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Houston Opera
Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is an American opera company located in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1955 by German-born impresario Walter Herbert (conductor), Walter Herbert and three local Houstonians,Giesberg, Robert I., Carl Cunningham, and Alan Rich. ''Houston Grand Opera at 50.'' Houston: Herring Press, 2005, p. 83. the company is resident at the Wortham Theater Center. In its history, the company has received a Tony Award, two Grammy Awards, and three Emmy Awards, the only opera company in the world to win these three honours. Houston Grand Opera is supported by an active auxiliary organization, the Houston Grand Opera Guild, established in October 1955. __TOC__ History In 1955, the German-born impresario Walter Herbert (conductor), Walter Herbert and Houstonians Elva Lobit, Edward Bing, and Charles Cockrell founded the company. Its inaugural season featured two performances of two operas, Salome (opera), ''Salome'' (starring Brenda Lewis in the title role) and ''Madama Butterf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wortham Center
Wortham Center may refer to: * Wortham Theater Center The Wortham Theater Center is a performing arts center located in downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The Wortham Theater Center, designed by Eugene Aubry of Morris Architects, was built out of private funds totaling over $66 Million. The ..., a performing arts center in Houston, Texas * Wortham Center for the Performing Arts, a performing arts center in Asheville, North Carolina {{disambiguation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamara Wilson
Tamara Wilson is an American operatic soprano who has had an active international opera career since 2007. She has performed leading roles at the Canadian Opera Company, the English National Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, the Liceu, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Sydney Opera House among others. She is particularly known for her performances of heroines in the operas of Giuseppe Verdi. In 2016 she was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera and was awarded the Richard Tucker Award, an award described by '' Opera News'' as "one of the most prestigious prizes in opera". Early life and education Born in Arizona, Wilson grew up in the Chicago area. Her mother is a retired choir director and accompanist and her father has a career in the railroad industry. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from the University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music in 2004 where she was a pupil of soprano Barbara Honn. That sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Passenger (opera)
''The Passenger'' (russian: Пассажирка, Passazhirka) is a 1968 opera by Mieczysław Weinberg to a Russian libretto by . Medvedev's libretto is based on the 1959 Polish radio play ''Pasażerka z kabiny 45'' (Passenger from Cabin Number 45) by concentration-camp survivor Zofia Posmysz. The opera, scheduled for the Bolshoi Theatre in 1968, was not premiered until 2006, when musicians of the Stanislavsky Theatre presented a semi-staging conducted by Wolf Gorelik in the Svetlanov Hall of the Moscow International House of Music on 25 December. Medvedev's libretto was reworked in 2010 for the first staged performance of the opera at the Bregenzer Festspiele into German, English, Polish, Yiddish, French, Russian and Czech. It has then been performed internationally. History Mieczysław Weinberg composed ''The Passenger'' in 1968 to a Russian libretto by .(russian: Пассажирка, Passazhirka) Medvedev's libretto is based on the 1959 Polish radio play ''Pasażerka z k ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nixon In China
''Nixon in China'' is an opera in three acts by John Adams with a libretto by Alice Goodman. Adams's first opera, it was inspired by U.S. president Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to the People's Republic of China. The work premiered at the Houston Grand Opera on October 22, 1987, in a production by Peter Sellars with choreography by Mark Morris. When Sellars approached Adams with the idea for the opera in 1983, Adams was initially reluctant, but eventually decided that the work could be a study in how myths come to be, and accepted the project. Goodman's libretto was the result of considerable research into Nixon's visit, though she disregarded most sources published after the 1972 trip. To create the sounds he sought, Adams augmented the orchestra with a large saxophone section, additional percussion, and electronic synthesizer. Although sometimes described as minimalist, the score displays a variety of musical styles, embracing minimalism after the manner of Philip Glass alongside ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Adams (composer)
John Coolidge Adams (born February 15, 1947) is an American composer and conductor whose music is rooted in minimalism. Among the most regularly performed composers of contemporary classical music, he is particularly noted for his operas, which are often centered around recent historical events. Apart from opera, his ''oeuvre'' includes orchestral, concertante, vocal, choral, chamber, electroacoustic and piano music. Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Adams grew up in a musical family, being regularly exposed to classical music, jazz, musical theatre and rock music. He attended Harvard University, studying with Kirchner, Sessions and Del Tredici among others. Though his earliest work was aligned with modernist music, he began to disagree with its tenets upon reading John Cage's '' Silence: Lectures and Writings''. Teaching at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Adams developed his own minimalist aesthetic, which was first fully realized in ''Phrygian Gates'' (1977) a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Melear
Eric Melear is an American Associate Conductor and Assistant Chorus Master who became known for conducting a play called ''Alcina'' which opened at the Wolf Trap Barns in 2008. In 1995 he graduated from the Luther College where he mastered in music as well as mathematics. As of 2003 he works as a conductor at the Wolf Trap Opera Company and is an associate music director at the Houston Grand Opera in Houston, Texas. Prior to joining those companies he worked for Hal Leonard as freelance pianist as well as an economist in marketing department at Florentine Opera where he also got his master's degree. After completion of his courses he left Vienna, Virginia and went to Vienna, Austria where he became a répétiteur at the Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Lowe (conductor)
James Lowe is an orchestra conductor and current Music Director of the Spokane Symphony in Spokane, WA beginning in the 2019-2020 season. He assumed his role of Chief Conductor of thPrussian Chamber Orchestrafor the 2015/16 season. His work as Artistic Director of the Hallé Harmony Youth Orchestra was featured in a four-part documentary shown in the UK on Channel 4 in 2010. A recipient of the Bernard Haitink Fund for Young Talent, Lowe is Principal Conductor of the Edinburgh Contemporary Music Ensemble, Principal Guest Conductor of Music for Everyone, Orchestras Advisor and conductor of the Senior Orchestra of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and held the position of Associate Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. James is also Artistic Advisor of the Nottingham Youth Orchestra, with whom he began his orchestral career. Early life Lowe was born in Nottingham. His first venture into the world of music was the study of the viola. He began viola lessons age ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Halfvarson
Eric Halfvarson (born December 1, 1951 in Aurora, Illinois) is an American operatic bass. He made his professional debut in 1973 with the Lake George Opera (now the Opera Saratoga) as Don Basilio in Rossini's ''The Barber of Seville''. Since then he has specialized in the repertoire for the basso profundo, singing such roles as the Grand Inquisitor in Verdi's ''Don Carlos'', Sarastro in Mozart's ''The Magic Flute'', Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss and Wagner's König Heinrich in ''Lohengrin'', Hagen in ''Götterdämmerung'' and Hunding in ''Die Walküre'', as well as Claggart in Britten's '' Billy Budd''. He has sung in many theaters including the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, the Royal Opera House in London, La Fenice in Venice, La Scala in Milan, the Wiener Staatsoper and Deutsche Oper Berlin The Deutsche Oper Berlin is a German opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The resident building is the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Owens (bass-baritone)
Eric Owens (born July 11, 1970) is an American operatic bass-baritone. He has performed both in new works and reinterpreted classic repertoire. In 1996 he won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Life and career Born in Philadelphia, Owens began studying the piano at the age of 6 at the Settlement Music School. In junior high school his interest shifted to the oboe and he began studying the oboe at the Settlement Music School with English-horn player Louis Rosenblatt of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He later continued his oboe studies with Laura Ahlbeck, a second oboe in the Metropolitan Opera orchestra, while attending Central High School in Philadelphia. During his senior year at Central High, he entered the pre-college program at Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance where he began studying singing seriously with George Massey. He matriculated to Temple as a Freshman in 1989 and earned a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the school in 1993 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greer Grimsley
Greer Grimsley (born May 30, 1956) is an American bass-baritone who has had an active international opera career for the last three decades. He has sung leading roles with all of America's leading opera companies, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Seattle Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona, and the Houston Grand Opera. He has also performed on the stages of many important European opera houses. Since 1987 he has been married to mezzo-soprano Luretta Bybee. From January 1983 to December 1985, he was married to the former Virginia Hancock. The couple married and divorced in Houston, Texas. Life and career Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Grimsley is a graduate of Brother Martin High School. He studied voice at Loyola University New Orleans and at the Juilliard School in New York City. He made his professional opera debut in 1980 at the Houston Grand Opera as one of the Armed Men in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's ''Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruce Ford (tenor)
Bruce Ford (born August 15, 1956) is an American operatic tenor, particularly associated with Mozart roles and the bel canto repertory. Ford was born in Lubbock, Texas, and studied at Texas Tech University, the University of Texas, and later as a member of the Houston Grand Opera StudioHGO Studio Alumnilink) in Houston, where he created Philip Glass's ''The Madrigal Opera'' in 1981. He left for Europe, where he made his official operatic debut in Wuppertal in 1983, as Belmonte and Tamino, then in Mannheim in 1985, as Ferrando and Don Ramiro. In 1985, he also appeareared at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux as Almaviva, and the Aix-en-Provence Festival, as Lindoro. He began specializing in the bel canto repertory notably Rossini, appearing at the Pesaro Festival and the Wexford Festival in roles such as Argirio in ''Tancredi'', Uberto in ''La donna del lago'', Rinaldo in ''Armida'', Agorante in ''Ricciardo e Zoraide'', Antenore in ''Zelmira'', Erisso in ''Maometto II'', Or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Susanne Mentzer
Susanne Mentzer (born January 21, 1957) is an American operatic mezzo-soprano. She is best known for singing trouser roles, such as Cherubino in Mozart's ''Le nozze di Figaro'', Idamante in Mozart's ''Idomeneo'', Octavian in Richard Strauss' ''Der Rosenkavalier'' and the composer in Strauss' ''Ariadne auf Naxos'', as well as other music of Mozart, Strauss, Rossini, Berlioz and Mahler. She created the role of the mother of Yueyang in Tan Dun's opera ''The First Emperor'' at the Metropolitan Opera on December 21, 2006. She has also premiered works by Libby Larsen, Daniel Brewbaker and Carlisle Floyd. Biography Mentzer was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and raised in Maryland and New Mexico. She was first introduced to opera as a teenager, when she worked as an usher at the Santa Fe Opera. She studied music therapy at the University of the Pacific and received her bachelor's and master's degrees at the Juilliard School. She later participated in the Houston Grand Opera Studio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
