

Gurnemanz angrily drives the uncomprehending boy away, and an unknown voice reiterates the prophecy.

Seated in his dark tower, Klingsor summons Kundry to seduce Parsifal. Having stolen the Spear from Amfortas, he now seeks to inherit the Grail by destroying Parsifal, whom he knows to be the order’s salvation. Parsifal finds himself in the gardens of Klingsor’s magic realm, and Flower Maidens beg for Parsifal’s embrace. He resists them and they disappear, but a voice calls out “Parsifal!” and he suddenly remembers the name his mother called him in his dreams. Kundry, transformed into a beautiful siren, woos him with tender memories of his childhood and mother. As she breaks down his resistance and offers a kiss, Parsifal recoils in pain: at last he understands the mystery of Amfortas’s wound and his own mission. Kundry charges that if Parsifal can feel compassion for Amfortas, surely he can for her as well: she tries to lure him through pity for the weary life she has been forced to lead—she is never allowed to rest, ever since she laughed at Christ on the Cross, and is cursed to serve Klingsor. But again, Parsifal rejects her pleas and seduction. She curses Parsifal to wander hopelessly in search of Monsalvat. Kundry calls on Klingsor, who hurls the Holy Spear at Parsifal. But when Parsifal catches the Spear and makes the sign of the cross with it, Klingsor’s castle falls in ruins.

INTER MISSION ACT III Gurnemanz, now a hermit and grown old, finds the penitent Kundry exhausted. As he revives her, a strange knight approaches.

Gurnemanz recognizes Parsifal and the Holy Spear, and Parsifal describes his years of trying to find his way back to Amfortas and the Grail. Gurnemanz removes Parsifal’s armor, and Kundry washes his feet. In return he baptizes her, then extolls the beauty of the spring fields. The hermit replies that this is the spell of Good Friday, when all the world is renewed. The tolling of distant bells announces the funeral of Titurel. Solemnly, they walk to the castle.

The communion table has vanished from the Hall of the Grail, and now, no longer able to uncover the chalice, Amfortas begs the knights to end his anguish with death. But a new leader, Parsifal, touches Amfortas’s side with the Spear and heals the wound. He accepts the homage of the knights as their new king.

PER FOR M A NCE HISTORY HGO previously presented Parsifal in the 1991-92 season.

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PA R S I FA L

HGO ORCHESTRA Patrick Summers, Artistic and Music Director

Sarah and Ernest Butler Chair

Eun Sun Kim, Principal Guest Conductor

V IOL I N Denise Tarrant*, Concertmaster

Sarah and Ernest Butler Concertmaster Chair

Chloe Kim*, Assistant Concertmaster Natalie Gaynor*, Principal Second Violin Carrie Kauk*, Assistant Principal Second Violin

CEL LO

HOR N

Barrett Sills*, Principal

Sarah Cranston*, Principal

Erika Johnson*, Assistant Principal

Kimberly Penrod Minson*

Ariana Nelson†

Spencer Park*

Wendy Smith-Butler*

Kevin McIntyre

Steven Wiggs†

Gavin Reed

Caio Diniz Shino Hayashi Ellie Herrera

Miriam Belyatsky*

Kristiana Ignatjeva

Anabel Ramirez-Detrick*

Adam Wilson

Rasa Kalesnykaite† Hae-a Lee-Barnes* Chavdar Parashkevov* Mary Reed* Erica Robinson† Linda Sanders*

DOU BL E BASS Dennis Whittaker*, Principal Erik Gronfor*, Assistant Principal Carla Clark* Hunter Capoccioni

TRU M PET Tetsuya Lawson*, Principal Randal Adams* Gerardo Mata

TROM BON E Thomas Hultén*, Principal Mark Holley* Justin Bain† Ben Osborne

Deborah Dunham

T U BA

Paul Ellison

Mark Barton†, Principal

Melissa Williams*

FLU TE

TI M PA N I

Zubaida Azezi

Henry Williford*, Principal

Alison Chang*, Principal

Lindsey Baggett

Tyler Martin*

Christina Carroll

Andres Gonzalez

Izumi Miyahara

Oleg Sulyga* Sylvia VerMeulen*

Jennise Hwang Kana Kimura Fiona Lofthouse Emily Madonia Mila Neal

OBOE Elizabeth Priestly Siffert*, Principal Mayu Isom* Stanley Chyi

HARP Laurie Meister, Acting Principal Cindy Qin

BA N DA Erik Larson, Trumpet

Sean O'Neal

ENGL ISH HOR N

Nick Engle, Trumpet

Patricia Quintero Garcia

Spring Hill

Philip Scoles, Trumpet

Jacob Schafer Rachel Shepard Trung Trinh

CL A R I N ET Sean Krissman†, Principal Vanguel Tangarov, Acting Principal

V IOL A

Eric Chi†

Eliseo Rene Salazar*, Principal

Justin Best

Lorento Golofeev*, Assistant Principal

Julian Hernandez

Gayle Garcia-Shepard† Erika C. Lawson* Suzanne LeFevre† Tonya Burton Matthew Carrington

BASS CL A R I N ET Molly Mayfield

Harry Gonzalez, Trombone Cameron Kerl, Trombone, Ryan Rongone, Trombone, Brian Logan, Bass Trombone Richard Brown†, Principal Percussion Christina Carroll, Percussion

ORCH ESTR A PER SON N EL M A NAGER Richard Brown*

BASSOON Amanda Swain*, Principal

Gabe Galley

* HGO Orchestra core musician

Michael Allard†

Nicholas Lindell

Micah Doherty

† HGO Orchestra core musician on leave this production

Sarah Mason

Katia Osorio

Rainey Weber Matthew Weathers

CON TR A BASSOON Benjamin Atherholt

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HGO CHORUS

DANCERS

Richard Bado, Chorus Director

Chad Fontenot Kristen Frankiewicz

Sarah and Ernest Butler Chorus Director Chair

Amanda Gamel Loren Holmes Nathan Abbott

Jordan Martinez

Davion Adams

Neal Martinez

Geordie Alexander

Norman Mathews

Preston Andrews

Jeff Monette

Maggie Armand

Natasha Monette

Dennis Arrowsmith

Leah Moody

Cody Ryan Arthur

Matthew Neumann

Tarryn Ballard

Lance Orta

Sarah Bannon

Grant Peck

Zachary Barba

Patrick Perez

Alyssa Barnes

Abby Powell

Jorge-Philippe Belonni Rosario

Saïd Henry Pressley

Megan Berti

Namarea Randolph-Yosea

Zachary Bryant

Nicholas Rathgeb

Steve Buza

Gabrielle Reed

Jonathan Raynido Champ

Roberto J. Reyna

Christopher Childress

Matthew Reynolds

Scott Clark

Francis Rivera

Evan Cooper

Hannah Roberts

Patrick Contreras

Benjamin Rorabaugh

Esteban G. Cordero Pérez

Johnny Salvesen

Jacob De Sett

Hillary Schranze

Robert Dee

Kellen Schrimper

Callie Denbigh

Valerie Service

Ashley Duplechien

Paul Joseph Serna

Zack Scott Frank

Kade I. Smith

Dallas Gray

Allen Stowe

Nancy Hall

Andrew Surrena

Lauren Henderson-Turner

Rebecca Tann

Austin Hoeltzel

Nathaniel Thompson

Julie Cathryn Hoeltzel

Lisa Borik Vickers

Nathan Holmes

Miles Ward

Audrey Hurley

John Weinel

Emily Roy

SUPERNUMERARIES Cayetano Chavarria Zach Keen Joey Lezama Annabelle Li Max Made Penelope Madof Jonathan Moonen Ricky Rojas Steven Sun Brian Tighe Olivia Whitaker Rustam Yusifov

Q. Terry Jackson Jon Janacek Joe Key Alexandra Kurkjian Melissa Krueger Wesley Landry Carolena Belle Lara Sarah L. Lee Marcus Lonardo Alejandro Magallón Heath Martin

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PA R S I FA L

WH O ' S WH O EU N SU N K I M (SOU T H KOR E A) PRINCIPAL GUES T CONDUC TOR Named The New York Times Breakout Star in Classical Music, Eun Sun Kim is the Caroline H. Hume Music Director of San Francisco Opera. She made her North American operatic debut with La traviata at HGO, earning an appointment as the company’s first Principal Guest Conductor in 25 years, and returned in 2020 to conduct the digital production of The Impresario and in 2022 to conduct Turandot. In the 2023-24 season, Kim continues a series of important debuts, conducting the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and a new production of The Tales of Hoffmann with Paris National Opera. After leading eight productions, including a world premiere by John Adams, during SFO’s Centennial Season, Kim returns to the War Memorial Opera House for Il trovatore, Lohengrin, and The Magic Flute. Kim has enjoyed recent operatic successes at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, Washington National Opera, Vienna State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bavarian State Opera, Semperoper Dresden, and Teatro alla Scala. Concert performances include appearances with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, and Stuttgart Philharmonic, as well as orchestras in London, Madrid, Marseille, Munich, Lille, Nancy, Palermo, Turin, Detroit, Milwaukee, Portland, Calgary, Toronto, and Santiago de Compostela.

JOH N C A IR D (U N ITED K I NGDOM) DIREC TOR Tony Award-winning director John Caird is an Honorary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Principal Guest Director of the Royal Dramatic Theatre (Dramaten) in Stockholm, and a freelance writer and director of plays, musicals, and operas. His previous work at HGO includes directing and writing the libretto for two company world premieres: Tarik O’Regan’s The Phoenix (2019) and André Previn’s Brief Encounter (2009). Also for HGO, he previously directed Tosca (2023, 2015, 2010), La bohème (2018, 2012), and Don Carlos (2012). His recent directorial credits include his own adaptation of Hayao Miyazaki’s animated film Spirited Away in Tokyo; Estella Scrooge in New York; A Knights’ Tale, Hamlet, and Twelfth Night, all in Tokyo; Don Giovanni at Welsh National Opera; McQueen at the Haymarket Theatre; Tosca in Chicago and LA; Love’s Labour’s Lost at the Stratford Festival in Canada; La bohème in San Francisco and Toronto; Parsifal in Chicago; and his own musical, Daddy Long Legs, off-Broadway, in Tokyo, and across the U.S. His many National Theatre productions include his own Olivier-award winning version of Bernstein’s Candide, now playing in multiple productions worldwide. His directorial work for the RSC included over 20 productions, including Nicholas Nickleby and Les Misérables, both of which have won numerous awards in 44

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the West End, Broadway, and all around the world. At Dramaten in Stockholm he has directed Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Dance of Death, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Gertrud, and Merry Wives of Windsor. Theatre Craft, his book about directing plays and musicals, is published by Faber and Faber.

JOH A N ENGELS (SOU T H A FR IC A) ORIGINAL SCENIC AND COS TUME DESIGNER Johan Engels (1952-2014) also served as set and costume designer for HGO’s Otello (2014), Chorus! (2009), and The Elixir of Love (2000), and set designer for Don Carlos (2011) and The Passenger (2014). Engels studied fine arts and design at the University of Pretoria and during his lifetime designed extensively for opera, ballet, and theater. With director David Pountney, he collaborated on The Magic Flute (Bregenz Festival); Pelléas et Mélisande, Lulu, and Khovanshchina (Welsh National Opera); The Passenger (Bregenz, English National Opera, Warsaw, and Chicago); Il tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi (Lyon); Maskarade (Bregenz; Royal Opera, Covent Garden); Osud (Vienna State Opera); Turandot (Salzburg Festival); and L’amore dei tre re, Zemlinsky’s Der Kreidekrei, and Agrippina (Zurich), among others. Other work includes Parsifal (Chicago); Mathis der Maler (Theater an der Wien); Faust (Paris National Opera); Thaïs (Gothenburg, Helsinki, Seville, Valencia, Los Angeles); The Elixir of Love (Los Angeles, Washington, Geneva, Madrid, Graz); Cinderella (Zurich Ballet); Ballet to Beethoven’s Fifth (Vienna State Ballet); Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet (Opera North); and Otello (Parma, Monte Carlo, Los Angeles). He also designed costumes for Vienna’s New Year’s Day Concert several times. His final productions included the Ring cycle (Lyric Opera of Chicago) directed by David Pountney; The Great Gatsby (Semperoper Dresden) with director Keith Warner; Twelfth Night (Japan) directed by John Caird; and Orpheus ed Euridice (Scottish Opera) with director/choreographer Ashley Page.

DAV I D FA R L EY (U N ITED K I NGDOM) A SSOCIATE SCENIC DESIGNER David Farley’s set and costume designs have previously been seen at HGO in The Phoenix (2019) and La bohème (2018, 2012). He is associate designer for Slung Low theater company in Leeds, UK. Credits as designer include Sunday in the Park with George in New York and the West End, winning Olivier Awards for best design and best musical production at the Wyndhams. He was nominated for costume design and set design at the 2008 Tony Awards for Sunday in the Park with George. He designed La bohème for Canadian Opera Company and San Francisco Opera in addition to HGO. His credits in the West End include The Comedy about a Bank Robbery, McQueen, Daddy Long Legs, A Little Night Music, and Little Shop of Horrors, and on Broadway, A Little Night Music and 13. Further

credits include Flood in Hull; Snapshots, Take Flight, Travesties, and Are You There, McPhee? in the United States; and the tours of Million Dollar Quartet, Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Crush. He is a guest lecturer at Wimbledon College of Arts.

lighting for Teatro La Fenice, San Francisco Opera, the Canadian Opera Company, Stages Repertory Theatre, Theatre Under the Stars, Rice University, and the 2007 Prague Quadrennial. He holds a degree in lighting design from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

DUA N E SCH U L ER (U N ITED STATES) ORIGINAL LIGHTING DESIGNER

TI M CL AY DON (U N ITED K I NGDOM) CHOREOGR APHER

Duane Schuler’s work encompasses opera, ballet, and theater. For HGO, he has lit numerous productions since 1973, most recently Tosca, Norma, Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni, Fidelio, Ariadne auf Naxos, and Cavalleria rusticana & Pagliacci. His lighting designs for the Metropolitan Opera include The First Emperor, Luisa Miller, Thaïs, as well as 26 other productions since 1995. He has designed more than 140 productions at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, including Cavalleria rusticana & Pagliacci and Tosca. His work has also been seen at the Royal Opera House, La Scala, De Nederlandse Opera, the Salzburg Festival, Paris Opera, Glyndebourne Opera, Seattle Opera, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and many others.

Schuler’s ballet credits include Swan Lake, The Snow Maiden, Pillar of Fire and Of Love and Rage (American Ballet Theatre); Coppélia and The Nutcracker (Houston Ballet); The Sleeping Beauty (Stuttgart Ballet); and Giselle (Berlin’s Deutsche Oper Ballet). Theater credits include House and Garden, Last Dance, and A Picasso (Manhattan Theatre Club); Ragtime and Holiday Inn (5th Ave Theatre, Seattle); and The Importance of Being Earnest on Broadway. Recent productions include The Marriage of Figaro (Santa Fe Opera), Cendrillon (Metropolitan Opera), and Samson and Delilah (Lyric Opera of Chicago). Schuler is also a founding partner of Schuler Shook, the theater planning and architectural lighting design firm.

M ICH A EL JA M ES CL A R K (U N ITED STATES) RE VIVAL LIGHTING DESIGNER Michael James Clark is the Head of Lighting and Production Media for HGO. This season for the company, he also serves as Lighting Designer for Falstaff and The Big Swim. During HGO’s 2022-23 season, Clark was associate lighting designer for The Marriage of Figaro, Werther, and Tosca, and during the company’s 2021-22 season he created the lighting design for the world premiere production of The Snowy Day, and served as the assistant lighting designer for The Magic Flute and associate lighting designer for Carmen. He served as revival lighting designer for HGO’s production of Aida (2020) and designed lighting for mainstage and Miller Outdoor Theatre productions of La bohème (2018-19) and the world premiere of The Phoenix (2019).

He lit the HGO world premieres of Some Light Emerges (2017), After the Storm (2016), and O Columbia (2015); mainstage productions of Otello (2014); Die Fledermaus, Aida, and Il trovatore (2013); La bohème, La traviata, and The Rape of Lucretia (2012); The Marriage of Figaro (2011); the world premiere of Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (2010); and numerous outdoor productions. Clark also has designed

Tim Claydon’s work was previously seen at HGO in The Elixir of Love (2016) and Don Carlos and La traviata (both in 2012). Claydon trained in classical dance and has worked as a ballet dancer and trapeze artist for 20 years.

He has choreographed productions including Turandot (Grand Théâtre de Genève); Un ballo in maschera (Oslo Opera House, Royal Danish Opera): Asrael (Theater Bonn); Romeo and Juliet (The Globe); Effigies of Wickedness (The Gate); this production of Parsifal (Chicago Lyric); Pyramus and Thisbe (Canadian Opera Company); The Elixir of Love (Pittsburgh Opera, Opera North, Opera Oviedo, Lyric Opera of Chicago); Madame Butterfly and Carmen (Vlaamse Opera); The Tales of Hoffman (Malmö Opera); Belshazzar (Grange Festival); Manon Lescaut (Opera Holland Park); The Magic Flute, Idomeneo, La Comte Ory, and Falstaff (Garsington Opera); The Greek Passion, Gianni Schicchi, The Magic Flute, The Merry Widow, The Little Greats, Andrea Chénier, Peter Grimes, Albert Herring, La clemenza di Tito, and Rusalka (Opera North). His own work includes In search of Youkali, a collection of Kurt Weill songs.

A DA M NOBL E (U N ITED STATES) FIGHT DIREC TOR AND INTIMACY DIREC TOR Adam Noble is a movement specialist with over 25 years of experience in theater, opera, and film. He is the former movement instructor for the Butler Studio, and this season also serves as fight director and intimacy director for Madame Butterfly and Don Giovanni. During HGO’s 2022-23 season, he was fight director and intimacy director for La traviata, The Wreckers, The Marriage of Figaro, Werther, Tosca, and Salome. Additional HGO engagements include serving as the company’s fight director and intimacy director for Romeo and Juliet (2022), Carmen (2021), and Don Giovanni (2019), as well as fight director for Rigoletto (2019) and Julius Caesar (2018). Notable credits include The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Alley Theatre, Opera Carolina, Lincoln Center Director’s Lab, Dayton Opera, the Public Theatre, and more. Noble is the co-founder and artistic director of the Dynamic Presence Project, a theater company focused on the revitalization and proliferation of movement theater and embodied physical storytelling. He teaches movement both nationally and internationally, and has choreographed the physicality, violence, and intimacy for well over 200 productions. As the Associate Professor of Acting & Movement at the University of Houston, he serves as Head of the MFA acting program. He is also the resident Fight Director & Intimacy Specialist for The Alley Theatre.

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PA R S I FA L R ICH A R D BA DO (U N ITED STATES) CHORUS DIREC TOR Sarah and Ernest Butler Chorus Director Chair

Butler Studio alumnus Richard Bado is director of artistic planning and chorus director at HGO. He made his professional conducting debut in 1989 leading HGO’s acclaimed production of Show Boat at the newly restored Cairo Opera House in Egypt. Since then, he has conducted for Houston Ballet, La Scala, Opéra national de Paris, New York City Opera, the Aspen Music Festival, Tulsa Opera, the Russian National Orchestra, the Florida Philharmonic, the Montreal Symphony, and Wolf Trap Opera. This season he conducts The Sound of Music for HGO and again conducted performances of The Nutcracker with the Houston Ballet. In addition, he appears as the character of Alfred Grünfeld, an onstage pianist, in the Houston Ballet production of Mayerling. An accomplished pianist, Bado has appeared regularly with Renée Fleming in recital. He has also played for Cecilia Bartoli, Frederica von Stade, Susan Graham, Denyce Graves, Marcello Giordani, Ramón Vargas, Samuel Ramey, Jamie Barton, Ryan McKinny, and Michael Spyres. Bado holds music degrees from the Eastman School of Music, where he received the 2000 Alumni Achievement Award, and West Virginia University; he also studied advanced choral conducting with Robert Shaw. For 12 years, he was the director of the opera studies program at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. He has also worked for the Metropolitan Opera, Seattle Opera, the Bolshoi Opera Young Artist Program, Opera Australia, Santa Fe Opera, and Opera Theater of St. Louis. He received HGO’s Silver Rose Award in 2013 in celebration of his 25th year as chorus master.

RUSSEL L T HOM AS (U N ITED STATES)

Artist in Residence at LA Opera, where he curates the company’s After Hours recital series and has spearheaded new training programs designed to serve outstanding singers from historically Black colleges and universities and Los Angeles public high school students from underserved communities.

K WA NGCH U L YOU N (SOU T H KOR E A) BA SS — GURNEMANZ Kwangchul Youn, who is widely recognized in the international operatic and concert world, is making his HGO debut. In recent years, the sought-after bass has been heard at all renowned opera houses in Europe and overseas, including Vienna, London, Berlin, Milan, Munich, Dresden, Paris, Barcelona, ​​Turin, New York, and Chicago. He has performed at the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals and the Salzburg Easter Festival, as well as the Tongyeong Festival. Highlights of recent seasons were Gurnemanz in a new production of Parsifal at Opéra de Paris, Rocco in Fidelio and Banquo in Macbeth at Berlin State Opera, Comte des Grieux in Manon at the Metropolitan Opera, Abimélech in a new production of Samson et Dalila at the Berlin State Opera, and Ramfis in Aida at Liceu Barcelona. Youn was a member of the ensemble of the Berlin State Opera from 1993 until 2004, where he presented a large selection of his wide-ranging repertoire. In 2018 he was named “Berliner Kammersänger.”

The focus of his repertoire is Wagner and Verdi, which includes roles such as Gurnemanz, König Heinrich, Marke, Daland, and Pogner, as well as Filippo, Fiesco, Ferrando, Banquo, and Ramfis.

Engagements in the 2023-24 season include König Heinrich in a new production of Lohengrin at Opéra de Paris, Fiesco in Simone Boccanegra at Vienna State Opera, and Sarastro in a new production of The Magic Flute at San Francisco Opera.

TENOR — PARSIFAL

EL ENA PA N K R ATOVA (RUSSI A) Russell Thomas made his role and HGO debut as Radames in HGO’s Aida in 2020 and participated in that season’s inaugural Giving Voice recital. In the 2023-24 season, Thomas appears as Álvaro in La forza del destino with Den Norske Opera, Radames in Aida at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Calaf in Turandot at LA Opera, Cavaradossi in Tosca with Royal Opera Covent Garden, and the title role in Don Carlos at Hamburg State Opera. Elsewhere, he performs at the Edinburgh International Festival and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, gives a solo recital at the Kennedy Center, and offers the world premiere of Joel Thompson’s Fire and Blue Sky at LA Opera. Recently, he joined the MET Orchestra on their first international tour in over 20 years, singing Otello opposite Angel Blue at Carnegie Hall, Philharmonie de Paris, Barbican Centre, and Festspielhaus Baden-Baden.

Thomas has enjoyed a string of operatic triumphs in key Verdi roles, including Ernani at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Don Carlo at the Metropolitan Opera, Otello at Los Angeles Opera, Canadian Opera Company, and Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Manrico in Il trovatore at Bavarian State Opera, Stiffelio at Opera Frankfurt, and Álvaro at Deutsche Oper Berlin and Paris Opera. Thomas is the 46

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SOPR ANO — KUNDRY Elena Pankratova is making her HGO and U.S. debuts. Her upcoming engagements throughout the 2023-24 season include Die Färberin in Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Vienna State Opera, the title role in Turandot, both in Barcelona and at the Metropolitan Opera, as well as Elektra in Elektra at the Munich Opera Festival. Her international breakthrough came in 2010 in the role of Färberin at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino—one she revisited at La Scala in Milan (2012), as well as the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires (2013). Since then, she has performed in houses across Europe. No stranger to the works of Wagner, Pankratova became the first Russian high dramatic soprano in the 140-year history of the Bayreuth Festival to make her debut as Kundry in Parsifal in 2016, a role she would go on to reprise for the next three seasons. For her interpretations of both Kundry and Färberin the soprano received the Russian “Casta Diva” opera prize for singer of the year in 2018. Operatic appearances in recent years include Ortrud (Lohengrin) at the 2022 Salzburg Easter Festival and Vienna State Opera, Kundry at Wagner Days

2022 in Leipzig, Turandot in Philipp Stölzl’s new production at the Berlin State Opera, and her role debut as Isolde (Tristan und Isolde) at the Bavarian State Opera. In 2021, she was member of the jury at the prestigious International Tenor Viñas Singing Competition in Barcelona. Since 2015, Pankratova has combined her stage career with a singing professorship at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz in Austria.

RYA N MCK I N N Y (U N ITED STATES) BA SS-BARITONE—AMFORTA S Butler Studio alumnus Ryan McKinny has performed with HGO many times, including as Jokanaan in Salome (2023); the title role in Don Giovanni (2019); Gunther in Götterdämmerung (2017); and Donner in Das Rheingold, Escamillo in Carmen, and the title role in Rigoletto (all in 2014). This season at HGO, he also performs as Leporello in Don Giovanni. McKinny opened the Metropolitan Opera’s 2023-24 season opposite Joyce DiDonato in the company premiere of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, which was simulcast in theaters in more than 70 countries via Met Live in HD. He also creates the lead role of Mac in the world premiere of Heggie’s Before It All Goes Dark, with performances in Seattle, San Francisco, and Chicago. During the 2022-23 season McKinny returned to the Los Angeles Opera in his role debut as Scarpia in Tosca, Seattle Opera as Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde, and Los Angeles Philharmonic as Clarence in John Adam’s Girls of the Golden West, a role he created with San Francisco Opera.

He also made his role debut as Bluebeard in Boston Lyric Opera’s Bluebeard’s Castle and sang Heggie’s For a Look or a Touch on a three-city tour with Music of Remembrance. He has made additional appearances at the Lyric Opera of Chicago (Joseph De Rocher in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, Don Giovanni); Metropolitan Opera (Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro, Biterolf in Tannhäuser, Speaker in The Magic Flute, Kothner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Lieutenant Ratcliffe in Billy Budd); Dutch National Opera (debut in Pierre Audi’s production of Parsifal); Los Angeles Opera; Santa Fe Opera; Washington National Opera; Staatstheater Wiesbaden; English National Opera; Semperoper Dresden; Hamburg State Opera; Deutsche Oper Berlin; Deutsche Oper am Rhein; Teatro Colón; and many other companies.

A N DR E A SI LV ESTR EL L I (ITA LY) BA SS — KLINGSOR Andrea Silvestrelli has previously performed the roles of Hagen in Götterdämmerung (2017), Fafner in both Das Rheingold (2014) and Siegfried (2016) at HGO, along with Philippe II in Don Carlos (2012), Sparafucile in Rigoletto (2009), and Osmin in The Abduction from the Seraglio (2008). Also during the 2023-24 season, Silvestrelli joins Opera Australia as Fafner, Hunding, and Hagen in three full cycles of Der Ring des Nibelungen in Brisbane; and performs as Attila and in Assassinio nella cattedrale with Opera Festival of Chicago. Recent

performances include Hagen in Götterdämmerung and Fafner in Siegfried in a return to the Taichung National Theater in Taiwan. He also recently appeared with Boston Lyric Opera as Sparafucile in Rigoletto and with Maryland Lyric Opera as Filippo II in Don Carlos, Banquo in Macbeth, and Pistola in Falstaff. His Metropolitan Opera debut was Sparafucile in the Otto Schenk production of Rigoletto, and he also joined the company for performances of Ernani. He has performed numerous major roles with San Francisco Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago, as well as Seattle Opera, Washington National Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Canadian Opera Company, and Los Angeles Opera. In a career that spans decades and continents, he has performed on stages of leading opera houses across the world, among them Rome Opera, Teatro Regio di Torino, Bavarian State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Berlin Staatsoper, Dutch National Opera, Covent Garden, Welsh National Opera, and houses in Beijing, Mexico City, Tel Aviv, and many more.

A N DR É COU RV I L L E (U N ITED STATES) BA SS-BARITONE—TITUREL André Courville is making his HGO debut.

This season with HGO, he performs as Titurel in Parsifal and as Yamadori in Madame Butterfly. Recent and upcoming seasons bring returns to Italy in Opera di Firenze’s productions of Madame Butterfly and Romeo and Juliet, to Cincinnati Opera as Colline in La bohème, and debuts with the Berkshire Opera Festival as the title role in Don Giovanni, and with the Moscow Philharmonic Society as Clistene in Vivaldi’s L’Olimpiade at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow. Highlights of previous seasons include notable debuts as Masetto in Don Giovanni with The Dallas Opera, Lord Cecil in Maria Stuarda at Oper Zürich in Switzerland, the title role in The Marriage of Figaro at Arizona Opera and Karlsruhe’s Badisches Staatstheater in Germany, Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville at Opéra National de Bordeaux, Leporello in Don Giovanni at the Guangzhou Opera House in China, Le Grand Prêtre des Mexicains in Fernand Cortez with Opera di Firenze, Pietro in Simon Boccanegra with Opéra de Rouen Normandie, Zuniga in Carmen with Cincinnati Opera, the Marquis in La traviata with the Santa Fe Opera, and a return to the Philadelphia Orchestra as the Jailer in Tosca under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Trained at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, Courville garnered critical acclaim for performances there of many important roles including Méphistophélès in Faust, Mustafà in The Italian Girl in Algiers, and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor. He is the recipient of top awards in numerous national and international vocal competitions, including First Prize in Los Angeles’s Loren L. Zachary National Vocal Competition and the Top Prize in New York’s Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition.

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PA R S I FA L M ERY L DOM I NGU EZ (U N ITED STATES)

DEM ETR IOUS SA M PSON , JR .

(U N ITED STATES)

SOPR ANO — 1S T ESQUIRE /FLOWER MAIDEN

TENOR —3RD ESQUIRE

Mr. and Mrs. Harlan C. Stai Fellow

A second-year Butler Studio artist from Brooklyn, Meryl Dominguez covers two additional roles during the 2023-24 season with HGO: Callie Van Lew in Intelligence and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. During HGO’s 2022-23 season, she performed the role of Skyspace Woman in Another City, Slave in Salome, and Violetta in La traviata at Miller Outdoor Theatre. A finalist in HGO’s 2022 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias, she recently made her international debut as the title character in Norma with Musica Viva Hong Kong and returned to the company as the title character in Maria Stuarda. She 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. In addition to her operatic roles, she is an enthusiastic advocate for art song and new music.

A N I K USH YA N (GEORGI A /A R M EN I A) MEZ ZO -SOPR ANO — 2ND ESQUIRE / FLOWER MAIDEN Donna and Ken Barrow/ Barbara and Pat McCelvey/ Jill A. Schaar and George Caflisch Fellow

A first-year Butler Studio artist from Tbilisi, Georgian-Armenian mezzo-soprano Ani Kushyan is making her HGO debut. She also performs the role of Sister Sophia in The Sound of Music during HGO’s 2023-24 season. Kushyan was a finalist in HGO’s 2023 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias. She was a member of the young artists program at Armenian National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet from 2021-23, making her debut with the company as Third Girl in Anoush by Armenian composer Armen Tigranyan. Other roles include Marta in Iolanta, Lyubasha in The Tsar’s Bride, and Anoush’s mother in Anoush. As an active concert performer, she has appeared in Germany, Latvia, Sweden, Estonia, Georgia, and Armenia. She was named first prize winner in the 2022 Premiere Opera Foundation Vocal Competition, the audience prize winner at the SOI Fiorenza Cedolins competition in Italy, first prize winner in the 2021 Armenian Romanciade, and winner of a special prize at the Ottavio Ziino International Singing Competition in Rome.

Kushyan received her bachelor’s degree from the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory and her master’s degree from the Tbilisi State Conservatory in Georgia. She continued her studies at the Riga Jāzepa Vītola Latvian Music Academy and the Lübeck Academy of Music in Germany.

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

A first-year Butler Studio artist from East Albany, Georgia, Demetrious Sampson, Jr. is making his HGO debut. He is the second place and Audience Choice Winner in HGO’s 2023 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias and a 2022 alumnus of HGO’s Young Artists Vocal Academy. 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 summer 2022 as an apprentice artist. At Georgia State University, he has performed the roles of Vanderdendur in Candide and the title role in John Musto’s Bastianello. A previous Encouragement Award winner, he recently won the Georgia District in the 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. Sampson received his bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University, where he studied with Kathryn Hartgrove. During summer 2023, he joined the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco.

M ICH A EL MCDER MOTT (U N ITED STATES) TENOR — 4TH ESQUIRE Michelle Beale and Dick Anderson/ Dr. Ellen R. Gritz and Mr. Milton D. Rosenau Jr. Fellow

A first-year Butler Studio artist from Huntington Beach, California, tenor Michael McDermott is the third-place winner in HGO’s 2023 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias and a 2021 alumnus of HGO’s Young Artists Vocal Academy.

During HGO’s 2023-24 season, he performed the role of Bardolph in Falstaff and covers the role of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni.

In 2022 he covered the role of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni at the Aspen Music Festival, returning in 2023 to perform Arbace in Idomeneo. At The Juilliard School in New York, he performed the roles of Spärlich in Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor and Filippo in Hadyn’s L’infedelta Delusa, as well as appearing in liederabends and recitals coached by Brian Zeger and Pierre Vallet. His recent competition wins include first prize in the 2021 Schmidt Vocal Competition and first prize in the Scholarship Division of the National Opera Association’s Carolyn Bailey Argento Competition.

McDermott received his Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School, and pursued his master’s degree at Rice University studying with Robin Rice.

LU NG A ER IC H A L L A M (SOU T H A FR IC A) TENOR — FIRS T KNIGHT Lunga Eric Hallam is making his HGO debut.

He recently completed his third year with Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center.

Hallam joined the Wolf Trap Opera program

in summer 2023 for Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni and Jupiter in Semele, and in fall 2023 he debuted as Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville with Pittsburgh Opera. During Lyric’s 2022-23 season, Hallam appeared in Le Comte Ory, and in the 2021-22 season, he performed in Sunday in the Park with Lyric’s Rising Stars and as Adult Nathan in Fire Shut Up in My Bones. Other Chicago engagements include two appearances at the Harris Theater’s Beyond the Aria series, one alongside Joyce DiDonato, and his recent debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Riccardo Muti in Un ballo in maschera. Recent engagements as a Young Artist at Cape Town Opera include Tebaldo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, and Roberto in Maria Stuarda, as well as Ramiro in La Cenerentola at Cape Town Conservatory. He was featured as part of the 2017 Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe. Hallam competed as a semifinalist in the 2019 Neue Stimmen International Singing Competition and the 2019 Voice of South Africa International Singing Competition. He founded the nonprofit organization Phenomenal Opera Voices in Khayelitsha, South Africa. He received his diploma and postgraduate (with honors) degrees in music training at the University of Cape Town College of Music.

CORY MCGEE (U N ITED STATES)

of Kate Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly and Sister Margaretta in The Sound of Music during HGO’s 2023-24 season. During the 2022-23 season at HGO, she made her mainstage debut replacing an indisposed colleague in the role of Jack for the final performance of The Wreckers, and she performed the roles of Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro and The Page of Herodias in Salome. She is a winner of the 2021 Naumburg Foundation International Vocal Competition and, with pianist and composer Shawn Chang, the 2021 Juilliard Vocal Arts Honors Recital. Wagner was a 2021 Renée Fleming Artist at Aspen Music Festival, where she performed the roles of Second Lady (The Magic Flute) and Unulfo (Rodelinda); sang in scenes from Così fan tutte, La clemenza di Tito, and Semele; and premiered David Clay Mettens’s The Sustaining Air. She worked with Renée Fleming for Carnegie Hall’s 2021 SongStudio and received second prize in the 2021 Saengerbund Awards. She has performed with Steven Blier and Bénédicte Jourdois at Caramoor and with Brian Zeger at Juilliard Songfest. This past summer, she returned to Aspen to perform the role of Idamante in Idomeneo. She completed her Bachelor of Music degree at the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Joan Patenaude-Yarnell, and her Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Darrell Babidge and was a Gluck Community Service Fellow.

BA SS — SECOND KNIGHT Butler Studio alumnus Cory McGee was the second prize winner in HGO’s 2020 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias. This season for HGO, he also performs as Imperial Commissioner in Madame Butterfly.

Elsewhere in 2023-24, McGee performs the role of Pietro in Simon Boccanegra with Opera Philadelphia, Colline in La bohème with Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, as a bass soloist in Handel’s Messiah with Santa Fe Symphony, and as Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Atlanta Opera. HGO roles for 2022-23 included Doctor Grenvil in La traviata, Johann in Werther, Jailer in Tosca, and Fifth Jew in Salome. During the 2021-22 HGO season, he performed the role of Billy in The Snowy Day, and during the 2020-21 HGO Digital season he appeared in The Making of The Snowy Day, an Opera for All, and in Giving Voice. In summer 2019, he joined Santa Fe Opera as an apprentice artist, portraying the role of the Gardener in Ruder’s The Thirteenth Child. He returned to Santa Fe in summer 2021 as an apprentice artist, performing the role of Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and recently debuted the role of Colline in La bohème at Detroit Opera. In summer 2022, he sang the role of Caspar in Der Freischütz with Wolf Trap Opera, where he returned in 2023 to perform the title role in Don Giovanni.

He completed his Master of Music degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.

ER I N WAGN ER (U N ITED STATES) MEZ ZO -SOPR ANO —VOICE FROM ABOVE /FLOWER MAIDEN Amy and Mark Melton/ Drs. Liz Grimm and Jack Roth/ Mrs. Nancy Haywood Fellow

R EN ÉE R ICH A R DSON (U N ITED STATES) SOPR ANO — FLOWER MAIDEN Kathleen Moore and Steven Homer/ Carolyn J. Levy/ Jeff Stocks and Juan Lopez Fellow

A second-year Butler Studio artist from Springfield, Pennsylvania, Renée Richardson also performs the role of Sister Berthe in The Sound of Music and covered the role of Mary Jane Bowser in Intelligence during HGO’s 2023-24 season. During the 2022-23 season at HGO, she performed the roles of Annina in La traviata and Woman Whose Uncle Loved Maria Callas in Another City and appeared in Giving Voice.

In the 2021-22 season she sang Mimì in Puccini’s La bohème at the Academy of Vocal Arts, where she studied with Bill Schuman.

Also at AVA, she sang the Foreign Princess in Dvořák’s Rusalka, the title role and Suor Dolcina in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, and Inès in Donizetti’s La favorite. She holds a Professional Studies Diploma in Voice from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where her roles included Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Béatrice in Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict, and the title roles in Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Cherubini’s Medea. Richardson has been seen in several Pensacola Opera productions including Carmen, La bohème, and The Pirates of Penzance. She was the recipient of an A. Grace Lee Mims Scholarship for Negro Spirituals and was the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Kennett Symphony. She was recently named a finalist in the Vincerò Worldwide Opera Competition in Naples, Italy. This past summer, she debuted the role of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Wolf Trap Opera.

A second-year Butler Studio artist from El Paso, Erin Wagner also performs the roles HGO.ORG

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PA R S I FA L K A IT LY N STAV I NOH A (U N ITED STATES) SOPR ANO — FLOWER MAIDEN Kaitlyn Stavinoha made her HGO mainstage debut in Carousel (2016) and went on to sing The Trainbearer in Elektra (2018), Sister Catherine in Dialogues of the Carmelites (2022), and First Bridesmaid in The Marriage of Figaro (2023). She is an active performer with the HGO Chorus and in the Houston area, recently returning to sing with The Houston Gilbert and Sullivan Society as Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore (2022). She has performed with Opera in the Heights, Operativo Houston, and in many capacities with HGO’s Community and Learning initiative, including three seasons with Opera to Go! and the Veteran’s Songbook Initiative. In 2019, she was a Studio Artist with Chautauqua Opera, where she sang Berta in The Barber of Seville and covered Rosina in The Ghosts of Versailles. Role highlights include Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Oscar in A Masked Ball, Pamina in The Magic Flute, and Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro.

EM I LY LOU ISE ROBI NSON (U N ITED STATES) SOPR ANO — FLOWER MAIDEN A member of the HGO Chorus since 2013, Emily Louise Robinson was most recently seen on the HGO mainstage in 2022, as Sister Valentine in Dialogues of the Carmelites. Robinson has been a young artist at Teatro Nuovo and Opera Colorado, where she covered the role Hester Prynne in the world premiere of Lori Laitman’s The Scarlet Letter. She can be heard on the Naxos recording of The Scarlet Letter in the role of Goodwife One. Other roles include Micaela in Carmen, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, and High Priestess in Aida with Opera Colorado, and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with St. Petersburg Opera Company. Robinson has a master’s degree from New England Conservatory in voice, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago in Musicology, and a Certificate of Performance from the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston. She was a 2015 Gulf Coast Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions.

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T R U S T S & E S TAT E S

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As a true fiduciary, our sole allegiance is to the needs of the families we serve from this generation to the next.

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January 26, 28m, 30†, February 3, 6†, 7, 9, 10†, 11m † Alt-cast performances. Jan. 30 is a Student Matinee; Feb. 6 is High School Night.

A N O P E R A I N T H R E E AC T S MUSIC BY Giacomo Puccini LIBETTO BY Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa A Co-production of Houston Grand Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève, and Lyric Opera of Chicago Sung in Italian with projected English translation.

The performance lasts approximately 2 hours and 43 minutes, including one intermission.

CONTENT ADVISORY This opera contains depictions of suicide.

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.

BROWN THEATER

QUICK START GUIDE THE OPER A IN ONE SENTENCE Cio-Cio San falls deeply in love with a U.S. Naval officer named Pinkerton, but when he returns after many years away with another wife, asking Cio-Cio-San to give him their child, she seeks her final comfort through her father’s seppuku knife.

BACKGROUND For as simple, beautiful, and tragic a love story as Madame Butterfly is, its development into an opera is rather involved. The essence of the opera comes from an 1887 novel titled Madame Chrysanthème by French naval officer Pierre Loti. He had been stationed variously in Istanbul, Tahiti, India, and China, among many other places, and his career as a novelist began when fellow officers encouraged him to adapt some of his diary entries into a book. Loti’s writings significantly influenced the late 19th-century Western orientalist attitudes toward Eastern culture.

Madame Chrysanthème formed the basis for an 1893 opera of the same name by André Messager, and Loti’s semi-autobiographical novel Le Mariage de Loti served as inspiration for the operas Lakmé by Léo Delibes and L’île du rêve by Reynaldo Hahn. An 1898 book by John Luther Long combined aspects of Madame Chrysanthème with the personal recollections of Long’s sister, who had lived briefly in Japan with her husband as a missionary.

Long’s short story, titled Madame Butterfly, introduced the main characters and plotlines included in Puccini’s opera. The story was then adapted into a one-act play

by American playwright David Belasco, titled Madame Butterfly: A Tragedy of Japan. The play opened in New York City in 1900 and traveled to London that summer, where Puccini was in attendance. Puccini recruited his collaborators Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, with whom he had already written La bohème and Tosca, to write the libretto.

When the opera opened in February 1904, it was a critical disaster and was withdrawn from performance. That two-act version painted Pinkerton even more cruelly than in later versions; Puccini rewrote the opera into a threeact version, with a slightly kinder Pinkerton, which was received as a great success in its premiere in May 1904.

Puccini continued to rewrite sections of the score, once in 1906, and twice more in 1907; the fifth version of the

opera, from 1907, is the standard performance version of Madame Butterfly.

W H AT TO LISTEN FOR The U.S. National Anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” appears throughout the score of Madame Butterfly.

When Puccini composed the opera, the anthem was not yet the national anthem, but was the official anthem of the U.S. Navy—a fitting soundtrack for B.F. Pinkerton, a Naval lieutenant. The music appears most prominently about five minutes into the opera in a grand fanfare of brass and winds, right before Pinkerton’s boastful Act I aria “Dovunque al mondo,” in which he sings of American bravado. It returns later in his aria when he sings, in English even within an Italian libretto, “America forever!”

Listen closely in the second act, when Goro tries to convince Butterfly to take Prince Yamadori as a husband. Goro explains that Japanese law allows for desertion to be treated as divorce, meaning she is no longer beholden to her vows to Pinkerton. Butterfly responds, “Japanese law…but not the law of my country, the United States.” When she sings “Japanese law,” Puccini quotes the melody of the Japanese national anthem, “Kimigayo,” and when she calls the United States her country, the orchestra returns to “The StarSpangled Banner.”

FUN FACT The coro a bocca chiusa—translated to “chorus of closed mouths,” and commonly called the Humming Chorus—was added by Puccini in his first revision to the score as a transition from the second act to the third. Musical theater fans may notice how similar the melody of the Humming Chorus is to the song “Bring Him Home” from Les Misérables. Parts of the melody are identical, and though Claude-Michel Schönberg, the composer of Les Mis, has not publicly commented on the melody’s inspiration, he later wrote the music to the hit musical Miss Saigon, which itself is an adaptation of Madame Butterfly.

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C A S T & CR E ATI V E CAST (in order of vocal appearance)

CR E ATI V E TE A M

Pinkerton

Conductor

Yongzhao Yu ‡

Patrick Summers Sarah and Ernest Butler Chair

Eric Taylor ‡ (Jan. 30m, Feb. 6 and 10)

Teddy Poll * (Jan. 30m, Feb. 6 and 10)

Goro

Rodell Rosel

Suzuki

Sun-Ly Pierce ‡

Original Director

Michael Grandage

Emily Treigle † (Jan. 30m, Feb. 6 and 10)

Revival Director

Jordan Lee Braun *

Mr. and Mrs. James W. Crownover/ John Serpe and Tracy Maddox Fellow

Set and Costume Designer

Christopher Oram

Original Lighting Designer

Neil Austin

Revival Lighting Designer

Philip Alfano

Movement Director

Nao Kusuzaki *

Fight Director/Intimacy Director

Adam Noble

Ailyn Pérez

Cultural Consultant

Kunio Hara *

Raquel González * (Jan. 30m, Feb. 6 and 10)

Chorus Director

Richard Bado ‡

Musical Preparation

Kirill Kuzmin ‡

Sharpless

Michael Sumuel ‡ Navasard Hakoybyan † (Jan. 30m, Feb. 6 and 10) Melinda and Bill Brunger/ Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Nickson/ Gloria M. Portela Fellow

Cio-Cio-San

Sarah and Ernest Butler Chorus Director Chair

Cousin

Julie Cathryn Hoeltzel

Mother

Katherine Jones *

Uncle Yakuside

Joe Key

Aunt

Alyssa Barnes *

Imperial Commissioner

Cory McGee ‡

Official Registrar

Jon Janacek

The Bonze

William Guanbo Su ‡

Prince Yamadori

André Courville

Stage Manager

Brian August

Kate Pinkerton

Erin Wagner †

Assistant Director

Kaley Karis Smith

Sorrow

Xavier Zug Detrick

Michelle Papenfuss †

Dr. Saúl and Ursula Balagura/ Sharon Ley Lietzow and Robert Lietzow/ Dr. Laura E. Sulak and Dr. Richard W. Brown Fellow

Marco Rizzello †

Amy and Mark Melton/ Drs. Liz Grimm and Jack Roth/ Mrs. Nancy Haywood Fellow

Esperanza Kwon-Hirschfeld (Jan. 30m, Feb. 6 and 10)

Ms. Lynn Des Prez/ Dr. Gary L. Hollingsworth and Dr. Ken Hyde/ Stephanie Larsen / Dr. and Mrs. Miguel Miro-Quesada Fellow

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

PRODUCTION CR EDITS English supertitles by Scott F. Heumann, adapted by Paul Hopper. Supertitles called by Matthew Neumann.

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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S Y N O PS I S

ACT I

ACT III

Pinkerton, a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, has arranged with the Nagasaki marriage broker Goro to marry a young girl named Cio-Cio-San, called Butterfly. By Japanese law, the groom is free to dissolve the marriage whenever he wants to, and though Pinkerton is clearly fascinated by his child bride, it is obvious that he doesn’t take the marriage seriously. He says as much to Sharpless, the American consul, who warns him that Butterfly is a sincere girl and tragedy may ensue, but Pinkerton pays no attention.

When the brief ceremony is over, Butterfly’s uncle, a Buddhist priest, arrives in a fury, revealing that the girl has renounced her people’s ancient faith and taken the American man’s Christian god. The family, horrified, deserts Butterfly. She weeps bitterly, but Pinkerton comforts her, and soon all is forgotten as the two express their love.

Dawn. Butterfly has waited all night. Suzuki persuades her to go and rest, and in her absence from the room, Pinkerton and Sharpless arrive. They break the news to Suzuki and try to enlist her help in persuading Butterfly to give up the child to Kate, Pinkerton’s new wife, who has also come but is discreetly waiting outside in the garden. Pinkerton then leaves: the memories of the house and his remorse are too much for him.

Kate speaks with Suzuki and then goes out again. Butterfly enters and, horror-stricken, learns the truth. When Kate repeats her request, Butterfly answers that she will give the child to his father if Pinkerton will come back for the boy in half an hour.

Butterfly blindfolds the child and then kills herself. She dies just as Pinkerton runs in, calling her name.

INTER MISSION ACT II Pinkerton has been gone for three years. Everyone—even her faithful maid, Suzuki—tells Butterfly that he has forsaken her, but she steadfastly insists that he will come back, as he promised, “when the robins make their nest.” Goro keeps urging her to marry his wealthy client, Prince Yamadori. And even Sharpless suggests that she accept this offer: he knows that, although Pinkerton is in fact coming back, he is bringing an American wife with him.

Sharpless tries to prepare Butterfly for this news, but before he can do so, she reveals that she has had a child by Pinkerton, and the consul leaves without delivering his message. The harbor cannon then announces the arrival of a ship. It is Pinkerton’s, the USS Abraham Lincoln. With Suzuki’s help, Butterfly decorates the little house with flowers. Then, with Suzuki and the child, Butterfly awaits Pinkerton’s arrival.

PER FOR M A NCE HISTORY HGO previously presented Madame Butterfly in the 2014-15, 2010-11, 2004-05, 1997-98, 1993-94, 1989-90, 1984-85, 1979-80, 1972-73, 1967-68, 1964-65, and 1955-56 seasons. In addition, it was performed by Texas Opera Theater, HGO’s former touring group, and as part of the Spring Opera Festival.

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HGO ORCHESTRA Patrick Summers, Artistic and Music Director

Sarah and Ernest Butler Chair

V IOL I N

DOU BL E BASS

CI M BASSO

Denise Tarrant*, Concertmaster

Dennis Whittaker*, Principal

Mark Barton*, Principal

Sarah and Ernest Butler Concertmaster Chair

Chloe Kim*, Assistant Concertmaster Natalie Gaynor*, Principal Second Violin Carrie Kauk*, Assistant Principal Second Violin Miriam Belyatsky*

Erik Gronfor*, Assistant Principal Carla Clark* Hunter Capoccioni

FLU TE Henry Williford*, Principal

Anabel Ramirez-Detrick*

Tyler Martin*

Rasa Kalesnykaite†

Izumi Miyahara

Hae-a Lee-Barnes* Chavdar Parashkevov*

OBOE

Mary Reed*

Elizabeth Priestly Siffert*, Principal

Erica Robinson*

Mayu Isom*

Linda Sanders* Oleg Sulyga* Sylvia VerMeulen*

ENGL ISH HOR N Spring Hill

Melissa Williams*

CL A R I N ET

Zubaida Azeri

Sean Krissman†, Principal

Lindsey Baggett

Vanguel Tangarov, Acting Principal

Andres Gonzalez

Eric Chi†

Emily Madonia

Justin Best

Mila Neal Patricia Quintero Garcia Jacob Schafer Rachel Shepard

BASS CL A R I N ET Molly Mayfield

BASSOON Amanda Swain*, Principal

V IOL A Eliseo Rene Salazar*, Principal Lorento Golofeev*, Assistant Principal

Michael Allard† Micah Doherty

Gayle Garcia-Shepard*

HOR N

Erika C. Lawson*

Sarah Cranston*, Principal

Suzanne LeFevre†

Kimberly Penrod Minson*

Sarah Mason

Spencer Park*

Matthew Weathers

Kevin McIntyre

Dawson White Sergein Yap

TRU M PET Tetsuya Lawson*, Principal

CEL LO

Randal Adams*

Barrett Sills*, Principal

Gerardo Mata

Erika Johnson*, Assistant Principal Ariana Nelson† Wendy Smith-Butler* Steven Wiggs* Shino Hayashi Kristiana Ignatjeva

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TROM BON E Thomas Hultén*, Principal Mark Holley† Justin Bain† Harry Gonzalez Brian Logan

TI M PA N I Alison Chang*, Principal

PERCUSSION Richard Brown†, Principal Christina Carroll, Acting Principal Craig Hauschildt

HARP Laurie Meister, Acting Principal

BA N DA Karen Slotter, Percussion Dawson White, Viola

ORCH ESTR A PER SON N EL M A NAGER Richard Brown*

* HGO Orchestra core musician † HGO Orchestra core musician on leave this production

HGO CHORUS

SUPERNUMERARIES

Richard Bado, Chorus Director

Sarah and Ernest Butler Chorus Director Chair

Efren Calderon

Ofelia Adame

Katherine Jones

Alyssa Barnes

Joe Key

Megan Berti

Alison King

Christopher Childress

Sarah L. Lee

Patrick Contreras

Aarianna B. Longino

Esteban G. Cordero Pérez

Alejandro Magallón

Callie Denbigh

Kathy Manley Montgomery

Stacia Morgan Dunn

Katherine McDaniel

Ami Figg

Patrick Perez

Dallas Gray

Teresa Procter

Tabitha Greene

Christina Rigg

Frankie Hickman

Francis Rivera

Austin Hoeltzel

Hannah Roberts

Julie Cathryn Hoeltzel

Hillary Schranze

Samuel Kor Brandon McCormick Donald Rabin Jonathan Robinson Edward Waddell

Jon Janacek

WH O ' S WH O PATR ICK SU M M ER S (U N ITED STATES) CONDUC TOR

Sarah and Ernest Butler Chair

Patrick Summers was named artistic and music director of HGO in 2011 after having served as the company’s music director since 1998. Some highlights of his work at HGO include conducting the company’s first-ever complete cycle of Wagner’s Ring and its first performances of the Verdi Requiem; conducting the first major American production of Smyth’s The Wreckers; collaborating on the world premieres of Tarik O’Regan’s The Phoenix, André Previn’s Brief Encounter, Christopher Theofanidis’s The Refuge, Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life, The End of the Affair, and Three Decembers, Carlisle Floyd’s Cold Sassy Tree and Prince of Players, Tod Machover’s Resurrection, and Joel Thompson’s The Snowy Day; leading the American premiere of Weinberg’s Holocaust opera The Passenger, both at HGO and on tour to the Lincoln Center Festival; and nurturing the careers of such artists as Christine Goerke, Ailyn Pérez, Joyce DiDonato, Ana María Martínez, Ryan McKinny, Tamara Wilson, Albina Shagimuratova, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Norman Reinhardt, Jamie Barton, and Dimitri Pittas. Maestro Summers has taken the podium for Opera Australia, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Metropolitan Opera. He has enjoyed a long association with San Francisco Opera (SFO) and was honored in 2015 with the San Francisco Opera Medal. His work with SFO includes conducting Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick, which was recorded and telecast on PBS’s Great Performances. In 2017, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree by Indiana University. He was recently

named Co-Artistic Director of the Aspen Music Festival’s Opera Theater and VocalARTS alongside Renée Fleming. During HGO’s 2023-24 season, he also conducted Falstaff. During HGO’s 2022-23 season, Summers conducted The Wreckers and The Marriage of Figaro; and in 2021-22 he conducted The Snowy Day, Dialogues of the Carmelites, and Romeo and Juliet. Other recent engagements include Dead Man Walking at the Israeli Opera.

TEDDY POL L (U N ITED STATES/GER M A N Y) CONDUC TOR (Jan. 30m, Feb. 6 and 10)

Teddy Poll, making his HGO debut, joins HGO as Resident Conductor for the 2023-24 season. In previous seasons, Poll has appeared as a guest artist at the Juilliard School, as well as in performances and workshops with Opera Philadelphia, the Glimmerglass Festival, Bare Opera, and the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music. He has served on the music staff as an Assistant Conductor at the Glimmerglass Festival and San Francisco Opera and was a Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellow at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Yannick NézetSéguin. Versatile as a composer, he has written concert, vocal, and film music that has been commissioned by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and the Presser Foundation, and has won an American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers Morton Gould Award. He is a member of the Broadcast Music, Inc. Lehman Engel Workshop and is currently composing an American comic opera based on Terrence McNally’s The Ritz, in collaboration with the McNally Estate and director Peter Kazaras. He holds Bachelor HGO.ORG

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of Arts and Master of Social Work degrees from Columbia University, and a Master of Music degree from Mannes College of Music.

M ICH A EL GR A N DAGE (U N ITED K I NGDOM) ORIGINAL DIREC TOR Michael Grandage directed this production of Madame Butterfly for HGO in 2010; the company revived the production in 2015, and it was also performed by Lyric Opera of Chicago. HGO also staged his production of The Marriage of Figaro in 2016 and 2023. Other opera work includes Don Giovanni for the Metropolitan Opera and Billy Budd for the San Francisco Opera, which has also been seen at Glyndebourne and Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. Grandage is Artistic Director of the Michael Grandage Company, where his work includes the films Genius starring Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, and Laura Linney, and most recently My Policeman starring Harry Styles and Emma Corrin. His theater productions for MGC in the West End and on Broadway include Orlando with Emma Corrin, Hughie with Forest Whitaker, Photograph 51 with Nicole Kidman, The Cripple of Inishmaan with Daniel Radcliffe, and Peter and Alice with Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw. He was Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse in London (2002-12) and Sheffield Theatres (2000-05), where his work included directing Chiwetel Ejiofor in Othello, Frank Langella and Michael Sheen in Frost/Nixon, Derek Jacobi in King Lear, Eddie Redmayne and Alfred Molina in Red (Tony Award for Best Director), Jude Law in Hamlet, and Kenneth Branagh in Ivanov. He won three Olivier Awards for his musical productions of Guys and Dolls, Merrily We Roll Along, and Grand Hotel. He was President of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama from 2010 to 2022. He was appointed CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honors 2011.

JOR DA N L EE BR AU N (U N ITED STATES) RE VIVAL DIREC TOR Jordan Lee Braun, making her HGO debut, is a regular member of the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production staff. Since 2016, she has worked on over two dozen productions at Lyric as either an associate director, assistant director, or stage manager. Braun has collaborated with directors Richard Jones, Sir David Pountney, Sir David McVicar, Sir Graham Vick, Francesca Zambello, Arin Arbus, Barrie Kosky, Bart Sher, Jonathan Miller, and many more. She frequently works with Lyric Unlimited, which is the educational outreach arm of the company, most recently directing the youth opera The Scorpion’s Sting for LU’s Opera in the Neighborhoods program. Braun prioritizes encouraging young artists and has directed several student matinees for The Atlanta Opera and Opera Colorado. She also coaches artists through the Chicago Lyric’s Ryan Opera Center and Florentine Opera in Milwaukee, and collaborates with DePaul University’s Opera Department. She spent eight seasons at Wolf Trap Opera working with emerging talent. Braun has worked with the Washington 58

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National Opera, Opera Omaha, Opera Grand Rapids, Charlottesville Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Sarasota Opera, Toledo Opera, and Opera Carolina. She holds a Master of Science degree in Leadership for the Creative Industries from Northwestern University with a Minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Design & Production from the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance.

CH R ISTOPH ER OR A M (U N ITED K I NGDOM) SE T AND COS TUME DESIGNER Christopher Oram has collaborated with Michael Grandage on numerous productions since 1996, including this production of Madame Butterfly, also seen at HGO in 2010 and 2015, and The Marriage of Figaro in 2016 and 2023.

Last season for HGO, he also designed sets and costumes for the company’s new production of Dame Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers.

Other opera credits include Billy Budd (Glyndebourne, Brooklyn Academy of Music) and Don Giovanni (Metropolitan Opera). His theater credits include Red (Donmar Warehouse and NYC); Henry V, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Cripple of Inishmaan (NYC); Peter and Alice and Privates on Parade (Michael Grandage Company and West End); Macbeth (Manchester International Festival and Park Avenue Armory, NYC); Frozen (St. James Theatre, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, NYC, Japan); Company (Sheffield Crucible); Othello, King Lear, Passion, Parade, and Frost/Nixon (Donmar); Hamlet, Madame de Sade, Twelfth Night, and Ivanov (Donmar and Wyndham’s); Summerfolk, Danton’s Death, Stuff Happens, and Power (National Theatre); Backbeat (Glasgow Citizen’s); Evita (Adelphi and NYC); Guys and Dolls (Piccadilly); King Lear and The Seagull (Royal Shakespeare Company and world tour); Wolf Hall, Bring up the Bodies, and The Mirror & The Light (RSC, London and NYC); A Winter’s Tale, Romeo and Juliet, and The Entertainer (Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company and Garrick).

Oram is a recipient of the Tony, Drama Desk, Olivier, Evening Standard, Critic’s Circle, Garland, Falstaff, and Ovation Awards for his work in both the United Kingdom and the United States.

N EI L AUSTI N (U N ITED K I NGDOM) ORIGINAL LIGHTING DESIGNER Neil Austin’s lighting designs have been seen at HGO in this production of Madame Butterfly (2010, 2011, and 2015) and in Carousel (2016). He has designed hundreds of shows worldwide, including plays, musicals, opera, and dance, including 41 for the National Theatre, 34 for the Donmar Warehouse and 52 in London’s West End. He is a three-time Tony Award winner, two-time Olivier Award winner, two-time Drama Desk Award winner, and three-time Knights of Illumination Award winner, among dozens of others. He most recently designed lighting for The Secret Life of Bees (Almeida Theatre, London) and The Pillowman (Duke of York’s Theatre, West End). Other recent work includes Medea (Soho Place Theatre, London),

Leopoldstadt (Longacre Theatre, Broadway), Frozen (Theatre Royal Drury Lane, West End), Piaf (Teatro Lice, Buenos Aires), Tammy Faye (Almeida Theatre, London), Company (Jacobs Theater, Broadway), and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – One-Part Version for numerous theaters worldwide. Austin has collaborated extensively with Rob Ashford, including The Winter’s Tale and a double-bill of Harlequinade/All on Her Own (Garrick Theatre, London’s West End); Macbeth (Park Avenue Armory, New York, and Manchester International Festival); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Rodgers Theatre, Broadway); Finding Neverland (Curve, Leicester); Evita (Marquis Theatre, Broadway); A Streetcar Named Desire (Donmar Warehouse); and Parade (Donmar and Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles). Additional work on Broadway includes Hughie starring Forrest Whittaker at the Booth Theatre; Red; Hamlet; The Seafarer; and Frost/Nixon. He also designed lighting for the first U.S. tours of Evita and Frost/Nixon.

PH I L I P A L FA NO (U N ITED STATES)

Odette/Odile with Victoria Ballet Theater. In 2011 she produced Dance for Hope, a benefit concert for Japan following the devastating earthquake that hit the country. Kuzusaki co-created TSURU with Asia Society Texas Center in 2015, and two years later directed and performed in the work for the 45th Anniversary Ballet Performance celebrating Houston and Chiba Sister City Relations. Later that year she directed and danced in TSURU again at the Miller Outdoor Theatre, where she was commended by the Consulate General of Japan. Kusuzaki is the founder of Creative Minds Collaborative Inc., a nonprofit organization seeking to create meaning across artists, educators, and the community by utilizing the medium of dance.

A DA M NOBL E (U N ITED STATES) FIGHT DIREC TOR AND INTIMACY DIREC TOR For information on Adam Noble, please see page 45.

RE VIVAL LIGHTING DESIGNER Philip Alfano is the lighting associate and production draftsman for HGO. He has previously served as the revival lighting designer for this production of Madame Butterfly at Grand Théâtre de Genève (2013), HGO (2015), and Opera Queensland (2016). He created the lighting for HGO Coming Home gala featuring Plácido Domingo (2018), as well as designs for HGO’s Miller Outdoor Theatre productions of Madame Butterfly (2011) and The Barber of Seville (2012). Select community engagement projects for HGO include designs for The Bricklayer (2012) and Your Name Means the Sea (2011). Other Houston design work includes Rice University Shepherd School of Music productions of Hansel and Gretel (2015), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2016), Giulio Cesare (2017), La finta giardiniera (2018), and Susannah (2019). In addition to his work for HGO, Alfano has recently concluded a 13-season tenure with The Santa Fe Opera, where he most recently held the position of lighting director. During that time, he created the lighting for the gala productions Renée Fleming Sings Letters From Georgia (2019) and Angel Blue in Concert (2021). He holds a degree in lighting design from the State University of New York at Fredonia.

NAO K USUZ A K I (JA PA N) MOVEMENT DIREC TOR Nao Kusuzaki is making her HGO debut.

Kusuzaki joined the Houston Ballet in 2004, became a soloist with the company in 2009, and has supported in their development department and as faculty at The Houston Ballet Academy. Today, she serves on the ballet faculty at The University of St. Thomas and teaches across the Greater Houston area. She has danced numerous leading roles in both classical and contemporary repertoire, from the title role in Madame Butterfly to Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort. In March 2023 she presented her new ballet Genji at the Asia Society Texas Center in partnership with The Houston Ballet. In 2019 she staged Swan Lake and performed

K U N IO H A R A (U N ITED STATES) CULTUR AL CONSULTANT Kunio Hara, making his HGO debut, is an associate professor of music history at the University of South Carolina with an emphasis on nineteenth and twentieth-century music.

His research areas include Puccini's operas, as well as exoticism and Orientalism in music, nostalgia, and music in postwar Japan.

His publications include a monograph, Joe Hisaishi’s Soundtrack for "My Neighbor Totoro" (2020), a book chapter, "Racial Politics of Madama Butterfly and Turandot" in Puccini in Context (2023), and several journal articles including "Memories of La bohème and the Shadow of the débardeur in Puccini's Il trittico" in Studi pucciniani (2020), "'Per noi emigrati': Nostalgia in the Reception of Puccini's La fanciulla del West in New York City's Italian-Language Newspapers," in Journal of the Society for American Music (2019), and “The Death of Tamaki Miura: Performing Madama Butterfly During the Allied Occupation of Japan" in Music and Politics (2017).

Hara has presented his research at various national and international musicological conferences, as well as public talks for the Metropolitan Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Atlanta Opera, New Orleans Opera, and Portland Opera. He holds a Ph.D. in musicology from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

R ICH A R D BA DO (U N ITED STATES) CHORUS DIREC TOR Sarah and Ernest Butler Chorus Director Chair

For information on Richard Bado, please see page 46.

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B U T T E R F LY A I LY N PÉR EZ (U N ITED STATES) SOPR ANO — CIO - CIO -SAN

Ailyn Pérez has been seen at HGO as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (2019), Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro (2016), and Desdemona in Otello (2014). Other notable engagements of the 2023-24 season include Cio-Cio-San at Teatro di San Carlo (role debut) and Teatro Real de Madrid; her role debuts as Florencia Grimaldi in Florencia en el Amazonas and Micaëla in Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera; her debut with Washington Concert Opera as Magda in La Rondine; and the title role in Tosca at Hamburg State Opera. Career highlights include Violetta (La traviata) at the Zürich Opera House, the Hamburg State Opera, Berlin State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, San Francisco Opera, Teatro alla Scala, and the Royal Opera House – Covent Garden. She also appeared at Covent Garden as the title role in Manon, Mimì in La bohème, and her role debut as Liù (Turandot). Other highlights include Thaïs, Blanche (Dialogues of the Carmelites), Alice Ford (Falstaff), Mimì and Musetta (La bohème), Tatiana (Eugene Onegin), and Juliet (Romeo and Juliet) at The Metropolitan Opera; Adina (The Elixir of Love) for the Bavarian State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Vienna State Opera, and Washington National Opera; Violetta and the title role of Manon on a tour of Japan with the Royal Opera House; and Tatyana Bakst in the world premiere of Jake Heggie's Great Scott (featured on an acclaimed Erato recording release) and Manon for The Dallas Opera. She won the 2012 Richard Tucker Award, becoming the first Hispanic recipient in the award's 35-year history, as well as the 15th annual Plácido Domingo Award.

R AQU EL GONZ Á L EZ (U N ITED STATES) SOPRANO—CIO-CIO-SAN (Jan. 30m, Feb. 6 and 10)

Raquel González is making her HGO debut.

Elsewhere this season, she covers the role of Rosalba in Florencia en el Amazonas at the Metropolitan Opera, performs the role of Micaëla in Carmen at Austin Opera, and sings Marguerite in Faust at Berkshire Opera Festival. During the 2022-23 season, she performed with Inland Opera Northwest for La traviata (Violetta), Sarasota Opera for Madame Butterfly (Cio-Cio-San), and Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera for La bohème (Mimì), in addition to debuting on the roster of The Metropolitan Opera for La bohème. During the 2021-22 season, she appeared with Opera San Antonio in Don Giovanni (Donna Anna) and Virginia Opera in La bohème (Mimì), and returned to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for Harvey Milk (Dianne Feinstein). Recent highlights include returning to Lyric Opera of Kansas City for La bohème (Mimì), joining the roster of the Lyric Opera of Chicago for Madame Butterfly, making her role/house debut at New Orleans Opera in Turandot (Liù), and returning to Washington National Opera for a role debut in Silent Night (Anna Sørensen). She made her hometown debut with Lyric Opera of Kansas City in Eugene Onegin (Tatyana) directed by Tomer Zvulun.

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She recently completed three seasons as a Young Artist with the Washington National Opera, where she has performed numerous roles. She is a winner of the prestigious Sphinx Organization’s Medal of Excellence Award.

YONGZH AO Y U (CH I NA) TENOR — PINKERTON Yongzhao Yu, who won the Audience Choice Award and the Ana María Martínez Encouragement Award in HGO’s 2015 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias, is a Butler Studio alumnus. He made his HGO stage debut as a Winged Angel in the world premiere of It’s a Wonderful Life (2016), and also performed Flavio in Norma and selected performances of Alfredo in La traviata during the 2017-18 season. In 2018 he returned to HGO to perform the role of Rodolfo in La bohème, a role he also has sung for New Orleans Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, and Arizona Opera; covered for The Metropolitan Opera; and performs in the 2023-24 season with the Berkshire Opera Festival. Also in the 2023-24 season, he returns to New Orleans Opera to perform the role of Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, and continues his relationship with the Metropolitan Opera, covering Rodolfo in La bohème. In the 2022-23 season, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Flavio in Norma. Additionally, he recently made his Seattle Opera debut as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto, covered the role of Alfredo in La traviata at The Metropolitan Opera, and made his Houston Symphony debut in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy. He has performed Flavio in Norma with the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Naulz in Visitors on the Icy Mountain with the Shanghai Grand Theater, and Alfredo in the concert hall of the Shanghai Oriental Art Center. He has performed in concert in the Grand Theatre of the Suzhou Culture and Arts Center and in an Eternal Verdi concert in Shanghai in honor of the bicentenary of Verdi’s birth. Further awards include first prize in Opera Concorso.

ER IC TAY LOR (U N ITED STATES) TENOR — PINKERTON (Jan. 30m, Feb. 6 and 10)

Butler Studio alumnus Eric Taylor has performed with HGO many times, including as Gastone in La traviata, Don Curzio in The Marriage of Figaro, and Narraboth in Salome during the 2022-23 season, and as Chevalier de la Force in Dialogues of the Carmelites, First Armored Man in The Magic Flute, and Benvolio in mainstage and outdoor performances of Romeo and Juliet during the 2021-22 season. Other engagements during the 2023-24 season include performing Pinkerton with Detroit Opera. During summer 2023, Taylor joined Wolf Trap Opera in the title role of Faust. In 2022 he returned to the Santa Fe Opera to perform the role of Melot in Tristan and Isolde and cover Don José in Carmen. Taylor completed his Master of Music degree at Rice University, where he performed the roles of Sam Polk in Susannah and Tito in La clemenza di Tito.

While pursuing his undergraduate degree in music at Westminster

College, he performed several leading roles, including Nemorino in The Elixir of Love and Rodolfo in La bohème, in addition to appearing in Carmina Burana with Salt Lake City’s Ballet West.

Taylor has participated in Apprentice Artist programs with Santa Fe Opera, Central City Opera, and Utah Lyric Opera. He was named the second prize winner in HGO’s Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias in 2021 and a semi-finalist at the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions in 2017.

M ICH A EL SU M U EL (U N ITED STATES) BA SS-BARITONE— SHARPLESS Butler Studio alumnus Michael Sumuel has been seen regularly at HGO in roles such as 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 2022-23 season he returned to the Metropolitan Opera to perform the role Belcore in The Elixir of Love; he also performed the role of the Father in Blue with English National Opera, Elviro in Xerxes with Detroit Opera, and Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro with Pittsburgh Opera. During the 2021-22 season Sumuel performed the role of Jesus in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with LA Opera, Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro with Seattle Opera, Escamillo in Carmen with The Santa Fe Opera, a concert of arias to open The Dallas Opera season, the King in Massenet’s Cinderella with the Metropolitan Opera, Leporello in Don Giovanni with Opera San Antonio, and Escamillo with Chicago Opera Theater. 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.

NAVASA R D H A KOBYA N (A R M EN I A) BARITONE— SHARPLESS Melinda and Bill Brunger/ Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Nickson/ Gloria M. Portela Fellow (Jan. 30m, Feb. 6 and 10)

A second-year Butler Studio artist from Garni, Armenia, Navasard Hakobyan won first place at HGO’s 2022 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias. During the 2022-23 season at HGO, he performed the roles of Baron Douphol in La traviata, Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro, and Second Nazarene in Salome. He was a member of the young artist program of the National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Yerevan, Armenia from 2018-23. His roles there included Silvio in Pagliacci, Giorgio Germont in La traviata, and Belcore in a new production of The Elixir of Love. He has won numerous international competitions, including first prize in the Premiere Opera Foundation International Vocal Competition, third prize in the José Carreras Grand Prix in Moscow, Russia, first prize in the Butler Opera International Voice Competition in Austin, and third prize and the Don Plácido Domingo Ferrer Prize of Zarzuela at Operalia in Capetown, South Africa. Hakobyan received his master’s degree at Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan. He was named the 2019

winner of the President of the Republic of Armenia Youth Prize. This past summer, he performed the role of Marcello in La bohème at Music Academy of the West.

SU N-LY PIERCE (U N ITED STATES) MEZ ZO -SOPR ANO — SUZUKI This season for HGO, Butler Studio alumna Sun-Ly Pierce also performs in the world-premiere chamber opera The Big Swim. She performed the role of Jack in HGO’s new production of The Wreckers in fall 2022; as Mercedes in Carmen, Sister Mathilde in Dialogues of the Carmelites, 2nd Lady in The Magic Flute, and Stephano in Romeo and Juliet during the 2021-22 season; and as Liesl in My Favorite Things: Songs from The Sound of Music and Hansel in HGO Digital’s Hansel and Gretel in the 2020-21 season. Elsewhere during the 2023-24 season, Pierce sings Siegrune in Die Walküre with Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro with New Orleans Opera.

During the 2022-23 season, Pierce debuted at Opera Philadelphia as Emilia in Otello; made her Carnegie Hall debut performing Songs of the Infatuated Muezzin with The Orchestra Now; sang Smeraldina in The Love for Three Oranges and Toledo in The Falling and the Rising with Des Moines Metro Opera; appeared with Detroit Opera as Arsamenes in Xerxes; sang Laurene Powell in The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs with Calgary Opera; and performed Serenade to Music for Bard SummerScape. Other highlights include performing the role of Bao Chai in Dream of the Red Chamber at San Francisco Opera, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni at the Aspen Music Festival, and Dorinda in Handel’s Acis and Galatea with the Broad Street Orchestra. Pierce was the first prize winner in HGO’s 2020 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias and the 2019 Marilyn Horne Song Competition.

EM I LY TR EIGL E (U N ITED STATES) MEZ ZO -SOPR ANO — SUZUKI Mr. and Mrs. James W. Crownover/John Serpe and Tracy Maddox Fellow (Jan. 30m, Feb. 6 and 10)

A New Orleans native and Grand Finals Winner of the 2021 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, Emily Treigle is a third-year Butler Studio Artist. During HGO’s 2023-24 season, she also performed the role of Meg Page (Falstaff) and covers the role of Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni). She spent the summer as a Filene Artist with Wolf Trap Opera, where she performed as Juno/Ino (Semele). In her previous seasons at HGO, following her 3rd place win in HGO’s 33rd annual Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias, Treigle has been seen as Flora (La traviata), Miss Violet (Another City, world premiere), Mère Jeanne (Dialogues of the Carmelites), and Gertrude (Romeo and Juliet). She has also covered the roles of Herodias (Salome) and Marcellina (The Marriage of Figaro). She appeared at the Aspen Music Festival as a Fleming Artist in 2022, as well as Wolf Trap Opera in 2021, where she covered the title role in Holst’s Savitri. Treigle pursued her Master of Music degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where she HGO.ORG

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received her Bachelor of Music degree in 2020. An undeniable legacy, her grandfather was world-renowned bass-baritone Norman Treigle.

RODEL L ROSEL (PH I L I PPI N ES)

Austin Opera. Other recent performances include Sarastro in The Magic Flute, Garibaldo in Rodelinda, and Basilio in The Barber of Seville at the Aspen Music Festival. Su was a Grand Finals Winner of the 2019 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the second-place winner in HGO’s 2019 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias.

TENOR — GORO Previously for HGO, Grammy-nominated tenor Rodell Rosel has portrayed Mime in Siegfried (2016) and in Das Rheingold (2014); Dance Master in Ariadne auf Naxos and Jason Chang in Courtside (2011); Goro in this production of Madame Butterfly (2010); and Squeak in Billy Budd (2008). Other engagements during the 2023-24 season include Goro in Madame Butterfly at the Grand Teton Music Festival and Boston Lyric Opera, Beppe in Pagliacci at Austin Opera, and Monostatos in The Magic Flute for Cleveland Orchestra. Rosel appears regularly in major opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, and Royal Opera House. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Valzacchi in Der Rosenkavalier. He originated the roles of Ong Chi Seng in Paul Moravec’s The Letter at Santa Fe Opera, as well as Anthony Candolino in Terrence McNally and Jake Heggie’s Great Scott at Dallas Opera. He has performed the role of Monostatos in The Magic Flute with the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, Los Angeles Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera. He has sung the title role in Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg, Britten’s Albert Herring, as well as Tamino in The Magic Flute and Don José in Carmen. He recently made his house and role debut as Calaf in Turandot with Opera Southwest. Rodell was a grand prize winner of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and a prize winner in the Lotte Lenya Vocal Competition, Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition, and the Jose Iturbi International Competition. He was part of the Grammy-nominated cast of John Musto’s opera, Volpone.

W I L L I A M GUA N BO SU (CH I NA) BA SS —THE BONZE Butler Studio alumnus William Guanbo Su’s previous roles with HGO include First Nazarene in Salome (2023); Zuniga in Carmen, First Officer in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Second Armored Man in The Magic Flute, A Mandarin in Turandot, and the Duke of Verona in Romeo and Juliet, all during the 2021-22 season; Bowie Krebs in The Impresario during the 2020-21 HGO Digital season; and Usher in Rigoletto in fall 2019.

During the 2023-24 season, he returns to the Metropolitan Opera for more performances as the Speaker in The Magic Flute and makes company debuts with Seattle Opera as Basilio in The Barber of Seville, Santa Fe Opera as Masetto in Don Giovanni, and Utah Opera as Colline in La bohème. Last season, he performed at the Metropolitan Opera as Speaker in The Magic Flute, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Blitch in Susannah, Austin Opera as Basilio in The Barber of Seville, and Boston Lyric Opera as Colline in La bohème.

He made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera as the Jailer in Tosca following performances of that role as well as Angelotti with 62

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A N DR E COU RV I L L E (U N ITED STATES) BA SS-BARITONE—YAMADORI For information on André Courville, please see page 47.

ER I N WAGN ER (U N ITED STATES) MEZZO-SOPRANO —K ATE PINKERTON Amy and Mark Melton/ Drs. Liz Grimm and Jack Roth/ Mrs. Nancy Haywood Fellow

For information on Erin Wagner, please see page 49.

CORY MCGEE (U N ITED STATES) BA SS — IMPERIAL COMMISSIONER For information on Cory McGee, please see page 49.

JON JA NACEK (U N ITED STATES) TENOR — REGIS TR AR Jon Janacek is a member of the HGO Chorus.

He previously performed with HGO as Giuseppe in La traviata (2017, 2022) and as Registrar in this production of Madame Butterfly (2015). Select past roles include excerpts of the title role in Lohengrin in 2018 and the role of Erik in The Flying Dutchman in 2019, both for the Wagner Institute of the Miami Music Festival. In 2020 Janacek participated in Vegas City Opera’s film, The Ring Vegas, performing the four lead tenor roles. He returned to The Wagner Institute, Miami Music Festival, in June 2022 to sing Loge in Das Rheingold. He has been a participant of the American Wagner Project and a sponsored grant recipient from The Wagner Society of Washington, DC. He returned to Vegas City Opera in November of 2021 as Rodolfo for La bohème and in March 2023 to sing Siegmund in Die Walküre.

An experienced concert artist, Janacek has been a featured soloist in performances of several sacred oratorios and has appeared with symphonies and orchestras across Texas. Future engagements include concert performances of Die Walküre Act 1 and Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, both with the SAS Performing Arts Program (New York) and Handel's Dixit Dominus with The Vox Seraphim Choir and Orchestra (Waco).

GAILLE PLLC

Outside General Counsel & Global Energy Law Houston, Texas www.gaillelaw.com

“

You can participate in the legacy of HGO, future artworks, and voices on this stage. A legacy gift ensures that the vibration of possibility and community continues far into the future.

”

- Jake Heggie -

For more information on HGO’s Laureate Society, please contact Amanda Neiter at 713-546-0216 or ANeiter@HGO.org.

Intelligence, fall 2023. Photo by Lawrence Elizabeth Knox

PORTR AIT OF A WAGNERIAN MAT T HE ALE Y ON THE MINUTE THE COMPOSER ’ S WORK GR ABBED HIM —AND NE VER LE T GO. B y C at h e rin e M atu s ow

F

or years, Matt Healey could best be described as a casual opera fan.

Originally from Chicago, he lived in New York for a few years—occasionally catching a performance at the Lyric or the Met—before moving to Houston in 2012. But in 2014, something big happened to him. Healey went to see Houston Grand Opera’s production of Wagner’s Das Rheingold, the first opera in the composer’s fourpart Ring cycle, which HGO staged over four seasons.

And his life changed forever.

“It deeply impacted me as a person,” he shared with Opera Cues. “From the moment the curtains opened to the E flat and the Rhine maidens in the glass water tanks, I was just immediately hooked by it. It spoke to me in a way that no other piece of art or any experience on earth has spoken to me since then.

“I felt like my will and myself—the core of my being, spirit, soul—something about the Ring cycle transformed that part of me in a way that I don’t fully see or appreciate to this day. But I felt changed coming out of it.”

He was blown away by the production, a massive, ambitious undertaking that, together with the next three operas, would carry a price tag of $16 million.

He was in awe of the scenery, the way the humans onstage came together to create sculpture, the music.

He called everyone he knew. He told his friends in Chicago to get down to Houston. “It was a totally

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unique aesthetic experience. I was hooked at that point. I got more into opera overall, and super into Wagner, after that.”

Lyric Opera of Chicago presented Michael Grandage's Parsifal in 2014.

Photo credit: Robert Kusel

Not only did Healey return to HGO the next three years for the rest of the cycle—Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung—he started traveling to see Wagner operas at houses throughout the country.

And two summers ago, for the first time, he went to Germany for the Bayreuth Festival. “I’m going to go for the rest of my life,” Healey said.

What is his advice to anyone seeing Parsifal for the first time? Read everything you can find about it, and prepare to be challenged. “This should challenge your conception of the world, yourself, and your place in it,” he said.

What is that experience like? Ethereal, he said.

Supernatural. “Everything is made of wood. There are no cushions. It’s such a warm, deep sound.” There’s no A/C at the annual August Wagner fest, and most people wear suits. This year, in addition to two of the Ring cycle operas, Healey saw Tannhauser and Parsifal there. It was during Parsifal, he said, that “a guy behind me passed out. I had to drag him out of the theater.”

Lest there is any question: “It is worth it.”

Yes, life as a Wagnerian involves a roster of challenges, from the philosophical to the cushion-free variety. But Healey puts equal energy into indulging in life’s more straightforward pleasures. He is as quick to extol the large steins of beer, treble-shaped pretzels, and sausages to be had during intermission at Bayreuth as the art. And in addition to serving as a finance executive at an energy company, he owns El Segundo Swim Club in the East End.

Healey is quick to point out that he is not a member of the “cult of Wagner.” He is drawn to not the man, but the music and text, the “deep complexity—even for opera, a singular complexity.” He is one of the generous HGO donors who is bringing Houstonians John Caird’s production of Parsifal, yet he insists he doesn’t love this opera.

“You have to be balanced in life,” he smiles. “A little Dionysus, a little Apollo.” ■

“I have a complicated relationship with Parsifal,” he says.

He feels at odds with what he sees as its worldview—one of renunciation, instead of embracing the world. But Healey will still be at the Wortham for the production; he wouldn’t miss it.

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OCTOBER 20, 2023

HGO opened its powerful 2023-24 season with the world premiere of Jake Heggie, Gene Scheer, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s Intelligence, created in collaboration with Zollar’s New York-based dance troupe, Urban Bush Women. Inspired by the littleknown true story of two Civil War-era women who led a secret pro-Union spy ring and helped change the course of U.S. history, Intelligence brought a full house to their feet with its unique fusion of music, words, and dance.

After the stirring performance, a buzzing crowd of 500 made their way to Fish Plaza for the company’s Opening Night celebration dinner, co-chaired by a dynamic duo of arts and business leaders, Myrtle Jones and Sara Morgan. Décor was by The Events Company, with the menu by City Kitchen Catering, selected by the event’s co-chairs and featuring Morgan’s own family spoonbread recipe.

HGO General Director and CEO Khori Dastoor greeted dinner guests from around the country on the momentous occasion—the first time in history HGO has opened its season with a world premiere—and HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers introduced the creative team and cast, including mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, soprano Janai Brugger, mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, soprano Caitlin Lynch, baritone Michael Mayes, bass-baritone Nicholas Newton, tenor Joshua Blue, the Urban Bush Women dancers, and conductor Kwamé Ryan. An announcement of record Opening Night fundraising toward HGO’s mission of enriching Greater Houston’s diverse community through the art of opera made for the night’s sweet ending, and a wonderful beginning for Houston’s opera season.

Allyson Pritchett, Kibbi Giddens

BenJoaquin Gouverneur, Khori Dastoor, Isabel and Danny David

Beth Madison, Dr. Numan Khan

Cheryl and Mike Clancy

Cast and creative team of Intelligence

Jake Heggie, Curt Branom, Jay Hiemenz, Frederica Von Stade

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Carl Palazzolo and Franci Neely

Constance Rose-Edwards, Nicholas Newton

S P E C I A L

Connie Kwan-Wong, Mei Leebron, Margaret Alkek Williams, Brigitte Kalai, Ping Sun

Co-chairs Myrtle Jones and Sara Morgan with Khori Dastoor (center)

Chris Preston, Alexandria Preston, Samantha Guzman, co-chair Myrtle Jones, Nedra Jones

Heather Hughes, Marshall Campbell

Geraldina and Scott Wise

Evening co-chair Sara Morgan

Indira and Jason Mills

Ilana Walder-Biesanz, Ellen Liu

E V E N T S

Denise Reyes, Matt Healey

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Ja'Milla CK Lomas, Jennifer Bowman, Kalinda Campbell

Joe Greenberg, Charlene and Tym Tombar

Betty and Jess Tutor

Joel Luks, Carey Kirkpatrick

Julia Wang, Valérie Baraban, Julien Nolen

Lori and David LePori

Vincent Thomas, Lynn Gissel

Nathan Wilson, Sherrita Wilson, Vanessa Gilmore, Patrick Summers, Kendra Mhoon, Frank Wilson

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Meredith and Ben Marshall

S P E C I A L

L AU R E ATE SO CI E T Y R ECITA L

E V E N T S

OCTOBER 8, 2023

J’Nai Bridges, mezzo-soprano, Madeline Slettedahl, piano HGO’s Laureate Society members celebrated a special start to the 2023-24 season during an intimate recital featuring one of this season's brightest stars. Two-time Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges took a break from performing the role of Lucinda in the HGO world premiere of Jake Heggie’s Intelligence to spend an afternoon charming Laureate Society members with her commanding stage presence and soul-stirring interpretations of Saint-Saëns, Brahms, Gershwin, Richard Rodgers; rousing gospel favorites; and the fiery encore from Bizet’s Carmen. The recital and dinner event is an annual fall favorite reserved for HGO's Laureate Society members, opera lovers who have made commitments to HGO in their estate plans. For information, contact Amanda Neiter at aneiter@HGO.org or 713-546-0216.

Ryan Manser and Emily Bivona

Madeline Slettedahl, J'Nai Bridges

Roxi Cargill and Peter Weston, Jesse Weir

Imelda Gott, Andrew Bowen and Ann Koster

Rhonda Goldberg, Nancy and Mark Picus

Khori Dastoor and Carol Fletcher Koster

Fiona Toth, Jim and Susie Pokorski

J’Nai Bridges and Donna Fox

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S T U D I O

WELCOME TO HGO! INTRODUCING THE NEW DIREC TOR OF THE BUTLER S TUDIO.

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n October, Colin Michael Brush assumed leadership of the Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio. In his new position, Brush will prepare the company’s Butler Studio artists for major careers in opera, overseeing their artistic development as he leads initiatives to identify and recruit talent from across the world.

I started to do that—hearing auditions and having a say… I’ve always known that I have knack for identifying talent.”

Favorite opera: “It’s so hard to choose!

If one, maybe the opera that opened HGO—Salome. I really like Nixon in China.

Turandot. I love Norma, and I love Nabucco.”

Approach to mentoring emerging artists: “I’ve seen so many auditions. Too often, people are told don’t do this, fix this, change that, don’t do that… And I think, we should not shy away from being bold. So much of classical music is about not being wrong—being technically perfect. And sometimes we forget that we’re meant to be expressing something, and the audience wants to not be able to take their eyes off someone… It’s not about telling people how to do it, but encouraging them to find it themselves.”

We caught up with Brush right after he arrived in Houston from Berlin. Both jet-lagged and full of energy, he was about to set off on a whirlwind multi-city tour, auditioning emerging artists for HGO ahead of his first Concert of Arias. The company’s audiences will be hearing a lot from Brush in the future, including in these pages, but first, an introduction is in order.

Here’s your CMB cheat-sheet: Name: Colin Michael Brush

First guests on his hypothetical podcast about art and America: We asked for a few names, and he planned a full season:

Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio Education: Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Vocal Performance from Carnegie Mellon University; Master of Music degree in Opera from the University of Maryland; former Bosch Foundation Fellow; recipient of a Flausen arts research grant.

Languages: English, German, Italian, some French. Of course, now that he’s a Houstonian, it’s time to learn Spanish.

Experience: Brush joins HGO from ADA Artists/UIA Talent in Berlin, where he has shepherded the careers of artists including baritone Michael Mayes and soprano Jasmine Habersham. He previously served as artistic administrator for Washington National Opera in Washington, D.C., where he helped plan mainstage operas and other performances at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

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A music-loving family: “I’ve always had music as a part of my life. I couldn’t imagine life without it.” Both sides of Brush’s family are musical. Growing up, he played piano, trumpet, was part of a steel drum band, sang in a boys’ choir, served as field commander for his school’s marching band, and performed with Cincinnati’s May Festival Chorus. “I was hooked from a young age,” Brush says.

Superpower: Empathy.

Discovering his calling: While at Washington National Opera, working with Francesca Zambello and Andrew Jorgensen, Brush shares, “I started traveling and scouting for singers, became one of their eyes-and-ears. It was a dream come true. I was never happier than when

• Episode 1: Missy Elliott and James Blake • Episode 2: Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera • Episode 3: Anselm Kiefer and Florentina Holzinger • Episode 4: Cy Gavin • Episode 5: Philip Glass and Missy Mazzoli Free-time pursuits: Bike riding, Iyengar Yoga, singing, dabbling in electronic music soundscapes, traveling, exploring the world through art and food, meeting new people.

—Catherine Matusow

B U T L E R

S T U D I O

BUTLER STUDIO ARTISTS 2023–24 Meryl Dominguez, Soprano

Mr. and Mrs. Harlan C. Stai Fellow

Navasard Hakobyan, Baritone

Melinda and Bill Brunger/ Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Nickson/ Gloria M. Portela Fellow

Ani Kushyan, Mezzo-Soprano

Donna and Ken Barrow/ Barbara and Pat McCelvey/ Jill A. Schaar and George Caflisch Fellow

Michael McDermott, Tenor

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

Michelle Papenfuss, Pianist/Coach

Dr. Saúl and Ursula Balagura/ Sharon Ley Lietzow and Robert Lietzow/ Dr. Laura E. Sulak and Dr. Richard W. Brown Fellow

Renée Richardson, Soprano

Demetrious Sampson, Jr., Tenor

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

Emily Treigle, Mezzo-Soprano

Kathleen Moore and Steven Homer/ Carolyn J. Levy/ Jeff Stocks and Juan Lopez Fellow

Mr. and Mrs. James W. Crownover/ John Serpe and Tracy Maddox Fellow

Marco Rizzello, Pianist/Coach

Erin Wagner, Mezzo-Soprano

Ms. Lynn Des Prez/ Dr. Gary L. Hollingsworth and Dr. Ken Hyde/ Stephanie Larsen/ Dr. and Mrs. Miguel Miro-Quesada Fellow

Amy and Mark Melton/ Drs. Liz Grimm and Jack Roth/ Mrs. Nancy Haywood 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, Lynn Gissel, and Jill and Allyn Risley

Maureen Zoltek, Music Director Mr. and Mrs. Albert B. Alkek Chair

Joanna Latini, Butler Studio Administrator Ana María Martínez, HGO Artistic Advisor Stephen King, Director of Vocal Instruction

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

Patrick Summers, Conducting Instructor and Coach Sarah and Ernest Butler Chair

Peter Pasztor, Principal Coach

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

Kirill Kuzmin, Principal Coach Madeline Slettedahl, Assistant Conductor William Woodard, Assistant Conductor Brian Connelly, Piano Instructor Kristine McIntyre, Showcase Director

Christa Gaug, German Instructor Enrica Vagliani Gray, Italian Instructor Sponsored by Marsha Montemayor

Olia Prokopenko, Russian Instructor Margo Garrett, Guest Coach Warren Jones, Guest Coach Hemdi Kfir, Guest Coach

Skye Bronfenbrenner, Movement Instructor Adam Noble, Movement Instructor

BUTLER STUDIO SUPPORTERS The Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio is grateful for the underwriting support of Ms. Marty Dudley, Mr. Chris Bacon and Mr. Craig Miller, Beth Madison, 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 Mr. and Mrs. Melvyn Hetzel, Ms. Diane K. Morales, Mr. Patrick Carfizzi, and the following funds within the Houston Grand Opera Endowment, Inc.:

The Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation Endowment Fund

John M. O’Quinn Foundation Endowed Fund

Marjorie and Thomas Capshaw Endowment Fund

Shell Lubricants State Company Fund

James J. Drach Endowment Fund The Evans and Portela Family Fund Carol Lynn Lay Fletcher Endowment Fund

Mary C. Gayler Snook Endowment Fund Tenneco, Inc., Endowment Fund Weston-Cargill Endowed Fund

William Randolph Hearst Endowed Scholarship Fund Charlotte Howe Memorial Scholarship Fund Elva Lobit Opera Endowment Fund Marian and Speros Martel Foundation Endowment Fund Erin Gregory Neale Endowment Fund Dr. Mary Joan Nish and Patricia Bratsas Endowed Fund

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By Catherine Matusow

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OU T OF CH A R ACT ER

S U N - LY PIERCE

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t’s a busy time at Houston Grand Opera. Just five days after the company closes its winter repertoire with the final performance of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly at the Wortham Theater Center, HGO will present its 76th world premiere at the Asia Society Texas Center: Meilina Tsui and Melisa Tien’s The Big Swim (see page 30).

There is just one artist performing in both productions: the captivating mezzo-soprano Sun-Ly Pierce, a recent alumna of the Butler Studio and the 2020 first-place winner of HGO’s annual Concert of Arias. Now based in Houston, she is winning praise for performances across the country—including from the New York Times, for her Bertarido in a recent production of Handel’s Rodelinda at Hudson Hall.

Pierce’s back-to-back roles with HGO this winter are Suzuki in Madame Butterfly and Snake/Sheep in The Big Swim. Earlier this season, we were thrilled to catch her for a conversation about both roles and much more…

Opera Cues: Let’s go back to the beginning. How did you start singing? Is this a lifelong love affair?

Sun-Ly Pierce: It was kind of an accident, really. I’m from Clinton, New York. I started playing piano and violin when I was about four or five, maybe. Later I was singing in my high school choir, and every now and then, I would get a solo and think, Oh, that’s fun.

Eventually, I developed a wonderful relationship with my high school choir teacher, Jenna Wratten, who I am still very close with. She encouraged me to consider applying to music school.

I got into the Eastman School of Music in Rochester for the music education program, but through my theory and history classes, I got been bitten by the opera bug.

Just watching the different clips and performances, I thought, Whoa. This is like musical theater on steroids.

I ended up switching to performance and finished my time at Eastman. And then I took a year off because I really wanted to make sure that this is what I wanted to do. I went to the Bard graduate vocal arts program…

And then the Butler Studio ended up working out, and it’s tumbled forward ever since. And now I know. I don’t want to do anything else.

OC: You were a member of the Butler Studio during the pandemic. What was that like?

SP: Everyone had different experiences in terms of the isolation and the various challenges of the pandemic.

But for me personally, it just feels so lucky. It was perfect timing. Coming to the Studio and having that first year to just plow through repertoire, learn roles, take voice lessons, coach as much as I wanted, and still kind of be sequestered from the intensity of rehearsals and what that tech schedule can look like—that was great for me. We were able to gather

in person—distanced and, of course, with masks. It was just amazing. I feel fortunate because that was a crucial time for me to incubate, and to prepare.

A lot of people may say, I’m going to retreat to the mountains and think about my artistry, and they have to take time off from their jobs to do that. But it was our jobs to do that, to get to sit down, and focus, and think about ourselves as young artists.

I don’t know if I’ll ever have a time like that again. And my second year, in the mainstage season, was building an awareness of all of the different pieces that have to come together to create a fully-staged opera.

And that dichotomy between the first and second year set me up for success professionally.

OC: What is your favorite HGO role so far?

SP: Jack in The Wreckers, after I finished my time with the Studio. I loved that role.

It was so, so fun. And the production itself was just incredible. It was a Herculean effort. I can’t even imagine, in terms of the production side, what it was like to put something of that magnitude together.

But the cast and the music team were amazing, and Louisa Muller is one of the most incredible directors that I have ever worked with. She’s a true force of nature. The whole experience was so special, and so unique.

OC: Let’s talk Madame Butterfly.

How are you approaching your role in the opera?

SP: People have a lot of feelings about this opera. My goal is to honor the tradition of the piece and the music, but also to honor and make a sincere and genuine effort to understand its history, and other people’s opinions about the work. As a half-Chinese woman playing a Japanese character, I think it’s my responsibility to be as sensitive and as sincere as possible when trying to do the proper research—of course, about the culture, but also the history and context of when the piece was written, and understanding the balance between the two.

Pierce as Mercedes in Carmen at HGO (2021).

Photo credit: Lynn Lane

OC: These questions can be difficult to talk about.

SP: But I think the goal is the conversation. The goal is the dialogue. The goal is kind of living in the mess of it—because it’s messy, and people are messy. People are more than their race. They’re more than their ethnicity, their background. And at the end of the day, what I hear most are just people wanting to be heard, people wanting to be seen. I think that the best you HGO.ORG

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Pierce as Jack in The Wreckers at HGO (2022). Photo credit: Michael Bishop

can do is create a platform for people to express themselves, to say how they feel, and be understood and listened to.

OC: The production has an incredible cast.

SP: I did Xerxes with Michael Sumuel this past spring, so I’m so excited to see him again, and to be in another production of Christopher Oram’s. I loved his design for The Wreckers. I don’t know Yongzhao, but I’m really excited to meet him as well, and, of course, Ailyn. And I really love working with Maestro Summers. So I’m looking forward to the production and also being engaged in the discussions that I’m sure will ensue from it.

OC: And then, days after Butterfly closes, you’ll perform in The Big Swim.

SP: Yes, and I haven’t been sent the music yet! However, I’ll be doing the orchestral workshop that’s happening in November. And again, on the topic of people—I’ve never worked with Mo Zhou, who is directing, and she’s wonderful. I know Eiki Isomura from doing some other workshops with him; and Meigui Zhang, Alice Chung, and I were in San Francisco together two summers ago for their production of The Dream of the Red Chamber. So I’m really excited about the piece. I love that it’s being spearheaded by an Asian creative team.

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OC: And since it’s a world premiere, you get to originate your role.

SP: That’s one of my favorite things to do: something that isn’t weighted down with expectation and tradition. You can just put your fingerprint on it and say it’s yours, and you can be the one to set the precedent, which is exciting.

OC: After graduating from the Butler Studio, you’ve stayed in Houston. What was behind that decision?

SP: Minus the heat, I love pretty much everything about Houston.

It’s such a great city. It’s really diverse. I love going to games; walking around Brazos Bend and the Arboretum; and the breweries—there’s great beer in Texas! I also love trying new restaurants— anything I can get my hands on. The Asian cuisine scene here is crazy. There’s great Vietnamese food. I just discovered a Korean barbecue place a few weeks ago. There’s great sushi, Indian food. I love Kiran’s; steakhouses, barbecue, West African food. I’ve enjoyed living here. I am a Houston convert. ■

I MPRES A RI O S

C I R C L E

The Impresarios Circle is Houston Grand Opera’s premier donor recognition society.

These vanguard supporters who provide annual support of at least $100,000 are instrumental to HGO’s success. For information, please contact Greg Robertson, chief philanthropy officer, at 713-546-0274 or GRobertson@HGO.org.

Robin Angly, Chair

JUDY AND RICHARD AGEE 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 and 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.

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 as a member of HGO’s Laureate Society. The couple is very familiar with the view from the HGO stage as well—both are former singers in the HGO Chorus. Robin and Miles have been donors to HGO special events, the Young Artists Vocal Academy, and HGO’s Ring cycle. They are charter members of the Impresarios Circle and generously underwrite a mainstage production each season.

THE BROWN FOUNDATION, INC. The Brown Foundation, Inc., established in 1951

by Herman and Margarett Root Brown and George R. and Alice Pratt Brown, has been a treasured partner of HGO since 1984. Based in Houston, the Foundation distributes funds principally for education, community service, and the arts, especially the visual and performing arts. HGO is tremendously grateful for The Brown Foundation’s leadership support, which has been critical to the company’s unprecedented growth and success in recent years. The Brown Foundation was among the lead contributors to HGO’s Hurricane Harvey and COVID-19 recovery efforts.

SARAH AND ERNEST BUTLER HGO subscribers for over 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.

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

While serving as president and CEO of Westlake Corporation, Albert finds time for numerous cultural causes. He is a member of the HGO Board of Directors and was the co-chair of Inspiring Performance—The Campaign for Houston Grand Opera. Over the years, the Chaos have sponsored HGO special events, the 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.

Louise and HGO Trustee Connie Dyer have known each other since they were college roommates at The University of Texas.

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

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MATHILDA COCHRAN Mathilda is a native of New Orleans and a long-time resident of Houston. She is a retired museum educator, having served for many years as Manager of the Docent and Tour Program at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, as well as a volunteer with Taping for the Blind, Inc. She and her late husband, Mike, created the Cochran Family Professorship in Earth and Environmental Sciences to support Tulane University’s School of Science and Engineering.

Mathilda currently serves as a member of the HGO Board of Directors and is chair of the Community and Learning Committee.

She has been an HGO subscriber since the 1986-87 season.

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

In 2009, the company gave a major multiyear 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.

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 continues to serve on the Butler Studio and Special Events Committees. She also serves on the Advisory Board of The Shepherd Society at Rice University and on the Houston Ballet Board of Trustees (past Executive Committee and Ballet Ball chair). Molly and Jim have chaired HGO's Concert of Arias, been honorees at Concert of Arias and Opening Night Dinner, and chaired Opening Night 2022.

THE CULLEN FOUNDATION For more than three decades, The Cullen Foundation has been a vital member of the HGO family. Established in 1947, the Foundation has more than a half-century history of giving generously to education, health care, and the arts in Texas, primarily in the Greater Houston area.

The Opera is very grateful for the Foundation’s longstanding leadership support of HGO’s Family and Holiday Opera Series, as well as special support for HGO’s COVID-19 recovery efforts.

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

CONNIE DYER Connie Dyer has been an important member of the HGO family for decades. Connie loves HGO Opening Night festivities and the Concert of Arias. She is a leadership donor, Trustee, and a member of the Laureate Society and the Founders Council for Artistic Excellence. With her late husband Byron, she has hosted receptions for HGO Patrons in their beautiful home in Santa Fe. They were early and enthusiastic underwriters for HGO’s Seeking the Human Spirit initiative, and most recently Connie made a grand grand guarantor pledge for HGO’s COVID Relief Campaign. HGO Board Member Louise Chapman and Connie were college roommates at the University of Texas, Austin.

FROST BANK Frost Bank has been a supporter of HGO for over a decade, helping bring to life some of the world’s most treasured operas, as well as supporting new works including the 2019 world premiere of The Phoenix. 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. David LePori, Regional President, serves on the HGO Board of Directors.

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

Additionally, Liz and Jack chaired the 2018 Opera Ball and the 2022 Concert of Arias.

NANCY HAYWOOD Long-time Trustee Nancy Haywood loves HGO, and her particular passion is the Butler Studio and supporting young artists. Her enthusiasm is infectious. This season Nancy is

I MPRES A RI O S underwriting second-year Butler Studio artist Erin Wagner. Her love for supporting young artists goes beyond HGO to the Houston Boy Choir, where she is one of their most ardent benefactors and Board Members. Nancy is a member of HGO’s Butler Studio Committee, Philanthropy Committee, and the Laureate Society. Most recently, she made a guarantor pledge for HGO’s COVID Relief Campaign. Nancy and her late husband, Dr. Ted Haywood, approached every opera performance as a “date night.” Ted Haywood was a prince.

MATT HEALEY Matt Healey serves on the HGO Board of Directors. He is Vice President of Finance and Planning 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 and is underwriting Parsifal this season.

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

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 the Opera's arts education programs for Houston area students. H-E-B’s partnership helps over 70,000 young people experience the magic of opera each season. Always celebrating Houston's cultural diversity, H-E-B helped make possible 2022's Monkey and Francine in the City of Tigers and 2023's Giving Voice concert.

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,

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making it the largest single annual funder of the Opera. HGOE leadership includes Chair Marianne Kah, Senior Chair Yolanda Knull, and several members of the HGO Board of Directors.

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 and 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, 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 this spring's The Sound of Music.

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 serves on 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. During the 2022-23 season, the Husseinis generously underwrote the U.S. premiere of The Wreckers as well as Butler Studio alumna Tamara Wilson's much-anticipated role debut in the titular role of Tosca.

DONNA KAPLAN AND RICHARD LYDECKER Richard Lydecker has been an HGO subscriber and supporter for more than three decades. He has great passion for opera, HGO.ORG

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especially Wagner, and he and Donna were underwriters for HGO’s Ring cycle. They are also special events sponsors, supporting Opera Ball and Concert of Arias.

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 assumed the role of Chair of the HGO Board of Directors in August 2022. She is newly retired from LyondellBassell Industries where she led the corporate finance team, and was formerly a managing director with Bank of America. Joe is founder 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 a marathon in all 50 states.

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

LAURA AND BRAD MCWILLIAMS HGO subscribers for 35 years, Laura and Brad have been passionate advocates for HGO. A longtime Trustee, Laura has served on the HGO Finance Committee, chaired the Annual Fund Drive, and serves on the Laureate Society Council. Laura and Brad’s generosity has impacted almost every area of the company including HGO Special Events – they chaired the 32nd Annual Concert of Arias in 2020. They most recently created the McWilliams Fund for Artistic Excellence to underwrite HGO’s mainstage operas for the 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.

PAUL MARSDEN Paul Marsden became an HGO Trustee in the 2020-21 season and generously increased his support to join the Impresarios Circle in late 2021. Paul is President of Bechtel’s Energy global business unit in Houston and has served in key leadership roles for over two decades, dating back to his start with the company in London in 1995.

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THE ROBERT AND JANICE MCNAIR FOUNDATION Janice and the late Bob McNair, longtime HGO subscribers and supporters, are well known for their incredible philanthropy and for bringing the NFL back to Houston. Bob was a former chair of the HGO Board of Directors (1995-97). Through the family’s passionate support of students, young entrepreneurs, medical research, and the community, The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation is transforming some of the biggest challenges our nation faces today into the solutions of tomorrow. As the lead supporter of this spring's The Sound of Music, the McNair Foundation makes it possible for thousands of students and families to experience shorter-length family-friendly operas and musicals each year.

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

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

NOVUM ENERGY/MARCIA AND ALFREDO VILAS Founder and President of Novum Energy, Alfredo Vilas serves on the HGO Board of Directors. He is a passionate lover of opera and together with his wife Marcia chaired HGO’s unforgettable “Cielito Lindo” Opera Ball in 2019. The Vilases and Novum Energy have generously supported many operas over the past decade, including all three of HGO’s celebrated mariachi operas, and were proud underwriters for the 2022 production of El Milagro del Recuerdo.

I MPRES A RI O S ALLYSON PRITCHETT Allyson Pritchett, a member of the HGO Board of Directors, is the Founder & CEO of Bodka Creek Capital, a Houston-based real estate private equity firm with over $100M in assets under management. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor’s in Applied Mathematics & Archaeology from Harvard University. After attending her first opera at HGO in 2021 (Carmen), she joined the Young Patrons Circle and quickly demonstrated her passion for opera by underwriting Angel Blue in La traviata the following year.

JILL AND ALLYN RISLEY Jill and Allyn Risley have been HGO subscribers since the 2003-04 season and are members of the company’s Founders Council. Allyn and Jill have been key influencers of HGO programs for many years, with special affection for our esteemed Butler Studio. They co-sponsor Butler Studio Artist Eric Taylor and faculty member Dr. Stephen King, Director of Vocal Instruction. Allyn is Chairman of Gaztransport & Technigaz (GTT) North America, an engineering company specializing in liquid gas containment systems using cryogenics. Allyn served as Chair of the HGO Board of Directors from 2020 to August 2022 and currently serves as Senior Chair.

GLEN ROSENBAUM Glen Rosenbaum is a Senior Partner of Tax at Vinson & Elkins. As part of his broad-based tax practice Glen works on behalf of civic and cultural organizations, for which he handles formation, obtaining of tax-exempt status, and various corporate, tax, and business matters, some on a pro bono basis. Glen received his B.B.A. from the University of Texas and his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law. He is a Board member of the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association and serves on its Executive Committee, and a Trustee of the Nathan J. Klein Fund. Glen is both a member of, and General Counsel/Secretary for, HGO’s Board of Directors; he also currently serves on its Finance and Philanthropy Committees, and was the Chairman from 2009-11. As a long-serving Board member, Glen led a team of Vinson & Elkins lawyers from 1983-87 that represented HGO in connection with the negotiation and drafting of the various development and operating agreements relating to the Wortham Center and the Wortham Center Operating Company. These agreements remain in effect today.

During the 2022-23 season, Glen co-chaired the record-breaking 35th Annual Concert of Arias.

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 to everyone through the NEXUS Initiative for Affordability and inspires young minds with STEM-aligned arts education opportunities like our annual

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Opera Camps. Shell USA, Inc. was also a major supporter of HGO’s Hurricane Harvey recovery. HGO is honored to have Selda Gunsel, president, Shell Global Solutions, as a member of the HGO Board of Directors, and Christos Angelides, head of energy transition integration, as a Trustee.

DIAN AND HARLAN STAI Harlan, a member of the HGO Board of Directors, and Dian are charter members of HGO’s Founders Council for Artistic Excellence, and their leadership support includes mainstage productions, the Butler Studio, the HGO Endowment, and special events. The Stais have also sponsored Butler Studio artists and they host annual recitals 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 and the 2014 Concert of Arias.

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

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

HGO subscribers and donors for over a decade, the couple’s leadership support of Wagner’s Ring cycle (2014–17) was the largest gift ever made to HGO 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 special events. They are members of the Founders Council for Artistic Excellence, and John is a member of HGO’s Laureate Society.

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 been attending HGO performances as soon as he arrived in Houston.

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VINSON & ELKINS LLP 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. It has enriched the cultural vibrancy of Houston by supporting HGO through in-kind legal services and contributions to special events and mainstage productions, including Tosca in spring 2023. The Opera is honored to have Vinson & Elkins LLP partner Glen A. Rosenbaum serve on its Board of Directors.

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

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

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

This leadership support has been vital to HGO’s growth and commitment to excellence. The Wortham Foundation’s support of HGO’s Hurricane Harvey recovery helped to bring the company back home, and its special support of HGO's COVID-19 recovery efforts helped us come back stronger than ever.

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

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 David Krohn, director of philanthropy, at 713-980-8685 or DKrohn@HGO.org.

CH A IR , D O N O R EN G AGEMEN T CO MMI T T EE

Adrienne Bond

Dr. Peter Chang and Hon. Theresa Chang

Nancy and Walt Bratic

Mr. Robert N. Chanon

Ms. Gwyneth Campbell, Chair, Donor Engagement Committee

Mr. Stephen Brossart and Mr. Gerrod George

Mr. Anthony Chapman

T R US T EE — $ 1 0 , 0 0 0 O R M O R E

Dr. Janet Bruner

Mr. William J. Altenloh and Dr. Susan Saurage-Altenloh

Mollie and Wayne Brunetti

Chris and Michelle Angelides

Mr. and Mrs. Lester P. Burgess

Dr. Laurence Corash and Ms. Michele Corash

Kate Baker

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Burleson

Julie and Bert Cornelison

Blanche S. and Robert C. Bast, Jr., MD

Mrs. Carol Butler

Mr. Jack Bell

Drs. Ian and Patricia Butler

Mr. Robert L. Cook and Mrs. Giovanna Imperia

Drs. Robert S. and Nancy Benjamin Stephanie and Dom Beveridge

Ms. Gwyneth Campbell and Mr. Joseph L. Campbell

Ms. Susan Bloome

Patricia and Jess Carnes

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Elise Bungo and Eric Rodriguez

Cheryl and Michael Clancy Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Clarke Mr. and Mrs. Robert Collier

Jayne and Peter Davis Anna M. Dean Dr. and Mrs. Roupen Dekmezian

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Ms. Elisabeth DeWitts

Dorothy McCaine

Valerie and Tracy Dieterich

Ms. Janice McNeil

YO UN G T R U S T EE — $ 5 , 0 0 0 O R MORE

Jeanette and John DiFilippo

Jan and Nathan Meehan

Emily Bivona and Ryan Manser

Dr. and Mrs. William F. Donovan

Ginger Menown

Mr. Anthony Chapman

Johanna and Stephen Donson

Chadd Mikulin and Amanda Lenertz

Mr. and Mrs. Damian Gill

Joanne and David Dorenfeld

Dr. Indira Mysorekar Mills and Dr. Jason Mills

Meredith and Joseph Gomez

Dr. and Mrs. William E. Mitch

Mr. Andrew Pappas

Dr. Allen Deustch and Mrs. Luci Runte

Marsha L. Montemayor

Drs. Mauricio Perillo and Luján Stasevicius

Anna and Brad Eastman

Mr. and Mrs. Shahin Naghavi

Lauren Randle

Mr. Bob Ellis

Erik B. Nelson and Terry R. Brandhorst

Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Ritter

Mary Ann and Larry Faulkner

John Newton and Peggy Cramer

Dr. Nico Roussel and Ms. Teresa Procter

Carol Lay Fletcher

Susan and Edward Osterberg

Jennifer Salcich

Mr. John E. Frantz

Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Pancherz

Mr. Michael Steeves

Caroline Freeman

Susan and Ward Pennebaker

Mrs. Stella Tang and Mr. Steven Tang

Trish Freeman and Bruce Patterson

Mr. Mark Poag and Dr. Mary Poag

Dr. Yin Yiu

Monica Fulton

The Radoff Family

1 Anonymous

Gina and Scott Gaille

Dr. Angela Rechichi-Apollo

Dr. and Mrs. Ronald Galfione

Carol F. Relihan

Mr. and Mrs. Scott J. Garber

Mr. Todd Reppert

N AT I O N A L T R U S T EE — $ 5 , 0 0 0 O R MORE

Gerard and Christine Gaynor

Mr. Serge Ribot

Ms. Alissa Adkins, Corpus Christi, TX

Dr. and Mrs. David P. Gill

Ed and Janet Rinehart

Ms. Jacqueline S. Akins, San Antonio, TX

Mrs. Geraldine C. Gill

Mr. and Mrs. Walter Ritchie

Mr. Wesley Goble

Mr. and Mrs. David Rowan

Mrs. Estella Hollin-Avery, Fredericksburg, TX

Sandy and Lee Godfrey

Mr. Mike Rydin

Ms. Dianne L. Gross

Adel and Jason Sander

Ms. Julia Gwaltney

Judy Sauer

Mr. and Mrs. Melvyn Hetzel

Mrs. Helen P. Shaffer

Rosalie and William M. Hitchcock

Hinda Simon

Dr. Patricia Holmes

Ms. Janet Sims

Lee M. Huber

Diana Strassmann and Jeffrey Smisek

Ms. Sarah Johnson

Mr. and Mrs. George Sneed

Ann and Stephen Kaufman

Bruce Stein

Mr. Mark Klitzke and Dr. Angela Chen

Kathy and Richard Stout

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Knull III

Mr. Minas and Dr. Jennifer Tektiridis

Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Kolb

Ann Tornyos

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

Ann Koster

Mr. and Mrs. John Untereker

Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Evans, Coldspring, TX

Elizabeth and Bill Kroger

Mr. and Mrs. Robert N. Wakefield

Jack and Marsha Firestone, Miami, FL

Mr. and Mrs. Blair Labatt

Mr. and Mrs. Jay Watkins

Mr. and Mrs. Larry Gay, Mc Neil, AR

Mr. and Mrs. Randall B. Lake

Mr. and Mrs. K.C. Weiner

Mr. Charles Hanes, San Jose, CA

Dr. and Mrs. Ernst Leiss

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

Ms. Bernice Lindstrom

Mr. and Mrs. John W. Wright

Brian Hencey and Charles Ross Jr., Austin, TX

Mrs. Marilyn Lummis

Mr. Hugh Zhang and Ms. Lulu Tan

Edward and Patricia Hymson, San Francisco, CA

Ms. Michele Malloy

Rini and Edward Ziegler

Mrs. Judy Kay, Dallas, TX

Ms. Diane M. Marcinek

1 Anonymous

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

Mr. James Dorough-Lewis and Mr. Jacob Carr

Renee Margolin Mary Marquardsen Mr. R. Davis Maxey

Ms. Ellen Liu and Ms. Ilana Walder-Biesanz

Jorge Bernal and Andrea Maher, Bogota, Colombia Mr. Tom Burley and Mr. Michael Arellano, Philadelphia, PA Dr. Dennis Berthold and Dr. Pamela Matthews, College Station, TX Mr. Richard E. Boner and Ms. Susan Pryor, Austin, TX Mrs. Carol W. Byrd, Wetumka, OK Mr. Bryce Cotner, Austin, TX Dr. Thomas S. DeNapoli and Mr. Mark Walker, San Antonio, TX

Cathleen C. and Jerome M. Loving, Bryan, TX

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Barbara and Camp Matens, Baton Rogue, LA

Dr. Luis Camacho

Pam Higgins and Tom Jones

Mr. Kenton McDonald, Corpus Christi, TX

Ms. Marion Cameron-Gray

Mrs. Ann G. Hightower

Mr. and Mrs. Spencer Mehrens, Longview, TX Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Misamore, Sedona, AZ

Mr. Patrick Carfizzi

Doug Hirsch and Maureen Semple-Hirsch

Mr. and Mrs. Thierry Caruso

Deborah and Michael Hirsch

Mrs. John R. Castano

Dr. Holly Holmes

Drs. Danuta and Ranjit Chacko

Alan and Ellen Holzberg

Dr. Beth Chambers and Mr. J. Michael Chambers

Mr. and Mrs. John H. Homier

Mr. John P. Muth, Wimberly, TX Dr. James F. Nelson and Mr. Yong Zhang, San Antonio, TX Ms. Claire O'Malley, San Antonio, TX Ms. Wanda A. Reynolds, Austin, TX Michelle and Chuck Ritter, Kansas City, MO Dr. Sid Roberts and Mrs. Catherine Roberts, Lufkin, TX James and Nathanael Rosenheim, College Station, TX

Dr. Cindy Childress and Mr. Jack Charles Mr. and Mrs. Jack Christiansen Janet Clark Ms. Donna Collins Dr. and Mrs. J. Michael Condit

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Welch, Shepherdstown, WV

Dr. Nancy I. Cook

Mr. Donald Wertz, Austin, TX

Mr. and Mrs. Sam Cooper

Ms. Charlotte Williams, Killeen, TX

Mr. and Mrs. Larry Dooley

Valerie and David Woodcock, College Station, TX

Dr. and Mrs. Giulio Draetta Mrs. Eliza Duncan Mr. John Egbert and Mrs. Kathy Beck

PAT R O N S CIR CL E — $ 5 , 0 0 0 O R MORE

Kellie Elder and David Halbert

Ms. Jacquelyn M. Abbott

Parrish N. Erwin Jr.

Mr. W. Kendall Adam

Ms. Thea M. Fabio and Mr. Richard Merrill

Mrs. Norah G. Adams

Ms. Ann L. Faget

Mrs. Nancy C. Allen

Mr. Brian Faulkner and Ms. Jackie Macha

Mr. and Mrs. Orlando Alvarado

Ms. Vicki Schmid Faulkner

Alfredo Tijerina and JP Anderson

Ms. Ursula Felmet

Shaza and Mark Anderson

Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Fish

Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Ardell

Wanda and Roger Fowler

Maida Asofsky

Drs. Daniel and Jean Freeman

Mr. Neely Atkinson

Mr. and Mrs. William B. Freeman Jr.

Mr. Richard Avant

Dr. Alice Gates and Dr. Wayne Wilner

Nancy and Paul Balmert

Dr. Layne O. Gentry

Mr. William Bartlett

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

Mr. and Mrs. James Becker

Rhoda Goldberg

Dr. James A. Belli and Dr. Patricia Eifel Dr. and Mrs. Joel M. Berman

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

Drs. Henry and Louise Bethea

Mary Frances Gonzalez

Mr. and Mrs. Stanley C. Beyer

Sue Goott

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen D. Bickel

Mrs. Gwynn F. Gorsuch

Dr. Matthew J. Bicocca and Mrs. Yvonne Pham Bicocca

Dr. and Mrs. David Y. Graham

Dr. Joan Hacken Bitar

Dr. and Mrs. Stephen B. Greenberg

Dr. Jerry L. Bohannon

William and Jane Guest

Mr. Jeffery Bosworth and Mr. Timothy Bammel

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas C. Halsey

Mr. Al Brende and Mrs. Ann Bayless Mr. Chester Brooke and Dr. Nancy Poindexter 82

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Mrs. James A. Elkins III

Joyce Z. Greenberg

Mrs. Mary Hankey Mr. Frank Harmon III and The Honorable Melinda Harmon Mr. and Mrs. A. John Harper III

Dr. and Mrs. Gabriel N. Hortobagyi Mr. and Mrs. Clay Hoster Dr. Kevin Hude Ms. Heather Hughes Dr. Alan J. Hurwitz Mr. and Mrs. Paul Jacob Mr. and Mrs. Malick Jamal Ms. Joan Jeffrey Mr. and Mrs. James K. Jennings, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Basil Joffe Charlotte Jones Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Kauffman Mr. Anthony K. Mr. and Mrs. George B. Kelly Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Rice Kelly Mr. and Mrs. Albert Kidd Ms. Carey Kirkpatrick Ms. Rie Kojima Angeli Dr. and Mrs. Lary R. Kupor Dr. Helen W. Lane Mr. and Mrs. Bryant Lee Mr. Richard Leibman Ms. Eileen Louvier Ms. Lynn Luster Mr. and Mrs. Paul A. Lynn Mark and Juliet Markovich Dr. and Mrs. Malcolm Mazow Shawna and Wynn McCloskey Gillian and Michael McCord Mimi Reed McGehee Elizabeth and Keith McPherson Wendy and Patrick McWilliams Kay and Larry Medford Mrs. Anne C. Mendelsohn Terry and Hal Meyer Dr. Douglas D. Miller Mr. and Mrs. Sidney S. Moran Mr. Steve Morang Mr. and Mrs. Stephen J. Morris Ms. Shannon Morrison Ms. Linda C. Murray

A NNUA L

S U PP O RT

Mrs. Bobbie Newman

Mr. and Mrs. Larry Veselka

Ms. Cristina M. Romeu

Ms. Geri Noel

Greg Vetter and Irene Kosturakis

Ms. Constance Rose-Edwards

Maureen O'Driscoll-Levy, M.D.

Ms. Marie-Louise S. Viada

Mr. and Mrs. Jeremy Rosen

Drs. John and Karen Oldham

Ms. Vera D. Vujicic

Geoffry H. Oshman

Mr. and Mrs. M. C. "Bill" Walker III

Mr. Justin Rowinsky and Ms. Catarina Saraiva

Mrs. Maria Papadopoulos

Geoffrey Walker and Ann Kennedy

Adrienn L. Parsons

Diane and Raymond Wallace

Mr. and Mrs. Harry C. Pinson

Mr. and Mrs. John Wallace

Mr. and Mrs. Elvin B. Pippert Jr.

Mr. Alexander Webb

Mrs. Jenny Popatia

Ms. Pippa Wiley

Joan and Lou Pucher

Randa Duncan Williams and Charles Williams

Dr. and Mrs. Florante A. Quiocho Ms. Judith Raines Dr. David Reininger and Ms. Laura Lee Jones

Dr. Courtney Williams Ms. Jane L. Williams Loretta and Lawrence Williams

Mr. Robert Richter Jr.

Nancy and Sid Williams

Mrs. Carol Ritter

Geraldina and Scott Wise

Kate and Greg Robertson

Ms. Debra Witges

Mrs. Henry K. Roos

Dr. Randall Wolf

Drs. Alejandro and Lynn Rosas

Drs. Edward Yeh and Hui-Ming Chang

Dr. and Mrs. Franklin Rose

Mr. and Mrs. Rick Zachardy

Dr. and Mrs. Sean Rosenbaum

John L. Zipprich II

Mrs. Shirley Rose

6 Anonymous

Mr. and Mrs. Bob Ryan

Ms. Joan Sanborn and Mr. Dan Parisian Abby Sanchez-Matzen and Lennart Matzen Dr. Stephen Keith Sanders Ms. Emily Schreiber Emily Schultz and Pavel Blinchik Mr. Lars Seemann and Mrs. Nancy Elmohamad Melanie Smith Mr. Jake D. Stefano Kelsey Stewart Ms. Susan Tan Julia and Jason Wang Joshua and Rebekah Wilkinson Mr. and Mrs. Jamie Yarbrough

N AT I O N A L PAT R O N S — $ 2 , 5 0 0 O R MORE Ms. Cynthia Akagi and Mr. Tom Akagi, Madison, WI

Mr. Dave O. Schein and Ms. Karen M. Somer

YO UN G PAT R O N S — $ 2 , 5 0 0 O R MORE

Mr. and Ms. Avinash Ahuja, Corpus Christi, TX

Mrs. Richard P. Schissler Jr.

Sarah and Steve Bond

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

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Shearouse

Ms. Karin Chang

Dr. Debra Blatz, Austin, TX

Ms. Denmon Sigler and Mr. Peter Chok

Mr. Michael Daus and Mr. Drew Synan

Tom and Kay Brahaney, Midland, TX

Mr. Douglas Skopp

Dr. Mhair Dekmezian

Dr. Bernd U. Budelmann, Galveston, TX

Kris and Chris Sonneborn

Mr. Alex Flores and Ms. Morgan Davis

Ms. Louise Cantwell, San Antonio, TX

Mr. and Mrs. Aaron J. Stai

Mr. Albert Garcia Jr.

Ms. Susan Carvel, New Braunfels, TX

Dr. and Mrs. C. Richard Stasney

Ms. Roya Gordon

Mr. Per A. Staunstrup and Ms. Joan Bruun

Ms. Anna Gryska

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

Richard P. Steele and Mary McKerall

Mr. Campbell Haynes-Dale

Mrs. Sue Stocks

Ms. Kathleen Henry

Mr. Burke Strickland

Mr. Birk Hutchens and Ms. Lauren Alleman

Dr. Pavlina Suchanova

Mr. Daniel Katz

Drs. Adaani E. Frost and Wadi N. Suki

Lady Stephanie Kimbrell and Mr. Joshua Allison

Dr. and Mrs. Demetrio Tagaropulos

Mr. Brett Lutz and Mrs. Elizabeth Lutz

Mrs. Carolyn Taub

Rachael and Daniel MacLeod

Ms. Susan L. Thompson

Tara and Liam McElhiney

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Tobias

Emily and Adrian Melendez

Fiona Toth

Ms. Zoe Miller

Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Trainer Jr.

Mr. Juan Moreno

Dr. Elizabeth Travis and Mr. Jerry Hyde

Tina and Adam Outland

Gregoria and Frances Vallejo

Ms. Morgan A. Pfeil

Dr. Raymond Chinn, San Diego, CA Mr. and Mrs. Terry Cloudman, Boulder, Colorado Ms. Kathleen Devine and Mr. Richard Reeves, New Braunfels, TX Dr. and Mrs. Marvin A. Fishman, NM Michael Freeburger and Matilda Perkins, Santa Fe, New Mexico Mr. Raymond Goldstein and Ms. Jane T. Welch, San Antonio, TX Ms. Gabriella M. Guerra, San Antonio, TX Mr. Mark Jacobs, Dallas, TX Ms. Gail Jarratt, San Antonio, TX Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey S. Kay, Austin, TX Ms. Alison D. Kennamer and Joyce Kennamer, Brownsville, TX HGO.ORG

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Jeff and Gail Kodosky, Austin, TX Mr. Peter Manis and Ms. Susan Richman, Chicago, IL Dr. and Mrs. Stanley Milstein, Olney, MD Mr. William Nicholas, Georgetown, TX John and Elizabeth Nielsen-Gammon, College Station, TX

Dr. David N. Tobey and Dr. Michelle Berger, Austin, TX Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Tucker, Bryan, TX Mr. Tom Turnbull and Mr. Darrell Smith, Eunice, LA Mr. Jerre van den Bent, Dallas, TX Mrs. Rons Voogt, Huntsville, TX

Mr. Richard See, Lagunas Baru, Costa Rica

Mr. and Mrs. Kirk Weaver, Washington, D.C.

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

Didi and Alan Weinblatt, San Antonio, TX

Ms. Alice Simkins, San Antonio, TX Mr. Kiyoshi Tamagawa and Mr. Bill Dick, Austin, TX

Jim and Sydney Wild, San Antonio, TX

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 David Krohn, director of philanthropy, at 713-980-8685 or DKrohn@HGO.org.

A S S O CI AT E PAT R O N S — $2,000 OR MORE

Mr. and Mrs. Michael F. Henderek

Ms. Susan Trammell Whitfield

Mr. Stanley A. Hoffberger

Pamela and James Wilhite

Dr. Robert E. Anderson

Mr. Steven Jay Hooker

Ms. Elizabeth D. Williams

Mr. and Mrs. V. G. Beghini

Mr. and Mrs. Ronald E. Huebsch

3 Anonymous

Ms. Sonja Bruzauskas and Mr. Houston Haymon

Mr. Christopher Huff

Mr. and Mrs. M. J. Castelberg Kenneth T. Chin Mr. Donald W. Clarke Vicki Clepper Mr. Jerry Conry Ms. Joyce Cramer Mr. and Mrs. Warren Dean Peggy DeMarsh Mr. Alan England Mr. and Mrs. Blake Eskew Travis Fenstermaker Ms. Julie Fischer Cece and Michael Fowler Dr. Wm. David George Susan Giannatonio and Bruce Winquist Mr. Michael Gillin and Ms. Pamela Newberry

Joan Kaplan

CO N T R IB U T IN G FEL LOWS — $ 1 , 0 0 0 OR MORE

Mr. John Keville

Ms. Cecilia Aguilar

Lynn Lamkin

Linda Alexander

Mr. Joel Luks

Mr. and Mrs. Neil Ken Alexander

Ana María Martínez

Joan Alexander

Mr. James L. McNett

Mrs. Linda Alexander

Ms. Maria C. (Macky) Osorio

Mr. Robert K. Arnett Jr.

Mr. and Ms. Carl Pascoe

Ms. Dorothy B. Autin and Mr. Daniel Coleman

Mr. and Mrs. Richard A. Jackson

Mr. Nigel Prior Suzanne Page-Pryde and Arthur Pryde Mr. Jack Rooker Sharon Ruhly Ramon and Chula Sanchez Ms. Jo Ann W. Schaffer Mr. and Mrs. Charles Schufreider Christopher B. Schulze, M.D.

Mr. and Mrs. Kirk Girouard

Dr. Wayne X. Shandera

Mr. and Mrs. David Guenther

Virginia Snider and Michael Osborne

Mr. Claudio Gutierrez

Dr. Robert Southard

Mr. and Mrs. Dewuse Guyton

Mr. Leon Thomsen and Mrs. Pat Thomsen

Dr. and Mrs. Carlos R. Hamilton, Jr.

Nancy Thompson

Margaret Hawk

Mr. and Mrs. Alton L. Warren

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WINTER 2024

Dr. Carlos Bacino Mrs. Deborah S. Bautch Murray Beard Mr. Mervyn G. Blieden Jim and Susan Boone Mr. Bob F. Boydston Ms. Julia Cambra Ms. Mary Clark Dr. Claude Cech Mr. and Mrs. James Collins Mr. and Mrs. Larry Corona Mr. Carl R. Cunningham Mr. John Dazey

A NNUA L

S U PP O RT

Dr. Susan E. Denson

Mr. Robert Lorio

Darlene Walker

Dr. and Mrs. R. L. Deter

Dr. Robert Louis

Andrea Ward and David Trahan

Mrs. Sarah D. Donaho

Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Y. Lui

Mr. Peter J. Wender

Mr. and Mrs. J. Thomas Eubank

Mr. and Mrs. C. Robert Mace

J. M. Weltzien

Steve and Marie Fay Evnochides

Ms. Nancy Manderson

Mrs. Dolores Wilkenfeld

Sylvia B. Fatzer

Dr. and Mrs. Moshe H. Maor

Drs. William and Huda Yahya Zoghbi

Mr. and Mrs. Peter J. Ferenz

Mr. and Mrs. Ben Marshall

3 Anonymous

Mrs. Madeleine Ferris

Mr. H. Woods Martin

Mr. David Fleischer

Onalee and Dr. Michael C. McEwen

Mr. and Mrs. Michael Fowler

Dr. Mary Fae McKay

Lucy Gebhart

Alexandra and Frank Meckel

Mr. Enrico R. Giannetti

Mrs. Theresa L. Meyer

Mr. David Gockley

Mr. Frank Modruson

Ruzena Gordon

Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Moynier

Ms. Janet Graves

Mr. and Mrs. Marvin H. Mueller

Ms. Suzanne Green

Mr. and Mrs. Mike Newman

Dr. James E. Griffin III and Dr. Margo Denke

Mr. Dean Niemeyer and Dr. Marlowe D. Niemeyer

Mr. and Mrs. Ira Gruber Mr. and Mrs. W. F. Guinee Mr. and Mrs. Philip Gunnels Mr. Donald Hang Ms. Rebecca Hansen Mr. Rawley Penick and Mrs. Meredith L. Hathorn

Ms. Jeanne M. Perdue Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Phillips Mr. and Mrs. Phil Plant Dr. V.A. Pittman-Waller Susie and Jim Pokorski Mr. and Mrs. William Rawl

Dr. Ralph J. Herring

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Reynolds

Ms. Eliane S. Herring

Mr. and Mrs. Gene Steve Rhea

Dr. Sallie T. Hightower

Mr. William K. Rice

Kay and Michael W. Hilliard

Mansel and Brenda Rubenstein

Mr. Edward L. Hoffman

Dr. Mo & Mrs. Brigitte Saidi

Mr. John Hrncir

Alan J. Savada

Mr. Francisco J. Izaguirre

Kathleen and Jed Sazama

Mr. Mark E. Jacobs

Mr. Alan Schmitz

Mr. and Mrs. John Jordan

Kenneth and Deborah Scianna

Dr. Ngaruiya Kariuki

Mr. Nick Shumway and Mr. Robert Mayott

Linda Katz

Mr. Herbert Simons

Lynda and Frank Kelly

Jan Simpson

Mr. and Mrs. John Lattin

Mr. John S. Skaggs

Mr. John Lauber and Ms. Susan M. Coughlin

Ms. Diana Skerl

Mrs. Yildiz Lee Mr. David Leebron and Ms. Ping Sun Dr. Benjamin Lichtiger Ms. Nadine Littles Mrs. Sylvia Lohkamp Mr. and Mrs. Karl R. Loos

Mr. and Mrs. Louis. S. Sklar Ms. Anne Sloan Len Slusser Ms. Linda F. Sonier Mr. and Mrs. George Stark Mr. Leon Strieder Mr. and Mrs. Tim Unger 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 Kelly Finn, director of institutional giving, at 713-546-0265 or KFinn@HGO.org.

Michaela Greenan, Corporate Council Chair

CORPORATE, FOUNDATION, GOVERNMENT

CORPORATE SUPPORTERS

MEMBERS—$1,000 OR MORE

GUARANTORS—$100,000 OR MORE

Infosys

HOUSTON GRAND OPERA

ConocoPhillips †

CORPORATE COUNCIL

Thomas R. Ajamie, Ajamie LLP Chris Angelides, Shell USA, Inc. J. Scott Arnoldy, Triten Corporation C. Mark Baker, Norton Rose Fulbright LLP Astley Blair, Marine Well Containment Company

Frost Bank † H-E-B †

IN-KIND CONTRIBUTORS TO OPERATIONS AND SPECIAL EVENTS

Houston Methodist †*

UNDERWRITERS—$25,000 OR MORE

Novum Energy

Abrahams Oriental Rugs and Home Furnishings

Vinson & Elkins LLP †*

Meg Boulware, Boulware & Valoir

GRAND UNDERWRITERS—

Albert Chao, Westlake Corporation

Ajamie LLP

$50,000 OR MORE

ALTO City Kitchen Catering The Events Company Jackson & Company Catering

Adam Cook, Tokio Marine HCC

Bank of America †

Joshua Davidson, Baker Botts L.L.P.

M. David Lowe and Nana Booker Booker · Lowe Gallery

SPONSORS—$15,000 OR MORE

Nabors Industries

Magnolia Houston

Susan R. Eisenberg, Kirkland & Ellis LLP Warren Ellsworth, MD, Houston Methodist Richard Husseini, Kirkland & Ellis LLP Michelle Huth, Frost Bank Beth Jarlock, EY

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™ † Kirkland & Ellis LLP

CO-SPONSORS—$7,500 OR MORE

Shell USA, Inc. †

BCN Taste and Tradition Elegant Events and Catering by Michael

Bill Kroger, Baker Botts L.L.P. David LePori, Frost Bank Bryce Lindner, Bank of America Claire Liu, LyondellBasell (Retired) Craig Miller, Frost Bank Ward Pennebaker, Pennebaker Gloria M. Portela, Seyfarth Shaw LLP Allyn Risley, GTT North America Susan Rivera, Tokio Marine HCC Kelly Rose, ConocoPhillips

Kirksey Gregg Productions

UNDERWRITERS—$25,000 OR MORE

Fort Bend Music Company

Baker Botts L.L.P. †

Medallion Global Wine Group

Boulware & Valoir Halliburton

BENEFACTORS—$5,000 OR MORE

Norton Rose Fulbright LLP †

The Corinthian at Franklin Lofts

POST Houston

David Peck

Tokio Marine HCC

The Lancaster Hotel

Wells Fargo

Masterson Design/Mariquita Masterson

Westlake Corporation †

Shaftel Diamond Co.

SPONSORS—$10,000 OR MORE

MEMBERS—$1,000 OR MORE

CenterPoint Energy

Brasserie du Parc

Frost Brown Todd

Connie Kwan-Wong/CWK Collection Inc.

Patterson & Sheridan LLP

Dar Schafer Art

Glen Rosenbaum, Vinson & Elkins LLP Silvia Salle, Bank of America Susan Saurage-Altenloh, Saurage Marketing Research Apurva Thekdi, MD, Houston Methodist Ignacio Torras, Tricon Energy

Elliott Marketing Group

Alfredo Vilas, Novum Energy

Ellsworth Plastic Surgery

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WINTER 2024

A NNUA L

S U PP O RT

Gittings Portraiture

William Randolph Hearst Foundation

Fannie Mae

Glade Cultural Center

GRAND UNDERWRITERS—

Hewlett-Packard Company

Hayden Lasher

$50,000 OR MORE

IBM Corporation

The Hotel ZaZa

City of Houston through the Miller Theatre Advisory Board †

Illinois Tools Works Inc.

La Colombe d'Or Hotel Las Terrazas Resort & Residences Lavandula Design

John P. McGovern Foundation † The Powell Foundation †

UNDERWRITERS—$25,000 OR MORE

Joan and Stanford Alexander Family Fund FOUNDATIONS AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

Macquarie Microsoft Employee Giving Nintendo Of America

Mayfield Piano Service Shoocha Photography

LyondellBasell Chemical Company

Ruth and Ted Bauer Family Foundation † OPERA America

PREMIER GUARANTOR—

Stedman West Foundation †

$1,000,000 OR MORE

Vivian L. Smith Foundation

Quantlab Financial, LLC Salesforce Shell USA, Inc. Foundation The Boeing Company Union Pacific Williams Companies

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

SPONSORS—$10,000 OR MORE

The Wortham Foundation, Inc. †

Cockrell Family Fund

Anonymous

Sterling-Turner Foundation

PRINCIPAL GUARANTORS—

William E. and Natoma Pyle Harvey Charitable Trust †

$500,000 OR MORE

City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance † Anonymous

GRAND GUARANTORS— $250,000 OR MORE

The Alkek and Williams Foundation † Carol Franc Buck Foundation Edgar Foster Daniels Foundation

MEMBERS—$1,000 OR MORE

University of Houston Bauer College of Business George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation † Houston Grand Opera Guild † Houston Endowment Inc. Houston Saengerbund The Nathan J. Klein Fund

Humphreys Foundation † Andrew W. Mellon Foundation † National Endowment for the Humanities Texas Commission on the Arts † Anonymous

GUARANTORS—$100,000 OR MORE

M.D. Anderson Foundation † The Robert & Jane Cizik Foundation The Cullen Foundation † The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts † The Elkins Foundation The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation † National Endowment for the Arts † The Sarofim Foundation

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

CORPORATE MATCHING Baker Hughes Foundation Bank of America Charitable Foundation BP Foundation Chevron Humankind CITGO Petroleum Coca-Cola North America ConocoPhillips Encana EOG Resources, Inc. EQT Foundation ExxonMobil Foundation HGO.ORG

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

Helen Wils, Chair

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

LAUREATE SOCIETY MEMBERS

Jess and Patricia Carnes

Dr. Wm. David George

Ms. Gerry Aitken

Ms. Janet Langford Carrig

Dr. and Mrs. David P. Gill

Margaret Alkek Williams

Sylvia J. Carroll

Lynn Gissel

Mr. William J. Altenloh and Dr. Susan Saurage-Altenloh

Ms. Nada Chandler

Mr. Wesley Goble

Mr. Robert N. Chanon

Mr. David Gockley

Ms. Virginia Ann Clark

Rhoda Goldberg

Mathilda Cochran

Leonard A. Goldstein and Helen B. Wils

Mr. William E. Colburn

Mary Frances Gonzalez

Mr. and Mrs. Paul L. Comstock

Jon Kevin Gossett

Mr. Jim O. Connell

Mr. and Mrs. Fred Gott

Mrs. Christa M. Cooper

Mr. and Mrs. Donald Graubart

Mr. Efraín Z. Corzo and Mr. Andrew Bowen

Claire Liu and Joe Greenberg

Mr. and Mrs. James W. Crownover

Dr. Nichols Grimes

Shelly Cyprus

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

Robin Angly and Miles Smith Bill A. Arning and Aaron Skolnick Mrs. Judie Aronson Christopher Bacon and Craig Miller Gilbert Baker Dr. Saúl and Ursula Balagura Mr. William Bartlett Mr. James Barton Mr. Lary Dewain Barton Michelle Beale and Dick Anderson Marcheta Leighton-Beasley Jack Bell

Dr. Lida Dahm Mr. Darrin Davis

Mrs. Natalie Beller Dr. James A. Belli and Dr. Patricia Eifel Mr. and Mrs. Stanley C. Beyer Dr. Joan Hacken Bitar Susan Ross Black Ms. Susan Bloome Dr. and Mrs. Jules H. Bohnn Ms. Lynda Bowman Mr. and Mrs. Harry W. Bristol Ms. Zu Dell Broadwater Catherine Brock Myra Brown Mr. Richard S. Brown Mr. Logan D. Browning Mr. Richard H. Buffett Mr. Tom Burley and Mr. Michael Arellano Mr. Ralph Byle Ms. Gwyneth Campbell Roxi Cargill and Peter Weston, M.D. 88

Mr. Karl Dahm

WINTER 2024

Ms. Sasha Davis Ms. Anna M. Dean Peggy DeMarsh Ian Derrer and Daniel James Dr. Russell Deter Ms. Elisabeth DeWitts Connie Dyer Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Evans Ms. Thea M. Fabio and Mr. Richard Merrill Ms. Ann L. Faget Ms. Vicki Schmid Faulkner Mrs. Thomas Fauntleroy Jack and Marsha Firestone Carol Lay Fletcher Mr. Bruce Ford Dr. Donna Fox Dr. Alice Gates and Dr. Wayne Wilner Dr. Layne O. Gentry Mr. Michael B. George

Mr. Jas A. Gundry Mr. Claudio Gutierrez Dr. Robert W. Guynn Mr. and Mrs. William Haase Dr. Linda L. Hart 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 Mr. and Mrs. George M. Hricik Lee M. Huber Robert and Kitty Hunter Greg Ingram Brian James Spencer A. Jeffries and Kim Hawkins

A NNUA L

S U PP O RT

Ms. Charlotte Jones

Erik B. Nelson and Terry R. Brandhorst

Rhonda Sweeney

Cynthia J. Johnson

Mrs. Bobbie Newman

Susan Tan

Ms. Marianne Kah

Mrs. Tassie Nicandros

Mrs. Carolyn Taub

Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Kauffman

Beverly and Staman Ogilvie

Mr. Quentin Thigpen and Ms. Amy Psaris

Ann and Stephen Kaufman

Geoffry H. Oshman

Fiona Toth

Charles Dennis and Steve Kelley

Ms. Maria C. (Macky) Osorio

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

Mr. Anthony K.

Susan and Edward Osterberg

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Turner

Ms. Virginia E. Kiser

Mrs. Joan D. Osterweil

Mr. and Mrs. Jesse B. Tutor

Ann Koster

Mr. and Mrs. Richard A. Percoco

Birgitt van Wijk

Dr. Lynn Lamkin

Sara M. Peterson

Mr. and Mrs. Alfredo Vilas

Ms. Michele LaNoue and Mr. Gerald Seidl

Mark and Nancy Picus

Mrs. Rons Voogt

Carolyn J. Levy

Mr. and Mrs. Harry C. Pinson

James and Mary Waggoner

Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Liesner

Susie and Jim Pokorski

Dean Walker

Mr. Michael Linkins

Gloria M. Portela

Mr. William V. Walker

Mr. and Mrs. Karl R. Loos

Suzanne Page-Pryde and Arthur Pryde

Shirley Warshaw

Mrs. Marilyn Lummis

Dr. Angela Rechichi-Apollo

Mr. Gordon D. Watson

Dr. Jo Wilkinson Lyday

Mr. Todd Reppert

Ms. Rebecca Weaver

Mr. and Mrs. Paul A. Lynn

Conrad and Charlaine Reynolds

Mr. Jesse Weir

Sandy L. Magers

Ms. Wanda A. Reynolds

Mr. Geoffrey Westergaard

Mrs. Rosemary Malbin

Ed and Janet Rinehart

Pippa Wiley

Ms. Michele Malloy

Edward N. Robinson

Ms. Jane L. Williams

Emily Bivona and Ryan Manser

Mrs. Shirley Rose

Mr. and Mrs. David S. Wolff

Mrs. J. Landis Martin

Glen A. Rosenbaum

Dr. Fabian Worthing

Ms. B. Lynn Mathre

Mr. John C. Rudder Jr.

Jo Dee Wright

Ms. Nancy Wynne Mattison

H. Clifford Rudisill and Ray E. Wilson

Lynn Wyatt

Dr. and Mrs. Malcolm Mazow

Mr. and Mrs. Tom Rushing

Alan and Frank York

Mrs. Dorothy McCaine

Dr. Mo & Mrs. Brigitte Saidi

Mr. and Mrs. Mark Yzaguirre

Mrs. Sarah McCollum

Mr. and Mrs. Terrell F. Sanders

Mrs. Lorena Zavala

Deirdre McDowell

Ms. Wanda Schaffner

John L. Zipprich II

Muffy and Mike McLanahan

Mr. Chris Schilling

17 Anonymous

Will L. McLendon

Kenneth and Deborah Scianna

Mr. Allen McReynolds

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Senuta

Ms. Maryellen McSweeney

Mrs. Helen P. Shaffer

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

Mr. and Mrs. D. Bradley McWilliams

Ms. Sue A. Shirley-Howard

Elaine Jaffe Altschuler

Christianne Melanson and Durwin Sharp

Hinda Simon

Dr. Antonio Arana

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Menzie

Mr. Herbert Simons

Henry and Betty Arnold

Ms. Georgette M. Michko

Ms. Susan Simpson

Janice Barrow

Ms. Suzanne Mimnaugh

Ms. Janet Sims

Dr. Thomas D. Barrow

Kathleen Moore and Steven Homer

Bruce Smith

Ronald Borschow

Sid Moorhead

Mr. Robert J. Smouse

Mr. Stephen R. Brenner

Juan R. Morales

Ms. Linda F. Sonier

Mr. Ira B. Brown

Mr. and Mrs. Sidney S. Moran

Dian and Harlan Stai

Joan Bruchas and H. Philip Cowdin

Mr. and Mrs. Marvin H. Mueller

Ms. Darla Y. Stange

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Capshaw

Ms. Linda C. Murray

Dr. and Mrs. C. Richard Stasney

Dr. Lawrence E. Carlton

Terrylin G. Neale

Catherine Stevenson

Mr. Tony Carroll, LCSW HGO.ORG

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SU PPORT

Michael Cochran

Dr. Marjorie Horning

Mr. Howard Pieper

Judy Cummings

Mark Lensky

Mr. and Mrs. Craig M. Rowley

Karl A. Dahm

Mary R. Lewis

Mrs. Joseph P. Ruddell

Ms. Marilyn R. Davis

Bette and Peter Liebgold

Sue Simpson Schwartz

Dick Evans

Mrs. Margaret Love

Mr. Eric W. Stein Sr.

Frank R. Eyler

Ms. Marsha Malev

John and Fanny Stone

Linda Finger

Frances Marzio

Dr. Carlos Vallbona

Christine E. George

Mr. Constantine Nicandros

Daisy Wong

Harold Gilliland

M. Joan Nish

Miss Bonnie Sue Wooldridge

Adelma Graham

Mr. James W. O’Keefe

Roberta and Jack Harris

Barbara M. Osborne

Jackson C. Hicks

Mrs. Mary Ann Phillips

H O U S T O N G R A N D O P E R A E N D OW M E 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, senior director of philanthropy, at 713-546-0259 or DHirsch@HGO.org. HGO acknowledges with deep gratitude the following endowed funds.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Charles T. (Ted) Bauer Memorial Fund

Harold Gilliland Endowed Fund

Officers

Sandra Bernhard Endowed Fund

Adelma Graham Endowed Fund

Marianne Kah, Chair

The Stanley and Shirley Beyer Endowed Fund

Frank Greenberg, M.D. Endowment Fund

Mark Poag, Vice Chair Terrylin Neale, Secretary; Treasurer Yolanda Knull, Senior Chair Tom Rushing, Chair Emeritus Members at Large Thomas R. Ajamie Janet Langford Carrig Khori Dastoor Carolyn Galfione

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

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 Leech Family Resilience Fund

Richard Husseini

Sarah and Ernest Butler Endowment Fund

Lensky Family Endowed Fund

Stephen Kaufman

Jane and Robert Cizik Endowment

Claire Liu

Beth Madison Endowed Fund

Michael and Mathilda Cochran Endowment Fund

Frances Marzio Fund for Excellence

Scott Wise

Douglas E. Colin Endowment Fund GENERAL ENDOWMENT FUNDS Susan Saurage-Altenloh and William Altenloh Endowed Fund

The Gerald and Bobbie-Vee Cooney Rudy Avelar Fund Mary Jane Fedder Endowed Fund

Mary R. Lewis Endowed Fund

Franci Neely Endowed Fund Constantine S. Nicandros Endowment Fund Barbara M. Osborne Charitable Trust

The Rudy Avelar Patron Services Fund

Linda K. Finger Endowed Fund

Cynthia and Anthony Petrello Endowed Fund

Barrow Family Endowed Fund

Robert W. George Endowment Fund

Mary Ann Phillips Endowed Fund

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WINTER 2024

A NNUA L C. Howard Pieper Endowment Fund Kitty King Powell Endowment Fund Rowley Family Endowment Fund The Ruddell Endowment Fund

SARAH AND ERNEST BUTLER HOUSTON GRAND OPERA STUDIO FUNDS

OUTREACH FUNDS

Audrey Jones Beck Endowed Fellowship Fund/Houston Endowment, Inc.

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

Sue Simpson Schwartz Endowment Fund

The Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation Endowment Fund

Shell Lubricants (formerly Pennzoil — Quaker State Company) Fund

Marjorie and Thomas Capshaw Endowment Fund

Dian and Harlan Stai Fund

Houston Grand Opera Guild Endowment Fund

The John and Fanny Stone Endowment Fund

Evans and Portela Family Endowed Chair

John G. Turner and Jerry G. Fischer Endowed Fund

Carol Lynn Lay Fletcher Endowment Fund

Marietta Voglis Endowed Fund Bonnie Sue Wooldridge Endowment Fund

PRODUCTION FUNDS

Laura and Brad McWilliams Endowed Fund

Marian and Speros Martel Foundation Endowment Fund

Erin Gregory Neale Endowment Fund

The Wagner Fund

Dr. Mary Joan Nish and Patricia Bratsas Endowed Fund

PRINCIPAL ARTISTS FUNDS

John M. O’Quinn Foundation Endowed Fellowship Fund

Jesse Weir and Roberto Ayala Artist Fund The Lynn Wyatt Great Artist Fund

ENDOWED CHAIRS AND FELLOWSHIPS Margaret Alkek Williams Chair: Khori Dastoor, General Director and Chief Executive Officer

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

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

EDUCATION FUNDS

Sarah and Ernest Butler Chorus Director Chair: Richard Bado

Sandra Bernhard Education Fund

Sarah and Ernest Butler Concertmaster Chair: Denise Tarrant Mr. and Mrs. James A. Elkins Jr. Endowed Chair: Peter Pasztor Mr. and Mrs. Albert B. Alkek Chair: Maureen Zoltek James A. Elkins Jr. Endowed Visiting Artist Fund

Eleanor Searle McCollum Endowment Fund

Charlotte Howe Memorial Scholarship Fund Elva Lobit Opera Endowment Fund

Tracey D. Conwell Endowment Fund

CONCERT OF ARIAS

William Randolph Hearst Endowed Scholarship Fund

The Wortham Foundation Permanent Endowment Fund

Edward and Frances Bing Fund

Guyla Pircher Harris Project

James J. Drach Endowment Fund

Dorothy Barton Thomas Endowment Fund

John and Sheila Tweed Endowed Fund

S U PP O RT

Bauer Family Fund

Lawrence E. Carlton, M.D., Endowment Fund Beth Crispin Endowment Fund James J. Drach Endowment Fund Fondren Foundation Fund for Educational Programs David Clark Grant Endowment Fund The Schissler Family Foundation Endowed Fund for Educational Programs

ELECTRONIC MEDIA FUNDS The Ford Foundation Endowment Fund

HGO.ORG

91

CA LENDA R

SAVE THE DATES JANUARY 19, 21M, 27, 31, FEBRUARY 4M Performances of Wagner’s Parsifal.

Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Theater.

Ticketholders are invited to Opera Insights lectures, held in the Brown’s Orchestra section 60 minutes prior to each performance. Special intermission reception for members of Opening Nights for Young Professionals at the January 19 performance only.

JANUARY 23 Opera Club: High school students are invited to learn more about the world of opera and attend a dress rehearsal performance of Madame Butterfly. No musical experience needed. Free, application and registration required. For information, visit HGO.org/community-and-learning.

action-packed workshops filled with singing, rhythmic movement, and creative play. Noon. Free, visit levyparkhouston.org.

JANUARY 23–MAY 2 Katie: The Strongest of the Strong: This season’s touring opera is an HGO commission telling the true story of Katie Sandwina—a circus strongwoman who defied expectations and went on to help lead the U.S. suffrage movement.

To book this exciting show at your school, community center, or other venue, email operatogo@HGO.org or visit HGO.org/OperaToGo.

Madame Butterfly High School Night: HGO hosts a full length performance of the opera for students and their chaperones.

Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Theater. 7 p.m. Reserve at HGO.org/Students.

School and Educator Engagement Educational Enrichment Workshop: Madame Butterfly. Wortham Theater Center. 6 p.m. This workshop includes a lecture and discussion, five continuing professional education credits for Texas educators, a catered dinner, and dress rehearsal tickets. $25. For information, email KWilliams@HGO.org.

Performances of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly. 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. Special intermission reception for members of Opening Nights for Young Professionals at the January 26 performance only, and for members of Overture at the February 3 performance only.

JANUARY 27, FEBRUARY 24, MARCH 23, APRIL 26, MAY 24 Sing! Move! Play! at Levy Park: An HGO Teaching Artist leads children through

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FEBRUARY 16, 17, 18 Performances of Meilina Tsui and Melisa Tien’s The Big Swim. Presented in partnership with Asia Society Texas at the Asia Society Texas Center. For information, visit HGO.org.

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JANUARY 26, 28M, FEBRUARY 3, 7, 9, 10, 11M

FEBRUARY 2 Concert of Arias: The 36th Annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias, a celebration of the future of opera. 7 p.m. Dinner with the artists follows in the Grand Foyer. Hon. Theresa and Dr. Peter Chang, chairs. For information, contact Brooke Rogers at 713-546-0271 or BRogers@HGO.org. HGO.org/COA

JANUARY 28 Sensory-friendly Opera to Go! performance, Katie: The Strongest of the Strong: Appropriate for all ages!

Designed to create a welcoming and supportive environment for families with loved ones who are neurodivergent and others with sensory-related sensitivities.

2 p.m. Kaplan Theatre at the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center.

Free. For information, email operatogo@ HGO.org or visit HGO.org/ OperaToGo.

JANUARY 30 Madame Butterfly Student Matinee: 10 a.m. Wortham Theater Center. Grades 6 to 12. $5-10. Sold to capacity; join the waitlist at HGO.org/Students.

FEBRUARY 25, MARCH 17, APRIL 14, MAY 4 Bauer Family High School Voice Studio Masterclasses: Open to the public for the 2023-24 season. Appropriate for all ages.

Free, RSVP required. For information, visit HGO.org/community-and-learning.

MARCH 8 Giving Voice: HGO’s 5th annual concert celebrates Black women artists in opera at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church. 7:30 p.m. Tickets now on sale at HGO.org/ GivingVoice.

APRIL 13 Opera Ball: Enjoy cocktails, dinner, a silent auction, dancing, and more! 6:30 p.m. Wortham Theater Center. Isabel and

Ignacio Torras, chairs. For information, contact Brooke Rogers at 713-546-0271 or brogers@hgo.org. HGO.org/OperaBall

APRIL 24 Opera Club: High school students are invited to learn more about the world of opera and attend a dress rehearsal performance of The Sound of Music.

No musical experience needed. Free, application and registration required. For information, visit HGO.org/communityand-learning.

APRIL 19, 21M, 27, MAY 1, 3 Performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni.

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. Special intermission reception for members of Opening Nights for Young Professionals at the April 19 performance only.

APRIL 26, 28M, 30, MAY 4, 5M, 10, 11, 12M Performances of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music.

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. Special intermission reception for members of Opening Nights for Young Professionals at the April 26 performance only, and for members of Overture at the May 11 performance only.

APRIL 24 School and Educator Engagement Educational Enrichment Workshop: The Sound of Music. Wortham Theater Center.

6 p.m. This workshop includes a lecture and discussion, five continuing professional education credits for Texas educators, a catered dinner, and dress rehearsal tickets. $25. For information, email KWilliams@HGO.org.

FOLLOW HGO ON SOCIAL! Facebook: HoustonGrandOpera X: HouGrandOpera Instagram: HouGrandOpera

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MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR VISIT AS PART OF HGO’S COMMITMENT TO YOU AND YOUR OPER ATIC EXPERIENCE , THE COMPANY IS INTRODUCING A HOST OF UPGR ADES FOR THE 202 3-24 SE ASON.

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO: VISIT THE NEW HGO.ORG This season we are debuting a gorgeous new website! The reimagined site is your user-friendly one-stop shop for everything HGO. Resources include: Your all-access guide to performances, on the mainstage and in the community: HGO.org/on-stage he Backstage Pass blog, for taking a T deep dive into the season’s operas: HGO. org/backstage-pass lan Your Visit information, from parking P options, to hotel recommendations, to FAQs, and much more: HGO.org/ plan-your-visit GO’s Customer Care Center, H including performance information, ticket assistance, and more: HGO.org/ contact-us

ENJOY THE WORTHAM We encourage our guests to make full use of the Wortham Theater Center when they come to the opera. You’re invited to:

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!

New this winter: Don’t miss The Butterfly Experience, an exploration of Puccini's Madame Butterfly, its history, HGO's many productions of the opera, and more, including costume designs and Japanese artwork. The exhibit is now on view in the Grand Foyer East Wing.

New for 2023-24: The piano music in the foyer last spring was so popular, this year we’re bringing it back all season long!

Rent a pair of binoculars: Want to see the action up close? You can rent binoculars on the Grand Tier level (5th floor).

Browse the merchandise: Volunteers from the HGO Guild operate a gift and souvenir boutique in the Grand Foyer.

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ew this season! Parfait kits, antipasti N kebabs, caprese skewers, and much more are now available at the Grab N Go station.

The Founders Salon: The Founders Salon features 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.

And much more!

Take advantage of all the new tools we’ve created for you, now available at HGO.org.

Dine in: Food services are available prior to each performance in the Grand Foyer.

Enjoy a drink: The lobby bars are open before each performance and during intermission. 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!

New this season! More bars, bartenders, and seating, plus an expanded selection, themed cocktails inspired by the season’s productions, and the 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).

Attend a free Opera Insights lecture: Brush up on the day’s opera during one of HGO's popular pre-show talks. Join us on the Orchestra level of the Brown Auditorium 45 minutes before curtain time (60 minutes beforehand for Parsifal only).

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EXPLORE DOWNTOWN

HGO's recommendations for making the most of our vibrant neighborhood

DO

The Buffalo Bayou Walking Trail: Walk or take a tour of the bayou on a Segway and cover more ground.

Downtown Houston Tunnel System: a system of underground tunnels that includes myriad restaurants and food halls.

Bayou Place: a collection of entertainment and dining venues.

Guard and Grace, for steaks, oysters, and charcuterie with a view.

B&B Butchers & Restaurant, for the finest Texas and Japanese Wagyu hand-cut steaks.

Bravery Food Hall, for a casual, chef-driven culinary experience.

Cultivated F+B in the Lancaster Hotel, for a refined night out at a historic Houston landmark.

Lyric Market food hall, for a wide variety of tasty cuisines and a gorgeous bar in a fun, urban setting.

Niko Niko's at Market Square, for classic Greek food inside a historic park.

POST Houston Food Hall, for a foodie paradise inside an eye-popping downtown landmark (as featured on Top Chef!).

Rosalie Italian Soul in the C. Baldwin, for red-sauce Italian in a gorgeous setting.

VIS IT

There’s lots of fun to be had downtown!

Spots to explore include:

Market Square Park: Houston’s oldest park.

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Julia Ideson Library: historic library with distinctive and elegant Spanish architecture.

Avenida Houston: fun place to sip, stroll, and savor.

Toyota Center: home of the Houston Rockets.

Sam Houston Park: eight historic homes in a park setting, open for tours.

Lynn Wyatt Square: downtown’s

Minute Maid Park: home of the Houston Astros.

newest green space, right across from Jones Hall.

Discovery Green: a vibrant urban park.

NEW! Step into a world where music and magic meet in a captivating series of interactive music boxes presented by the Houston Theater District in partnership with Lynn Wyatt Square, Market Square Park, and Trebly Park. With a simple turn of the crank, 10 music boxes of various shapes harness the power of human energy to weave mesmerizing soundscapes and illuminate their surroundings with enchanting lights. Look for the music boxes throughout Houston’s Theater District venues: Alley Theatre, Hobby Center, Jones Hall, Lynn Wyatt Square, and Wortham Theater Center!

EXPLORE POST HOUSTON! Looking for a bite before the show? Head over to POST Houston, an eye-popping hub for food, culture, and recreation located just a short walk from the Wortham Theater Center, inside the building that once housed Houston’s downtown post office. This vibrant indoor marketplace is home to an array of cuisines, from ramen to Cajun fare, dim sum to Japanese street food, Filipino to hot chicken, pizza, burgers, Thai, seafood, and more, with multiple bars offering wine and cocktails. If the weather is nice, bring your meal up to the Skylawn, the POST’s expansive five-acre rooftop garden, to enjoy with an incredible skyline view. For more information, visit posthtx.com.

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Khori Dastoor General Director and CEO Margaret Alkek Williams Chair Patrick Summers Artistic and Music Director * Sarah and Ernest Butler Chair EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP GROUP Richard Bado, Director of Artistic Planning/ Chorus Director * Sarah and Ernest Butler Chorus Director Chair Jennifer Bowman, Director of Community and Learning Jennifer Davenport, Chief Marketing and Experience Officer Molly Dill, Chief Operating Officer * Elizabeth Greer, Chief Financial Officer Gregory S. Robertson, Chief Philanthropy Officer * OFFICE OF THE GENERAL DIRECTOR Mary Elsey, Chief of Staff to the General Director and CEO Eun Sun Kim, Principal Guest Conductor Ana María Martínez, Artistic Advisor Claire Padien-Havens, Director of Strategic Projects & Initiatives Joel Thompson, Composer-in-Residence ARTISTIC Chris Abide, Rehearsal Manager ChloeSue Baker, Artist Services Coordinator Richard S. Brown, Orchestra Personnel Manager * Colin Michael Brush, Director of the Butler Studio Bart Dunn, Music Librarian Joel Goodloe, Associate Director of Rehearsal Planning & Artist Services Amy Hoang, Music Administrator Kiera Krieg, Rehearsal Planning & Artist Services Administrator Kirill Kuzmin, Principal Coach Joanna Latini, Butler Studio Administrator Mark C. Lear, Associate Artistic Administrator * Peter Pasztor, Principal Coach * Teddy Poll, Resident Conductor Karen Reeves, Children’s Chorus Director * Jack Ruffer, Rehearsal Planning Administrator Madeline Slettedahl, Assistant Conductor Monica Thakkar, Director of Artistic Partnerships & Music Planning 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 Care Specialist Ellen Bergener, Customer Care Representative Gabrielle Castillo, Customer Care Specialist Chelsea Crouse, Creative Manager Juan Flores, Customer Care Specialist Amber Francis, Communications Coordinator Clarisa Galindo, Marketing Coordinator Jessica Gonzalez, Marketing Manager Sofia Heggem, Guest Experience Coordinator Scott Ipsen, Director of Patron Experience * Rita Jia, Graphic Designer Latrinita Johnson, Customer Care Specialist Jazzlyn Levigne, Customer Care Representative Tory Lieberman, Director of Marketing Catherine Matusow, Director of Communications Matt McKee, Associate Director of Sales and Service Brian Mitchell, Archivist, The Genevieve P. Demme Archives and Resource Center * Roselyn Rios, Digital Content Coordinator Michelle Russell, Ticketing & Marketing Data Manager Alan Sellar, Videographer Amber Sheppard, Patron Services Manager Armando Urdiales, Group Sales Coordinator Dorian Valenzuela, Digital Content Manager Dana Walker, Guest Experience Manager COMMUNITY AND LEARNING Favour Aimufua, Programs Coordinator Administration George Heathco, Programs Coordinator, Programming and Engagement Patty Holley, Program Manager of School & Educator Engagement Alisa Magallón, Associate Director ­of Programming & Engagement * Karen Mata, Operations Manager Lisa Vickers, Bauer Family High School Voice Studio Manager Dr. Kiana Day Williams, Associate Director of School & Educator Engagement

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FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION Christian Davis, Human Resources Manager Ariel Ehrman, Business Intelligence Manager Denise Fruge, Accounts Payable Administrator * Matt Gonzales, Manager of Information Technology * Vicky Hernandez, Business Intelligence Coordinator Chasity Hopkins, Accounting Manager Ty Jones, Network Administrator Elia Medina, Payroll Administrator Noorwali Punjwani, Controller Denise Simon, Human Resources Coordinator * Grace Tsai, Manager of Data and Analytics Ahna Waker, Human Resources Generalist Chaedron Wright, Information Technology Assistant Joy Zhou, Manager of Data and Analytics PHILANTHROPY Alex de Aguiar Reuter, Associate Director of Philanthropy Lyanne Alvarado, Philanthropy Officer, Corporate Sarah Bertrand, Philanthropy Officer Kelly Finn, Director of Foundation Giving * Ross S. Griffey, Philanthropy Writer and Data Specialist Deborah Hirsch, Deputy Chief Philanthropy Officer * David Krohn, Director of Philanthropy Tessa Larson, Philanthropy Officer Olivia Lerwick, Philanthropy Officer Sarah Long, Associate Director of Philanthropy Patrick Long-Quian, Philanthropy Operations Coordinator Meredith Morse, Operations Manager, Institutional Giving Amanda Neiter, Director of Legacy Giving Brooke Rogers, Director of Special Events Madeline Sebastian, Associate Director of Philanthropy Tyler Thormählen, Philanthropy Associate PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS Kaleb Abide, Costume Coordinator Philip Alfano, Lighting Associate & Principal Draftsman * Brian August, Stage Manager Bruno Baker, Assistant Director Kristen E. Burke, Director of Production* April Cagle, Wardrobe Supervisor Michael James Clark, Head of Lighting & Production Media *

Andrew Cloud, Properties Associate * Rick Combs, Associate Technical Director Norma Cortez, Costume Director * Drieux Dismukes, Wardrobe Supervisor Meg Edwards, Assistant Stage Manger * Caitlin Farley, Assistant Stage Manager Joseph B. Farley, Production Manager Vince Ferraro, Head Electrician * Luis Franco, Office Services Coordinator * Beth Goodill, Assistant Stage Manager Bridget Green, Wig and Makeup Assistant Jackson Halphide, Assistant Technical Director Eduardo Hawkins, Head of Sound * David Heckman, Costume Coordinator Assistant John Howard, Head Carpenter* Heather Ervin, Wig and Makeup Assistant Jennelle John-Lewis, Assistant Stage Manager Esmeralda De Leon, Costume Coordinator * Nara Lesser, Costume Production Assistant * Jae Liburd, Operations Driver Melissa McClung, Technical and Production Administrator Megan, Properties Design Director * Tatyana Miller, Junior Draper Cam Ngyuen, Costume Technician Rovion Reed, Production & Projects Manager Bradley Roast, Technical Director Colter Schoenfish, Assistant Director Ian Silverman, Assistant Director Kaley Karis Smith, Assistant Director Rachel Smith, Assistant Head Electrician and Board Operator Meghan Spear, Assistant Stage Manager Dotti Staker, Wig and Makeup Department Head * Christopher Staub, Director of Operations & Institutional Projects * Bryan Stinnet, Assistant Carpenter/Head Flyperson Paully Tran, Senior First Hand * Myrna Vallejo, Costume Shop Supervisor * Sean Waldron, Head of Props* Annie Wheeler, Production Stage Manager * *denotes 10 or more years of service

TICKETS START AT $25 / HGO.ORG APRIL

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