Houston Grand Opera Season

Houston Grand Opera’s 2025–2026 season

HGO’s New Season to Feature Six Operas, Including a Historic American Masterpiece; the Company Premiere of a Puccini Classic; a New Staging of a Celebrated Modern Work; an Anticipated American Premiere Production; and More Audience Favorites

The new season to feature cherished American opera Porgy and Bess; the HGO premiere of Puccini’s Il trittico; a revised version of Kevin Puts’s Silent Night; family-friendly favorite Hansel and Gretel; the American premiere of director Robert Wilson’s Messiah; and adored comedy The Barber of Seville

Throughout 2025-26 season, HGO to celebrate Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers and his 25-plus years with the company

HOUSTON—2025—Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is proud to announce 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 today 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.

“We chose the theme of HGO’s 2025-26 season—the light we hold—not only to honor the light we hold for our art form, and the great composers and storytellers through the centuries, but for all the artists and creatives who bring light into our world,” says HGO General Director and CEO Khori Dastoor. “As the capstone to Patrick Summers’s remarkable tenure at HGO, we plan to celebrate with a year full of monumental artworks, brilliant new productions, and performances from opera’s leading stars. From seminal American works Porgy and Bess and Silent Night, to sublime operas from the repertoire Hansel and Gretel and The Barber of Seville, to bucket-list pieces Il trittico and Messiah, we are planning a blockbuster season for our city.” .”

“Every season at HGO presents big families of constellated ideas, all of which come together through the enormous efforts and expertise of many people over many years, and in which I have played a role for nearly three decades,” says Summers. “My final season as Artistic Director is of enormous meaning to me, particularly the opportunity to conduct what is to my mind the single greatest Italian opera, Puccini’s Trittico, and to close my tenure with Mozart’s loving homage to Handel, his orchestration of one of the greatest works in the canon, Messiah, in Robert Wilson’s joyous, eccentric, baffling, wonderful, dizzying, and moving production.”

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.

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-andblues-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.

“The great composer, librettist, and educator Carlisle Floyd had a close relationship with HGO for close to half a century,” says Dastoor. “He founded our Butler Studio program with then-General Director David Gockley in 1977, and five of his operas received their world premieres in Houston. It is impossible to separate HGO’s legacy from that of the man whose creative vision gave rise to a new American tradition. I can think of no better way to honor Carlisle’s historic contributions to this company, and to our art form, than to celebrate his 100th birthday with this powerful new production, performed by a cast of artists from the same Butler Studio he was a part of until the very end of his life.”

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.

HGO’s 2025-26 mainstage season will include two special performances that will allow Houstonarea 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 with Maestro Patrick Summers conducting.. 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, companycommissioned opera made its world premiere in 2004. Students and families will enjoy the 45minute 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. 

About Houston Grand Opera 

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is one of the largest, most innovative, and most highly acclaimed opera companies in the United States. General Director and CEO Khori Dastoor assumed leadership of the organization and responsibility for its strategic vision in 2021. HGO was the only American finalist for Opera Company of the Year in the 2019 International Opera Awards, and the only American company to be nominated twice. In fulfilling its mission to advance the operatic art, to serve the Houston community, and to be a global leader in the future of opera, HGO has led the field in commissioning and producing new works (76 world premieres to date) and in training and nurturing promising young artists and administrators. The company contributes to the cultural enrichment of Houston and the nation through a diverse and innovative program of performances, community events, and education projects that reaches the widest possible public. HGO’s pioneering Community and Learning initiative has served as a model for other arts organizations. The company invites all Houstonians to experience superlative opera without the barrier of price through discounted single tickets and subscriptions, subsidized student performances, and free productions.  

HGO has toured extensively and has won a Tony, two Grammy awards, and three Emmy awards. It is the only opera company to win all three honors.  

Performance dates: October 24, 26m, November 1, 5, 7, 9m, 11, 13, 15, 2025 Sung in English with projected English text

Original Washington National Opera Production with Sets from The Glimmerglass Festival

Puccini: Il trittico

Humperdinck:

Hansel and Gretel

Performance dates: January 30, February 1m, 7, 12m (Student Matinee) #, 13, 14m (Family Day) #, 15m, 2026

Sung in German with projected English translation. Student Matinee and Family Day performances will be sung in English with an alternate cast (#).

A Co-Production of the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation, the Salzburg Festival, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and the Grand Théâtre de Genève

Rossini:

The Barber of Seville

Performance dates: April 24, 26m, 28 (High School Night), May 2, 6, 8, 10m, 2026 Sung in Italian with projected English translation

A Co-Production of Canadian Opera Company, Opéra National de Bordeaux, and Opera Australia

Special Cullen Theater Performance: A Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio Production – available as a subscription add-on or as a single-ticket purchase

Floyd:

Of Mice and Men

The Houston Grand Opera won the 1977 GRAMMY Award for the Best Opera Recording of PORGY AND BESS

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will present the American Opera PORGY AND BESS at the Wortham Theater Center from October 24 - Nov. 15, 2025.

Historically, the Houston Grand Opera has received a Tony Award, two Grammy Awards, and three Emmy Awards. HGO is the only company in the world to win these three honors. In 1977 HGO’s production of Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin and DuBose Heyward won the Grammy for Best Opera Recording and the Tony for Most Innovative Production of a Revival. My cognizant awareness of the American Opera Porgy and Bess began when I was influenced by Maya Angelou and my Papa’s impeccable taste.

My father the late, great Rodin Falcon Tello had a very worldly-wise artistic palate. When I was a child growing up in the Philippines, I remember being woken up one Sunday morning to the music of Cat Stevens. He would turn the music up so loud, he would wake up the whole house. His LP album record collection includes movie soundtracks Fiddler on the Roof, Jesus Christ Superstar, Man of La Mancha and other artists such as the Carpenters (Karen and Richard), America, the Lettermen and many others. My Papa had a collection of Ian Fleming books and The Saint series among the innumerable books in his library. As an adult, living in Houston, I wandered into his library one day, bored and looking for something interesting. One of the books I picked up was Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. As I started to read the first pages, I was not only intrigued but excited, my boredom completely gone. Pretty soon, I was lost in the world of Maya Angelou. Her writing was so intricate and eloquent ….

Maya Angelou's record album titled MISS CALYPSO. She earned the role of RUBY in the 1950's touring stage production of PORGY AND BESS

Of all her books, the one I have always kept next to my bed is Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas. I really don’t know why but maybe because out of all her autobiographies, this was the one that was the happiest, just as the title says. Not just happy, but funny and hilarious!! Especially the one time she was called to the principal’s office because of her son Clyde. Now, Ms. Angelou is highly intelligent. So, I have re-written her story (mannerisms, inner thoughts and self-dialogues in italics and parenthesis). I tried to simplify it down to my level. Here’s an example of her parenting skills:

Maya Angelou (narrating): I went to the school and found Clyde sitting forlornly on a straight chair in the corridor. I patted his shoulder and stooped to asked what had happened. His eyes were liquid with unshed tears.

Miss Tennessee Kent of the Golden Gate School: Good morning Mrs. Angelos, this is Clyde’s teacher Miss Blum. And maybe it’s better to let Clyde sit outside in the corridor while we ….

Miss Blum: Yesterday was Armed Forces Day and I asked all the children what branch of the service they admired. Some said Navy, others Air Force, others Seabees, but Clyde stood up on his turn and said he’d go to jail first.

Maya: (she looked at him with such venom I wanted to put my body between her look and my son).

Miss Kent: (soothingly) Mrs. Angelos, we know Clyde didn’t get that at home. So, we wanted you to know that somewhere, maybe among his friends, he’s picking up dangerous thoughts.

Maya: (I thought immediately about Joseph McCarthy. The witch hunt was in full stride and newspapers carried items about blacklists and jobs being jeopardized. Reputations had been ruined and some people imprisoned because they were suspected of harboring dangerous and treacherous thoughts. My own background was not without incident. When I was 19, I had enlisted in the Army and been given a date for induction. But had been summarily rejected because it was discovered that during my 14^th and 15^th years, I had gone to a school which was on the list of un-American activities). Yes, he got that at home, Miss Kent. (Oh Lord, my career. What would the Rockwell family do if I was accused of Communist leanings?)

Miss Kent: Oh, then Clyde was voicing your political views that you hold religiously?

Maya: (there was nothing for it but to agree). That’s right. (And that was all Clyde had been waiting for. He bounced up out of his chair, arms stretched and flailing).

Clyde: Mom, isn’t it true that just because U.S. Steel wants to sell more steel, I shouldn’t go and kill some baby Koreans who never did anything to me?

Clyde: And, Mom, isn’t it true that capitalists just make the poor people go and bomb other poor people till they’re all dead and live on dead people’s money?

Clyde: (lifting his arms like a conductor asking a full orchestra for the last chord). Well, that’s all I said.

Maya: (the teachers sat silent as I stood up). Miss Kent and Miss Blum, I think the session has been emotionally very tiring for Clyde. I’ll take him home now and he’ll come back to school tomorrow.

Maya Angelou goes on to say, “That afternoon, Clyde and I went to a movie that showed ten Disney shorts.” See that? No harm, no foul. Differences aired and resolved. That’s why I love Maya Angelou so much. She was quick on her feet and sharp as a tack. She took you on her emotional journey which was complicatedly detailed, sometimes tragic but always amusing. She sang and danced calypso music, working at a Nightclub called the Purple Onion. During that time, she socialized with a lot of entertainment people, such as Eartha Kitt and comedians Phyllis Diller and Paul Lynde. She spoke about the musical opera Porgy and Bess:

“If New Faces of 1953 excited the pulses of San Franciscans, Porgy and Bess set their hearts afire. Reviewers and columnists raved about Leontyne Price and William Warfield in the title roles and praised the entire company. The troupe had already successfully toured other parts of the United States, Europe and South America. I went to the theater ready to be entertained, but not expecting a riot of emotion. Price and Warfield sang; they threaded their voices with music and spellbound the audience with their wizardry. Even the chorus performed with such verve that a viewer could easily believe each singer was competing for a leading part. By intermission, I had been totally consumed. I had laughed and cried, exulted and mourned, and expected the second act to produce no new emotions. I returned to my seat prepared for a repetition of great music. The curtain rose on a picnic in progress. The revelers were church members led by a pious old woman who forbade dancing, drinking and even laughing. Cab Calloway as Sportin’ Life pranced out in a cream-colored suit and tried to paganize the Christians. He sang “It Ain’t Necessarily So”, strutting as if he was speaking ex cathedra.

The audience applauded loudly, interrupting the stage action. Then a young woman broke away from a group of singers near the wings. She raced to the center of the stage and began to dance. The sopranos sang a contrapuntal high-toned encouragement and the baritones urged the young woman on. The old lady tried to catch her, to stop the idolatrous dance, but the dancer moved out of her reach, flinging her legs high, carrying the music in her body as if it were a private thing, given into her care and protection. I nearly screamed with delight and envy. I wanted to be with her on the stage letting the music fly through my body. Her torso seemed to lose solidity and float, defying gravity. I wanted to be with her. No, I wanted to be her.

In the second act, Warfield, as the crippled Porgy, dragged the audience into his despair. Even kneeling, he was a large man, broad and thick-chested. His physical size made his affliction and his loss of Bess even sadder. The resonant voice straddled the music and rode it, controlling it. I remained in my seat after the curtain fell and allowed people to climb over my knees to reach the aisle. I was stunned. Porgy and Bess had shown me the greatest array of Negro talent I had ever seen. I took Clyde to the first matinee and he liked the dancing and ‘the little goat that pulled Porgy off the stage’ at the end of the opera.”

More than anything, she wanted to be a part of the Gershwin / Heyward opera. Maya Angelou’s role as a mother conflicted with her desire. “My mind turned over and over like a flipped coin: Paris, then Clyde’s motherless birthday party; Rome and my son’s evening prayers; Madrid and Clyde struggling along with his schoolwork.” Family and friends were supportive when she finally earned the role of Ruby. But she was wracked with guilt when it came time to leaving her son behind to join the traveling circus. “But I had to work and I would be good, I would make it up to my son and one day would take him to all the places I was going to see.”

She describes the day when she auditioned and got the role of Ruby. “I had been given a precis of the DuBose Heyward book on which George and Ira Gershwin had based their opera:

Porgy, a crippled beggar, lives in the Negro hamlet of Catfish Row, North Carolina. He is loved by the town’s inhabitants, who eke out their meager living by fishing and selling local produce. When Crown, a tough Stevedore, kills Robbins, Serena’s husband, in a crap game, the white police descend upon the hamlet to find the culprit. Sportin’ Life, who runs the gambling and other nefarious money-making schemes, escapes into Ruby’s house, but Bess, Crown’s beautiful and worldly woman, is rejected by the community’s women and is nearly captured in the rain. Just as the police dragnet is about to close in on her, Porgy opens the door of his hut and Bess finds safety.

Porgy falls in love with Bess and she accepts his love and protection, swearing that she will stay with him forever. Crown escapes from jail and comes to claim Bess at a picnic which Porgy does not attend. Bess is sexually attracted to her old lover and goes away with him for three days. Porgy goes to look for her. When she returns to Catfish Row, Porgy is away and the local women scorn her. Sportin’ Life woos her, gives her cocaine and begs her to leave the small town and accompany him to New York, where ‘I’ll give you the finest diamonds on upper Fifth Avenue.’ She cannot resist his entreaty, his style and the drugs. She leaves with him. The naïve story is given dramatic pace by the birth of a longed-for child, a hurricane in which a member of the community is killed and a picnic where Sportin’ Life tried to tempt the religious people away from their beliefs.”

With Porgy and Bess, Maya Angelou became an international world traveler. In 1959 the Gershwin opera was made into a film by Samuel Goldwyn. The title roles belonged to Sidney Poitier as Porgy and Dorothy Dandridge as Bess. Other well-known actors were cast such as Sammy Davis Jr. as Sportin’ Life, Pearl Bailey as Maria and Diahann Carroll as Clara. It’s been 50 years since HGO first presented the Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, restoring the “folk opera” to its creators’ full original vision in this landmark production. Now, audiences have the chance to again experience the cherished American classic that set HGO on its path as a trailblazer, presented in an acclaimed production from director Francesca Zambello.

HGO 2025 Porgy and Bess cream of the crop: leading the pack of the chosen ones is the accomplished Michael Sumuel, bass-baritone who has the title role of Porgy. A Butler Studio Alumnus, I’ve seen him recently perform the role of Sharpless in Madame Butterfly (2024). He has traveled to Australia and Germany and performed roles in popular operas such as Die Fledermaus, Don Giovanni, La Boheme and Wagner’s Ring Cycle.

The beautiful and charming Soprano Angel Blue performs the role of Bess. She made her HGO debut in 2022 as Violetta in La Traviata. Blue is a two-time Grammy Award winner for Fire Shut Up in My Bones (2023) and Porgy and Bess (2021). This season, she travels to Paris to sing the title role in Tosca. On the concert stage, she travels to Vienna and Reykjavik and has travelled to the Netherlands, Germany and France.

Playing the role of Crown is baritone Blake Denson, who is a Butler Studio and YAVA alumnus. Tenor Demetrious Sampson Jr. performs the role of Sportin’ Life; Sampson is a third-year Butler Studio artist from Albany, Georgia. Acclaimed soprano Latonia Moore plays the role of Serena, making her HGO debut; Moore is a Houston native and has a career spanning over 20 years. Soprano Raven McMillon performs the role of Clara; McMillon is a Butler Studio alumna. Baritone Justin Austin performs the role of Jake, making his HGO debut. Austin is a Drama Desk award-nominated artist and was named Rising Star of the year at the 2024 International Opera Awards and is the recipient of the 2024 Marian Anderson Vocal Award. Performing the role of Maria is contralto La’Shelle Q. Allen and is also making her HGO debut. Her career spans more than 30 years performing in opera houses, theaters and various event venues in 30 countries.

Please remember to engage, see and subscribe to the Houston Grand Opera’s 2025-2026 season which includes Puccini’s Il Trittico; the Pulitzer Prize-winning Silent Night by Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell; Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel; Floyd’s Of Mice and Men; Rossini’s The Barber of Seville and Messiah by Handel, arranged by Mozart. And don't miss the glorious production of the American classic masterpiece Porgy and Bess with music by Gershwin, libretto by Heyward, directed by Francesca Zambello and presented by the award-winning Houston Grand Opera.