Houston Grand Opera to 2013-14 Season with AIDA Tonight

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) opens its 2013-14 season tonight with a revival of its classic production of Verdi's Aida. The production, which runs through November 9, is conducted by Italian maestro Antonino Fogliani and stars the National Opera of Ukraine's Liudmyla Monastyrska as Aida, the role that garnered her critical acclaim at the Metropolitan Opera last year. The New York Times described Monastyrska in her U.S. debut in the title role as "gifted with a luscious round soprano that maintains its glow even in the softest notes." Mezzo Dolora Zajick returns to one of her signature roles, Amneris; Italian tenor Riccardo Massi sings Radamès; and Texas baritone and HGO Studio alumnus Scott Hendricks sings Aida's father, Amonasro. The production is designed by British designer Zandra Rhodes, directed by José Maria Condemi, and choreographed by Dominic Walsh in the inaugural collaboration between HGO and Walsh's Houston-based Dominic Walsh Dance Theater.

Next week, for the first time in thirty years, HGO presents Die Fledermaus by Viennese composer Johann Strauss II. Australian director Lindy Hume relocates the operetta, originally set in imperial Austria-Hungary, to Art Deco 1930s Manhattan. The production, conducted by Thomas Rösner, sees HGO Studio alumnus Liam Bonner as Eisenstein and soprano Wendy Bryn Harmer as Rosalinde. Susan Graham, HGO's Lynn Wyatt Great Artist for 2013-14, sings Prince Orlofsky while soprano and HGO Studio alumna Laura Claycomb sings Adele, and four-time Grammy Award-winner Anthony Dean Griffey portrays Alfredo. The production will run at the Wortham Center through November 10.

This season also sees the launch of the company's first Ring cycle (beginning April 11) with a production of Das Rheingold. La Fura dels Baus, the Catalan theater company behind Barcelona's 1992 Olympic opening ceremony, stages the production. The American premiere of Mieczyslaw Weinberg's Holocaust opera The Passenger opens on January 18, and the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon's A Coffin in Egypt, based on the play by Texas writer Horton Foote and starring mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, opens on March 14. The season also includes a new production ofCarmen from Tony Award-winning choreographer and director Rob Ashford (beginning April 25); a revival of Rigoletto (beginning January 24); and Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music designed by fashion star Isaac Mizrahi (beginning March 7). Through its HGOco Song of Houstonproject-winner of the National MultiCultural Institute's Leading Lights Diversity Award-the company continues to celebrate Houston's cultural diversity with the world premieres of two new commissions, Bound (beginning February 8) and River of Light (beginning March 22), exploring the city's Vietnamese and Indian communities as part of the East + West series. HGO mainstage productions will be broadcast in the Houston area on KUHA-FM and nationally on the WFMT radio network.

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