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    Shelby's Social Diary

    HGO's Concert of Arias hits the high notes with record crowd and record dollarsraised

    Shelby Hodge
    Feb 4, 2012 | 9:45 am
    • Photo by Anthony Rathbun
    • Photo by Anthony Rathbun
    • Photo by Priscilla Dickson
    • Photo by Anthony Rathbun
    • Photo by Priscilla Dickson
    • Photo by Priscilla Dickson
    • Photo by Priscilla Dickson
    • Photo by Priscilla Dickson
    • Photo by Priscilla Dickson
    • Photo by Priscilla Dickson
    • Photo by Priscilla Dickson
    • Photo by Priscilla Dickson

    Were charitable fundraisers given standing ovations, Houston Grand Opera's Concert of Arias on Thursday night surely would have received a resounding everyone-on-his-feet round of applause. It was just that great an evening on so many levels.

    The nine finalists in the Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers completely mesmerized the sell-out crowd in the Cullen Theater of Wortham Center with an array of talent that made voting on a personal favorite a tortuous task.

    Then there was the ever-debonair chair of the evening — Jackson Hicks, with whom HGO music director Patrick Summers credited the success of the black-tie fundraiser. "This is one of the great nights of the Houston Grand Opera season," he told that gathering.

    "The Cullen is bursting with friends of the studio [HGO Opera Studio] . . . and tonight's success is due chiefly to our chair, Jackson Hicks." Also credited with the evening's eminence were the honorees, long-time HGO patrons Bobbie-Vee and Jerry Cooney.

    The post-concert dinner was a sellout with 640 opera fans signing on for the late-night repast in the center's Grand Foyer. While expenses haven't been completely tallied, it's a fact that a record $800,000 was raised, sending Summers, HGO managing director Perryn Leech and special events director Guyla Pircher over the moon.

    Beyond the beautiful music and the dollars raised, it was an A-list group that turned out, beginning with Opera Ball chairs Cynthia and Tony Petrello, Phoebe and Bobby Tudor, Donna and Bob Bruni, Beth Madison and Ralph Burch, Denise Bush Bahr and Philip Bahr, Glen Rosenbaum, Margaret Williams and Jim Daniel, Mariquita Masterson, Molly and Jim Crownover, Jan Barrow, Cora Sue and Harry Mach, Franci Crane, Sandy and Lee Godfrey, Pat Breen, Susan and Dr. Dick Stasney and Dian and Harlan Stai.

    Also in the audience was Bob Yekovich, dean of Rice University's Shepherd School of Music, who was there to root for competition finalists with Rice connections — Masters Degree candidates Carlton Ford and Carolyn Sproule as well as Masters graduate Sarah Larsen.

    Interestingly, 22-year-old soprano Andrea Carroll earned not only the People's Choice award but she also received first place from the judges — Summers, Leech and tenor Anthony Dean Griffey, currently starring in HGO's The Rape of Lucretia.

    Second place honors went to 24-year-old soprano Natalya Romaniw with Peixin Chen, a 30-year-old bass from China, ranking third.

    unspecified
    news/arts

    Hodge Podge

    Houston artist bids farewell, for now, with career-spanning new exhibit

    Craig D. Lindsey
    Jun 18, 2025 | 10:29 am
    Robert Leroy Hodge Sanman Studios
    Courtesy of Robert Leroy Hodge/SANMAN Studios
    The exhibit shows a range of the artist's works.

    Artist Robert Leroy Hodge is saying goodbye to Houston – well, not exactly.

    The Houston-born multidisciplinary artist recently debuted his latest exhibit, Diamonds That Fall from the Treetop, at SANMAN Studios. Known more for his eye-catching, pop-art collages (in 2023, he collaborated with Austin artist Tim Kerr for the No Kings But Us exhibit at Blaffer Art Museum), this mini-retrospective will feature selected works from his two-decade career – including the early stuff.

    “A lot of kids think I only make collages,” Hodge tells CultureMap. “And, also, I'm not making collages anymore like that. So, it's like the end of an era. I show where I started with these portraits and real paintings and drawings and how I kind of got into collage. It's a wide range of things I do, not just collage.”

    Diamonds will also be his last exhibit in Houston, but he’s not moving away. Hodge will cut down on doing local exhibits and focus more on getting his art and his name out there in other parts of the world. He’s out to prove that serious art can come out of this place.

    “When I interact with politicians and people in higher positions, they treat local artists like they're secondary, they're not good enough,” he says. “[They say] ‘They're in Houston because they can't be in New York and LA,’ and that's not the case. I could be anywhere, and I chose Houston.”

    But Hodge wants to be known as an artist from Houston, instead of just in Houston. “There’s nothing wrong with being a local artist in your city, but that’s not what I want,” he says. “I live here, but for me to get to the next space I wanna get to, I need to be showing more in New York, LA, out the country. And it's nothing personal – when you do a lot of stuff here, you just can't keep doing the same thing. You start to feel stagnant.”

    As much as he loves both the city and its art scene, Hodge knows that the visual arts isn’t a high priority around here. “We are an oil-and-gas city,” he says. “And because that's the main way money is being made, arts and culture is not primary. And, then, the new mayor is not really into art. So, it's like it all depends on who loves art and who's in office.”

    Within city limits, Hodge says he will be more of a curator and mentor, helping young artists and working with galleries and studios on creating showcases for those artists and others. He also wants to continue collaborating with fellow art enthusiasts of color, like the folks at SANMAN.

    “I wanted to do it with SANMAN because it's owned by two young Black men,” he says. “They got a staff of Black creatives, and I wanted to really show cohesiveness between Black men.”

    But Hodge isn’t completely hanging up the idea of doing another big solo show in his hometown. “This is the last one for a while,” he says, “unless the Menil calls or something crazy happens.”

    -----

    Diamonds That Fall will be on display through Saturday, July 26.

    Robert Leroy Hodge Sanman Studios
      

    Courtesy of Robert Leroy Hodge/SANMAN Studios

    The exhibit shows a range of the artist's works.

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