Houston Grand Opera
 


Production Team

 
composer Rachel Portman
librettist Nicholas Wright
director Francesca Zambello
conductor Patrick Summers/James Lowe
set and costume designer Maria Bjørnson
lighting designerRick Fisher
associate director and choreographer Denni Sayers
set realizer Adrian Linford
costume realizer Sue Willmington
children's chorus director Karen Reeves
HGO general director David Gockley

Premiere Cast

 

pilot Teddy Tahu Rhodes
the little prince Nathaniel Irvin
the fox Marie Lenormand
the snake, wain man Jon Kolbet
lamplighter, drunkard, baobab, hunter Scott Scully
the rose Kristin Reiersen
the water Laquita Mitchell
the king, baobab, hunter Josh Winograde
geographer, baobab, hunter Ethan Watermeier
businessman, baobab, hunter Aaron Judisch

 




RICK FISHER - Lighting Designer

Rick Fisher’s recent opera works include Wozzeck (Royal Opera at Covent Garden), Turandot (Bolshoi Moscow and St. Petersburg), Flying Dutchman (Spoleto), La Clemenza di Tito and La Traviata (Santa Fe Opera), La Vestale (English National Opera), Gloriana and La Bohème (Opera North), and Of Mice and Men (Washington). His recent theater work included productions for Broadway, Royal Court, Royal National Theatre, and Royal Shakespeare Company, plus Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame in Berlin. Current theater projects include Red Demon and Peri Banez (Young Vic Theatre), Honour and Jerry Springer: The Opera (Royal National Theatre), and Intermezzo and Madame Mao (Santa Fe Opera). He is the recipient of Olivier Awards for Best Lighting Design for Lady In The Dark, Chips With Everything, and Machinal (Royal National Theatre), Moonlight (Almeida and Comedy), and Hysteria (Royal Court). He also won a Tony Award for An Inspector Calls on Broadway. He is chairman of the British Association of Lighting Designers and is also visiting professor in lighting design at the Dramatisk Institut, Stockholm.

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PATRICK SUMMERS - Conductor

 The Little Prince is HGO Music Director Patrick Summers’ third world premiere with HGO. His other conducting duties this season included Lucia di Lammermoor , The Merry Widow, and La Traviata, featuring Renée Fleming’s long-awaited role debut as Violetta. Last season, Maestro Summers conducted HGO’s season-opener Rigoletto , The Abduction from the Seraglio , and a new Francesca Zambello production of Of Mice and Men, which he conducted first in Bregenz, Austria, to international acclaim. He conducted HGO’s world premieres of Carlisle Floyd’s Cold Sassy Tree (2000) and Tod Machover’s Resurrection (1999, released on CD by Albany) and led the remountings of Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas , 2001 (just released on the Albany label) and Mark Adamo’s Little Women, 2000 (released on CD by Koch/Ondine and telecast nationally on PBS/WNET’s Great Performances). As a conductor in great demand, Mo. Summers recently conducted Lucia di Lammermoor at the Metropolitan Opera and is the principal guest conductor of the San Francisco Opera. He conducted the European premiere of André Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire with the Opéra National du Rhin and, last year, he made his United Kingdom debut conducting a new James MacDonald production of Rigoletto for the Welsh National Opera, which toured and was telecast live on BBC. Mo. Summers’s recent discography includes the Grammy Award-winning Bel Canto) featuring Renée Fleming and the Orchestra of St. Luke's.

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JAMES LOWE - Associate Conductor

Young American artist James Lowe is currently Associate Conductor at Houston Grand Opera, where he has led performances of Carmen, The Abduction from the Seraglio , and the HGO Studio production of The Tender Land. Most recently at HGO, he conducted the workshop reading of Daniel Catán’s new opera, Salsipuedes , and acted as prompter for Ariodante. As resident conductor at the Ash Lawn Opera Festival, Mr. Lowe conducted La Traviata, La Cenerentola, and Kiss Me, Kate, and he led this season’s production of Madama Butterfly. For three years, he was musical director of Blackfriars Theater in Rochester, NY, leading over a hundred performances of such productions as Funny Girl , Falsettos , and Merrily We Roll Along. As a solo pianist, Mr. Lowe has appeared with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra. He has served as a coach and accompanist at the Santa Fe Opera and Virginia Opera, and he toured Germany with the singing group Hudson Shad. Mr. Lowe holds a bachelor of music degree from the Eastman School of Music and a master of music degree from the University of Michigan. For five years, Mr. Lowe was the keyboardist, rhythm guitarist, lead singer and songwriter for the rock band Backwash, co-producing the group’s compact disc Goin’ To The Mall) and touring the Eastern United States.

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DENNI SAYERS - Associate Director/Choreographer

Denni Sayers’s directorial credits include her recently acclaimed production of West Side Story for the Habima Theatre, Israel; The BFG and The Snowman for the Lyric Theatre (Belfast); YoHo for the Leicester Haymarket; Virtual Reality at the London International Opera Festival; and Takeaway with Cambridge Theatre Company. She also re-directed Carmen for London’s Royal Opera on tour in the Jerusalem Festival. Ms. Sayers choreographed Medea for Opera North, Maria Stuarda for Scottish Opera, and Orfeo ed Euridice for New Israeli Opera. She choreographed Paul Bunyan and The Bartered Bride at the Royal Opera at Covent Garden, Boris Godunov at English National Opera, Arshak 11 in San Francisco, Peter Grimes in Amsterdam, War and Peace at the Bastille and Of Mice and Men in Bregenz, all with Francesca Zambello, and Parsifal at English National Opera, San Francisco and Chicago, Henze’s Boulevard Solitude at the Royal Opera house at Covent Garden and The Bartered Wife at Glyndebourne. Current and future engagements include Boris Godunov at Opéra National de Paris and a new production of Tosca with the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto.

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KAREN REEVES - Children’s Chorus Director

Since 1991, native Texan Karen Reeves has been HGO’s Children’s Chorus Director. The Little Prince marks her nineteenth production preparing the Children’s Chorus or child soloists for Houston Grand Opera. In addition to The Little Prince, other operas she has prepared for HGO featuring only a children’s chorus without a complementary adult chorus are A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hansel and Gretel. As a part of HGO’s Education and Outreach Department, Ms. Reeves also directs the HGO High School Voice Studio, a one-year training program for high school seniors preparing for a collegiate music career. The studio is in its fourth year and has sent students on to the best conservatories in the country. Additionally, she directs HGO’s summer opera camps for children and teenagers. Ms. Reeves began singing with the HGO Chorus in 1990. She earned her bachelor and master of music in vocal performance from Southwestern University and Rice University, respectively; she pursued other graduate studies at Carnegie Mellon.

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DAVID GOCKLEY - General Director, Houston Grand Opera

"...Mr. Gockley's influence transcends his company. In ways seldom
acknowledged, his vision has shaped the destiny of opera in America."
- New York Times, 2001
     David Gockley arrived in Houston in 1970. Young, enthusiastic and armed with both a musical background and a business degree from Columbia, he was hired as the business manager for Houston Grand Opera. Two years later, at age 27, he became general director.
     Since then, Gockley has thrust what was a lackluster regional opera company into the international spotlight and, in the process, has created one of the five major opera companies in the United States and one of the most talked about in the world. While Gockley has garnered Houston Grand Opera international prominence, he is perhaps even better known in opera circles as a true innovator. Passionately committed to the premise that opera can be, and should be, a living art form that speaks to a variety of audiences, he has turned the opera world on its ear by fashioning HGO into America's leading commissioner and producer of new works, with 25 world premieres and 6 American premieres to its credit. By producing new and non-traditional operas such as Cold Sassy Tree, Nixon in China, Harvey Milk, Porgy and Bess, Treemonisha, Florencia en el Amazonas, Frida and Jackie O, HGO under Gockley's leadership has also earned a reputation for reaching out to new audiences. For its efforts in broadening opera's appeal and developing innovative technologies, HGO has been awarded a $1 million Challenge III Grant by the National Endowment for the Arts and a $2 million Ford Foundation Grant.
     Gockley is recognized for being a risk taker, for mounting dynamic theatrical productions of both new and traditional repertoire, for exploring daring artistic ideas and themes and for challenging audiences. The result has been that under his administration, HGO has won a Tony, two Emmy and two Grammy awards. Gockley also initiated international and national tours including tours to Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Broadway, Japan, Egypt and twice to Scotland's prestigious Edinburgh Festival. Gockley's efforts have taken the company to Italy's La Scala and Paris' Opera Bastille. HGO's productions have been seen in leading opera houses throughout the world.
     In an effort to increase HGO's community outreach, Gockley launched the aggressive multi-pronged Community Connections Initiative (CCI) aimed at educating and nurturing new audiences and at taking opera to the center of the community. Under CCI, HGO has produced seven "Plazacasts," live feeds of opera performances projected on a giant outdoor screen. In 1998 Gockley and HGO unveiled the Multimedia Modular Stage (MMS), opera that combines state-of-the-art computer images; "live" close-up video projections and MTV sensibilities to get a sense of intimacy in large outdoor settings. HGO has produced Carmen, Madame Butterfly and Pagliacci at Miller Outdoor Theatre, The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion and The Mann Center in Philadelphia.
     Through his efforts Houston Grand Opera's seasons are heard in their entirety each fall when they are broadcast nationally over National Public Radio's (NPR) World of Opera. The Opera reaches over 1.5 million people annually with its radio broadcasts.
     In fall 2001, Gockley unveiled his revolutionary OperaVision. Comprised of six plasma and projections screens located in the Grand Tier and Balcony sections of the Brown Theater, OperaVision provides audience patrons surtitles and close-up views of singers, costumes, sets and
musicians.
     In 1977 Gockley and composer Carlisle Floyd founded the Houston Grand Opera Studio to develop the talents of young singers with a potential for major careers in opera and music theater. The internationally renowned training program helped nurture and launch the careers of Denyce Graves, Susanne Metzner, Bruce Ford, Raymond Very and Eric Halfvarson.
     One of the crowning achievements of Gockley's career was the 1987 opening of the Wortham Theater Center, HGO's home. The $72 million performing arts center was built entirely with private funds. In addition to pursuing vocal studies at Boston's New England Conservatory, Gockley also studied conducting and composition at Brown University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1965. In 1970, he received a Master's degree from Columbia University Business School, which also named him the first recipient of the Dean's Award for Distinguished Professional Achievement. In 1985, Gockley accepted a National Institute for Music Theater Service Award on behalf of HGO. The University of Houston awarded him an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters in 1992. Gockley's alma mater, Brown University, awarded him an honorary doctorate of Fine Arts in 1993, and in 1995 recognized him with the William Rogers Award in recognition for outstanding professional achievement and extraordinary service to humanity.
     Gockley has served as president of OPERA America and chairman of Houston's Theater District. He also holds board of director positions on numerous state and local committees dedicated to promoting the arts. A native of Philadelphia, Gockley is the father of two daughters, Meredith and Lauren, and a son, Adam.
     "For the last 25 years, general director, David Gockley, has developed a policy of creating an opera for Americans with all the razzmatazz and theatricality of a country which perfected the Broadway show and the
Hollywood spectacular. The company may rank fifth in the American hierarchy, but Houston Grand Opera is the only opera company to win all the showbiz awards: Tony, Emmy (2) and Grammy (2)."
- Opera Now, 1998
 

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TEDDY TAHU RHODES - The Pilot

Baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes made his Opera Australia debut in 1998 as Dandini (La Cenerentola) and, in 1999, he represented his home country of New Zealand in the Cardiff Singer of the World competition and sang Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with Canterbury Opera and Marcello in La Bohéme and Silvio in Pagliacci for Opera New Zealand. In 2000, he returned to Opera Australia as the Count in The Marriage of Figaro and Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and made his debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Queensland Symphony Orchestra. That same year, Mr. Rhodes made a highly successful American debut with San Francisco Opera in performances of the role of Joe de Rocher in the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking. In 2001, he joined Opera Australia as a resident principal artist, performing the roles of Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Belcore (L'Elisir d'amore), and Demetrius and Harlekin (Ariadne auf Naxos). Recently, Mr. Rhodes sang Belcore in Philadelphia and Stanley (A Streetcar Named Desire) with Austin Lyric Opera.

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NATHANIAL IRVIN - The Little Prince

Eleven-year-old Nathaniel Irvin of Maple Grove, Minnesota, sang with the Minnesota Orchestra in September and December of 2002 and is currently a soloist with Basilica of Saint Mary Choristers, Cantabile Chorus of the Minnesota Boychoir and Osseo District 279 Select Chorus. He recently appeared in Park Center High School’s production of the Will Rogers Follies and The Guthrie Lab’s Merrily We Roll Along. He created and starred in neighborhood productions of The Wizard of Oz, which raised funds for a local food pantry; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, for the benefit of Guillaine-Barre Syndrome; and Oliver, which raised money for music scholarships. Mr. Irvin recently participated in the initial auditions for NBC’s new reality series The Search For The Most Talented Kid In America. He enjoys baseball, basketball, movies, swimming, bowling and reading.

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JOHN KOLBET - Snake/Vain Man

Mr. Kolbet has become a specialist in the character tenor repertoire; roles this season include his debut with New York City Opera as Second Jew in Salome and Camp Williams in Carlisle Floyd’s Cold Sassy Tree with Opera Carolina. Last year, he sang Don Curzio in Le nozze di Figaro with Dallas Opera, Spoletta in Tosca with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and both the title role in The Impresario and Vespone in La Serva Padrona with Connecticut Grand Opera and Orchestra. Previous appearances include the four character roles in Les Contes d’Hoffmann with Fort Worth Opera, Oreste in La Belle Hélène with Portland Opera, Dr. Caius in Falstaff with Florentine Opera, Goro in Madama Butterfly with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Tybalt in Roméo et Juliette and Pong in Turandot with Opera Carolina, and other appearances with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Opera Pacific, Minnesota Opera, Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, El Paso Opera, the San Antonio Symphony, the Colorado Opera Festival, and Mississippi Opera.

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SCOTT SCULLY - Lamplighter/Drunkard

American tenor and Houston native Scott Scully spent three years in the Houston Grand Opera Studio, performing many roles for HGO’s mainstage, including Pedrillo in The Abduction from the Seraglio, the Ballad Singer in Of Mice and Men, Remendado in Carmen, the Royal Herald in Don Carlo, Yeroshka in Prince Igor, Abdallo in Nabucco, the Shepherd in Tristan and Isolde and the Messenger in Aida. This summer, Mr. Scully made his debut with the San Francisco Opera Center's Merola Program as Rodolfo in La Bohème and repeated the role on the Western Opera Theatre Tour. Last season, he debuted at Palm Beach Opera as Cassio in Verdi’s Otello and also sang the Chevalier in Dialogues of the Carmelites at Aspen Opera Theatre Center. A three-time recipient of the MacAllister Opera Award, he made his Arizona Opera debut as Nemorino in L'Elisir d'amore in February 2003. Mr. Scully has worked with such conductors as Christoph Eschenbach, Roberto Abbado, Anton Guadagno, Alain Lombard, James Conlon, Julius Rudel, and Patrick Summers.

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MARIE LENORMAND - The Fox

 French mezzo-soprano Marie Lenormand was a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio from 1999 to 2001. As a Studio member, Ms. Lenormand performed in various roles, including Mercédès in Carmen, Tebaldo in Don Carlo, the Page in Rigoletto, and Thelma Predmore in the world premiere of Carlisle Floyd’s Cold Sassy Tree; additionally, she sang in the alternate casts of Così fan tutte (Dorabella) and The Coronation of Poppea (title role). At Glimmerglass Opera, she performed in the world premiere of Central Park, which was later telecast on PBS’s Great Performances. She has also sung Cherubino at Fort Worth Opera, as well as Stéphano and the title role in Carmen at the Oberlin Opera Theater. Ms. Lenormand was the alto soloist in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass under Robert Shaw and received the prestigious Lavoisier Scholarship from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She spent a summer at Wolf Trap Opera where she performed in a recital with Steven Blier and in concert with the National Symphony. Ms. Lenormand has performed numerous times in broadcasts of NPR’s World of Opera. Recent and upcoming engagements include Dorabella at the Opéra de Bordeaux, Zerlina in Don Giovanni at New York City Opera, and Cherubino in Marriage of Figaro at the Opéra de Marseille.

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KRISTIN REIERSEN - The Rose

Soprano Kristin Reiersen joined the Houston Grand Opera Studio for the 2001-2002 season, where her roles included Blonde in The Abduction from the Seraglio and Kristina in The Makropulos Case. This season, her roles included Musetta in the La Bohème alternate cast, Sylviane in The Merry Widow and Pousette in Manon. In the spring of 2001, Ms. Reiersen was a Young Artist with Opera Theatre of St. Louis; she returned there last spring to perform the roles of the Elizabeth Morrow/A Reporter in Loss of Eden and to cover the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor. In the summer of 2001, she performed le Feu in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges and Galatea in Acis and Galatea at the Chautauqua Voice Institute. A native New Yorker, Ms. Reiersen is a graduate of Manhattan School of Music where she received her bachelor and master of music degrees; her roles there included Violetta in La Traviata, Elisetta in Cimarosa’s Il Matrimonio Segreto and Alice in Rossini’s Le Comte Ory. She created the role of Eonone in the world premiere of Philip Haggemann’s Paris and Eonone.

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LAQUITEA MITCHELL - The Water

Soprano Laquita Mitchell, a first-year artist in the HGO Studio, was the first place winner in last year’s Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers, and she also won the Audience Choice Award. She received a bachelor of music degree from Westminster Choir College and completed her master of music and the professional studies program at the Manhattan School of Music, where sang Violetta in La Traviata, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus and Female Chorus in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia, conducted by Julius Rudel. Other roles include Micaela in Carmen, Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte. This summer, she was a member of San Francisco Opera's Merola Program where she sang the role of Mimì in La Bohème. Ms. Mitchell is the recipient of the Hugh Ross Award and the 2000 Panasonic Harmony Award. She made her Alice Tully Hall debut and has performed in recital in Italy. A native of New York, Ms. Mitchell made her Houston Grand Opera debut this season as Valencienne in The Merry Widow.

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JOSHUA WINOGRADE - The King

This is American bass Joshua Winograde’s third year with the HGO Studio, during which time he has sung Colline in the La Bohème alternate cast, Doctor Grenvil in La Traviata, Osmin in The Abduction from the Seraglio, Abimelech in Samson and Delilah, The Friar in Don Carlo, Grandpa Moss in The Tender Land, and Skula in Prince Igor, plus roles in The Merry Widow, The Makropulos Case, Eugene Onegin, Tannhäuser, Rigoletto, and The Coronation of Poppea. Last summer at the Aspen Opera Theater, he sang the title role in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. In the summers of 2000 and 2001 at Wolf Trap Opera, he sang Mamma Agata in Donizetti’s Viva La Mamma, Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Haly in L’Italiana in Algeri, and Commendatore in Don Giovanni. At Glimmerglass Opera in the summer of 1999, he originated the roles of the Rabbi and the Painter in the televised world premiere of Central Park. His awards include a 2000 Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation and second place in the 2000 Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers. Mr. Winograde received his bachelor and master of music degrees from The Juilliard School.

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ETHAN WATERMEIER - Geographer


     Baritone Ethan Watermeier joined the Houston Grand Opera Studio for the 2002–2003 season; his company debut was the role of Pritschitsch in The Merry Widow. In the summer of 2002, he was an apprentice artist at the Santa Fe Opera, performing Baron Douphol in La Traviata and understudying Taddeo in L'Italiana in Algeri. In May 2001, he completed his master of music degree from Manhattan School of Music, where he appeared as Ralph Follet in the New York premiere of William Mayer's A Death in the Family, and in an original revue, September Songs: A Tribute to Kurt Weill. Previously, Mr. Watermeier performed the role of Inspector Javert and the Factory Foreman/Combeferre in the Broadway National Tour of Les Misérables. Mr. Watermeier’s awards include being a 2002 winner of The Kurt Weill/Lotte Lenya Competition in New York. His regional theater and other operatic credits include: Billy Bigelow in Carousel, Fred/Petruchio in Kiss Me, Kate, Pish-Tush in The Mikado (National Savoyards), Count Orsini-Rosenberg in Amadeus and Götterdämmerung.

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AARON JUDISCH - Businessman

Baritone Aaron Judisch joined the Houston Grand Opera Studio in the 2001-2002 season; his roles at Houston Grand Opera have included Marullo in Rigoletto, Captain in Eugene Onegin, and Second Philistine in Samson and Delilah in addition to covering the title role of Eugene Onegin and Wolfram in Tannhäuser. Mr. Judisch graduated with honors from Luther College with a bachelor of arts degree and master of music from Northwestern University. He has been the recipient of various awards including the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation scholarship, and he was second place winner in the Palm Beach Opera Competition. In the summer of 2001, he was a studio artist in the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Artists Training Program at Central City Opera. Mr. Judisch’s roles this season at Houston Grand Opera have included Cascada in The Merry Widow, Commissioner/Flora’s Servant in La Traviata and Innkeeper in Manon.

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