Houston Grand Opera Opens 2016–17 Season with THE ELIXIR OF LOVE and FAUST

Donizetti's ebullient comedy The Elixir of Love sets a celebratory tone as Houston Grand Opera's (HGO) 62nd season opener on October 21. The colorful production features tenor Dimitri Pittas and soprano Nicole Heaston, as well as the HGO debut of eminent English conductor Jane Glover. Performances run through November 4.

English director Daniel Slater's staging, created for Opera North in 2001, transfers the cheerfully sentimental story from a rural Italian village to the terrace of an Amalfi coast resort, replete with Vespas and hot-air balloons. The result has delighted audiences and critics: "deliciously entertaining and unpretentious" (Telegraph, London).

The role of Nemorino, a poor young man who falls in love with the wealthy and imperious Adina, includes one of opera's most beloved tenor arias, "Una furtiva lagrima." Singing the naive Nemorino will be tenor Dimitri Pittas, whose performance of the role at Welsh National Opera was deemed "utterly glorious" (Theatre in Wales). He was last seen at HGO as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor (2011) and Rodolfo in La bohème (2012).

Houston soprano Nicole Heaston, whose "warm, supple soprano"(Houston Chronicle) was admired in HGO's 2015 The Magic Flute, returns to sing Adina. Belcore, Nemorino's rival for the love of Adina, will be sung by bass-baritone and HGO Studio alumnus Michael Sumuel, whose voice was described by Opera News as "remarkably smooth, warm, and even glowing" as Papageno in HGO's 2015 The Magic Flute. And the wily Dr. Dulcamara, who provides Nemorino with the elixir described in the opera's title, will be portrayed by bass-baritone Patrick Carfizzi, most recently heard as the Speaker of the Temple in HGO's 2015 The Magic Flute.

English conductor Jane Glover, renowned for her vibrant interpretations of late Baroque and classical repertoire, will make her much-anticipated HGO debut on the podium as the company's Lynn Wyatt Great Artist for the 2016-17 season. Daniel Slater will return to direct. He last directed La traviata (2012).

On October 28, HGO presents Gounod's Faust, running through November 11. Based on Goethe's famous play, this classic drama is a gripping exploration of vanity and desire. In desperation the aging philosopher, Faust, agrees to sell his soul to The Devil in exchange for the restoration of his youth and a chance at love with the beautiful Marguerite. The "striking, handsome, beautifully lit" (Los Angeles Times) production that Francesca Zambello created for HGO in 1985, with sets and costumes designed by Houston artist Earl Staley, returns to the HGO stage after an absence of nine years.

Two much-anticipated debuts mark this remounting. Performing the title role will be highly sought-after tenor Michael Fabiano, who in 2014 became the only singer to win the prestigious Richard Tucker and Beverly Sills awards in the same year. Making his role debut as Méphistophélès is Italian bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni, a leading international Mozart interpreter who appeared as Count Almaviva in HGO's 2011 The Marriage of Figaro, when the Houston Chronicle reported that he "exudes complete authority and magnetism." Soprano Ana María Martínez (Lynn Wyatt Great Artist 2010-11), a Houston audience favorite, returns to sing Marguerite after acclaimed HGO appearances in the title roles in Rusalka (2016), Madame Butterfly (2015), and Carmen (2014). Incoming HGO Studio artist Sol Jin, baritone, a national winner of the 2016 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, will portray Valentin.

Faust will be directed by Garnett Bruce, who directed Tannhäuser at Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2015 and has revived Madame Butterfly (2004) and Tosca (2003) at HGO. Italian conductor Antonino Fogliani, who led HGO's Aida in 2013, will be on the podium.

The 2016-17 HGO season also features the highly anticipated world premiere of It's a Wonderful Life by composer Jake Heggie with libretto by Gene Scheer,opening December 2. Starting January 20, the company will celebrate the 30th anniversary of HGO's world premiere of John Adams's pivotal Nixon in China by presenting James Robinson's production, of which HGO is a co-producer, with HGO Studio alumnus Scott Hendricks as Richard Nixon and soprano Andriana Chuchman as his wife, Pat.

In February, Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers will conduct Verdi's thrilling Requiem, which critics at the time termed "an opera in ecclesiastical robes," with soloists Angela Meade, soprano, in her HGO debut; Sasha Cooke, alto; Alexey Dolgov, tenor; and Peixin Chen, bass; and the HGO Orchestra and Chorus. Maestro Summers will lead Götterdämmerung, the final installment of Wagner's epic Ring cycle, featuring a new generation of leading Wagnerians including Simon O'Neill as Siegfried and Christine Goerke as Brünnhilde, starting April 22. And in May, HGOco will present Das Barbecü, a comedic country-western take on Wagner's Ring by Scott Warrender and Jim Luigs. Houstonian Charles Swan will direct.

HGO will also present the world premiere, in March, of Some Light Emerges by composer Laura Kaminsky with libretto by Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed. Inspired by the creation of Houston's iconic Rothko Chapel by philanthropist and art collector Dominique de Menil, the work is commissioned by HGOco, the company's community collaboration and education initiative.

Mozart's zany yet deeply emotive comedy,The Abduction from the Seraglio -featuring Russian coloratura soprano and HGO Studio alumna Albina Shagimuratova as Konstanze and leading American tenor Lawrence Brownlee as Belmonte in HGO's inventive 2002 co-production-will close the main-stage season, beginning April 28.

More information available at HGO.org.