In the September world premiere of O Columbia, the new chamber opera from HGOco, a young Houston girl dreams of being an astronaut journeying to the stars.
We are back for our epic annual public chit chat, a tiny snapshot of the thousand dishy emails that fly across the inter tubes discussing what we just saw, missed, didn’t understand or flat out loved.
Houston Grand Opera’s 2023-24 season is nothing short of epic. “We are producing some of the grandest and most mature artistic works in the repertoire all in one season,” says Khori Dastoor, HGO General Director and CEO. “Verdi’s last opera, Wagner’s last opera, late Mozart—these pieces are Mount Everest, each one of them.”
For all the glories of Carmen, La Boheme, Aida and the like, opera companies sometimes want to tackle a work that’s out-of-the-ordinary: Call it a statement opera. The urge came upon The Dallas Opera before the pandemic.
It’s been way too long since I sat around the virtual table with our fabulous theater writers Lindsey Wilson and Tarra Gaines to chat about all things performing arts in Houston, Dallas and beyond.
Back in pre-pandemic 2020, B. Moore Dance company founder Bridget Moore signed on as choreographer for the Second Thought Theatre’s production of Lynn Nottage’s play Mlima's Tale.
The Houston Symphony’s new music director, Juraj Valčuha, acknowledged that opening the season with a requiem may strike some as “a strange idea.” But Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem is no ordinary setting of the mass for the dead.
During the height of the streamed performing arts portion of the pandemic, I thought a lot about the difference between being a viewer and an audience member.
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.