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Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is an American opera company located in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1955 by German-born impresario 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. This theatre is also home to the Houston Ballet. 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 and Houstonians Elva Lobit, Edward Bing, and Charles Cockrell founded the company. Its inaugural season featured two performances of two operas, ''Salome'' (starring Brenda Lewis in the title role) and ''Madama Butterfly''. David Gockl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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] [Amazon] |
Tamara Wilson
Tamara Wilson (born c. 1982) 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 graduated from Waubonsie Valley High School in 1999. Wilson earned a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from the University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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 along ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
John Adams (composer)
John Coolidge Adams (born February 15, 1947) is an American composer and conductor. Among the most regularly performed composers of contemporary classical music, he is particularly noted for his operas, many of which center around 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 and was exposed to classical music, jazz, musical theatre, and rock music. He attended Harvard University, studying with Leon Kirchner, Roger Sessions, and David Del Tredici, among others. His earliest work was aligned with modernist music, but 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 a minimalist aesthetic first fully realized in '' Phrygian Gates'' (1977) and later in the string septet '' Shaker Loops''. Adams ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
1900 Galveston Hurricane
The 1900 Galveston hurricane, also known as the Great Galveston hurricane and the Galveston Flood, and known regionally as the Great Storm of 1900 or the 1900 Storm, was a deadly and catastrophic Atlantic hurricane which became the List of disasters in the United States by death toll, deadliest natural disaster in History of the United States, United States history. The strongest tropical cyclone, storm of the 1900 Atlantic hurricane season, it left between 6,000 and 12,000 fatalities in the United States; the number most cited in official reports is 8,000. Most of these deaths occurred in and near Galveston, Texas, Galveston, Texas, after the storm surge Flood, inundated the coastline and Galveston Island, the island city with 8 to 12 ft (2.4 to 3.7 m) of water. As of 2025, it remains the fourth deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record, behind Hurricane Fifi–Orlene, Hurricane Fifi of 1974. In addition to the number killed, the storm destroyed about 7,000 bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Hurricane Ike
Hurricane Ike () was a powerful tropical cyclone that swept through portions of the Greater Antilles and Northern America in September 2008, wreaking havoc on infrastructure and agriculture, particularly in Cuba and Texas. Ike took a similar track to the 1900 Galveston hurricane. The ninth tropical storm, fifth hurricane, and third major hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, Ike developed from a tropical wave west of Cape Verde on September 1 and strengthened to a peak intensity as a List of Category 4 Atlantic hurricanes, Category 4 hurricane over the open waters of the central Atlantic on September 4 as it tracked westward. Several fluctuations in strength occurred before Ike made landfall (meteorology), landfall on eastern Cuba on September 8. The hurricane weakened prior to continuing into the Gulf of Mexico, but increased its intensity by the time of its final landfall in Galveston, Texas, on September 13 before becoming an ext ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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. Lowe 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 a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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. He has taken part in the Bayreuth Festival The Bayreuth Festival () is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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] [Amazon] |
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 Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is an American opera company located in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1955 by German-born impresario Walter Herbert and three local Houstonians,Giesberg, Robert I., Carl Cunningham, and Alan Rich. ''Houston Grand Opera at .... 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, Houston, Texas. Life and career Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Grimsley is a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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'', O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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 Studi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
