HGO's new season

Houston Grand Opera shines a light on classic works for 2025-26 season

Classic works and contemporary stories highlight Houston Grand Opera’s 2025-2026 season. The theme of the season is The Light We Hold.

“We chose the theme of HGO’s 2025-26 season — the light we hold — not only to honor the light we hold for our art form, and the great composers and storytellers through the centuries, but for all the artists and creatives who bring light into our world,” HGO general director and CEO Khori Dastoor said in a statement.

The season opens with the George Gershwin American classic, Porgy and Bess, running from October 24 to November 7. Bass-baritone Michael Sumuel and soprano Angel Blue lead the company as the title characters in this story set in the Jim Crow South. It follows disabled beggar Porgy and Bess, a woman struggling with addiction, as they fall in love. James Gaffigan conducts. The production is from Washington National Opera and directed by Francesco Zambello. HGO first presented the opera 50 years ago in a landmark production that went on to Broadway and earned HGO both a Tony and a Grammy. Select tickets to the opera are on sale now.

From October 30 to November 4 is Puccini’s Il Trittico, the company’s first-ever full presentation of the opera, a triptych of one-act operas. Il tabarro is the tragic tale of a barge captain, his young wife, and her lover, set on the Seine. Also part of the production are Suor Angelica, about a nun with a haunted past, and Gianni Schicchi, the tale of a cunning conman who turns a family’s greed into a delightful farce. Houston favorites mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, bass-baritone Ryan McKinny, and tenor Arturo Chacón-Cruz all appear in the production. Patrick Summers, HGO’s artistic and music director, who will step down in May, 2026, conducts.

Kevin Puts and librettist Mark Campbell’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2011 opera Silent Night, inspired by the 2005 film Joyeux Noël opens the new year, running January 23 to February 28, 2026. It tells the real-life story of a Christmas truce of 1914 during World War I, when one soldier’s defiant caroling sparks a ceasefire. James Robinson directs this trilingual production with a lead cast that includes tenor Duke Kim as German opera singer/soldier Nikolaus Sprink with soprano Sylvia D’Eramo as his diva lover, Anna Sørensen, joined by bass-baritone Ryan McKinny, baritone Iurii Samoilov, and baritone Thomas Glass as the story’s three lieutenants. Dynamic young conductor Kensho Watanabe makes his company debut at the podium.

From January 30 to February 15, 2026, Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel returns to the HGO stage. Adapted from the Brothers Grimm tale of two children who encounter an enchanted candy cottage in the woods, it features a whimsical score full of German nursery songs that was created in association with London’s Royal Ballet and Opera and San Francisco Opera. The opera stars mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke as Hansel and soprano Mané Galoyan as Gretel leading a stellar cast. Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton makes a star turn as the Witch. Andreas Ottensamer, artistic director of the Bürgenstock Festival in Switzerland, makes his HGO debut as conductor.

Director Robert Wilson’s mesmerizing vision of the beloved Messiah, composed by Handel and arranged by Mozart, is on stage from April 17 to May 3, 2026. It’s the first time this production will be seen in the United States. A meditation on Jesus’s role as the Christian messiah, originally conceived for concert halls, the show will be transformed into a theatrical spectacle reminiscent of Disney’s Fantasia. Patrick Summers conducts.

The season closes with a fan favorite, Rossini’s uproarious masterpiece The Barber of Seville, onstage from April 24 to May 10, 2026. A co-production of the Canadian Opera Company, Opéra National de Bordeaux, and Opera Australia, this delightful staging is the creation of director Joan Font, returning to Houston following the triumph of his acclaimed Cinderella. Baritone Will Liverman makes his HGO debut as the charming barber Figaro, tenor Jack Swanson is Count Almaviva, and mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack makes her company debut as the mysterious beauty Rosina. Gemma New, principal conductor of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, makes her company debut at the podium.

In addition to the mainstage season, the company presents a series of additional programming. HGO’s annual Concert of Arias, the live final round of the Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers, is on February 6, 2026. A small group of talented emerging artists performs, accompanied by the renowned HGO Orchestra.

February 14, 2026 is the second annual Family Day, where the opera company will present a 90-minute, English-language, relaxed-environment performance of Hansel and Gretel.

The acclaimed Butler Studio for Young Artists presents a fully staged production of composer Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men on March 13 and 15, 2026. It’s based on the classic novel by John Steinbeck and the production celebrates the centennial of the composer’s birth.

HGO offers a variety of ticket offerings, from flexible three-opera packages to the full six-opera season, with full subscriptions starting at $90. Subscriptions are now available at HGO.org. Single tickets to the November 9, 11, 13, and 15 performances of Porgy and Bess are also available now.

Photo by KarliCadel, courtesy Houston Grand Opera

Gershwin's classic American opera Porgy and Bess is part of Houston Grand Opera's 2025-2026 season.

Get inspired

Noted Houston street artist paints vibrant new mural at downtown venue

Photo courtesy of Hobby Center for the Performing Arts

GONZO247 poses in front of his new mural, "Houston is Inspired" inside Hobby Center

Visitors to the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts can now see an incredible new mural by one of Houston's most iconic street artists.Mario Enrique Figueroa, Jr., known as Gonzo247, debuted his piece, "Houston is Inspired" on Friday, December 12.

“This piece is all about capturing the energy that makes Houston, Houston," said the artist in a statement. "It’s that raw, vibrant hustle — the music, the culture, the stories we’ve been telling for generations. I wanted to create something that pulls people in, gets them hyped for what they’re about to experience. Every color, every shape, every detail is telling a story, a vibe. This ain’t just a mural or a piece of art — it’s a journey. It's about the grind, the growth, and the inspiration we pass on to each other, on and off the stage.”

The piece is called "Houston is Inspired," after the program at Hobby meant to showcase local performers by offering them week-long residencies on a prestigious stage. This season includes CJ Emmons's one-man comedy musical show I'm Freaking Talented; a rhythmic interactive storytelling experience called Our Road Home by Jakari Sherman; and Lavanya Rajagopalan's combination of music, dance and verse, Kāvya: Poetry in Motion. Information about all three shows, including ticket prices and availability, can be found at TheHobbyCenter.org.

The last show (debuting May 1) was a particular inspiration to Gonzo247. Viewers may notice a pair of hands in a traditional Indian dance pose, a direct reference to Rajagopalan's show.

The Houston is Inspired program was launched launched in the 2023-2024 season. In addition to the residency in Zilkha Hall, artists are given a $20,000 stipend for production and marketing costs. It is now a permanent fixture of the Hobby season. Applicants for future seasons can submit here.

Known for his original "Houston is Inspired" mural in downtown's Market Square, Gonzo247 has been an active force in Houston art for 30 years, including producing the video series Aerosol Warfare about the street art scene in the 1990s and 2000s as well as founding the Graffiti and Street Art Museum. He also served as the artist liaison for Meow Wolf's Houston installation. If anyone's visual vision is perfect to welcome audience members to shows highlighting homegrown talent, it's him.

“Art’s all about telling stories, but it ain’t just what you see — it’s what you feel," he said. "This piece speaks to the heart of everything we’re about: culture, rhythm, struggle, and triumph. When you walk into the space, you gotta feel the anticipation, the energy building up. That’s what I wanted to capture — the vibe of the whole city, the passion in the work, and that next-level hunger to rise up and create something fresh. It’s like the beat drops, and everything just connects.”

visual-art downtown mural gonzo247