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2 unusual facts about Houston Grand Opera


Elena Nikolaidi

In 1977, she came to Houston, Texas, as the primary voice instructor for the newly established Houston Opera Studio, a young-artist training program that was at that time a joint venture of Houston Grand Opera and the University of Houston; she also instructed a select few university students who were not in the HOS program.

HGO

Houston Grand Opera, an opera company in Houston, Texas, United States


Eleanor Searle

Her contributions included the establishment of the Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers of Houston Grand Opera, patronage for Orbis International, and, together with her second husband, an important role in the development of Baylor College of Medicine.

Eva Wagner-Pasquier

She has also worked for Houston Grand Opera, the Théâtre du Châtelet, the Teatro Real, the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, and is currently an Artistic Consultant to The Metropolitan Opera.

Garnett Bruce

In recent years, Bruce has served on the directing staffs of Santa Fe Opera, Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, San Diego Opera, Washington National Opera, and San Francisco Opera.

Grant Gershon

Gershon has appeared as guest conductor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Minnesota Opera, Royal Swedish Opera, Juilliard Opera Theatre, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Gustav Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Finnish chamber orchestra Avanti!, among others.

Gwen Shepherd

Shepherd was one of the actresses to play Maria in the famous 1977 Houston Grand Opera production of Porgy and Bess in the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House.

Karita Mattila

Mattila appears regularly in the major opera houses worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra Bastille, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Vienna State Opera, Toronto Roy Thomson Hall and Großes Festspielhaus, Salzburg and with top orchestras.

Leonard Foglia

In 2008, Foglia directed the world premiere of Jake Heggie's opera Last Acts at the Houston Grand Opera.

Martin Katz

Editions of Baroque and bel canto operas prepared by Katz have been performed at the Metropolitan Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, and Opera Lyra Ottawa.

Stewart Wallace

Two of his operas have been premiered at the Houston Grand Opera, Where's Dick? (1989) and Harvey Milk (1995); the latter of which was based on the life of its namesake.

Suzanna Guzmán

Known for her portrayal of the title role in Carmen for Houston Grand Opera's multimedia production (known as the "MTV Carmen"), a role she has performed more than 200 times.


see also

Éva Marton

Since 1983, she has performed the role over a hundred times including at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Arena di Verona, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington Opera, Opera Company of Boston under Sarah Caldwell (in 1983), Barcelona, and Houston Grand Opera.

Ewa Malas-Godlewska

Queen of the Night in Mozart's Magic Flute production by Bob Wilson, Paris Opera, L'Opera Comique, Le Theatre du Chatelet, Le Theatre des Champs Elysees, Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers and Parisian Bastille Opera, the Houston Grand Opera in Texas

Greer Grimsley

He made his professional opera debut in 1980 at the Houston Grand Opera as one of the Armed Men in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Magic Flute.

Willie Stark

The opera was commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera, which premiered it on April 24, 1981, in a production directed by Harold Prince and conducted by John DeMain.