SPRING 2017 CUES Diversify Your Assets: Invest in the Arts
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
OPERAVOLUME 57 NUMBER 05 | SPRING 2017 CUES Diversify your Assets: Invest in the Arts. We applaud the artists and patrons who invest in our community. SAN ANTONIO | AUSTIN | HOUSTON | DALLAS | CORPUS CHRISTI 1.866.805.1385 | STMMLTD.COM painting: “Opera” by Alex Kenevsky, c. 2005 HoustonOpera2016.indd 1 7/25/16 12:19 PM > GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG APR. MAY 22 | 25 | 29 4 | 7m THE ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO APR. MAY 28 | 30m 6 | 10 | 12 a; í PATRICK SUMMERS PERRYN LEECH Artistic & Music Director Managing Director Margaret Alkek Williams Chair Photos by Eva Ripoll, Palau de les Arts Renia Sof Brandon A. DuHamel. LAUREATE Opera Cues is published by Houston Grand Opera SOCIETY Association; all rights reserved. Opera Cues is produced by Houston Grand Opera’s Communications Department, Judith Kurnick, director. Director of Publications Laura Chandler Art Direction / Production Pattima Singhalaka Contributors M. Owen Lee Perryn Leech Jim Townsend Larry Wolff For information on all Houston Grand Opera productions and events, or for a complimentary season brochure, please call the Customer Care Center at 713-228-OPERA (6737). Houston Grand Opera is a member of OPERA America, Inc., and the Theater District Association, Inc. FIND HGO ONLINE: HGO.org facebook.com / houstongrandopera twitter.com / hougrandopera instagram.com/hougrandopera For information about advertising in Opera Cues, YOUR LEGACY COUNTS! contact Matt Ross at [email protected]. Who will enjoy world-class opera because of your generosity? By including HGO in your will or as a beneficiary of your retirement plan or insurance policy, you become a partner with HGO in perpetuating the art form we love, sustaining its vibrant good health for future generations. As a member of the Laureate Society, your legacy gift helps ensure opera forever in Houston. For more information, please contact Richard Buffett at 713-546-0216 or [email protected]. HGO.org/LaureateSociety 2 > SPRING 2017 A selection of diamond, amethyst, citrine and aquamarine jewelry, featuring Bulgari, Cartier and David Webb P J H G O 4310 Westheimer Rd www.T ENENBAUMJEWELERS.com 713.629.7444 CONTENTS THE PROGRAM FEATURES DEPARTMENTS 36 WAGNER: 24 IT’S A WRAP! 6 Welcome GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG As we wrap up HGO’s first-ever Ring cycle, 16 News & Notes 41 WHO’S WHO: we thank those who GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG made it possible. 60 HGOco 48 MOZART: THE 28 WE ARE THE RING 62 HGO Studio ABDUCTION FROM Wagner’s epic on THE SERAGLIO gods, dwarves, and 64 Spotlight WHO’S WHO: THE dragons is really all 53 about us. 66 Special Events ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO 32 FOR OUR OWN TIMES 71 Impresarios Circle Mozart’s The Abduction from the 75 HGO Donors Seraglio speaks to us Cover photo for Götterdämmerung by 86 Calendar Eva Ripoll, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofìa. through the centuries. Cover design for The Abduction from 56 UNSUNG HEROES: 88 Your HGO the Seraglio by Pattima Singhalaka. Chorister Tony This page: photo from The Abduction Martinez is living from the Seraglio (2008) by Andrew Cloud. his dream. from the ARTISTIC & MUSIC DIRECTOR A MESSAGE and the MANAGING DIRECTOR Welcome to the Wortham Theater Center. It hardly seems possible that we are concluding our first-ever presentation of Richard Wagner’s four-opera masterwork, Der Ring des Nibelungen, which began in April 2014. We have been enjoying the journey and will be sorry to see it end. But what an end! Whatever you loved most about the three previous installments, there’s more of it in Götterdämmerung, we promise. People travel all over the world to see the Ring (maybe you’re one of them—we’ve had visitors from 17 countries as well as 45 states) but there simply are no finer singers than those we have enjoyed in Houston. We’re delighted to welcome a cast of distinguished Wagnerians headed by soprano Christine Goerke and tenor Simon O’Neill, as well as director Carlus Padrissa and the other Patrick Summers creative forces behind the production from the Catalan theater group La Fura dels Baus. We end our mainstage season with an opera that could not be a greater contrast: Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio. This opera has a special place in our hearts, as it is one of three works—the others were Aida and Nixon in China—chosen to inaugurate the Wortham Theater Center in 1987. Composed when Mozart was falling in love with the woman he would marry, Abduction perfectly blends romance and comedy with emotional depth in the way only Mozart could combine them. In a stroke of genius, director James Robinson sets the action on the 1920s Orient Express: with the luxury railroad’s endpoints being Istanbul and Paris at that time, what better symbol could there be of East meeting West? While Abduction can potentially lend itself to dated stereotypes, this production finds the heart of the opera—expansive, generous, and, above all, human. We welcome Perryn Leech back conductor Thomas Rösner and a marvelous ensemble cast featuring HGO Studio alumna Albina Shagimuratova and tenor Lawrence Brownlee. In a bit of luxury casting, Christopher Purves—our Alberich from Götterdämmerung—takes on the pivotal but all-spoken role of Pasha Selim. With the final notes of Abduction, HGO’s mainstage 2016–17 season ends, but we hope you’ll join us for outdoor performances of The Elixir of Love at Miller Outdoor Theatre (May 19 and 20) and The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion at The Woodlands (May 26). There is no better finale to the season. Please enjoy the performance. Sincerely, Patrick Summers Perryn Leech Artistic and Music Director Managing Director Margaret Alkek Williams Chair 6 > SPRING 2017 KEEPING ELITE PERFORMERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT. THAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRACTICING MEDICINE AND LEADING IT. At Houston Methodist, we’re proud partners in helping artists achieve peak performance, week in and week out. We have decades of experience supporting the total health needs of performers from around the world — which is why the best artists rely on us not just to get them healthy, but to keep them that way. We then use this experience to treat every patient with the same elite level of specialized care. For a physician referral or appointment, visit houstonmethodist.org or call 713.730.3333. BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2016 | 17 James W. Crownover Janet Langford Carrig Robert C. Hunter * Allyn Risley Development Committee Chairman of the Board Houston Grand Opera Endowment, Richard Husseini Inc., Chairman Vice Chair Lynn Wyatt Alfred W. Lasher III Vice Chairman of the Board Zane Carruth Glen A. Rosenbaum Perryn Leech John Mendelsohn, M.D. Anna Catalano Jack A. Roth, M.D. Claire Liu Senior Chairman of the Board Marketing and Communications Manolo Sánchez Committee Chair Finance Committee Vice Chair Beth Madison Mark R. Spradling Richard A. Lydecker Jr. Chairman Emeritus Albert Chao General Counsel and Secretary; Finance Committee Chair MEMBERS AT LARGE Donna P. Josey Chapman Audit Committee Vice Chair Special Events Committee Frances Marzio Judy Agee Harlan C. Stai Vice Chair Studio and Training Committee HGOco Committee Chair Chair Patrick Summers N. A. (Neil) Chapman Richard E. Agee Brucie Moore Ignacio Torras Mrs. Bobbie-Vee Cooney Robin Angly Sara Morgan John G. Turner Development Committee Albert O. Cornelison Jr. * Terrylin G. Neale Alfredo Vilas Vice Chair Dan Domeracki * Houston Grand Opera Endowment Margaret Alkek Williams John S. Arnoldy David B. Duthu Inc., Senior Chairman Philip A. Bahr Governance Committee Chair Frederica von Stade Franci Neely * Honorary Director Michelle Beale Frederic Dyen Ward Pennebaker Development Committee Chair Samuel Ramey Larry Faulkner Cynthia Petrello Honorary Director Astley Blair Benjamin Fink Audit Committee Chair Gloria M. Portela * Senior Director Dr. Ellen R. Gritz Pat Breen Studio and Training Committee Vice Chair Houston Grand Opera ASSOCIATION CHAIRS 1955–58 1973–74 1987–89 2004–07 Elva Lobit Gray C. Wakefield John M. Seidl John S. Arnoldy 1958–60 1974–75 1989–91 2007–09 Stanley W. Shipnes Charles T. Bauer James L. Ketelsen Robert L. Cavnar 1960–62 1975–77 1991–93 2009 William W. Bland Maurice J. Aresty Constantine S. Nicandros Gloria M. Portela 1962–64 1977–79 1993–95 2009–11 Thomas D. Anderson Searcy Bracewell J. Landis Martin Glen A. Rosenbaum 1964–66 1979–81 1995–97 2011–13 Marshall F. Wells Robert Cizik Robert C. McNair Beth Madison 1966–68 1981–83 1997–99 2013–16 John H. Heinzerling Terrylin G. Neale Dennis R. Carlyle, M.D. John Mendelsohn, M.D. Susan H. Carlyle, M.D. 1968–70 1983–84 2016–present Lloyd P. Fadrique Barry Munitz 1999–2001 James W. Crownover Archie W. Dunham 1970–71 1984–85 Ben F. Love Jenard M. Gross 2001–03 Harry C. Pinson 1971–73 1985–87 Joe H. Foy Dr. Thomas D. Barrow 2003–04 James T. Hackett 8 > SPRING 2017 TRUSTEES Samuel Abraham Christa M. Cooper David Hindman Marion Roose Pullin ‡ Gary Adams Sarah Cooper Todd Hoffman Dr. Angela Rechichi-Apollo Josh Adler Efraín Z. Corzo Dr. Gary Hollingsworth Gary Reese Mrs. Anthony G. Aiuvalasit ‡ Catherine Crath Eileen Hricik ‡ Todd Reppert Thomas Ajamie Mary Davenport Lee M. Huber Jill Risley Edward H. Andrews III Joshua Davidson Joan B. Johnson David Rowan Christos Angelides Darrin Davis Carey Jordan Jean B. Rowley ‡ Hon. Mary E. Bacon Sasha Davis Marianne Kah Thomas Rushing Denise Bush Bahr June Deadrick Stephen M. Kaufman Nan Schissler ‡ C. Mark Baker Tracy Dieterich John Keville Sue S. Schwartz Saúl Balagura, M.D. Gislar R. Donnenberg Yolanda Knull Helen Shaffer Jonathan Baliff David Dorenfeld Connie Kwan-Wong Hinda Simon Dr. Barbara Lee Bass Connie Dyer Michele LaNoue Janet Sims Martin D. Beirne Brad Eastman The Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee Kristina Hornberger Somerville Judith A.