the love songs of HGO

Houston Grand Opera performs West Side Story and 5 other romances for 2024-25

Houston Grand Opera's 2024-2025 season lights up the Wortham Theater Center stage with drama and passion. The six-opera series blends audience favorites and new productions in a season that "explores the most profoundly human of emotions, in all its myriad forms: romantic love," said HGO General Director Khori Dastoor.

The season opens October 18, 2024 with the debut of an original, new HGO-commissioned production of Verdi’s Il trovatore from industry-leading director Stephen Wadsworth. Sung in Italian with projected English translations, it's set in contemporary Spain, where the royalist Count di Luna and the revolutionary leader Manrico love the same woman, Leonora. As the men face off, they become ensnared in a larger web of lies, murder, and revenge. Superstar soprano Ailyn Pérez, fresh from HGO's Madame Butterfly, performs the role of Leonora opposite virtuoso baritenor Michael Spyres as Manrico, with baritone Lucas Meachem as Count di Luna. HGO Artistic Director Patrick Summers conducts. The opera runs until November 3.

The characters of Tony and Maria on a fire escape in a production of West Side Story.

Photo by Lynn Lane

The enduring West Side Story is part of HGO's 2024-2025 season.

Rossini’s frothy delight, Cinderella, opens October 25. Directed by Joan Font, the production, first seen in HGO's 2006-2007 season, features eye-poppingly colorful sets and costumes by Joan Guillén. In this version, Cinderella, renamed Angelina, is a sweet young beauty who finds love with a prince. Leading the vocally challenging bel canto opera is world-famous mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, who Houston audiences can see as Maria in this season's upcoming The Sound of Music, as Angelina, with baritone Alessandro Corbelli, a revered Rossini specialist, as Don Magnifico. With a sparkling score and some hilarious, scene-stealing rats, it's an opera that should delight all ages. Lorenzo Passerini, making his company debut, conducts. There's a special HGO Family Day performance on November 9, a 90-minute version of the opera, perfect for young guests and featuring kid-friendly lobby activities. The performance is the first of this new initiative for the opera company. Cinderella runs until November 9.

Kicking off the new year is Puccini’s heart-wrenching La bohème, in a revival co-production from HGO, Canadian Opera Company, and San Francisco Opera, created by Tony Award-winning director John Caird. The beloved opera is the story of a group of friends and lovers navigating their artistic endeavors and passionate relationships against the backdrop of belle époque Paris. Soprano Yaritza Veliz makes her HGO debut in the role that has garnered her international acclaim — that of the fragile Mimì — opposite Grammy Award-winning lyric tenor Joshua Guerrero as her Rodolfo. Baritone Edward Parks, also a Grammy winner, performs the role of the painter Marcello with Juliana Grigoryan, an electrifying new star who recently took top honors at Operalia, as his lover Musetta. Another Grammy winner, the celebrated conductor Karen Kamensek, takes the HGO podium to conduct Puccini’s unforgettable score. The production runs January 24 to February 14, 2025.

Another beloved story of star-crossed lovers, West Side Story, runs in repertory with La bohème. The musical theater masterpiece, composed by Leonard Bernstein, with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, choreography by Jerome Robbins, and book by Arthur Laurents, opens January 31. A modern take on Romeo and Juliet set in New York City in the 1950s, it's the story of Tony, a member of the Jets, who falls for Maria, a young Puerto Rican immigrant whose brother Bernardo is the leader of their rivals, the Sharks. It's filled with some of Broadway's best-loved songs, including "Tonight" and "America." Last seen in 2018, when HGO was displaced from its Wortham Theater Center home by Hurricane Harvey, this rendition is an opportunity for audiences to experience the production, co-produced by HGO, Glimmerglass Festival, and Lyric Opera of Chicago, and directed by by the legendary Francesca Zambello, in all its romantic, tragic glory. Soprano Shereen Pimentel makes her HGO debut as Maria. Tenor Brenton Ryan sings Tony. Broadway's Kyle Coffman, who also appeared in Steven Spielberg’s 2021 film version, makes his company debut as Riff, leader of the Jets. Internationally acclaimed conductor Roberto Kalb takes the podium in his HGO debut. The production runs January 31 to February 15, 2025.

Breaking the Waves, the critically acclaimed contemporary opera from sought-after composer-and-librettist team Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek, makes it Houston debut, opening April 19. Set in strict, Calvinist 1970s Scotland, its the story of the impressionable young Bess and offshore oil rigger Jan. After they marry, Bess embarks on a journey of sexual exploration that, following a series of shocking events, ends in tragedy. Soprano Lauren Snouffer returns to the HGO stage to sing Bess. HGO Studio alumnus and charismatic bass-baritone Ryan McKinny is Jan. Sara Brodie directs and Summers conducts. The production runs until May 2, 2025.

Closing the season is a new staging of Wagner’s Tannhäuser from internationally acclaimed director Francesca Zambello. HGO audiences will be the first to see this new adaption, a co-production from HGO and Washington National Opera. Tenor Russell Thomas, an acclaimed Wagnerian, seen in HGO's Parsifal this season, performs the role of Tannhäuser, a poet struggling between the forces of lust and love. World-famous soprano and HGO Studio alumna Tamara Wilson portrays his spiritual love, the pure Elisabeth, with mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke as the tempting goddess Venus. Erik Nielsen, acclaimed music director of Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, makes his company debut at the podium. The opera runs April 25 to May 11.

Other season highlights that are not part of the main stage series include the popular Concert of Arias and Giving Voice. Concert of Arias, the live final round of the Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers, features a small group of talented young artists selected following an extensive international search. In 2025, for the first time in company history, the singers performing in the concert will be accompanied by the HGO Orchestra. The performance is January 17. Subscribers receive first access to tickets. The sixth annual Giving Voice, an adored company tradition created by renowned tenor Lawrence Brownlee, showcases the monumental artistry and historic contributions made by Black artists in opera and song. Subscribers receive premier access to register. The date is still TBD.

Season subscriptions are available now. For information see houstongrandopera.org.

miller outdoor theatre improved

Hermann Park's always-free theater breaks ground on new Gateway Plaza

Miller Outdoor Theatre Gateway Plaza rendering

Courtesy of DLR Group with landscape design by Michael Van Valkenburg Associates (MVVA)

Theatre visitors will see this new sign at the plaza's entrance.

One of Houston’s most enduring, family-friendly attractions is getting some upgrades. When audiences return to Miller Outdoor Theatre next summer, they’ll be welcomed by a new plaza and other improvements.

The Miller Theatre Advisory Board (MTAB) officially broke ground on the new Gateway Plaza last week. It marked the occasion with a ceremony attended by Houston Mayor John Whitmire, park board representatives, and other officials.

Designed to improve accessibility and the overall visitor experience, the Gateway Plaza will feature new walkways that will both connected the theater to the rest of Hermann Park and improve drainage at the site. Three new shade structures will replicate the theater’s distinctive, A-frame design. In addition, the “Dining Bosque,” a popular area for pre-show meals, will have its picnic tables refreshed, among other improvements.

“We’re thrilled to have broken ground on the Gateway Plaza Project,” MTAB managing director Claudia de Vasco said in a statement. “It’s a fitting start to Miller’s next century — an investment in spaces that reflect who we are as both an iconic arts venue and a welcoming public gathering place, inviting everyone to experience the performances and memories that make Miller so special.”

Located on 7.5 acres within Hermann Park, Miller Outdoor Theatre provides eight months per year of free programming in genres such as classical music, jazz, Shakespeare, classic movies, and more — all funded by the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance. It has seating for approximately 1,700 people as well as a spacious lawn that can hold another 4,500. Currently, the facility is closed for construction but is scheduled to reopen in the summer of 2026.

“Miller Outdoor Theatre is a special gathering place for the people of Houston,” added Mayor Whitmire. “I am excited about the Gateway Plaza Project because these improvements will ensure that Miller Outdoor Theatre continues to serve the community for generations to come.”