Houston Grand Opera has named Astley Blair to the position of Chairperson of the Board of Directors. He started his tenure on August 1, 2025, and it runs through August 1, 2027. Blair has been a subscriber of the company for more than two decades and joined the Board of Directors in 2004. Blair chaired the Audit Committee and also {…}
(Credit: Katy Anderson) Houston Grand Opera has announced a new partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), uniting the newly launched Houston Grand Opera label with pioneering label LSO Live. The partnership, which marks LSO Live’s first-ever collaboration with a U.S. opera company, represents an opportunity for HGO to share American operatic works with a broad international audience. In a {…}
Houston Grand Opera has announced its 2025-26 season, titled “The Light We Hold.” The season opens with “Porgy and Bess” in a production by Francesca Zambello and starring Michael Sumuel, Angel Blue, Latonia Moore, Blake Denson, and Demetrious Sampson Jr. James Gaffigan conducts. Performance Dates: Oct. 24 – Nov. 15, 2025 Corinne Winters headlines “Il Trittico,” taking on roles in each {…}
Houston Grand Opera has announced its 2025-26 Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio Artists. Among the first-year artists are tenor Luka Tsevelidze, who secured second place at HGO’s 2025 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias, and baritone Geonho Lee, who claimed both first place and the Audience Choice award. Pianist and coach Tzu Kuang Tan also joins the {…}
Houston Grand Opera has announced that it will present the world premiere of Joel Thompson’s “A Voice Within” on June 17, 2025, at the Emancipation Park Conservancy Cultural Center. The song cycle will feature words by librettist and poet Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton inspired by the lives of residents of Houston’s Third Ward. The showcase will be presented in collaboration with {…}
The Houston Grand Opera has announced a cast change for its Feb. 5 performance of “West Side Story.” The company noted that soprano Teresa Castillo will be stepping in to replace an indisposed colleague and perform the role of Maria in Bernstein’s West Side Story.” It will mark her company debut. Castillo has performed at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, {…}
(Photo credit: Maritere Rice) Diversity initiatives might be coming to an end in the United States’ Federal government and discrimination seems to be okay again, per the U.S. President’s latest decrees, but several opera companies are moving forward with progress regardless. The latest example comes from the Houston Grand Opera which announced on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, that it was {…}
(Photo credit: Michael Bishop) Geonho Lee has been crowned the winner of the Houston Grand Opera’s 2025 Concert of Arias. The South Korean baritone, a current student at thhe University of Music and Theatre Munich, took home the $25,000 cash prize during the final event of the 37th Annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers on Jan. 17, 2025. Lee {…}
And then there were seven. Houston Grand Opera has revealed the finalists for its Concert of Arias 2025 for the 37th iteration of the Annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers. The finalists include: Lauren Carroll, soprano Daria Lupu, soprano Alexis Seminario, soprano Meg Brilleslyper, mezzo-soprano Luke Norvell, tenor Luka Tsevelidze, tenor Geonho Lee, baritone The finalists will perform for a {…}
Houston Grand Opera has announced a new partnership with the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. The new partnership will foster cultural exchange and collaboration between the two internationally recognized opera houses. The partnership will launch on Jan. 26, 2025 at the Liceu’s 62nd Tenor Viñas International Singing Competition. There, thanks to the generosity of the Torras Foundation and Ignacio and {…}
This year’s “Concert of Arias” at the Houston Grand Opera will feature a historic first. The event, scheduled for Jan. 17, 2025, will feature the first time that the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra performs in the event in its 37-year history. James Gaffigan will conduct the performance. Previous editions only featured a piano accompaniment. “The ‘Concert of Arias’ is a {…}
