The Houston Grand Opera Presents the American Premiere of THE PASSENGER, 1/18

Houston, October 31, 2013 -- In January 2014, Houston Grand Opera (HGO) presents the American premiere of The Passenger(1968), a powerful opera exploring the Holocaust by exiled Polish-Jewish composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg. Reinforcing the immense significance of this historic event, HGOco-Houston Grand Opera's community collaboration and education initiative-will present a series of concerts and films throughout the city, focused on remembrance of the past and prominent themes explored in the gripping story of genocide. HGOco partners with the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center, Holocaust Museum Houston, and the Asia Society Texas Center to produce several concerts and films, inviting audiences to explore the connection from past to present through music, community conversation, and art.

Lead support of The Passenger has been generously provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Amanda and Morris Gelb; Joan and Stanford Alexander/Ann and Stephen Kaufman/Paula and Irving Pozmantier/The Warren Family; Bill and Sara Morgan; Vinson & Elkins LLP; Anadarko Petroleum Corporation; Joyce Z. Greenberg; Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation; The Stein Family; Allen Becker; Martin Fein and Kelli Cohen Fein; Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau; Greater Houston Partnership; Houston First; Beth Madison; Lila Rauch; Glen Rosenbaum; Bobbi and Vic Samuels; and Rhonda and Donald Sweeney.

HGO Opera: Mieczyslaw Weinberg's The Passenger

When: January 18, 22, 25, 31 at 7:30 p.m. and February 2 at 2:00 p.m.

What: Houston Grand Opera will present the American premiere of The Passenger by Polish-born composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg under the direction of the award-winning British director David Pountney. The horrors of the Second World War were still fresh in 1959 when Auschwitz survivor Zofia Posmysz wrote a play titled Passenger from Cabin 45 for Polish radio. The play became the basis of Mieczyslaw Weinberg's 1968 opera. The Passenger is set in the late 1950s and it depicts a German couple, Liese and Walter, on board an ocean liner where Liese, a former SS officer, is unnerved by the sight of another passenger who eerily resembles one of the inmates she tormented at Auschwitz. Sung in English.

Where: Brown Theater, Wortham Theater Center

Tickets: Available through the HGO Box Office. Please visit www.houstongrandopera.org or call 713-228-OPERA (6737).

HGOco CONCERT SERIES

Concert: Kristallnacht - 75th Commemoration

When: Sunday, November 10, 2013, 6:30 p.m.

What: This concert will mark the seventy-fifth commemoration of Kristallnacht, the "night of broken glass," focusing on global headlines and first-person accounts of the tragic historical event. The program features the premiere of a new work by HGO Studio alum and composer David Hanlon (Past the Checkpoints, 2013), based on the story of his grandfather, one of the thousands of Jewish people rounded up on Kristallnacht and sent to Dachau. The concert will be performed with members of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra and other Houston artists.

Where: Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston during the Ann and Stephen Kaufman Jewish Book & Arts Fair, 5601 S. Braeswood Blvd., Houston, TX 77096

Tickets: Admission is free. Please RSVP to ERJCC Box Office: 713.551.7255.

Concert: From Terezín

When: Sunday, December 8, 2013, 5:30 p.m.

What: Hosted by scholar Lawrence L. Langer, this concert explores the music, art, poetry, and philosophy that emerged in the horrific climate of Terezín, a camp that housed scientists, philosophers, instrumentalists, singers, composers, and other leaders, supposedly to "protect" them from the dangers of war. Produced in partnership with Holocaust Museum Houston, this program honors those who lived through their art and created prolifically while detained at Terezín.

Where: Asia Society Texas Center, 1370 Southmore Blvd., Houston, TX 77004

Tickets: Admission is free. Please RSVP online at https://www.hmh.org/ComingEvents.aspx.

Concert: Music of Memory and Hope

When: February 22, 2014, 7:30 p.m.

What: Composers Lawrence Siegel and Paul English will premiere new works about hope, featuring the words of Holocaust survivor Naomi Warren. Siegel's Nunia: A Portrait of Naomi Warren, continues Naomi's story from where it leaves off in the final movement ("I Am Here") of his Kaddish, which was premiered in its full orchestra and chorus version by the Houston Symphony in 2010. Cantor Daniel Mutlu will sing the Kaddish from this work. "I Am a Memorial," a poem by 2003 Warren Fellow Erin Balfour, inspired by Naomi Warren, and set to music by composer Paul English, will be performed as the concert finale.

Where: Congregation Beth Israel, 5600 N Braeswood Blvd., Houston, TX 77096

Tickets: Admission is free. Please RSVP to 713.771.6221 ext. 336.

HGOco FILM SERIES

Film: Passenger

When: Monday, January 6, 2014, 7:30 p.m.

What: Described by the New York Times as a film with "the precise and harrowing balance of romantic beauty and profound terror," Andrzej Munk's Passenger is considered to be a classic of Polish cinema and is one of the most audacious films made about the Holocaust. Munk, who died while filming Passenger at the age of 39, based his film on the same source that Mieczyslaw Weinberg used for his opera, The Passenger: Zofia Posmysz's radio play, Passenger from Cabin Number 45. Munk's film was completed by his close friend, Polish film director and screen writer, Witold Lesiewicz. Upon its release, the film won main awards at the Cannes and Venice film festivals.

Where: Holocaust Museum Houston, 5401 Caroline St., Houston, TX 77004

Tickets: Admission is free. Please RSVP online at https://www.hmh.org/ComingEvents.aspx.

Film: Defiant Requiem

When: Monday, January 27, 2014, 7:30 p.m.

What: This 2012 film tells the story of a cultural and spiritual resistance inside the Terezín camp. Led by imprisoned conductor Rafael Schächter, the inmates of Terezín fought back...with art and music. This creative rebellion reaches its peak when Schächter teaches a choir of 150 inmates one of the world's most difficult and powerful choral works, Verdi's Requiem, re-imagined as a condemnation of the Nazis. The choir would ultimately confront the Nazis face to face... and sing to them what they dare not say. For over ten years, conductor Murry Sidlin dreamed of bringing the Requiem back to Terezín. Now, through soaring concert footage, powerful survivor recollections, cinematic dramatizations, and evocative animation, Defiant Requiem brings the incredible story of this artistic uprising to life.

Where: Holocaust Museum Houston, 5401 Caroline St., Houston, TX 77004

Tickets: Admission is free. Please RSVP online at https://www.hmh.org/ComingEvents.aspx.