Frederica Von Stade is back

Putting a ring on it: Houston Grand Opera reveals its new season and there's extra drama

In this world you're either growing or you're dying — so get in motion and grow. Words to live by from Lou Holtz, a famous American football coach, author and motivational speaker.

His adage, evident in the master plan of Houston Grand Opera's 2013-14 season, holds true when it comes to the ideal strategy for presenting arts organizations. The Grammy-, Emmy- and Tony-winning company will offer many firsts in the new season, which was just announced Wednesday.

Among them are world and American premieres, commissions and new productions alongside standard repertoire. Together they represent a 45 percent increase in the number of performances staged at Wortham Theater Center and out in the community.

Artistic and music director Patrick Summers and managing director Perryn Leech tracked a 35 percent rise in subscription sales from 2007, an achievement that offers a financially stable foundation from which to expand its programs, services and scope.

"The growth in demand for tickets is in alignment of Houston's growth, strong economy and HGO's consistently high level of performances and varied repertoire choices," Summers tells CultureMap. "One of the best kept secrets in the East Coast centric opera world is that Houston possesses one of the great and diverse opera audiences."

Here's what opera fans can expect: A mixture of drama (it's opera after all), innovation and charming entertainment.

Fulfilling the promise HGO made a couple of years ago, the prelude opera of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, Das Rheingold (April 11-26, 2014) sets in motion a four-year venture that follows the Norse tale of fate, destiny, celestial heroes and villains. A production of La Fura dels Baus, whose notoriety stems from the opening spectacle of Barcelona's 1992 Olympic Games, the production promises to present acrobats fashioning vignettes flowing with imaginative visual content.

Scottish bass-baritone Iain Paterson makes his HGO debut as Wotan, HGO Studio alum, mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton complements him as Fricka with Slovak tenor Stefan Margita as Loge.

"One of the best kept secrets in the East Coast centric opera world is that Houston possesses one of the great and diverse opera audiences."

Will there be live elephants? That's the big tongue-in-check question posed when a revival Verdi's Aida (Oct. 18-Nov 9) is staged.

The production, which features sets and costumes by fashion designer Zandra Rhodes, collaborates with Dominic Walsh Dance Theater to bring to life the grand dance sequences. Opera giants like Dolora Zajick as Amneris and the pride of the Ukraine National Opera, Liudmyla Monastyrska, as Aida sing along more familiar faces of HGO, including baritone Scott Hendricks and conductor Antonino Fogliani.

Rigoletto (Jan. 24-Feb. 1, 2014) continues the season's Verdian obsession. Rigoletto was performed in 2009 with Albina Shagimuratova, who stole the show, and though rumors infer that she may have been at one point recast as Gilda, the coloratura role remains to be fulfilled. Confirmed are bass-baritone Ryan McKinny as the title character and tenor Stephen Costello as the Duke of Mantua.

On the lighter side, and aligned with a trend at HGO to mount one or two pop-ish works in the genre, Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus (Oct. 25-Nov. 10) will be staged in Art Deco-style as envisioned by Australian director Lindy Hume. This charming operetta's cast includes Studio alum Liam Bonner, soprano Wendy Bryn Harmer and the zestful mezzo Susan Graham in drag, singing a trouser role as Prince Orlofsky. A dose of celebrity is added with four-time Grammy Award-winner Anthony Dean Griffey as Alfred.

Along those gaily flamboyant tunes, fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi designs Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music (March 7-23, 2014). Soprano Elizabeth Futral, Studio alum Chad Shelton and mezzo Joyce Castle join in the musical theater fun.

On a serious note, the North American premiere of Polish-Jewish exiled composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg's The Passenger (Jan. 18-Feb. 2, 2014), a setting based on a novel by Auschwitz survivor Zofia Posmysz, journeys with a former SS officer, Linda, aboard an ocean liner. There, she identifies a concentration camp prisoner. The opera dates back to 1968, though its fully-staged premiere did not occur until 2010 at the Bregenz Festival. South African mezzo Michelle Breedt and Canadian tenor Joseph Kaiser are featured in this poignant, emotional story.

The world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon's A Coffin in Egypt (March 14-22, 2014) marks the inaugural commission in a series of operas, and continues HGO's focus on being a catalyst for the creation of new, fresh, contemporary works that speak to audiences today. Frederica Von Stade, whose apparent retirement from the operatic stage didn't last very long, comes back to take on the lead role.

"This new opera has deep Texas roots," Summers writes in a statement. "It is based on a play of the same name by the renowned Texas writer Horton Foote. Ricky Ian Gordon is a very theatrically driven composer with a style that is perfectly suited to opera."

The main stage season closes with another new production of an old time favorite. Bizet's Carmen (April 25-May 10, 2014), directed by American director/choreographer Rob Ashford, an on-trend young Broadway director, is set to be a show stopper with talent like Puerto Rican soprano Ana María Martínez, another Studio alum, as the sassy gipsy, tenor Brandon Jovanovich as the love stricken Don José, and bass-baritone Ryan McKinny as Escamillo.

HGO's community engagement arm, HGOco, carries on the métier of the Song of Houston's East + West initiative with two additional world premieres. The Vietnamese Lunar New Year will be observed with Bound (January 2014) by librettist Bao-Long Chu and composer Huang Ruo. To coincide with the Indian festival of Holi, Jack Perla, whose Courtside premiered in 2011 as part of the same venture, alongside wordsmith Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, make this the company's 53rd world premiere since 1973.

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Tickets go on sale 9 p.m. Thursday. Information on Houston Grand Opera subscription and single ticket sales can be found online or by calling 713-228-OPERA (6737).

Aida features sets and costumes by fashion designer Zandra Rhodes.

Photo by Cory Weaver

Aida features sets and costumes by fashion designer Zandra Rhodes.

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on the bright side

'First-of-its kind' Houston park reveals 6 murals by local artists

Houston artist Ade Odunfa stands in front of his mural "Salt Marsh" at the Hill at Sims.

Photo by Scott Julian, courtesy of Houston Parks Board

"Birth From the Sea" by Ade Odunfa

One of Houston's most innovative green spaces, the Hill at Sims, is edging toward completion as artists put the finishing touches on a series of six beautiful murals. They should be ready when the park has its grand opening on Saturday, May 23.

The project is being led by Harris County Precinct One Commissioner Rodney Ellis and the Houston Parks Board. Located in Sunnyside along Sims Bayou, it combines a flooding retention pond with walkways and other infrastructure to create a unique multi-use community space. Adding a series of environmentally-themed murals highlights the project's dedication to empowering nature around Sunnyside.

“When we bring art, resilience, and opportunity together in one place, we create something that can serve and inspire future generations for decades to come," said Ellis in an emailed statement. "The Hill at Sims is a community-oriented, first-of-its-kind green space in the neighborhood I grew up in. These murals honor Sunnyside, celebrate the natural world, and help turn public space into something people feel proud to protect.”

The murals include “Impression of Nature” by Emily Ding, “Step Into the Wild” by Carlos Alberto, “Birth from the Sea," a reproduction of a John Biggers’ mural by Ade Odunfa, "The Heron and the Fish” by Ana Marietta, “Rêverie” by Amy Sol inspired by Claude Debussy’s 1890 solo piano piece, and “Salt Marsh”, another Biggers reproduction by Bimbo Adenugba.

Houston is a major mural and street art city, with an increasing number of spaces using murals to showcase local talent as well as bring a sense of identity to locations like the Hill at Sims. The green space offers both a massive natural setting in a neighborhood that has traditionally been underserved in park acreage with an elevated point to view the whole city, a rare treat in a place as flat as Houston. Thanks to the Bayou Greenways Project, a 150-mile series of trails that connects parks across Houston, people can walk or bike to the Hills at Sims if they choose to.

"Our goal is for every person who visits this park to feel that Hill at Sims truly represents the Sunnyside community. Public art is a powerful and joyful way to evoke feelings of connection and stewardship in public settings,” said Justin Schultz, President and CEO, Houston Parks Board, in an emailed statement. “Houston Parks Board is proud to support Commissioner Ellis to bring Sunnyside residents a transformative, multi-benefit greenspace that captures the spirit of Houston: turning our climate challenges into vibrant community assets.”

The total cost of Hill at Sims is $28.3 million. Funding comes from Precinct One ($18.8 million), The Brown Foundation ($7.5 million), with an additional $2 million from public federal and state funds secured by State Representative Alma Allen and Congressman Al Green. When complete, it will feature a 1.6 mile basin loop trail, water access pier, a parking lot, a 2,000-square-foot open air pavilion with restrooms, flexible lawn space for active programming, and picnic pavilions.

parks visual-art hills at sims anderson