Houston Grand Opera: 1999-2000 Season
orffiws
Houston Grand Opera 1999/2000 Season Press Release
HOUSTON GRAND OPERA ANNOUNCES 1999-2000 SEASON
EXPANDED SEASON TO FEATURE SEVEN OPERAS, INCLUDING
THE DAVID HOCKNEY PRODUCTION OF TRISTAN AND ISOLDE,
THE WORLD PREMIERE OF CARLISLE FLOYD'S COLD SASSY TREE,
AND THE RETURN OF MARK ADAMO'S LITTLE WOMEN
Singers Walter Fracarro, Stig Andersen, Alexandrina Pendatchanska
and Renate Behle are among the artists making their HGO debuts
Established stars such as Alessandro Corbelli, Ramon Vargas,
Sergei Leiferkus, Maria Guleghina, Bo Skovhus and Samuel Ramey
return to HGO
HOUSTON, TX, February 15, 1999 -- With an expanded schedule that
reflects increased public interest in mixed repertoire, Houston
Grand Opera General Director David Gockley has announced the
productions for the 1999-2000 season. The company's 45th season
includes productions of masterpieces by Verdi, Mozart, Wagner
and Donizetti, a revival of a recent opera by American composer
Mark Adamo and the world premiere of a new work by the renowned
Carlisle Floyd. The season looks both to the past, by returnin g
to the production of Aida that opened the Wortham Theater Center
in 1987, and to the future, with the company's landmark twenty-
fifth world premiere. Houston Grand Opera will mount major
productions of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, designed by artist
David Hockney (1994's Turandot) and Verdi's Nabucco, directed by
Elijah Moshinsky (1995's Attila). Neither work has ever been
produced by Houston Grand O pera.
"This is a season that will appeal to both new operagoers and
hard-core opera fans," said Gockley. "And I'm delighted to
introduce two time-honored operas never produced in Houston
before. It's going to be a memorable season, with the continued
develop ment of our orchestra under Music Director Patrick
Summers, and a world premiere by the greatest living American
composer, Carlisle Floyd." Some of the world's most renowned
opera singers will grace HGO's stages in the 1999-2000 season,
including sopranos Renate Behle, Alexandrina Pendatchanska,
Patricia Racette and Maria Guleghina, mezzo-sopranos Larissa
Diadkova and Florence Quivar, tenors Stig Anderson, Walter
Fraccaro and Ramon Vargas, baritones Alessandro Corbelli, Sergei
Leiferkus and Bo Skovhus and basses Samuel Ramey and Carsten
Stabell. The 1999-2000 season will see the restoration of Houston
Grand Opera's annual production in the Cullen Theater. The
Cullen productions will be intimate pieces conducted by HGO Music
Director Patrick Summers, including both early music pieces and
new and recent works. The operas presented in the Cullen Theater
will be available to subscribers as part of a new seven-opera
package. In the 1999-2000 season, Houston Grand Opera will mount
a new production of Mark Adamo's Little Women, which had its
world p remiere in a Houston Opera Studio production in 1997, in
the Cullen Theater. "I am delighted that Houston Grand Opera has
brought back the annual Cullen Theater production," Maestro
Summers remarked. "It will allow us to expand our already
adventurous repertory even more, giving Houston opera fans a
chance to see operas they wou ld not otherwise."
In addition to Maestro Summers, who will also conduct The Elixir
of Love and Cold Sassy Tree, four other conductors are on board
for the new season, including Russian conductor Vladimir Jurowski
(Nabucco), who will make his HGO debut. The season also sees
the return of Italian conductor Roberto Abbado (Aida), outgoing
Houston Symphony Music Director Christoph Eschenbach (Tristan and
Isolde) and Dutch conductor Lawrence Renes (Don Giovanni ).
RETURNING GUEST ARTISTS
Returning for Houston Grand Opera's 1999-2000 season are
sopranos Pamela Armstrong, Nicole Heaston, Maria Guleghina,
Marquita Lister, Ana Maria Martinez and Patricia Racette; mezzo-
sopranos Joyce DiDonato and Stephanie Novacek; tenors Greg
Fedderly, Joh n McVeigh, Rafael Rojas, Chad Shelton and Ramon
Vargas; baritones Gregg Baker, Alessandro Corbelli, Sergei
Leiferkus, Christopher Robertson and Bo Skovhus; bass-baritone
Dean Peterson; basses, Samuel Ramey and Daniel Sumegi; and
conductors Roberto Abbado, Christoph Eschenbach, Lawrence Renes
and Patrick Summers.
HGO DEBUTS
Making their HGO debuts in the 1999-2000 season are sopranos
Renate Behle (Tristan and Isolde), Margaret Lloyd (Little Women)
and Alexandra Pendatchanska (Don Giovanni); mezzo-sopranos
Larissa Diadkova (Aida), Phyllis Pancella (Nabucco), and
Florence Qu ivar (Tristan and Isolde); tenors Walter Fraccaro
(Aida) and Stig Andersen (Tristan and Isolde); baritone Earle
Patriarco (The Elixir of Love); bass-baritone Dale Travis (The
Elixir of Love); basses Alfonso Antoniozzi (The Elixir of Love)
and Carsten Stab ell (Tristan and Isolde); conductor Vladimir
Jurowski (Nabucco); directors Bruce Beresford (Cold Sassy Tree),
Stephen Pickover (Tristan and Isolde) and Thor Steingraber
(Nabucco); and set and costume designer Johan Engels (The Elixir
of Love).
FALL REPERTORY
AIDA
Houston Grand Opera will open its 45th season with Verdi's Aida,
often cited as the most popular opera in the repertory. Director
Brenda Nuckton will restage this popular HGO production by
Pierluigi Pizzi (who also designed the sets and costumes), which
opened the Wortham Theater Center in 1987. Roberto Abbado will
conduct the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra. American soprano
Marquita Lister (Porgy and Bess, 1995) will sing the title role.
Aida is the tragic story of an Ethiopian slave in love with an
Egyptian general torn between loyalty to his country and love for
Aida. Italian tenor Walter Fraccaro makes his HGO debut as
Radames, Aida's lover. Radames must defend Egypt and is ordered
to marry the Egyptian princess Amneris, sung by Russian mezzo-
soprano Larissa Diadkova in her HGO debut. The cast is rounded
out by American baritone Gregg Baker as Amona sro and Australian
bass Daniel Sumegi as Ramfis.
An alternate cast featuring Belgian soprano Isabelle Kabatu as
Aida, American mezzo-soprano Catherine Keen as Amneris, American
tenor Patrick Denniston as Radames, American baritone Mark Doss
as Amonasro and American bass Eric Owens as Ramfis will perfor m
in the Discovery Series and Family Matinee performances.
Aida opens on October 22 with additional performances on October
24m, 27, 30m (alternate cast), 30 and November 2, 4 (alternate
cast), 5 and 7m, 11 (alternate cast), and 13 (alternate cast),
1999. The opera will be sung in Italian with English surtitle s.
Aida is a co-production with Los Angeles Opera. Major funding
support provided by Conoco.
DON GIOVANNI
The second half of HGO's fall repertory is Mozart's Don
Giovanni. Danish baritone Bo Skovhus (the title role in 1998's
Billy Budd) returns to Houston in his first American production
of Don Giovanni, to portray history's most famous seducer, who
gets hi s cosmic comeuppance in this comic drama. Among his
would-be conquests are Bulgarian soprano Alexandrina
Pendatchanska making her HGO debut as Donna Anna, American
soprano Pamela Armstrong (the Countess in 1998's The Marriage of
Figaro) as Donna Elvira a nd soprano Nicole Heaston (Susannah in
1998's The Marriage of Figaro) as the servant girl Zerlina. The
great Italian baritone Alessandro Corbelli (Dandini in 1995's La
Cenerentola) will sing Leporello, Don Giovanni's servant.
Conceived by the late Göran Jarvefelt, with sets and costumes by
Carl Friedrich Oberle, this classic production will be staged by
Harry Silverstein. The young Dutch conductor Lawrence Renes (The
Marriage of Figaro, 1998) will lead the Houston Symphony. Don
Giovanni opens on October 29 with further performances on October
31m, November 3, 6, 9, 12, and 14m, 1999. The opera will be sung
in Italian with English surtitles. Don Giovanni is a Houston
Grand Opera production. Major funding support provided by EXXON.
WINTER REPERTORY
THE ELIXIR OF LOVE
The first Houston Grand Opera production of the new millenium,
Donizetti's delightful opera The Elixir of Love will return to
HGO's stage in January after an absence of nearly two decades. A
cunning peasant named Nemorino, portrayed by Mexican tenor Ramon
Vargas (Alfredo in 1999's La Traviata), desperately wants to win
the hand of Adina, a wealthy young woman, played by American
soprano Ana Maria Martinez (Layla in 1995's The Song of Majnu n).
Inspired by the story of Tristan and Isolde, Nemorino spends his
last bit of gold on a magical "love elixir" being hawked by the
conniving Dr. Dulcamara, sung by Alfonso Antoniozzi, who makes
his HGO debut. American baritone Earle Patriarco makes hi s HGO
debut as Sergeant Belcore, Nemorino's rival for Adina's heart. An
alternate cast featuring Italian tenor Giuseppe Filianoti as
Nemorino, American bass-baritone Dale Travis as Dr. Dulcamara and
American soprano Nicole Heaston as Adina will sing the Discovery
Series performance. In his Houston Grand Opera directing debut,
Garnett Bruce will bring Stephen Lawless' production of this
comic opera to life. The set designs will be by Johan Engels.
Houston Grand Opera Music Director Patrick Summers will conduct
the Houston Grand Ope ra Orchestra.
The Elixir of Love opens on January 21, with further performances
on January 23m, 26, 29 and February 1, 4, 6m and 12 (alternate
cast), 2000. The Elixir of Love will be sung in Italian with
English surtitles. The Elixir of Love is a production of Los
Angeles Opera.
Major funding support provided by Texaco.
TRISTAN AND ISOLDE
Rounding out the winter repertory will be Wagner's great love
story, Tristan and Isolde. With the Houston Grand Opera debut of
Danish heldentenor Stig Andersen, production design by visual
artist David Hockney (1994's Turandot) and the Houston Symphony
under the baton of Maestro Christoph Eschenbach, this new
production will be the powerful product of a world-class
collaboration. Director Stephen Pickover will stage this
culminating, ecstatic expression of nineteenth-century German
Romanticism. Andersen portrays Tristan, the Cornish sea captain
charged with transporting the Irish princess Isolde (German
soprano Renate Behle in her HGO debut) to her betrothed, King
Marke of Cornwall (Norwegian bass Carsten Stabell in his HGO
debut). But Tristan and Isolde fall deeply in love, a love so
profound it can only be consummated in death. The cast is
rounded out by American mezzo-soprano Florence Quivar making her
HGO debut as Isolde's attendant, Brangaene and American baritone
Christopher Robertson a s Tristan's friend Kurwenal.
Tristan and Isolde opens on January 27 with further performances
on January 30m and February 2, 5, 8, and 11, 2000. The opera
will be sung in German with English surtitles. Tristan and
Isolde is a production of Los Angeles Opera. Major funding
support provided by N. L. Industries, Inc..
CULLEN THEATER PRODUCTION
The 1999-2000 season Cullen Theater presentation will be a new
production of composer Mark Adamo's adaptation of Louisa May
Alcott's classic novel, Little Women. This beautiful, melodic
new opera had its world premiere in a Houston Opera Studio
product ion in 1997. Writing in Opera Now, Charles Ward wrote,
"In Jo, Adamo has created a role mezzo-sopranos will ache to
sing." William Albright of Opera News described Little Women as
"a musically and emotionally satisfying work." Little Women is a
charming chronicle of the coming of age of the four March
sisters--Jo, Beth, Meg and Amy--in nineteenth-century New
England. American mezzo-sopranos Stephanie Novacek and Joyce
DiDonato, both former members of Houston Opera Studio, will
reprise their roles as Jo and Meg. American tenor Chad Shelton
will again take the role of Laurie. American soprano Margaret
Lloyd will make her HGO debut as Amy. Directorn Peter Webster
will return to stage Little Women. New sets will be designed by
Christopher McCollum. Houston Grand Opera's Music Director
Patrick Summers will lead the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra.
Little Women will be performed in the Wortham Center's Cullen
Theater on March 3, 5m, 7, 11, 12m, 17, and 18, 2000.
SPRING REPERTORY
COLD SASSY TREE
As the first production in its spring repertory, Houston Grand
Opera will proudly present its twenty-fifth world premiere,
distinguished American composer Carlisle Floyd's Cold Sassy Tree.
Long associated with Houston Grand Opera, Carlisle Floyd is the
composer of Susannah, Of Mice and Men, Willie Stark and The
Passion of Jonathan Wade, among other operas. Based on Olive Ann
Burns' comic novel, Cold Sassy Tree is a step back in time to
turn-of-the-century rural Georgia. Shortly after his wife dies,
opinionated sexagenarian Rucker Lattimore marries a beautiful
young woman, setting off a firestorm of contro versy.
Composer Carlisle Floyd was attracted to Burns' novel by "the
richness of the characters, the familiarity of the locale, and
the challenge of doing a comic opera." He notes that the work is
quite different from his other works in the quality of its musi
cal language. "It uses a simpler idiom which I felt the material
required," Floyd said. "It is much simpler rhythmically, with a
much faster pace and strong folk-like elements." American bass-
baritone Dean Peterson (the Villains in 1998's The Tales of
Hoffmann) will create the role of Rucker Lattimore. American
soprano Patricia Racette (Violetta in 1999's La Traviata) sings
the role of Love Simpson, the "Yankee" whose union wit h
Lattimore scandalizes the town. Rucker Lattimore's 14-year-old
grandson Will Tweedy will be portrayed by American tenor John
McVeigh. The distinguished Australian film director Bruce
Beresford (Breaker Morant, Driving Miss Daisy) will direct the
production. Michael Yeargan will design the sets and costumes.
Music Director Patrick Summers will conduct the Houston Grand
Opera Orchestra . Cold Sassy Tree will open on April 14, with
additional performances on April 16m, 19, 22, 25, 28, and 30m,
2000. The opera will be sung in English with English surtitles.
Cold Sassy Tree is a co-production with Austin Lyric Opera,
Baltimore Opera, Opera Carolina and San Diego Opera. Major
funding support provided by Lyondell Chemical Company.
NABUCCO
HGO will end the 1999-2000 subscription season with its first-
ever production of a second Verdi opera, the one that established
the Italian composer's reputation, Nabucco. Featuring the return
of bass Samuel Ramey (Mefistofele, 1999), Nabucco is famous for
its choruses, including "Va pensiero," which became the
unofficial national anthem of Italy. Nabucco is the story of the
Assyrian king Nebuchadnezzar's defeat of the Hebrews. When
Nabucco declares himself not only king but God, he is struck down
by a bolt of lightning, leading to his conversion to Judaism and
releasing of the Hebrews. Ramey sings the role of the prophet
Zaccaria, with Russian baritone Sergei Leiferkus (Macbeth in
1997's production) as Nabucco. Russian soprano Maria Guleghina
(Odabella in 1995's Attila) sings the role of Abigaille,
Nabucco's vengeful illegitimate daug hter. Mexican tenor Rafael
Rojas sings Ismaele, the Hebrew in love with Nabucco's daughter
Fenena, sung by American mezzo-soprano Phyllis Pancella, in her
HGO debut. Director Thor Steingraber will stage Elijah
Moshinsky's production, which features sets by Michael Yeargan
and costumes by Jane Greenwood. The brilliant young Russian
conductor Vladimir Jurowski leads the Houston Symphony. Nabucco
opens on April 29, with further performances on May 2, 5, 7m,
10, 12 and 14m, 2000. The opera will be sung in Italian with
English surtitles. Nabucco is a production of Lyric Opera of
Chicago. Major funding support provided by Shell Oil Company
Foundation.
SEASON FINALE
OUTDOOR MULTI-MEDIA MODULAR STAGE PRODUCTION
As the finale of the 1999/2000 season, HGO will present a new
production on its high-tech Multi-Media Modular Stage. The
production, cast, dates, and location will be announced at a
later date.
WORTHAM THEATER CENTER
Houston Grand Opera performs at the Wortham Theater Center in
Houston's Downtown Theater District. Opened in 1987, the
Wortham Center features the 2,400 seat Brown Theater and the
1,100 seat Cullen Theater. The Wortham Center is located at
Texas and S mith
SPECIAL SERVICES
The Southwestern Bell Pre-Curtain Lecture Series is thirty
minutes before each performance. Guest speakers present a
twenty-minute informal lecture on the sixth floor of the Grand
Foyer. These lectures, free and open to all ticket holders, are
intended to enhance audience members' enjoyment by preparing them
for the production they are about to attend. The Wortham Theater
Center features easy wheelchair access to both theaters. An
infrared listening system, generously underwritten by Pennzoil
Company, is available free of charge at all performances. Please
call HGO's subscription office at 713/546-02 46 or 1-800-346-4462
for details. Descriptive services for visually impaired persons
are also available with 48-hour advance reservations. Please
call HGO's Education and Outreach Department at 713/546-0231 for
information or to make a reservation.
SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
Subscriptions, priced from $107 to $1,113, for the 1999-2000
season are now on sale for renewing and new subscribers through
the Houston Grand Opera Subscription Office. (Prices exclude the
$1.00 city surcharge.) For more information, please call in to
wn at 713-546-0246 or out of town at 1-800-346-4462.
Since its inception in 1955, Houston Grand Opera has swiftly
moved from a small regional organization into the fifth-largest
opera company in the United States. With David Gockley as its
general director for the past 27 years, HGO has widened its
circles, both in repertoire and in reach. The company has an
international reputation for commissioning and producing new
works (23 world premieres and six American premieres since 1973)
as well as a reputation for reaching out to new audiences (Nixon
in China, Harvey Milk, Florencia en el Amazonas and Jackie O are
notable examples). HGO also tours extensively, including trips
to Japan, Italy, Egypt and France, and the company is the only
one in the United States to win a Grammy (two actually), a Tony
and two E mmy awards. HGO has an eye on the future of opera too,
launching not only the acclaimed Houston Opera Studio (a program
designed to train young singers for major careers) but also the
Community Connections Initiative (a multi-pronged program aimed
at edu cating and nurturing new audiences). For its 1998-99
season, Houston Grand Opera's budget is $17.5 million.
Matthew B. Tepper
hda...@erehwon.com pondered what I'm pondering as follows...
>
>
>Houston Grand Opera 1999/2000 Season Press Release
>
So I guess if I, a native of Los Angeles, were to visit Houston, I
would not feel THAT out of place.
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
My personal home page -- http://www.deltanet.com/~ducky/index.htm
My main music page --- http://www.deltanet.com/~ducky/berlioz.htm
And my science fiction club's home page --- http://www.lasfs.org/
To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion