Houston Grand Opera Opens the 2023-24 Season With INTELLIGENCE

On October 20, 2023, Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will launch its new season with a company-commissioned world premiere, the new American epic Intelligence, produced in collaboration with the Urban Bush Women.

The opera is the creation of a powerhouse trio: composer Jake Heggie, librettist Gene Scheer, and director/choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, founder of Urban Bush Women, which weaves contemporary dance, music, and text with the history, culture, and spiritual traditions of the African Diaspora.

Shared through a unique fusion of music, words, and dance and inspired by real events, Intelligence explores the riveting and little-known true story of two women spies in Richmond, Virginia during the Civil War: Elizabeth Van Lew, from a prominent Confederate family, and Mary Jane Bowser, who is born into slavery and becomes a hidden spy in Jefferson Davis’s Confederate White House. As Mary Jane uncovers the secrets of the Confederacy to share with Union military commanders, she also uncovers the secrets of her own history and identity. 

The opera runs two hours and 40 minutes, including one intermission. It is sung in English with projected English titles.

WHO: The cast is led by mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton as Elizabeth, soprano Janai Brugger as Mary Jane, mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges as Lucinda, soprano Caitlin Lynch as Callie, baritone Michael Mayes as Travis Briggs, bass-baritone Nicholas Newton as Henry, and tenor Joshua Blue as Wilson, joined by the Urban Bush Women dancers Courtney J. Cook, Loren Davidson, Kentoria Earle, Roobi Gaskins, Symara Johnson, Blanca Leticia Medina, Love Muwwakkil, and Mikaila Ware. Kwamé Ryan will take the podium. 

The creative team includes set designer Mimi Lien; costume designers Carlos J. Soto and Clair Hummel; lighting designer John Torres; projection designers Wendall K. Harrington and Rasean Davonté Johnson; and associate choreographer Vincent E. Thomas.

WHEN: Friday, October 20, 2023, at 7 p.m.

Sunday, October 22, 2023, at 2 p.m.

Saturday, October 28, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, November 1, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.

Friday, November 3, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas Ave. 

TARIFF: Tickets range from $20 to $210. For more information and to buy tickets, visit HGO.org or call the Box Office at 713-228-6737. 

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Houston Grand Opera