The Making of the Snowy Day an Opera for All

Home , Ezra Jack Keats, The Passenger (opera)

The Making of The Snowy Day: An Opera for All Directed and Produced by Annalise Ophelian Music by Joel Thompson Libretto by Andrea Davis Pinkney Based on the Children’s Picture Book The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats Opera initially conceived in collaboration with Julia Bullock

Performed in English

7:30 P.M. CT |DECEMBER 10 Available on demand through January 9, 2021 The Making of The Snowy Day An Opera for All

© Ezra Jack Keats Foundation “Peter is a child of color, but he is really a child on an adventure. And that is why the book is so powerful.” —Librettist Andrea Davis Pinkney The Making of The Snowy Day An Opera for All

Background

Ezra Jack Keats wrote and illustrated The Snowy The HGO Digital documentary will introduce audi- Day—the story of a little boy named Peter who ences to the story behind the children’s book, ventures into the snow—in 1962. The book won the the brilliant minds turning the iconic book into a 1963 Caldecott Medal, and it broke a persistent color brand-new operatic work, and the incredible singers barrier: Peter was the first Black boy to be the main preparing to perform in the production. Viewers will character of a mainstream children’s book. get to peek behind the scenes, enjoy an intimate view of the creative process, and build anticipation ahead In 2016, acclaimed children’s author Andrea Davis of the opera’s exciting future world premiere. Pinkney wrote A Poem for Peter, an homage to Keats and the legacy of Peter. She would become the librettist of an opera based on The Snowy Day a few Fun Fact years later, when Deborah Pope, Executive Director of the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation auspiciously put The Snowy Day has a fan in former first lady Michelle her name forward in the early stages of the opera’s Obama, who told the New York Times it was one of creation. Star soprano Julia Bullock brought the idea her favorite books growing up. It is also the most of an opera on The Snowy Day to Patrick Summers, checked-out title in the history of the New York HGO’s Artistic and Music Director. He, too, knew the Public Library. book from his childhood, and the opera started to take form. Cast In the summer of 2017 at the Aspen Music Festival, Summers heard a few seconds of a new score and Peter Raven McMillon, immediately knew this unidentified composer would Brenda Harvey-Traylor Fellow † be the perfect fit for an opera on The Snowy Day. Joel Amy / Ensemble Elena Villalón, Thompson was that composer, and his unique and Dian and Harlan Stai Fellow † colorful musical voice has breathed new life into the Mama / Ensemble Karen Slack * story of Peter, beautifully adapted into poetic narrative Daddy / Tim / Ensemble Nicholas Newton, by Pinkney. Nancy Haywood/Kathy Moore and Steve Homer/Jill and Allyn Risley Fellow † HGO had planned to debut The Snowy Day in Papi / Jasper / Ensemble Andrés Acosta December 2020. While the live production has been Billy / Ensemble Cory McGee, delayed to a future season, this documentary-style Beth Madison Fellow *† appetizer to the main event will introduce audiences to Ensemble Ricardo Garcia, the making of this breathtaking new opera. Michelle Beale and Dick Anderson/ Dr. Ellen Gritz and Mickey Rosenau Fellow †

The Story * Houston Grand Opera debut † Houston Grand Opera Studio artist Both book and opera recount the adventures of Peter after he wakes up to the first snow of winter—the first winter when his parents have promised to let him play Special Guests in the snow by himself. After breakfast he sets off to explore, getting in a snowball fight and making friends Perryn Leech Managing Director, Houston Grand Opera, before sneaking a snowball home in his pocket. He Sarah and Ernest Butler Chair discovers it has melted and dreams that his new Kiana Caleb Production Underwriter friends and their snowy day all melt as well, until he Deborah Pope Executive Director, Ezra Jack Keats Foundation awakens to another layer of snow. The Making of The Snowy Day An Opera for All

Production Creative Team

Composer Joel Thompson * Librettist Andrea Davis Pinkney * Conductor Patrick Summers Director Omer Ben Seadia Scenic Designer Amy Rubin * Costume Designer Jessica Jahn Lighting Designer Michael James Clark Choreographer / Movement Director Courtney D. Jones Dramaturg Jeremy Johnson Musical Preparation Kevin Miller, Peter Pasztor ‡, Bin Yu Sanford, Stephanie Larsen and Lynn Des Prez/Valerie and Miguel Miro-Quesada Fellow † Assistant Director Katrina Bachus Stage Manager Annie Wheeler

* Houston Grand Opera debut † Houston Grand Opera Studio artist ‡ Former Houston Grand Opera Studio artist Documentary Credits

Annalise Ophelian Documentary Director and Producer Molly Dill Producing Director, Houston Grand Opera Daniel James Video Producer, Houston Grand Opera Kristen Burke Production Manager, Houston Grand Opera

The entire staff of HGO contributed to the success of this production. For a full listing of the company’s staff, please visit HGO.org/about-us/people.

Performing artists, stage directors, and choreographers are represented by the American Guild of Musical Artists, the union for opera professionals in the United States. The Making of The Snowy Day An Opera for All

EZRA JACK KEATS FOUNDATION (UNITED STATES)

The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation is dedicated to nurturing children’s love of reading and creative expression by supporting arts and literacy programs in public schools and libraries and by cultivating new writers and illustrators of exceptional picture books that reflect our diverse population. This year the foundation celebrates the EJK Bookmarking: student illustration (left) 35th anniversary of one of its core programs, the Ezra Jack Keats Award, with a EJK Award Medallion (right) yearlong series of events for educators and book enthusiasts across the country. Since 1986 the Ezra Jack Keats Award has nurtured the careers of children’s book authors and illustrators who have become stars in the field. These authors and illustrators create books that, in the spirit of Keats, reflect our diverse population and portray the universal experience of childhood and the strength of family. In addition to the EJK Award, the foundation’s programs include an annual Bookmaking Competition for New York City public school students in grades 3 through 12, and the EJK Mini-Grants awarded annually to public school teachers and librarians across the country. Ezra imagined a better future. The foundation’s work is helping to make it real.

EJK Mini-Grant Program

EZRA JACK KEATS (1916–1983) (UNITED STATES) AUTHOR, THE SNOWY DAY

Ezra Jack Keats wrote and illustrated over 20 picture books for children. He is most famous for having created the character of Peter in The Snowy Day, whose adventures continue in the many classic books that followed, including Whistle for Willie, Peter’s Chair, Pet Show, and A Letter to Amy. With Peter and his multicultural group of friends, Ezra changed children’s literature in this country by bringing greater diver- sity into mainstream children’s book publishing. His books are popular around the world and have been translated into many languages. Libraries, schools, and even a skating rink have been named in his honor. The Snowy Day is the most checked out book in the 125-year history of the New York Public Library. It is considered a book that has shaped America by the Library of Congress, and a book that has changed the world by an international BBC poll. Ezra directed that after his death the royalties from his books should be used by the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation to “do good in the world.” The EJK Foundation is happy to fulfill Ezra’s wishes. The Making of The Snowy Day An Opera for All

JOEL THOMPSON PATRICK SUMMERS (UNITED STATES) (UNITED STATES) COMPOSER Margaret Alkek Williams Chair CONDUCTOR Joel Thompson is an Atlanta-based composer, conductor, pianist, and educator, best known Patrick Summers was named artistic and music for the choral work, Seven Last Words of the director of HGO in 2011 after having served as Unarmed, which was premiered in November 2015 by the University the company’s music director since 1998. Some highlights of his work of Michigan Men’s Glee Club and Dr. Eugene Rogers and won the at HGO include conducting the company’s first-ever complete cycle 2018 American Prize for Choral Composition. His pieces have been of Wagner’s Ring and its first performances of the Verdi Requiem; performed by esteemed ensembles such as the Atlanta Symphony collaborating on the world premieres of Tarik O’Regan’s The Phoenix, Orchestra, Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Master Chorale, André Previn’s Brief Encounter, Christopher Theofanidis’s The Refuge, Los Angeles Master Chorale, EXIGENCE, and the San Francisco Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life, The End of the Affair, and Three Gay Men’s Chorus. Currently a doctoral student at the Yale School of Decembers, Carlisle Floyd’s Cold Sassy Tree and Prince of Players, Music, Thompson was also a 2017 post-graduate fellow in Arizona and Tod Machover’s Resurrection; leading the American premiere of State University’s Ensemble Lab/Projecting All Voices Initiative and Weinberg’s Holocaust opera The Passenger, both at HGO and on tour a composition fellow at the 2017 Aspen Music Festival and School, to the Lincoln Center Festival; and nurturing the careers of such artists where he studied with composers Stephen Hartke and Christopher as Christine Goerke, Ailyn Perez, Joyce DiDonato, Ana María Martínez, Theofanidis and won the 2017 Hermitage Prize. Thompson taught at Ryan McKinny, Tamara Wilson, Albina Shagimuratova, Anthony Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School in Atlanta from 2015 to 2017, and Roth Costanzo, Norman Reinhardt, Jamie Barton, and Dimitri Pittas. also served as Director of Choral Studies and Assistant Professor of Maestro Summers has enjoyed a long association with San Francisco Music at Andrew College from 2013 to 2015. Thompson has a B.A. in Opera (SFO) and was honored in 2015 with the San Francisco Opera Music and an M.M. in Choral Conducting, both from Emory University. Medal. His work with SFO includes conducting Jake Heggie’s Moby- Dick, which was recorded and telecast on PBS’s Great Performances. ANDREA DAVIS PINKNEY In 2017, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree by (UNITED STATES) Indiana University. He was recently named artistic director of the LIBRETTIST Aspen Music Festival’s opera program alongside Renée Fleming. During the 2019–20 season at HGO, he conducted Saul and Aida. Andrea Davis Pinkney is The New York Times Other recent engagements included Dead Man Walking at the Israeli bestselling and Coretta Scott King award-win- Opera. ning author of numerous books for children, including A Poem for Peter: The Story of Ezra Jack Keats and the OMER BEN SEADIA Creation of The Snowy Day. She is a four-time NAACP Image Award (ISRAEL) nominee, and recipient of both the Regina Medal and the Arbuthnot PRODUCTION STAGE DIRECTOR Honor Award, for her singular body of work and distinguished contri- bution to the field of children’s literature. Pinkney is among Children’s Omer Ben Seadia made her directorial debut Health Magazine’s “25 Most Influential People in Our Children’s Lives” at HGO with Tosca (2016) and worked as an and has been named to The Network Journal’s “25 Most Influential assistant director for The House Without a Black Women in Business.” She is included in the “50 Over 50 Christmas Tree (2018), The Abduction from the Seraglio (2017), Le Extraordinary Women” and “Women Who Light Up the Arts Scene” nozze di Figaro (2016), Faust (2016), and Madama Butterfly (2015). noted by Good Housekeeping and Woman’s Day magazines. She Recent productions include Ariadne auf Naxos at Cincinnati Opera; has been inducted into the New York Writers Hall of Fame, and is a Il barbiere di siviglia at Opera Colorado; Elektra at the Canadian contributor to The New York Times, The Huffington Post, and Essence Opera Company; Amahl and the Night Visitors with the Philadelphia magazine. Pinkney has served on the creative teams for several theat- Orchestra; Steal a Pencil for Me (world premiere) and Josephine & rical and audio productions based on works for young people, including After Life at Opera Colorado; Idomeneo at Wolf Trap Opera; Yardbird those drawn from her acclaimed books, Martin Rising: Requiem for a at Atlanta Opera; Tosca at Hawaii Opera Theater; Faust at Tulsa King, The Red Pencil, and Rhythm Ride: A Trip through the Motown Opera; La bohème, L’italiana in Algeri, and A Streetcar Named Desire Sound. Pinkney has served in leadership and executive roles at the Walt at Opera Santa Barbara; The Golden Spike (dramaturg and director) Disney Company, Houghton Mifflin Company, Essence magazine, the at Utah Opera; and Considering Matthew Shepard with Cincinnati CBS Magazines Group, and Simon & Schuster. She is currently Vice Opera. Upcoming engagements include The Merry Widow at Calgary President, Executive Editor at Scholastic. Opera, Tosca at Utah Opera, Thumbprint at Chautauqua Opera, The Making of The Snowy Day An Opera for All

Side Story and Norma (2018)—the latter of which had previously Rigoletto at Florentine Opera, and Le nozze di Figaro for Madison been seen at San Francisco Opera and Gran Teatre del Liceu in Opera. Ben Seadia is also a prolific acting coach and has worked with Barcelona. A selection of her past credits includes The Crucible for countless young artists programs such as the HGO Studio, the HGO Glimmerglass Festival; Gloria: A Life with Daryl Roth Theatre; Once Young Artist Vocal Academy (YAVA), Santa Fe Opera, the Ryan Opera on This Island with Paper Mill Playhouse; Norma with Canadian Center, the Merola Opera Program, the Aspen Music Festival and Opera Company and Lyric Opera of Chicago; Mary Stuart for School, the International Vocal Arts Institute, and Dandelion Opera Seattle Opera; Monodramas and Moses in Egypt for New York City Institute. Opera; Dead Man Walking for Washington National Opera; Anna Bolena for Lyric Opera of Chicago; The Manchurian Candidate at ANNALISE OPHELIAN Minnesota Opera; and Moby Dick for Utah Opera and Pittsburgh (UNITED STATES) Opera. Jahn is an adjunct costume design professor with Brandeis DOCUMENTARY DIRECTOR AND PRODUCER University’s Theatre Arts Department.

Annalise Ophelian is an award-winning MICHAEL JAMES CLARK documentary filmmaker, psychologist, (UNITED STATES) and consultant whose work focuses on LIGHTING DESIGNER decolonizing the documentary filmmaking process by centering participants as key collaborators in the storytelling process. Her Michael James Clark is the lighting supervisor films explore gender and racial justice and have received multiple for HGO. He designed lighting for HGO’s awards and international distribution, as well as funding from the production of Aida (2020) and La bohème Arcus Foundation, Horizons Foundation, Astraea Lesbian Foundation at Miller Outdoor Theatre, as well as the world premiere of The for Justice, and Transforming Justice/Tides Foundation. She is Phoenix (2019). He also lit the HGOco world premieres of Some known for films Diagnosing Difference (2009) and MAJOR! (2015), Light Emerges (2017), After the Storm (2016), and O Columbia and the SYFY docu-series Looking for Leia (2019). MAJOR! received (2015); Otello (2014); Die Fledermaus, Aida, and Il trovatore (2013); 20 awards for Best Documentary, including from Outfest LA, Wicked La bohème, La traviata, and The Rape of Lucretia (2012); The Queer Boston, InsideOut Toronto, and Queer Screen Sydney. Marriage of Figaro (2011); the world premiere of Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (2010); and numerous outdoor productions. Michael also AMY RUBIN has designed lighting for Teatro La Fenice, San Francisco Opera, (UNITED STATES) the Canadian Opera Company, Stages Repertory Theatre, Theatre SCENIC DESIGNER Under the Stars, and Rice University.

Amy Rubin is a designer of environments for COURTNEY D. JONES theater, opera, dance, and live events. Her (UNITED STATES) recent credits include Cyrano at Terris Theatre; CHOREOGRAPHER / MOVEMENT DIRECTOR Octet and Thom Pain (based on nothing) at Signature Theater Company; Gloria: A Life at Daryl Roth Theatre; Miles for Mary at Dancer, actor, educator, and choreographer Playwrights Horizons; Acquanetta at Bard College; Aging Magician at Courtney D. Jones previously collaborated San Diego Opera; Mahagonny/Medium and The Rape of Lucretia at with HGO as movement director for Madame Curtis Institute of Music; and All the Fine Boys at The Pershing Square Butterfly (2015) and The Passenger (2014) and as a dancer in Signature Center. Her designs have been featured at American Die Fledermaus (2013) and Showboat (2013) as a swing. She Repertory Theater, McCarter Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Walker Arts has performed in productions with Houston companies including Center, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, Z Space, The Stages Repertory Theatre, Theatre Under the Stars, and Hope Kimmel Center, and numerous TED Talks. Stone Dance. Her work has been commissioned by CounterCurrent Festival, METdance Company, YES! Dance Invitational, DanceNOW JESSICA JAHN Festival, Barnstorm Dance Fest, The Regional High School Dance (UNITED STATES) Festival, Colorado Mesa University, Arlington Heights High School, COSTUME DESIGNER and the Dance Gallery Festival. Jones has served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Houston and taught dance for Jessica Jahn’s costumes were last seen at Hope Stone Dance, MET Dance Company, SUCHU Dance, Rice HGO for last season’s La favorite (2020) and University Rice Dance Theatre, and Urban Souls Dance Company. Rigoletto (2019). She made her HGO debut She freelances as a guest teacher and choreographic artist through in Mary Stuart (2012), and she returned to HGO for both West her CDJ Dance Project at numerous universities, workshops, and The Making of The Snowy Day An Opera for All

initiatives including the Bates Dance Festival, Dancers Give Back Orchestra, and most recently, with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Dallas, Bowdoin College, Rice University, and the Joffrey Ballet in celebration of the 80th birthday of Yuri Temirkanov. She made School Summer Intensive. She is the full-time dance teacher at her Carnegie Hall debut as Agnes Sorel in Tchaikovsky’s Maid of Kinder HSPVA. Orleans and will return in spring 2021 with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for a digital performance of Beethoven’s Egmont. RAVEN MCMILLON Additional upcoming engagements for the 2020–21 season include (UNITED STATES) a digital presentation of Poulenc’s La voix humaine with Madison Brenda Harvey-Traylor Fellow and Austin Opera, presented at Austin Opera as part of their new SOPRANO—PETER Blue Starlite Drive-In Series; An Evening of Wagner and Strauss with Omaha Opera in partnership with Omaha Symphony; and the world For HGO Digital, first-year HGO Studio artist premiere of a work by Adolphus Hailstork at Spivey Hall in Atlanta. Raven McMillon also performed the role of Her performance of Verdi’s Requiem with Highlander Concert Series Rona Richards in The Impresario. In the spring she will play Gretel at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas has been postponed in the HGO Digital production Hansel and Gretel. McMillon received due to COVID-19. Slack is co-director of opera at the Banff Centre in her bachelor of fine arts in vocal performance at Carnegie Mellon Alberta, Canada and artistic advisor for Portland Opera. University and completed her graduate degree at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). Her opera credits NICHOLAS NEWTON include Adele in Die Fledermaus; the title role in Goldie B. Locks (UNITED STATES) and the Three Singing Bears; Linfea in La Calisto; and Barbarina in Nancy Haywood/Kathy Moore and Steve Le nozze di Figaro. McMillon also has workshopped new roles such Homer/Jill and Allyn Risley Fellow as Mary in Chiao’s The Secret Codes of Mary Bowser and Lucy BASS-BARITONE—DADDY/TIM/ENSEMBLE in Picker’s Awakenings. Her recent roles included La Princesse in L’enfant et les sortilèges with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Second-year HGO Studio artist Nicholas and Papagena in Die Zauberflöte at CCM in the summer of 2020, Newton also will appear in HGO Digital concert Giving Voice. which were canceled due to COVID-19. Previously with HGO, he played Monterone in Rigoletto and prepared Second Soldier in Salome (canceled). An alumnus of KAREN SLACK the HGO Young Artists Vocal Academy (2016), Newton was the (UNITED STATES) third prize winner in HGO’s 2019 Eleanor McCollum Competition SOPRANO—MAMA/ENSEMBLE Concert of Arias. His notable performances include the roles of Count Ceprano in Rigoletto and Capulet (cover) in Roméo et Hailed for possessing a voice of extraordi- Juliette with Wolf Trap Opera, Achilla in Julius Caesar at Rice nary beauty, a seamless legato, and great University, and L’arbre and Le fauteuil in L’enfant et les sortilèges dramatic depth, Karen Slack makes her debut at the Aspen Music Festival. Newton was a 2019 national semifi- with Houston Grand Opera with The Snowy Day. She has appeared nalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the with the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington first-place winner in the 2018 Virginia & Susan Hawk Competition. National Opera, and San Francisco Opera. In recent seasons she In summer 2019 he sang Monterone in Rigoletto with Opera has sung the roles of Alice Ford in Falstaff, Leonora in Il trovatore Theatre of Saint Louis. In summer 2020 he had been set to return and the title role of Tosca with Arizona Opera; the title role in Aida to Wolf Trap Opera as Colline in La bohème, but that production at Austin Opera; Emelda Griffith in Champion with New Orleans was canceled due to COVID-19. Opera; Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Nashville Opera; Violetta in La traviata with Sacramento Opera; and Sister Rose in Dead ELENA VILLALÓN Man Walking with both Minnesota Opera and Vancouver Opera. (UNITED STATES) Slack made her Scottish Opera debut as Anna in Puccini’s Le villi. Dian and Harlan Stai Fellow During the 2019–20 season, she returned to The Metropolitan SOPRANO—AMY/ENSEMBLE Opera as Serena in Porgy and Bess, performed a series of recitals throughout the U.S., and had a featured role as the Opera Diva in A second-year HGO Studio artist, Elena Villalón Tyler Perry’s movie and soundtrack, For Colored Girls. Equally at also performed the role of Farinelli’s Trainer in home on the concert stage, Slack has performed Beethoven’s 9th the HGO Digital production Vinkensport. In the spring, she will perform Symphony, Mahler’s 2nd Symphony, and the Verdi Requiem with the roles of Dew Fairy and Sandman in the HGO Digital production numerous orchestras throughout the U.S. She has appeared with the Hansel and Gretel. Last season, she performed the roles of Page in Melbourne Symphony, Sydney Symphony, the Bergen Philharmonic Rigoletto; Woman in selected performances of the world premiere The Making of The Snowy Day An Opera for All

of El Milagro del Recuerdo/The Miracle of Remembering; and Inez CORY MCGEE in La favorite. Villalón was the Audience Choice Award winner in (UNITED STATES) HGO’s 2019 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias and a Beth Madison Fellow Grand Finals winner of the 2019 Metropolitan Opera National Council BASS—BILLY/ENSEMBLE Auditions. She is a recent graduate of the University of Cincinnati College - Conservatory of Music (CCM), has been a vocal fellow at the First-year HGO Studio artist Cory McGee also Tanglewood Music Center, and is an alumna of HGO’s 2018 Young will appear in the HGO Digital concert Giving Artist Vocal Academy. In summer 2019, she performed the role of Voice. The second prize winner in HGO’s 2020 Eleanor McCollum Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis Competition Concert of Arias, McGee recently completed his master as a Gerdine Young Artist and returned to the Tanglewood Music of music degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. In Center as a soprano fellow. In the summer of 2020, she was set to summer 2019 he joined Santa Fe Opera as an apprentice artist, make her Santa Fe Opera debut as First Wood Sprite in Rusalka, but portraying the role of the Gardener in Ruder’s The Thirteenth Child. this was canceled due to COVID-19. In 2018 he was a studio artist with Wolf Trap Opera, where he played La Voce in Mozart’s Idomeneo and Ranger Nat in David Hanlon’s ANDRÉS ACOSTA children’s opera, Listen, Wilhelmina!, and was a soloist in “Bernstein at (UNITED STATES) 100 – A Celebration.” Recent engagements include the title role in Le TENOR—PAPÍ/JASPER/ENSEMBLE nozze di Figaro and Pandolfe in Massenet’s Cendrillon (Oberlin Opera Theater) and Leporello in Don Giovanni (Oberlin in Italy). Praised for his sweet lyric voice, Cuban American tenor Andrés Acosta continues to RICARDO GARCIA stand out through his strong vocal presence (UNITED STATES) and magnetic acting. Acosta made his HGO debut as Father Matias Michelle Beale and Dick Anderson/Dr. in the alternate cast of El Milagro del Recuerdo in the 2019–20 Ellen Gritz and Mickey Rosenau Fellow season. In the 2020–21 season, Acosta workshops the role of the TENOR—ENSEMBLE Pigeon Keeper in Santa Fe Opera’s commission of The Pigeon Keeper by David Hanlon and Stephanie Fleischmann, makes his A first-year HGO Studio artist, Ricardo Garcia role debut as Prince Charmant in Cendrillon with Florentine Opera, performed the role of Hans Sach’s Trainer in HGO Digital production and reprises the role of Timothy Laughlin in Fellow Travelers in his Vinkensport this fall, and will appear in Suite Española next spring. debut with Florida Grand Opera. Also in 2020–21, Acosta had been Garcia recently completed his master’s degree in voice at the San set to make his international debut as Tony in Francesca Zambello’s Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) and holds a bachelor’s production of West Side Story, but that has been postponed due to degree from the University of the Pacific. He was a studio artist at COVID-19. During the 2019–20 season, Acosta made his Ravinia Wolf Trap Opera, where he covered Roméo in Roméo et Juliette and Festival debut in Bernstein’s Mass, his Atlanta Opera debut as Giocondo in La pietra del paragone, and a voice fellow with Music Alejandro in Frida, reprised the role of Arcadio in Florencia en el Academy of the West, where he sang Jenik in The Bartered Bride. Amazonas in his house debut with Pittsburgh Opera, and reprised Recent roles include Lamplighter/Drunkard in The Little Prince and the role of Timothy Laughlin in Fellow Travelers in his house debut Fenton in Falstaff. As a first-year apprentice at Santa Fe Opera, he with Madison Opera. Acosta’s 2018–19 season included his highly covered Parpignol in La bohème and sang Fenton/Normanno in the acclaimed portrayal of Timothy Laughlin in Minnesota Opera’s Apprentice Scenes Night. Recently, Garcia won the San Francisco production of Fellow Travelers by Greg Spears, and he reprised District of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the role of Arcadio in Florencia en el Amazonas with Pensacola advanced to the region finals in Los Angeles. Opera. Acosta is a recipient of Opera America’s 2018 Career Blueprints grant and a Gerda Lissner and Sullivan Foundation Award semifinalist. He received an Encouragement Award as a Central Region finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2017 and won awards in the Dorothy Lincoln- Smith Competition and the National Society of Arts and Letters Competition. He was awarded the Judy George Junior Young Artist First Prize Award in the 2015 Young Patronesses of the Arts competition and is recognized as a Braulecht Estate Endowed and Music Guild Scholar. He also competed as a semifinalist in HGO’s Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias in 2019. The Making of The Snowy Day An Opera for All

Houston Grand Opera is appreciative to the contributors of The Snowy Day for their support:

Sara and Bill Morgan

THE ANDREW W. Robin Angly and Miles Smith MELLON Rini and Edward Ziegler FOUNDATION

Kiana Caleb Rachel and Warren Ellsworth The Powell Foundation

Glen Rosenbaum Jessica and John Colen Sara and Gabriel Loperena Dina Alsowayel and Tony Chase

Stephanie Clay Lauren and Taryn Gore Cynthia and Tony Petrello

Streaming Partner

Video Production