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CONCERT OF ARIAS

FEBRUARY 6, 2026 AT 7 P.M.

Cullen Theater, Wortham Theater Center

Join us for the thrilling finale to HGO’s 38th annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers! Concert tickets start at $30. You’re invited to support the future of these young artists at a cocktail-attire dinner following the performance. Ticket and gala information at HGO.org/COA.

On the cover: Shawn Roth, Alissa Goretsky, and Ziniu Zhao at the 2024 Butler Studio Showcase. Photo by: Lynn Lane. This page: Geonho Lee at Concert of Arias 2025. Photo by: Michael Bishop.

WELCOME TO THE 2025 SARAH AND ERNEST BUTLER HOUSTON GRAND OPERA STUDIO SHOWCASE!

Colin Michael Brush

Tonight’s performance opens a new season for the Butler Studio. It gives you a first look at the artists who will be making music throughout the year on our stages, in the Houston community, and, after their time with us, all over the world. These scenes are the result of many hours of concentrated preparation and experimentation. Each represents an opportunity for the artists to explore character, style, and storytelling in a focused and collaborative setting.

If you attended last season’s program, you will recognize many returning faces. But some may be nearly unrecognizable because of the tremendous growth they have undergone. Over the past year, all have stepped into significant professional opportunities while remaining immersed in rigorous training. Their work has spanned voice technique, language, dramatic interpretation, movement, musicianship, and more. In addition to important fundamental skills, they are each developing an individual interpretive identity. Each singer is constantly refining their unique artistic perspective, allowing them to bring a wide range of repertoire to life.

We welcome three new artists to the Butler Studio this season. From their first day, they have contributed a curiosity and artistic generosity that has shaped the way the group works together. There has been a shared sense of rigor and mutual investment in the rehearsal room: Each artist is pushing themselves while supporting the work of the whole.

Our two Butler Studio pianists are the engines behind tonight’s performance. They are tasked with expressing the scope, depth, and variety of the orchestral score through a single instrument. Their responsiveness and imagination drive the musical and dramatic shape of each scene.

We are thrilled to welcome back Mo Zhou as our stage director. Zhou brings a striking combination of clarity, imagination, and instinct to the room. Her work pushes the artists to think deeply about character and intention, while encouraging flexibility and courage in the rehearsal process. She approaches each scene as an opportunity to make something theatrically alive. Alongside her, Maureen Zoltek, Music Director of the Butler Studio, has guided the musical preparation with expert precision.

Tonight’s showcase offers something special. Each artist will step into multiple roles, styles, and dramatic worlds. Some of these are roles they may perform in the near future. Others serve to test possibilities, and to explore where their voices may land later on. What you are seeing tonight reflects rigorous preparation and a deep commitment to growth.

Thank you for being here and for supporting their journey. We are proud to present opera’s future stars to you this evening.

Colin Michael Brush Director

Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio

PROGRAM

Mozart – Don Giovanni (1787) / Act II, Duet, Recitative, Trio: “Eh via, buffone… Leporello, vien qui, facciamo pace… Ah taci, ingiusto core”

Donna Elvira

Leporello

Don Giovanni

Pianist

Elizabeth Hanje

Ziniu Zhao

Sam Dhobhany

Jenny Choo

Verdi – Don Carlo (1867) / Act I, Scene, Duet: “È lui!...desso...l’Infante!... Questo arcano dal Re”

Don Carlo

Demetrious Sampson, Jr.

Rodrigo Geonho Lee

Pianist

Jenny Choo

Beethoven – Fidelio (1805) / Act II Quartet: “Er sterbe! Doch er soll erst wissen”

Leonore

Florestan

Don Pizarro

Rocco

Pianist

Alissa Goretsky

Shawn Roth

Sam Dhobhany

Ziniu Zhao

Tzu Kuang Tan

Mascagni – Cavalleria rusticana (1890) / Duet: “Oh! il Signore vi manda, compar Alfio!”

Santuzza

Elizabeth Hanje

Alfio Geonho Lee

Pianist

Tzu Kuang Tan

Stravinsky – The Rake’s Progress (1951) / Act II, Scene, Aria, Duet: “I wish I were happy… In youth the panting slave… My tale shall be told both by young and by old”

Tom Rakewell

Nick Shadow

Pianist

INTERMISSION

Michael McDermott

Sam Dhobhany

Jenny Choo

Tchaikovsky – Eugene Onegin (1879) / Act II, Scene 2: “Nu chto zhe?... Kuda, kuda, kuda vi udalilis… A, vot oni!”

Vladimir Lensky

Luka Tsevelidze

Eugene Onegin Geonho Lee

Zaretsky

Pianist

Ziniu Zhao

Jenny Choo

Korngold – Die tote Stadt (1920) / Act I, Scene 5: “Ja, wunderbar, ich staune selbst”

Marietta

Paul

Pianist

Elizabeth Hanje

Shawn Roth

Tzu Kuang Tan

Verdi – La traviata (1853) / Act III, Duet through the end of the opera: “Parigi, o cara”

Violetta Valéry

Alfredo Germont

Alissa Goretsky

Michael McDermott

Giorgio Germont Geonho Lee

Annina

Doctor Grenvil

Pianist

Elizabeth Hanje

Ziniu Zhao

Tzu Kuang Tan

The program will last approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes, including one intermission.

CREATIVE TEAM

Director Mo Zhou

Host/ Butler Studio Director Colin Michael Brush

Music Director Maureen Zoltek

Lighting Designer Michael James Clark

Fight/ Intimacy Director

Musical Preparation

Olivia Knight

Jenny Choo *

Peter Pasztor **

Madeline Slettedahl

Tzu Kuang Tan *

William Woodard

Nicholas Roehler

Supertitles Alexa Lietzow

Butler Studio artist *

Former Butler Studio artist **

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Director of Production Kristen Burke

Technical Director Bradley Roast

Stage Manager Caitlin Farley

Head of Costumes Norma Cortez

Properties Manager Andrew Cloud

Wig and Makeup Design Director Amanda Mitchell

Stage crew personnel provided by IATSE, Local #51.

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

Usher personnel provided by IATSE, Local B-184.

Content Advisory: This production contains gunshot effects.

With deepest thanks to the members of the Butler Studio Committee, who helped make the Butler Studio Showcase possible:

Warren Ellsworth, chair

Michelle Beale, vice chair

Robin Angly

Astley Blair

Melinda Brunger

Patrick Carfizzi

Molly Crownover

Lynn Des Prez

Lynn Gissel

Sandy Godfrey

Ellen Gritz

Brenda Harvey-Traylor

Steve Homer

Marianne Kah

Stephanie Larsen

Rita Leader

Richard Leibman

Carolyn Levy

Tracy Maddox

Beth Madison

Amy Melton

Miguel Miro-Quesada

Valerie Miro-Quesada

Kathy Moore

Charlene Nickson

Gloria Portela

Jill Risley

Allyn Risley

Jack Roth

John Serpe

Janet Sims

Dian Stai

Harlan Stai

John Turner

Bob Wakefield

Trey Yates

WHO’S WHO

MO ZHOU (CHINA) DIRECTOR

Previously for HGO, Mo Zhou served as director for the Butler Studio Showcase and the world premiere of Meilina Tsui and Melisa Tien’s The Big Swim (both in 2024), and assistant director for La traviata (2017). Zhou’s career spans opera, theater, dance, and film. During the 2024-25 season, Zhou made company debuts and revived her acclaimed Madame Butterfly with Florentine Opera and Kentucky Opera, in addition to directing Così fan tutte at The Juilliard School, La bohème at Arizona Opera, and returning to Virginia Opera for a new production of Così fan tutte She also made her Canadian directing debut with Madame Butterfly at Vancouver Opera and finished up the season with a new production of Don Giovanni for Music Academy of the West. Future engagements include a debut with Opera Colorado for Madame Butterfly in addition to a new production of Madame Butterfly for Calgary Opera, Arizona Opera, and Opera Grand Rapids, where she currently serves as a Guest Artistic Director and will direct Stuck Elevator. Zhou has worked on the directing staff at Lyric Opera of Chicago and other companies. A winner of the Opera America Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer Prize and an Opera America Grant for Women Stage Directors, Zhou has taught at the University of Michigan and the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory, and has served as guest dramatic faculty at programs including the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago and Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara.

mainstage season, Clark serves as the revival lighting designer for The Barber of Seville. In the 2024-25 season, he served as revival lighting designer for Cinderella and lighting designer for La bohème. In the 2023-24 season, he was lighting designer for Falstaff and The Big Swim and revival lighting designer for Parsifal. During the 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); and numerous additional mainstage and outdoor productions. Clark also has designed 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.

MICHAEL JAMES CLARK

(UNITED STATES) LIGHTING DESIGNER

Michael James Clark is the head of lighting and production media for HGO. During the company’s 2025-26

JENNY CHOO (UNITED STATES) PIANIST/COACH

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

A second-year Butler Studio artist from St. Louis, Missouri, Jenny Choo serves as an assistant coach for Il trittico, Hansel and Gretel, the Butler Studio production of Of Mice and Men, and The Barber of Seville during the 2025-26 season at HGO. In the summer of 2025, she served on the music staff for Dalibor and Julietta at Bard SummerScape at Fisher Center. Choo was an assistant coach for Il trovatore, La bohème, and Breaking the Waves during HGO’s 2024-25 season. She joined the music staff for Sarasota Opera’s 2024 Winter Opera Festival

as assistant conductor for Lucia di Lammermoor and L’infedeltà delusa. In summer 2024, she returned to Aspen Music Festival and School as a coaching fellow. In 2023, she served as a vocal coach for the Fletcher Opera Institute at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Also in 2023, she served on the music staff for the U.S. premiere of Anchorage Opera’s Missing, a work that addresses the tragedy of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. Choo’s passion for collaboration has taken her and her musical partners to song competitions including the 2021 Kneisel Lieder Competition, where they brought home second prize, as well as the 2022 Wigmore Hall/Bollinger International Song Competition, after which they were invited to London to compete as finalists. She studied collaborative arts at the Eastman School of Music.

SAM DHOBHANY (UNITED STATES)

BASS-BARITONE

Dian and Harlan Stai Fellow

A second-year Butler

Studio artist from Brooklyn, New York, Sam Dhobhany received the Ana María Martínez Encouragement Award at HGO’s 2024 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias. He is a 2022 alumnus of HGO’s Young Artist Vocal Academy. In HGO’s 2025-26 season, Dhobhany sings the roles of Undertaker in Porgy and Bess, Amantio di Nicolao in Gianni Schicchi (Il trittico), British Major in Silent Night, George Milton in the Butler Studio production of Of Mice and Men, and Officer in The Barber of Seville. In HGO’s 2024-25 season, he made his company debut as Alidoro in the Family Day performance of Cinderella and sang the role of Terry in Breaking the Waves In the summer of 2025, Dhobhany performed the roles of Zuniga in Carmen and Bartolo in The Marriage of Figaro at Wolf Trap Opera, where in 2021, he was a member of the Studio Artist Program, covering the role of Doctor Grenvil in La traviata In 2024, Dhobhany sang the role of Angelotti in Tosca with Dayton Opera. He was an apprentice artist with Santa Fe

Opera in 2023 and 2024, performing roles including Un Médecin in Pelléas et Mélisande and Marchese d’Obigny in La traviata. Dhobhany was the second-place winner of the 2024 Rocky Mountain Region and the winner of the 2025 Arizona District of The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

ALISSA GORETSKY (UNITED STATES)

SOPRANO

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

A second-year Butler

Studio artist from Los Angeles, Alissa Goretsky was the third-place winner of HGO’s 2024 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias. In the 2025-26 season, she sings Young Lover in Il tabarro and Nursing Sister in Suor Angelica, both part of Il trittico; Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel; Gretel in the Family Day performance of Hansel and Gretel; Curley’s Wife in the Butler Studio production of Of Mice and Men; and Berta in The Barber of Seville. Goretsky was a 2025 Apprentice Singer for Santa Fe Opera, where she covered the role of Mimì in La bohème and Helmwige in Die Walküre. During the 2024-25 season, she made her HGO debut as Clorinda in Cinderella and performed the role again for the company’s Englishlanguage Family Day production. She made her operatic debut as Gismonda in Ottone at Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall under the baton of Corey Jameson in 2019. In March 2024 she performed the role of Ma Zegner in Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up, also at Caroline Hume Hall. Goretsky is a National Winner of the 2025 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. She holds both Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

ELIZABETH HANJE (UNITED STATES)

SOPRANO

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

Second-year Butler Studio artist Elizabeth Hanje, a Tanzanian-American soprano from Vestavia Hills, Alabama, was the first-place winner at HGO’s 2024 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias. She is a 2022 alumna of HGO’s Young Artist Vocal Academy and a 2023 alumna of the Des Moines Metro Opera Apprentice Program. In the 2025-26 HGO season, Hanje sings the roles of Strawberry Woman in Porgy and Bess, First Alms Sister in Suor Angelica (Il trittico), Madeleine Audebert in Silent Night, and Gertrude in the Family Day performance of Hansel and Gretel. Hanje was a 2025 Apprentice Singer for Santa Fe Opera, where she covered the role of Gerhilde in Die Walküre. In fall 2024, she made her mainstage debut with HGO as Ines in Il trovatore. In April 2022, she performed the role of Lyra in Alice Tierney in her debut with Opera Columbus. Hanje has sung in masterclasses with director Michael Capasso, soprano Christine Goerke, mezzosoprano Denyce Graves, and soprano Harolyn Blackwell. She is a winner of the 2023 Duncan Williams Voice Competition and the 2022 George Shirley Vocal Competition. In 2021, she received the Richard Miller Award for Fine Singing and a YoungArts Award. Hanje holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin Conservatory.

GEONHO LEE (SOUTH KOREA)

BARITONE

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

A first-year Butler Studio artist from South Korea, Geonho Lee won first place and the Audience Choice Award at HGO’s 2025 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias. Lee makes his HGO debut in the

2025-26 season as Marco in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi (Il trittico). Other HGO roles this season include William Dale in Silent Night; Peter in the Family Day performance of Hansel and Gretel; Slim in the Butler Studio production of Of Mice and Men; and Fiorello in The Barber of Seville Lee was a 2024 semifinalist in the renowned Operalia Competition. He was a student of advanced studies at the University of Music and Theatre Munich, where he participated in frequent performances and productions. He has been an active member of the August Everding Academy and holds a prestigious scholarship from the Bühnenverein. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance from Seoul National University, where he won several prestigious competitions.

MICHAEL

MCDERMOTT (UNITED STATES) TENOR

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

A third-year Butler Studio artist from Huntington Beach, California, Michael McDermott was the third-place winner in HGO’s 2023 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias. He is a 2021 alumnus of HGO’s Young Artists Vocal Academy. In the company’s 2025-26 season, McDermott sings the roles of Young Lover in Il tabarro (Il trittico) and Carlson in the Butler Studio production of Of Mice and Men. In 2025, he sang the role of Nicias in Thaïs at the Spoleto Festival, and served as an Apprentice Artist for Santa Fe Opera, where he covered the role of Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw. During HGO’s 2024-25 season, he performed as Messenger in Il trovatore, Don Ramiro in student and Family Day performances of Cinderella, and Rodolfo in La bohème. During HGO’s 2023-24 season, he performed the roles of Bardolph in Falstaff and 4th Esquire in Parsifal. In 2022, he covered the role of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni at the Aspen Music Festival and returned in 2023 to perform Arbace in Idomeneo. In summer

2024, McDermott sang the role of Camille de Rosillon in The Merry Widow at the Glyndebourne Festival. His recent competition wins include first prize in the 2024 Grand Concours Vocal Competition, first prize in the Schmidt Vocal Competition, and first prize in the Scholarship Division of the National Opera Association’s Carolyn Bailey Argento Competition. McDermott received his Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School and pursued his master’s degree at Rice University.

SHAWN ROTH (UNITED STATES) TENOR

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

Second-year Butler Studio artist Shawn Roth, from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, made his HGO debut in the 2024-25 season as Heinrich der Schreiber in Tannhäuser. In the company’s 2025-26 season, Roth sings the roles of a Song Vendor in Il tabarro (Il trittico) and Curley in the Butler Studio production of Of Mice and Men. In the 2024-25 season, he competed in the final round of the Neue Stimmen competition in Gütersloh, Germany, and won third prize in the Houston Saengerbund Awards. Other 2024-25 engagements included his debut with the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra as Don José in Carmen, and his return to Des Moines Metro Opera to perform Pásek in The Cunning Little Vixen and cover Erik in The Flying Dutchman In the 2023-24 season, Roth won the Pittsburgh District of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, covered the role of Narraboth in Salome at Des Moines Metro Opera, and took the top prize in the Wagner Society of New York’s 2024 Grant Awards. In spring 2024, he earned his artist diploma from the Academy of Vocal Arts, where he performed the roles of Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni. Roth holds

a Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin Conservatory, and is a three-time fellow of Music Academy of the West, where he won the Marilyn Horne Song Competition in 2021.

DEMETRIOUS SAMPSON, JR. (UNITED STATES)

TENOR

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

A third-year Butler Studio artist from Albany, Georgia, Demetrious Sampson, Jr. performs the roles of Sportin’ Life in Porgy and Bess, The Witch in the Family Day performance of Hansel and Gretel, and Lennie Small in the Butler Studio production of Of Mice and Men in HGO’s 2025-26 season. Other roles for 2025 included Macduff in Macbeth at Atlanta Opera and Steuermann in The Flying Dutchman at Des Moines Metro Opera. For HGO’s 2024-25 season, he performed the roles of Ruiz in Il trovatore and Parpignol in La bohème. In HGO’s 2023-24 season, Sampson made his HGO debut as 3rd Esquire in Parsifal. He made his professional debut with Atlanta Opera at the age of 20 as Crab Man in Porgy and Bess, a role he reprised at Des Moines Metro Opera in 2022 as an apprentice artist. In 2023, Sampson joined the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco, and in 2024, he made company and role debuts with Cincinnati Opera as Gastone in La traviata and with Wolf Trap Opera as the Kronprinz in Kevin Puts’s Silent Night. A previous Encouragement Award winner, he was named a National Finalist in the 2024 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. The second place and Audience Choice Winner in HGO’s 2023 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias, Sampson is 2022 alumnus of HGO’s Young Artists Vocal Academy. He received his bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University.

TZU KUANG TAN (MALAYSIA)

PIANIST/COACH

Shelly Cyprus Fellow

Tzu Kuang Tan is a first-year Butler Studio artist from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. For HGO’s 2025-26 season, he will serve as an Assistant Coach for Porgy and Bess, Silent Night, the Butler Studio production of Of Mice and Men, and Messiah. In the summer of 2025, Tan served a Young Artist with the Merola Opera Program. There, he played and coached Rossini’s Count Ory, served as one of the pianists for the “Grand Night of Singing – An American Song Fest,” and served as a rehearsal pianist for the Schwabacher Summer Concert. Performance highlights include a 2023 song recital with Joanne Evans at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, after being named winner of the Marilyn Horne Song Competition in 2022. Tan was a 2024 participant in Renée Fleming’s Carnegie Hall Song Studio, during which he made his Carnegie Hall debut in Zankel Hall with Ruby Dibble. In addition to appearing on the concert stage, Tan coaches and works as a rehearsal pianist. He served the Butler Opera Center at UT Austin during productions of La bohème, Tan Dun’s Tea: A Mirror of Soul, Queen of Spades, La traviata, L’enfant et les sortilèges, John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles, and The Marriage of Figaro. Tan pursued a Doctoral of Musical Arts degree at UT Austin. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore.

LUKA TSEVELIDZE (GEORGIA)

TENOR

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

A first-year Butler Studio artist from Tbilisi, Georgia, Luka Tsevelidze won second place at HGO’s 2025 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias. Tsevelidze makes his HGO debut as the Ballad Singer in the Butler Studio production of Of Mice and Men in the 2025-26 season. He made

his operatic debut as Tamino in The Magic Flute with the Tbilisi State Conservatoire Opera Studio. He also performed as Alfredo (Act III) in La traviata at the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theater, as Nemorino in scenes from The Elixir of Love, and as Malkhaz in Daisi. In 2024, Tsevelidze performed in a concert in Kassel, Germany, and in 2023 he performed in a Laureate Concert in Prague. Tsevelidze pursued his Bachelor of Music from Tbilisi State Conservatoire.

ZINIU ZHAO (CHINA)

BASS

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

A second-year Butler Studio artist from Shandong, China, Ziniu Zhao was the second-place winner at HGO’s 2024 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias and a winner of the San Francisco District in the 2025 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. In HGO’s 2025-26 season, he sings the roles of Maestro Spinelloccio in Gianni Schicchi (Il trittico), French General in Silent Night, and Candy in the Butler Studio production of Of Mice and Men. In the summer of 2025, Zhao sang Leporello in a concert version of Don Giovanni at the National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing. During the 2024-25 season, he made his HGO debut as Don Magnifico in the company’s Family Day performance of Cinderella and performed the role of Reinmar von Zweter in Tannhäuser

Zhao was a member of the Opera Talent Training Program of the China National Arts Foundation and has won several prestigious awards, including first prize at the Colorado International Music Competition, the Rossini Singing Award at the Fiorenza Cedolins Opera Competition in Italy, and the Maria Callas Award at the Vincerò International Opera Competition, also in Italy. In 2023, he performed a solo concert in Shandong. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where his operatic roles included Don Pasquale (title role), Colline in La bohème, and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte

SARAH AND ERNEST BUTLER HOUSTON GRAND OPERA STUDIO FACULTY & STAFF

Colin Michael Brush, Director

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

Maureen Zoltek, Music Director

Mr. and Mrs. Albert B. Alkek Chair

Kiera Krieg, Butler Studio Manager

Stephen King, Director of Vocal Instruction

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

Peter Pasztor, Principal Coach

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

Nicholas Roehler, Assistant Conductor

Madeline Slettedahl, Assistant Conductor

William Woodard, Assistant Conductor

Nadya Mercado, Butler Studio Intern

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

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

The Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation Endowment Fund

Marjorie and Thomas Capshaw Endowment Fund

James J. Drach Endowment Fund

The Evans and Portela Family Fund

Carol Lynn Lay Fletcher Endowment Fund

William Randolph Hearst Endowed Scholarship Fund

Christa Gaug, German Instructor

Enrica Vagliani Gray, Italian Instructor