PORGY AND BESS & More Set for Houston Grand Opera 2025-26 Season

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) has announced its 2025-26 season, featuring the American opera that launched HGO as a trailblazer, the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess; the company’s first-ever presentation of Puccini’s masterful trio of one-act operas, Il trittico; a revised version of Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2011 opera Silent Night; Humperdinck’s enchanting Hansel and Gretel; HGO’s first-ever Messiah, composed by Handel and arranged by Mozart, in an American premiere production by Robert Wilson; and Rossini’s crowd-pleasing The Barber of Seville. Subscriptions for the 2025-26 season are available to audiences starting now. at HGO.org.  

Throughout the 2025-26 season, HGO will be celebrating its beloved artistic and music director, Patrick Summers, who in May 2026 will transition to a new role: music director emeritus and holder of the Robert and Jane Cizik Music Director Emeritus Chair. During more than 25 years as a member of company leadership, Summers has had a profound impact upon HGO, overseeing a host of world premiere works, fostering the careers of major artists, and building the HGO Orchestra into one of the industry’s leading ensembles. The season will be bookended by two productions featuring Maestro Summers at the podium: Puccini’s Il trittico in fall 2025 and Handel/Mozart’s Messiah in spring 2026.

HGO will open the 2025-26 season with the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, marking 50 years since the company first presented the “folk opera,” restoring it to its creators’ full original vision in a landmark production that went on to Broadway and earned HGO both a Tony and a Grammy. Now, this American classic returns to Houston, presented in an acclaimed production from Washington National Opera and director Francesca Zambello that will be featured in a special nine-show run, with tickets to select performances available starting now, and tickets to all performances available starting May 22. 

With a moving score that seamlessly blends jazz, spirituals, blues, and classical music, Porgy and Bess is set in the Jim Crow South, in the fictional Charleston slum of Catfish Row, where Porgy, a disabled beggar, and Bess, a woman struggling with addiction, fall in love. Their unforgettable story will be led by a cast of opera giants, including bass-baritone Michael Sumuel as Porgy, soprano Angel Blue as Bess, baritone Blake Denson as Crown, and soprano Latonia Moore in her HGO mainstage debut as Serena. Maestro James Gaffigan, the General Music Director of Komische Oper Berlin and Music Director of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, conducts.

Also part of HGO’s fall repertoire is the company’s first-ever full presentation of Il trittico, Puccini’s triptych of one-act operas, in a production created by sought-after director James Robinson. The evening will start with Il tabarro, the tragic tale of a barge captain, his young wife, and her lover, set on the Seine; followed by Suor Angelica, the story of a nun with a haunted past that culminates in heartrending redemption, reset by Robinson in a children’s hospital; and close with Gianni Schicchi, the tale of a cunning conman who turns a family’s greed into a delightful farce. 

This production boasts a powerhouse lead cast that will take on multiple roles across the three one-acts, including soprano Corinne Winters, a 2024 Gramophone Award winner, in her company debut, joined by three adored Houston favorites: mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, bass-baritone Ryan McKinny, and tenor Arturo Chacón-Cruz. Maestro Patrick Summers conducts. 

The company’s winter repertoire will launch with the Houston premiere of composer Kevin Puts and librettist Mark Campbell’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2011 opera Silent Night, inspired by the 2005 film Joyeux Noël. Presented in a revised version co-produced by HGO and the Metropolitan Opera, the opera captures the real-life Christmas truce of 1914, during World War I, when one soldier’s defiant caroling sparks a ceasefire, leading to an unforgettable night of shared humanity, soccer, and song.

Directed by James Robinson, this trilingual production features a superlative lead cast that includes tenor Duke Kim as German opera singer/soldier Nikolaus Sprink with soprano Sylvia D’Eramo as his diva lover, Anna Sørensen, joined by bass-baritone Ryan McKinny, baritone Iurii Samoilov, and baritone Thomas Glass as the story’s three lieutenants. Dynamic young conductor Kensho Watanabe makes his company debut at the podium.  

Next, HGO presents Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, adapted from The Brothers Grimm tale and featuring a whimsical score full of German nursery songs. Created in association with London’s Royal Ballet and Opera and San Francisco Opera, the production will be brought to life by director/designer Antony McDonald in his company debut. The family-friendly story unfolds in a German romantic land full of dirndls, Alpine hats, and misty clouds, where the titular protagonists undertake a dangerous journey to the realm where the Witch reigns from her house of cake. 

Mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke as Hansel and soprano Mané Galoyan as Gretel lead the opera’s stellar cast, with mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton making a star turn as the Witch who, outsmarted by the children, takes a dive into a cauldron of bubbling chocolate. Andreas Ottensamer, artistic director of the Bürgenstock Festival in Switzerland, makes his anticipated HGO debut at the podium. 

Spring will bring director Robert Wilson’s mesmerizing vision of the beloved Messiah, composed by Handel and arranged by Mozart. The director’s production will be staged in the United States for the first time at HGO, in the first performances of the composer’s majestic oratorio in company history. In Wilson’s hands, the Messiah—a narrative-free meditation on Jesus’s role as the Christian messiah, originally conceived for concert halls—transforms into a surreal and mesmerizing theatrical spectacle reminiscent of Disney’s Fantasia.

This anticipated production will showcase the renowned HGO Chorus alongside an exceptional cast: soprano Ying Fang in her company debut, countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, tenor Benjamin Bliss, and bass-baritone Nicholas Newton, joined by the dancer Alexis Fousekis. Maestro Patrick Summers takes the podium for this can’t-miss HGO event, a co-production of the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation, the Salzburg Festival, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and the Grand Théâtre de Genève.

HGO will close the mainstage season with a fan favorite, Rossini’s uproarious masterpiece The Barber of Seville. A co-production of the Canadian Opera Company, Opéra National de Bordeaux, and Opera Australia, this delightful staging is the creation of director Joan Font, returning to Houston following the triumph of his acclaimed Cinderella. 

An outstanding cast headlines the production, with baritone Will Liverman in his HGO mainstage debut as the charming barber Figaro, who puts his clever tricks to use in the name of true love. He is joined by tenor Jack Swanson as the dashing Count Almaviva; mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack in her company debut as the Count’s love, the mysterious beauty Rosina; baritone Alessandro Corbelli as Rosina’s pompous old guardian, Dr. Bartolo; and bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni as her music teacher, Don Basilio. Gemma New, principal conductor of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, makes her company debut at the podium. 

The 2025-26 Season Beyond the Mainstage 

In addition to HGO’s mainstage season, the company will present a host of programs to engage students, families, and arts lovers throughout the Houston community.

On March 13 and 15, 2026, HGO will stage a special production inside the Wortham Theater Center’s intimate Cullen Theater for the first time since 2022. In celebration of the centennial of the birth of Carlisle Floyd, the composer known as the dean of American opera, the company’s Butler Studio will present the evocative opera Of Mice and Men in a staging co-produced by leading partners HGO and Des Moines Metro Opera, in addition to Florida State University and Lyric Opera of Kansas City. 

Based on John Steinbeck’s 1937 novella of the same name, Floyd’s acclaimed 1970 opera shares the poignant tale of two laborers, George and Lennie, seeking work during the Great Depression. The friends dream of a better life, but their story—driven by the composer’s haunting, folk-and-blues-infused score—ends in tragedy. Directed by Kristine McIntyre, the production will feature a cast of artists from the 2025-26 class of the Butler Studio, led by tenor Demetrious Sampson, Jr. as Lennie and bass-baritone Sam Dhobhany as George. Tickets for Of Mice and Men must be purchased separately from a season subscription and will become available when all single tickets are released for sale on August 6, with subscribers enjoying first access.  

On February 14, 2026, the company will present its second annual Family Day, following the success of its first sold-out event during the 2024-25 season. HGO Family Day Presents Hansel and Gretel will feature a 90-minute, English-language, relaxed-environment performance of the opera the company is presenting as part of its winter repertoire. Directed by beloved mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, an HGO favorite, this show is perfect for young guests, complete with kid-centric lobby activities. Subscribers enjoy presale access to tickets, which will go on sale on July 1. 

HGO’s 2025-26 mainstage season will include two special performances that will allow Houston-area students to experience the magic of opera during a night out at the Wortham Theater Center. Hansel and Gretel will be presented in a special English-language Student Matinee performance on February 12, 2026, and The Barber of Seville will be presented in a High School Night performance on April 28, 2026. 

On February 6, 2026, HGO will host the Concert of Arias, the live final round of the Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers, performed by a small group of talented emerging artists, accompanied by the renowned HGO Orchestra. These finalists, identified following an extensive international search, will vie for cash prizes—and perhaps an invitation to join the Butler Studio—as they each perform two arias from the repertoire. Subscribers receive first access to tickets.

In winter 2026, HGO will present the seventh annual Giving Voice—an adored company tradition created by internationally acclaimed tenor Lawrence Brownlee, showcasing the profound artistry and historic contributions made by Black artists in opera and song. Subscribers receive premier access to register. 

From March through May of 2026, HGO will present Mary Carol Warwick and Kate Pogue’s The Velveteen Rabbit for the company’s touring Opera to Go! program. Based on the beloved children’s book about a boy’s sweet stuffed animal who dreams of being real, the popular, company-commissioned opera made its world premiere in 2004. Students and families will enjoy the 45-minute performance at schools and other community spaces throughout the region.

This season, HGO is featuring a variety of ticket offerings, from flexible three-opera packages to the full six-opera season. Full subscriptions start as low as $90. Subscriptions and packages for the 2025-26 season are now available at HGO.org. The deadline for subscription renewal is May 22, 2025.

Subscribers to the company’s 2025-26 season will receive a host of benefits, including a 25 percent discount on additional tickets, free tickets to the company’s popular Butler Studio Showcase, a monthly subscriber newsletter, and access to Opera America’s Opera Passport program, which offers discounted tickets to performances from Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, and many more companies across the country.  

Single tickets to select performances (November 9, 11, 13, 15) of Porgy and Bess are available now, with tickets to Family Day (February 14) available starting July 1 and tickets to all mainstage performances released later this summer.

As part of HGO’s mission to invite all Houstonians to experience the operatic art form, the company continues to serve audiences through its popular Opening Nights for Young Professionals (ONYP) discounted subscription series; tickets starting at $25 for all productions; discounted single tickets for veterans and active military members, available for 10% off all season; and $20 student tickets to mainstage productions, accessible one month prior to the opening of every performance with a valid student ID. 

HGO’s mainstage season will comprise 35 mainstage, 1 family, and 2 student performances of six productions at the Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Theater; the company will also present 2 special performances of one production (Of Mice and Men) in the Cullen Theater, available for single-ticket purchase only, with subscribers receiving first access. Additional details of the upcoming HGO productions are provided below, and more information is available at the company’s website: HGO.org. All repertoire, dates, pricing, productions, and casting are subject to change without notice. 

To post a comment, you must register and login.