Houston Grand Opera (HGO) Houston Grand Opera (HGO) was founded in 1955 through the joint efforts of Maestro Walter Herbert and cultural leaders Mrs. Louis G. Lobit, Edward Bing and Charles Cockrell.[1] From its modest beginnings – HGO's inaugural season featured a mere two performances of two operas, Salome and Madame Butterfly HGO has grown into a company of international stature that presents six to eight productions per season.
HGO's mission is to contribute to the cultural enrichment of Houston and the nation by producing and performing world-class opera, and by creating a diverse, innovative, and balanced program of performances, events, and community and education projects that reach the widest possible public. Its core values are excellence, relevance and affordability.[2] With an operating budget of $20 million in fiscal year 2011 (the 2010/11 season), HGO is a true cultural service provider to the greater Houston area and the Gulf Coast region, serving over 5 million people annually. One of the country's principal commissioners and producers of new works, HGO has introduced 43 world premieres and six American premieres since 1973. HGO has received a Tony Award, two Grammy Awards, and two Emmy Awards—the only opera company in the world to have won all three honors.[3][4]
The HGO Association has 166 members: a 34-member Board of Directors, chaired by Beth Madison, as of August 1, 2011, one honorary director, and 131 Trustees. The Board of Directors meets four times, and the Trustees meet three times each year. The opera employs over 1,000 people annually, 120 of whom are full-time staff. On May 25, 2011, the Board of Directors appointed Patrick Summers as Artistic and Music Director, occupying the Margaret Alkek Williams Chair. At the same time, Perryn Leech was named Managing Director. They succeed Anthony Freud, OBE, the company's General Director from 2005–2011, who resigned at the end of the 2010–11 season to assume leadership of Lyric Opera of Chicago. [5]
The permanent artistic foundation of HGO rests on three pillars: the HGO Orchestra, HGO Chorus and HGO Studio. During Patrick Summers’ thirteen years with the company, the HGO Orchestra has reached a new level of virtuosity, adding many great masterworks to its repertoire. The HGO Chorus, which was created at the same time as HGO itself in 1955, has become one of the world's most acclaimed opera choruses under the direction of Chorus Master Richard Bado.[6]
HGO's 2011–2012 season consists of 31 performances of six mainstage productions: The Barber of Seville, Fidelio, La traviata, The Rape of Lucretia, Don Carlos and Mary Stuart.[7]
Thomas Allen, Stig Andersen, José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Bruce Ford, Donald Gramm, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Marcello Giordani, Franz Grundheber, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Sergei Leiferkus, Sherrill Milnes, Leo Nucci, Luciano Pavarotti, Samuel Ramey, Bo Skovhus, Thomas Stewart, Norman Treigle, Richard Tucker, Ramón Vargas, Jon Vickers, Gosta Winbergh.
Josephine Barstow, Cecilia Bartoli, Renate Behle, Hildegard Behrens, Denyce Graves, Ghena Dimitrova, Mirella Freni, Renée Fleming, Elizabeth Futral, Susan Graham, Maria Guleghina, Galina Gorchakova, Rita Gorr, Marilyn Horne, Kiri Te Kanawa, Evelyn Lear, Catherine Malfitano, Eva Marton Susanne Mentzer, Leontyne Price, Patricia Racette, Regina Resnik, Leonie Rysanek, Beverly Sills, Elisabeth Soederstrom, Renata Scotto, Frederica von Stade, Joan Sutherland, Ilona Tokody, Béatrice Uria-Monzon, Carol Vaness, Dunja Vejzovic, Ingvar Wixell and Dolora Zajick.
One of HGO's most visible and valued projects is its young artist development program, the Houston Grand Opera Studio. Founded in 1977 by composer Carlisle Floyd and HGO's then-General Director David Gockley, the mission of Houston Grand Opera Studio is to provide career development for young artists who have demonstrated potential to make major contributions to the opera/musical theater profession. The Studio's goal is to develop well-rounded professionals prepared for all performance aspects in the fields of opera and music theater and in all genres: traditional European operas, contemporary opera and works of musical theater by American composers from diverse cultural backgrounds, innovative interpretations of the standard repertoire, recitals, concerts with orchestra, and fully staged productions.[8]
Houston Grand Opera's mainstage programming and annual Studio performances provide members with the widest range of performance opportunities and styles. The Houston Grand Opera Studio provides the necessary time, training and experience to aid each member's artistic development from promising student to practicing professional.[9]
Each season Houston Grand Opera Studio provides eight to twelve young artists with the opportunity to study and perform under a highly respected professional staff of teachers and performers. Studio artists commit themselves to an intense individualized study program while in residence in Houston from September through May. Classes in voice, acting, stage movement, diction and languages are scheduled regularly. Extensive individual coachings are part of the daily work and career counseling sessions are provided throughout the year. Special classes focusing on topics such as fight choreography, audition techniques, taxes and personal finance, Alexander technique, performer's stress management, public relations, and agent representation are conducted by experts in their field. Adjunct instructors include master coaches and conductors.[10]
The Studio requires its artists to commit to the standards and demands of the profession. Because the training process is progressive and each member's artistic development is unique, the Studio program allows artists to continue their training over a two to three year period with opportunities for advanced study abroad. The mainstage performance exposure enables Studio artists to be reviewed individually by local, national and international press.[11]
Based upon their level of ability, the artists are assigned supporting roles in HGO's mainstage productions. Additional performance experience includes principal roles in student matinees, study cover assignments of major roles and paid public engagements for community outreach. These assignments provide the opportunity to learn major roles, expand repertoire and demonstrate individual abilities. Other opportunities include Studio-produced recitals, concerts, and occasionally, full scale productions.
The Studio recognizes performance experience with newer forms of music theater and in innovative stagings of standard repertoire as an essential training element in developing well-rounded professionals. Given HGO's commitment to commissioning and producing new works and the success of its Opera New World program, Studio artists are provided opportunities to create new roles and premiere new pieces.[12]
Studio artists interact with professional singers, conductors, stage directors, designers and technicians of national and international acclaim and follow a standard rehearsal and production schedule for a major opera company. Houston Grand Opera arranges auditions for Studio artists throughout the year with artist management, visiting general directors of other opera companies, and guest conductors and stage directors.
To re-establish the company's relevance to the community, in 2007 HGO established HGOco, a far-reaching initiative established to break down barriers to the arts by creating opportunities for observation, participation, and creation. The "co" in HGOco represents a focus on company, community, connection, and collaboration. Maximizing the resources of the entire company (staff, chorus, orchestra, designers, technicians, guest artists, etc.) and collaborating with kindred organizations, HGOco seeks to change the way people involve art in their lives. These efforts include all of HGO's education and community-engaging activities. In its first three years, HGOco has reached more than 600,000 people and collaborated with over 70 organizations throughout the Houston area. Among HGOco's programs are a wide range of performances outside the Wortham—361 in the 2009–2010 season.[13]
Houston's colorful past, present and future set the stage for HGOco's Song of Houston – an ongoing initiative that commissions works based on stories that define the unique character of our city.
Song of Houston makes opera relevant through stories that engage hearts and minds. These stories are told through local, national and international collaborative community and educational projects.[14]
Each Teacher Workshop is an hour-long presentation and discussion on an HGO dress rehearsal, encouraging teachers to incorporate opera and the arts into their curriculum.[15]
In this 30-minute program, a singing artist presents an opera-based storybook to children grades Pre-K through 2. Presentations are available in English, Spanish or in a special Bilingual version. Standard repertoire includes Westward Ho, Carlotta by Candace Fleming, Opera Cat (or the Spanish version: Alma, la Gata de la Ópera) by Tess Weaver, The Dog Who Sang at the Opera by Jim West & Marshell Izen and El Gallo Bantam de la Ópera by Mary Jane Auch.[16]
Opera to Go! presents fully staged, portable operas at schools and public venues around Houston, reaching over 50,000 students each year. The 45-minute-long shows are mostly in English and are designed specifically for elementary or high school audiences. Standard repertoire includes: Hänsel und Gretel, Cinderella in Spain, Strega Nona, The Princess and the Pea, The Velveteen Rabbit and Romeo and Juliet.[17]
Students in grades 4 – 8 are invited to experience the magic of opera at the Wortham Theater Center in a Student Matinee, a two-hour version of a selected main-stage opera.
At High School Night, High School students have the opportunity to enjoy a full-length weeknight performance of a selected main-stage opera.
The year-long scholarship program prepares eight high school seniors for their transition into a university or conservatory music program. After being selected from auditions held in their junior year, members train throughout their senior year in private weekly voice lessons, monthly master classes and vocal coachings. They present two recitals, the final recital being adjudicated with scholarships awarded to the top three finalists. All members meeting performance standards receive stipends to assist with college expenses.[18]
Through three different camps, HGOco hosts over 100 students in grades 3 – 12 at the Wortham Theater Center.
The Opera Experience – Campers develop a better understanding of healthy singing and improve music reading/theory skills by performing Broadway-Style songs.
Create an Opera – Campers write words, compose music, design and build sets, props and costumes, and perform their own opera based on a popular children's story.
The Art of Opera – Campers rehearse and perform a fully staged opera or music theater work.[19]
HGO's children's chorus provides outstanding opportunity for young, talented singers from the Houston area to perform in mainstage productions alongside leading artists.[20]
Houston Grand Opera Guild was founded in October 1955 by Mr. and Mrs. William W. Bland, Mrs. Edger Haden, and Mrs. John L. Abercrombie. The mission of the HGO Guild is to promote and support Houston Grand Opera in all its activities. A non-profit organization with over 2,300 volunteer members who perform roles such as backstage tours, hosting artists, educational talks, fund raising events, and operating the Guild Boutique, HGO Guild is committed to fostering and encouraging an active, educated, and increasingly diverse audience to experience grand opera.[21]
Throughout the year, the Guild offers a variety of educational activities introducing opera to school students. Forty five minute presentations have been developed for over 15 operas and include video clips and background notes which help students understand the history of the singers, opera composers and opera librettos. Each year the Houston Grand Opera schedules a High School Night and two Student Matinees from within one of the operas of the HGO season. By providing presentations for classes attending these operas, HGO Guild members help students increase their attention to and enjoyment of the opera. Other popular activities include panel discussions with distinguished speakers as well as awarding scholarships to young artists.
The work by the volunteers is also recognized, and each year the Guild honors volunteers who have made significant contributions to its programs as well as honoring non-members who has made singular contributions to the Guild or to the opera company itself. The Guild’s Board of Directors oversees all the activities as well as manages its finances. Houston Grand Opera has been home to many of the great singers, conductors, directors, and designers since its inception in 1955. The HGO Guild has played an important and instrumental role in making Houston Grand Opera one of the premier opera companies in the world today.
The company has toured extensively both internationally and nationally The first national tour in 1975 to the Kennedy Center saw the company present Scott Joplin's Treemonisha, which was recorded by Deutsche Grammophon.[22] This was quickly followed in 1976 by the national, Broadway and European tour of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.[23] During the same year and while Porgy and Bess was playing on Broadway, HGO also presented a revival of another important American opera, John Philip Sousa's El Capitan at the Kennedy Center.[24][25]
The new staging of Porgy and Bess with the complete Gershwin score was artistically acclaimed. As a consequence, it helped to turn public opinion around about the work, which was then recorded by RCA Records. HGO won a Tony award and a Grammy Award for the production – the only opera company to receive these illustrious prizes.[26][27]
Internationally, HGO has performed at the Edinburgh Festival, Paris, Milan, Berlin, Cairo, Zurich, Genoa and Palermo, and to Japan, Canada and Israel.[28]
In September 2011, HGO will present six performances of Cuzar la cara de la luna at the prestigious Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, France for their 2011-12 season. A specially commissioned work, Cruzar la cara de la luna is the world's first Mariachi opera.[29]
In 1984, Houston Grand Opera began using surtitles on all non-English productions, becoming one of the first opera companies in the United States to do so.[30] HGO's performances are broadcast nationally to an audience of 444,000 over the WFMT Radio Network.[31]
In 1989, Houston Grand Opera became the first performing arts organization in Houston and the second major U.S opera company to establish its own archives and resources center. The facility preserves valuable materials from throughout the company's history. The archive houses 3500 linear feet of institutional records including programs, artists files, production records, audio and video recordings, financial records and photographic images in a wide range of formats. The archives and Resource Center is named for Genevieve P. Demme, a longtime member of the board of trustees and historian of Houston Grand Opera Association.[32][33]
In 1987, HGO officially moved into its home at the Wortham Theater Center, a 437,500-square-foot (40,650 m2) facility featuring two theaters—the Alice and George Brown Theater and the Roy and Lillie Cullen Theater—which together comprise over 3,300 seats. The $72million state-of-the-art-facility was built entirely with private funds during a major downturn in Houston's economy and was given to the City of Houston which owns and operates the facility.[34] In 1997, improvements were made to the Wortham Center that included the addition of 180 seats in the main orchestra section and the expansion and reconfiguration of the orchestra pit. Further renovations resulting in a major expansion of the orchestra pit were completed in 2005.[35]
The Nexus Initiative is a ground-breaking audience development program which will allow more Houston community members to experience the joy of live performance. Funded by a consortium of Houston's visionary corporate leaders, Nexus provides $10 tickets to eligible groups attending HGO for the first time such as, students, community, church, service and cultural organizations, and senior citizens. The Nexus Initiative also underwrites student matinees, High School Night, and HGO's radio broadcast. . The Nexus Initiative has received leadership support from Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Chevron and KPMG LLP.[36]