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    Frederica Von Stade is back

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

    Joel Luks
    Jan 16, 2013 | 6:00 pm

    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 focuson 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.

    ___

    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.

    Houston Grand Opera, Aida, January 2013
      
    Photo by Cory Weaver
    Aida features sets and costumes by fashion designer Zandra Rhodes.
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    news/arts

    Start Me Up

    Immersive Houston art venue rocks out with new Rolling Stone experience

    Holly Beretto
    May 15, 2025 | 2:30 pm
    ​“Rolling Stone Presents: Amplified, The Immersive Rock Experience!”
    Photo courtesy of Artechouse
    “Rolling Stone Presents: Amplified, The Immersive Rock Experience!” opens at Artechouse in May.

    A new art exhibit puts viewers into the heart of rock and roll. Rolling Stone Presents: Amplified, The Immersive Rock Experience opens this Thursday, May 15 at Artechouse, the immersive art venue that opened last year in the Heights. With its 270-degree, floor-to-ceiling digital canvases in 18K-resolution and state-of-the-art surround sound, viewers will feel they’ve stepped into some of music’s most iconic moments.

    Narrated by Kevin Bacon, Amplified includes 1,000 photographs, 200 videos, 1,300 Rolling Stone covers, and features more than 300 artists whose music changed the world. Using sight, sound, and motion, this dynamic exhibit makes music history approachable and immediate for viewers. Here's a sneak peek:


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    Houstonians know our city has its own deep connections to genre-shaking music history. From The Beatles at the Sam Houston Coliseum, to Elvis at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Bob Dylan’s “Night of the Hurricane” in 1976, and being the hometown of Beyoncé, Bun B, ZZ Top, Megan Thee Stallion, and many more, Houston has cultivated and welcomed artists with choruses of boisterous cheers and applause.

    "Given Houston’s deep connection to the evolution of rock and pop music over the decades, we were thrilled to partner with Rolling Stone to bring Amplified to Houstonians and continue the city’s tradition of supporting and celebrating musical acts from around the world," says Sandro Kereselidze, co-founder of Artechouse. "This exhibit aligns perfectly with our mission to connect the public with cultural and artistic storytelling through cutting-edge technology. We’re excited for guests of all ages to experience the history of rock ‘n’ roll like never before."

    The show was originally produced by Illuminarium Experiences and created by Brand New World Studios in partnership with Rolling Stone. Viewers who attend the Artechouse experience can keep their immersive experience going at the venue’s Reality (XR) Bar, serving cocktails and mocktails that dovetail with the exhibit. Blending cutting-edge XR technology with craft mixology, drinks come to life through exclusive XR activations, which are accessible via Artechouse’s XR mobile app. Guests can downtown the app from the App Store or Google Play.

    “Music imagery is about experiences,” said Jodi Peckman, executive producer and former creative director of Rolling Stone. “It’s about the unbridled joy of concerts and our connection to our favorite artists. Every picture tells a story and Rolling Stone Presents: AMPLIFIED has hundreds of stories to tell.”

    Timed tickets are available online and at the venue, and advanced reservations are strongly encouraged. Admission starts at $39 plus fees for adults and $29 plus fees for children, ages 17 and under. Tickets are currently available through August 31.

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