OPERAVolume 55 Number 01 | Summer 2014 CUES 2014–15 SEASON PREVIEW ISSUE TV and Internet together like never before. The X1 Entertainment Operating System® brings the best of TV and Internet together for the simplest, fastest and most complete way to access all your entertainment on all your screens. Call 1-800-XFINITY today. Call or go to comcast.com/servicecenters to visit your local XFINITY Store. COMPANY NEWS SEASON PREVIEW ISSUE 2014–15 PATRICK SUMMERS PERRYN LEECH ARTISTIC & MUSIC DIRECTOR Managing Director MARGARET ALKEK WILLIAMS CHAIR ADVERTISE IN OPERA CUES Opera Cues is published by Houston Grand Opera 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 Mena Mark Hanna Perryn Leech Michelle Mariano Patrick Summers 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 Readers of Houston Grand Opera’s Mobile: HGO.org Opera Cues magazine are the most desirable prospects for an advertiser’s message. LOYAL: 51 percent of readers have been reading Opera Cues for more than three years. DEDICATED: 42 percent of readers read the magazine from cover to cover. EDUCATED: More than 90 percent are college-educated, and 57 percent hold graduate degrees. SOCIAL: 44 percent patronize downtown restaurants when they go to a performance at Houston Grand Opera. For more information on advertising in Opera Cues, call Matt Ross at 713-956-0908. 2 | Opera Cues Summer 2014 www.HGO.org SM IAH © 2014 United Airlines, Inc. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. Inc. Airlines, © 2014 United Proud to be the Official Airline of Houston Grand Opera. Job Number 4UA022 Headline IAH-friendly Publication HGO 2014 English Event Language 8.375 x 10.875 Vertical/Portrait [email protected] Client United Trim Horizontal/Landscape Art Director DC Bleed 8.625 x 11.125 16858 Royal Crest CMYK RGB B&W SPOT (PMS) Houston Texas 77058 Copywriter UA Safety/Live 7.875 x 10.275 281-480-3660 Traffic BG Ad Style SMILE Full page bleed 1/23/2014 CONTENTS FEATURES DEPARTMENTS 20 SAY HELLO 6 A Message from Six young artists join the Patrick Summers and HGO Studio. Perryn Leech 26 HGO AT SIXTY 14 Production Funders As HGO reaches a new milestone, we take a 16 News & Notes nostalgic look back—and cast an optimistic eye on 62 HGO Studio the future. 64 HGOco 35 YOUR GUIDE TO THE 2014–15 season 66 Impresarios Circle Find out what the season has in store. 73 Spotlight: David Powell 50 INTRO TO 74 Special Events at HGO A CHRISTMAS CAROL HGO Assistant Artistic 81 HGO Donors Director Mena Mark Hanna speaks to 91 Calendar librettist/director Your HGO Simon Callow. 94 52 UNSUNG HEROES 96 Out of Character: Meet three members Simon O’neill of the same family who form the core of HGO’s On the cover, clockwise from Costume Department. upper left: Ramón Vargas; Joan Sutherland; Plácido Domingo; 56 ONLY THE BEST Samuel Ramey; Joyce DiDonato; The world’s fi nest Renée Fleming; Marcello Giordani. operatic talents perform Designed by Pattima Singhalaka. in Houston, thanks to This page: a scene from Florencia HGO donors. en el Amazonas, 1996. Photo by Ken Howard. A Message from the Artistic & Music Director and the Managing Director It is almost impossible to believe that a decade has passed since our Golden Jubilee and that we are now marking our sixtieth anniversary. With this special preview issue of Opera Cues, we invite you to join in on all we have to offer this season—and we give you some inside information that will help you get the most from your opera experience. First, we hope you’ll save the date for our gala anniversary concert March 19, 2015, featuring star mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, an alumna of our distinguished young artist training program, the HGO Studio. We have so much to celebrate, and much more to look forward to, as you’ll see in “Voicing Hope: HGO at Sixty” in this issue. Patrick Summers This sixtieth anniversary season is striking for its abundance of strong characters and the opportunities they provide for singers to flex their acting muscles, some in works that haven’t been seen at HGO for many years. This season, we offer our first staging of Verdi’s Otello in more than two decades and our first Sweeney Todd since 1984, when HGO became the first opera company to stage it. The revelatory La Fura dels Baus production of Wagner’s Ring continues with Die Walküre—the only Ring opera we’ve presented before, staged only once, in 1960! We are also thrilled to present a brand new work this season—the world premiere of Iain Bell and Simon Callow’s A Christmas Carol, the beginning of our new series of holiday-themed operas. The 2014–15 repertoire is rounded out by Puccini’s Madame Butterfly and Mozart’s Così fan tutte and The Magic Flute. Find out more about each of the operas and the superlative singing actors, conductors, directors, and designers who will bring them to life in our “Guide to the 2014–15 Perryn Leech Season” beginning on p. 35. By the time you read this, all the HGO Studio artists will be hard at work on Studio Showcase, their annual scenes program, to be held September 16 (for more info, see our calendar, p. 91). It’s a wonderful way to preview some of this season’s repertoire, including selections from Così fan tutte and Sweeney Todd, and sample unfamiliar operas. It’s free to season ticket holders, and we hope you won’t miss it. We look forward to seeing you at the Wortham in October. Patrick Summers Perryn Leech Artistic and Music Director Managing Director Margaret Alkek Williams Chair 6 | Opera Cues Summer 2014 www.HGO.org Patrimony Contemporaine Small Model Self-winding mechanical movement Calibre 2450 Q6 m hehourlounge.co t w. vacheron-constantin.com - ww w. ww 7 OperaCues_VC12907_PatContempSmallModel.indd 1 8/1/14 1:04 PM Board of Directors 2014–15 John Mendelsohn Mrs. Robert J. Bruni Ellen R. Gritz Cynthia Petrello Chair, HGOco Committee Chairman of the Board Chair, Special Events Committee Robert C. Hunter Gloria M. Portela Lynn Wyatt Martha Carnes Janet Langford Kelly Vice Chairman of the Board Albert Chao Chairman, Houston Grand Opera David Powell Endowment, Inc. Beth Madison Neil Chapman Mark R. Spradling Senior Chairman of the Board Chair, Finance Committee Doug Lawler General Counsel and Secretary; Vice Chair, Audit Committee Glen A. Rosenbaum Donna Josey Chapman Alfred W. Lasher III Chairman Emeritus Harlan C. Stai Mrs. Bobbie-Vee Cooney Perryn Leech Richard Agee Patrick Summers Albert O. Cornelison Jr. Frances Marzio Robin Angly Vice Chair, Studio and Training John G. Turner Franci Crane John S. Arnoldy Committee Chair, Studio and Training James W. Crownover Committee Chair, Governance Committee Brucie Moore Dan Domeracki Margaret Alkek Williams Marcia Backus Sara Morgan David Duthu Philip Bahr Terrylin G. Neale Shahzad Bashir Larry Faulkner Senior Chairman, Houston Grand HONORARY DIRECTORS Chair, Development Committee Opera Endowment, Inc. Astley Blair Samuel Ramey Chair, Audit Committee Steve Fulgham Ward Pennebaker Frederica von Stade Chair, Marketing & Pat Breen Morris Gelb Communications Committee Houston Grand Opera Association Chairs 1955 – 58 1977 – 79 1997 – 99 Louis G. Lobit Searcy Bracewell Dennis R. Carlyle, M.D. Susan H. Carlyle, M.D. 1958 – 60 1979 – 81 Stanley W. Shipnes Robert Cizik 1999 – 2001 Archie W. Dunham 1960 – 62 1981 – 83 William W. Bland Terrylin G. Neale 2001 – 03 Harry C. Pinson 1962 – 64 1983 – 84 Thomas D. Anderson Barry Munitz 2003 – 04 James T. Hackett 1964 – 66 1984 – 85 Marshall F. Wells Jenard M. Gross 2004 – 07 John S. Arnoldy 1966 – 68 1985 – 87 John H. Heinzerling Dr. Thomas D. Barrow 2007 – 09 Robert L. Cavnar 1968 – 70 1987 – 89 Lloyd P. Fadrique John M. Seidl 2009 Gloria M. Portela 1970 – 71 1989 – 91 Ben F. Love James L. Ketelsen 2009 – 2011 Glen A. Rosenbaum 1971 – 73 1991 – 93 Joe H. Foy Constantine S. Nicandros 2011 – 2013 Beth Madison 1973 – 74 1993 – 95 Gray C. Wakefield J. Landis Martin 2013 – present John Mendelsohn 1974 – 75 1995 – 97 Charles T. Bauer Robert C. McNair 1975 – 77 Maurice J. Aresty 8 | Opera Cues Summer 2014 www.HGO.org Trustees Samuel Abraham Mary D’Andrea Richard Husseini Girija Patel Sharon M. Adams Mary Davenport Joan B. Johnson Marion Roose Pullin ‡ Mrs. Anthony G. Aiuvalasit ‡ Danny David Marianne Kah T. Ray Purser Thomas Ajamie Joshua Davidson Stephen M. Kaufman Gary Reese Edward H. Andrews III Darrin Davis John Keville Todd Reppert Denise Bush Bahr Sasha Davis Carolyn Landen Jill Risley C. Mark Baker June Deadrick Michele LaNoue Jean B. Rowley ‡ Dr. Saúl Balagura Gislar R. Donnenberg Jerry Lasco Thomas Rushing Dr. Barbara Lee Bass Timothy Donovan The Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee Jill A. Schaar Michelle Beale David Dorenfeld Marcheta Leighton-Beasley Andrew C. Schirrmeister III Martin D. Beirne Connie Dyer Mike Lemanski Nan Schissler ‡ Katherine Berry Brad Eastman David LePori Shamay Scimèca Linda Bertman Mark Evans Jose Alberto Lima Helen Shaffer Dr. Joan Hacken Bitar Richard E. Evans Lisa Long Jennifer Sickler Dr. Michael Bloome Dr. Mauro Ferrari Heide Loos Denmon Sigler Nana Booker Carol Sue Finkelstein ‡ Gabriel Loperena Hinda Simon Margaret Anne Boulware Richard Flowers Dr. Jo Wilkinson Lyday Janet Sims Ron W.