curtain down; screens on

Houston Grand Opera announces cancelation of 2020-2021 live performances

Houston Grand Opera is moving to digital productions for the foreseeable future.

Photo by Tristram Kenton

The global pandemic has forced a beloved local arts organization to lower the curtain. Houston Grand Opera has announced that it will cancel the remaining mainstage productions for the 2020-2021 season.

The company will resume live, in-person performances in the fall of 2021, according to a press release.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) had initially canceled all productions until spring of 2021. Plans included live premieres of Missy Mazzoli, Royce Vavrek’s Breaking the Waves, and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music. The two productions would have closed the 2020–21 season in May 2021. Alternative programming for these productions will be announced later this year, per HGO.

Instead, the opera will pivot to virtual offerings by extending HGO Digital, the Sarah and Ernest Butler Performance Series, season through June 2021 and expand the roster of artistic offerings planned.

Additions to the HGO Digital season include a filmed version of HGO world premiere song cycle, Jake Heggie and Joshua Hopkins’s Songs for Murdered Sisters with text by renowned author Margaret Atwood; new Live from The Cullen recitals, including a special evening with beloved soprano, HGO Studio alumna, and Houston favorite Nicole Heaston; and a digital presentation of HGO’s 68th world premiere, Marian’s Song, which follows the life and success of barrier-breaking entertainer Marian Anderson, per HGO.

Here is the updated lineup of HGO Digital recitals and productions for 2020–21:

Live from The Cullen: Arturo Chacón Cruz and Kirill Kuzmin – November 13
Double Bill: Bon Appétit and The Impresario – November 27
The Snowy Day Project – December 10
HGO Studio Holiday Celebration – December 18
Live from The Cullen: Sasha Cooke and Kirill Kuzmin – January 8, 2021
Giving Voice – January 22, 2021
33rd Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers “Concert of Arias” Livestream – February 5, 2021
Margaret Atwood, Jake Heggie, and Joshua Hopkins’s Songs for Murdered Sisters – February 19, 2021
Live from The Cullen: Jack Swanson and Richard Bado – March 12, 2021
Suite Española – March 26, 2021
Live from The Cullen: Nicole Heaston and Richard Bado – April 9, 2021
Hansel and Gretel – May 28, 2021
Marian’s Song – June 19, 2021

“We of course want to return to live opera on the mainstage as soon as possible,” says HGO managing director Perryn Leech, in a statement. “But we must continue to prioritize safety above all else. We are taking every advantage of this opportunity to flex our creative muscles in novel ways. We are very proud of the work and collaboration that have gone into producing HGO Digital and look forward to bringing more digital work to life.”

opera

a 14 minute tour

Museum of Fine Arts takes Houston to Paris cathedral with new virtual tour

Still image of digital rendering of Notre- Dame Cathedral, Ars Electronica.

Museum of Fine Arts courtesy image.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston opens “Notre-Dame Immersive Experience.” (Still image of digital rendering of Notre- Dame Cathedral, Ars Electronica.)

Lovers of art and architecture around the world mourned when a 2019 fire destroyed significant portions of the exterior and interior of Notre-Dame Cathedral, one of the most beloved landmarks in all of France. After five years of intense rebuilding and repair, Notre-Dame is set to open again this December. For those who can’t make it to the reopening, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston has a very special virtual trip planned this holiday season with their just announced monumental installation, the “Notre-Dame Immersive Experience.”

Set within the MFAH’s vast Cullinan Hall, this animated, 14-minute, immersive presentation will surround visitors with images of Notre-Dame, simulating the experience of walking through the medieval cathedral. Viewers will go on a virtual journey from the outside of Notre-Dame as day turns to dusk, then move into the candle-lite interiors and stained-glass windows. The immersive video will also replicate the fire and its aftermath before revealing the cathedral’s newly reconstructed spire, topped with a cross and a golden rooster, a national emblem of France and a symbol of Christianity.

“It is difficult to exaggerate the role Notre-Dame plays in the public imagination, from its iconic architecture, emblematic of the Northern Gothic style, to its magnificent stained-glass rose windows,” Museum of Fine Arts, Houston director Gary Tinterow said in a statement. “When fire erupted five years ago, millions of people around the world grieved the loss of a monument that had personal significance to each of them. Happily, the cathedral has been restored, and now Houstonians will be among the first to experience the reconstructed building that rose from the ashes.”

“Notre-Dame Immersive Experience” was created by Ars Electronica Futurelab, in partnership with French start-ups Iconem and Histovery. To create a virtual 3D model of Notre-Dame, the installation uses point cloud data compiled by the late Belgian art historian and Vassar College professor Andrew Tallon, who created 3D laser scans of the cathedral in 2010 that proved instrumental in guiding the reconstruction of the cathedral as well as additional scans and 3D material by Histovery.

Over the years, we’ve come to expect perception-defying immersive artworks from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston every summer, but this “Notre-Dame Immersive Experience” November surprise looks to be a perfect place to take any visiting art, history, or Francophile friends and family for the holidays.

The "Notre-Dame Immersive Experience" will be on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston from November 23, 2024, through January 5, 2025.

Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston opens “Notre-Dame Immersive Experience.”

museum of fine arts houston museums notredame cathedral