Houston Grand Opera Launches Partnership with Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu

Houston Grand Opera is partnering with the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, created to foster cultural exchange and collaboration between the two internationally recognized opera houses.  
 
The partnership will launch on January 26, 2025 at the Liceu’s 62nd Tenor Viñas International Singing Competition, one of Europe’s most prestigious contests for new voices in opera. There, thanks to the generosity of the Torras Foundation and Ignacio and Isabel Torras, HGO will present the Torras Family Foundation Prize of $25,000 to a finalist whose voice and artistry demonstrate potential for an international career in opera. Colin Michael Brush, Director of the Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio, the company’s elite training program for young artists, will travel to Barcelona to select the first winner of the annual prize. 
 
In addition to the cash prize, HGO’s designated winner will receive automatic entry, as a 2026 semifinalist, to the company’s 38th annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias, which recognizes the most talented emerging artists in opera while helping the company to identify candidates for its highly competitive Butler Studio program.  
 
“HGO is an international company serving a vast, diverse metropolis where people from across the world live and do business,” says HGO General Director & CEO Khori Dastoor. “With this new partnership, we seek to build upon Houston’s emerging identity as a global hub, attracting the finest young artists from around the world to Houston while welcoming international audiences from throughout our city to the Wortham Theater Center to experience our art form. We are thrilled to join forces with our close colleagues at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in support of emerging talent, and, thanks to the generosity and vision of the Torras Foundation, identify an outstanding talent whose potential, passion, and excellence mirror the standards we hold at HGO.”  
 
“We are very pleased to begin a collaboration with Houston Grand Opera, providing support and guidance to a promising young talent,” says Gran Teatre del Liceu Artistic Director Víctor Garcia de Gomar. “In doing so, we are not only fulfilling the main goal of the Tenor Viñas Competition, to discover young singers, but also supporting them in the early stages of their careers in a practical and meaningful way.” 
 
“We are honored to be part of this partnership between two great houses, Houston Grand Opera and the Gran Teatre del Liceu, from two cities that are so close to our hearts,” says Ignacio Torras, President and CEO of Tricon Energy, founder of the Torras Foundation, and vital HGO supporter. “By creating and underwriting this new prize to be awarded at the Tenor Viñas International Singing Competition, we expect to build a strong bridge that allows art to transcend borders and cultures through the sublime form of opera.” 
 
Ignacio “Nacho” Torras launched Tricon Energy in 1996 and grew it into the leading multinational commodities trading platform it is today. Inspired by their love for Spanish food, he and his wife Isabel also own and operate Houston restaurants MAD, Rocambolesc, and BCN Taste & Tradition, which was recently awarded a Michelin star. They are generous supporters of the arts, academic research, and initiatives for the inclusion of neurodiverse people. In addition to supporting the new partnership between Houston Grand Opera and the Gran Teatre del Liceu, they chaired HGO’s 2024 “Mirror” Opera Ball and supported the inclusion of a neurodiverse performer in this winter’s La bohème, among other projects.  

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