Fortune Favors the Bold: Powerhouse Women Lead Houston Grand Opera’s New Season

Sherry ChengMarch 21, 2022

Describing herself as “relentlessly optimistic,” Khori Dastoor officially took over the reins as Houston Grand Opera (HGO)’s General Director and CEO in January 2022, becoming the first woman to lead the prestigious company in its 67-year history....

HoustonMusicTheater9 min read

Love, Brutality, Sacrifice, and Regret: Houston Grand Opera’s Vivid Die Walküre

Steven BrownApril 21, 2015

Die Walküre opened Saturday night at Wortham Theater Center....

HoustonMusic6 min read

Review: Houston Grand Opera’s Mary Stuart

Holly BerettoMay 4, 2012

The tragedy of Geatano Donizetti’s Mary Stuart, which had its Houston Grand Opera premiere last month, is that there’s so much drama, intrigue and passion in the real story behind rival queens Elizabeth I of England and Mary, Queen of Scots [...]...

HoustonMusicReviews3 min read

Dallas Opera Celebrates 65 Years

Steven BrownMay 19, 2022

To help make the 65th-anniversary season special, the company is staging four operas that it hasn’t produced in more than a decade, Derrer says, and it will showcase each in a production that’s new to Dallas audiences....

Dallas/Ft WorthMusicTheater6 min read

Double Vision: Dallas Opera Returns to Grandeur and Grows its Digital Audience

Steven BrownJanuary 7, 2022

Opera’s grandeur will at last come back to the Winspear Opera House on Feb. 18, when TDO revives its production of Giacomo Puccini’s Madame Butterfly (through Feb. 26)....

Dallas/Ft WorthMusicTheater5 min read

Afton Battle Takes the Lead at Fort Worth Opera

Steven BrownOctober 7, 2020

Battle’s move to the company completes a journey--a more circuitous one than she imagined--that began that night at La Traviata....

Dallas/Ft WorthMusic5 min read

Houston Symphony’s New Season Highlights Women Violinists, Beethoven and a partnership with Perlman

Steven BrownFebruary 13, 2020

The Houston Symphony will be one of many orchestras that mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. But how many groups will also spend part of next season celebrating women who play the violin?...

HoustonMusic6 min read

Made in Texas: Trey McIntyre Returns with a Houston Ballet World Premiere

Nichelle SuzanneFebruary 13, 2020

In the midst of its celebratory 50th anniversary season comprised entirely of works created for the company by world-renowned choreographers, Houston Ballet presents Forged in Houston March 12-21....

DanceHouston6 min read

In HGO’s Marian Anderson Opera, a Legendary Voice Still Resonates

Steven BrownJanuary 17, 2020

Even after Marian Anderson won international acclaim as a singer, she felt the sting of racial discrimination. She fought back with unique weapons: her deep river of a contralto voice and her unshakably dignified bearing....

HoustonMusic5 min read

Dallas Opera’s Season of Celebration

Steven BrownApril 12, 2019

The Dallas Opera commemorates a handful of anniversaries next season, and the most notable involves one of your not-so-catchy numbers. ...

Dallas/Ft WorthMusic5 min read

Musical Story Lines: Houston Symphony’s New Season

Steven BrownFebruary 11, 2019

A festival celebrating arch-Romantic composer Robert Schumann. Spotlights on Richard Strauss, master of orchestral tone-painting, and today’s John Adams. A pairing of dramatic but little-known choral works by Felix Mendelssohn and Gustav Mahler....

HoustonMusic6 min read

Double ‘Dutchman’ opens HGO and Dallas Opera Seasons

Steven BrownSeptember 21, 2018

He’s the ultimate outsider. Cursed by Satan, the protagonist of Richard Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman must sail the world’s seas for all eternity. ...

Dallas/Ft WorthHoustonMusic6 min read