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You heard it here first! The innovative and highly celebrated Houston Grand Opera (HGO), known for advancing the art of opera, announced their upcoming 2023-2024 season LIVE on Town Square with Ernie Manouse!

We’re joined by Khori Dastoor, General Director and CEO of Houston Grand Opera, who announces the lineup of the 2023-2024 season, and shares insight on the highlights, as well as, the company's initiatives heading into this new season.

The new season will comprise 34 mainstage productions, 2 student productions, and 2 free performances of 6 productions. Dastoor says, “Next season’s theme surrounds finding truth within art. These operas are united by the complexity of their musical languages, the maturity of their themes, and the immutable truths contained within their stories”.

HGO’s 2023-2024 Season Line-up:

Intelligence

This HGO-commissioned world premiere will begin the new season. This fusion of music, words and dance was created by acclaimed composer Jake Heggie, librettist Gene Scheer, and director/choreographer Jawole Willa Joe Zollar. Inspired by a little-known true story from the Civil War, this opera tells the story of two women, Elizabeth Van Lew and Mary Jane Bowser, who create a secret pro-Union spy ring.

Falstaff

Verdi’s comic masterpiece that recounts the drunken misdeeds of Shakespeare’s beloved, down-on-his-luck knight who crosses the wrong women in a scheme to pay off his debts.

Parsifal

Wagner’s revered masterpiece opens HGO’s winter repertoire that takes audiences on a mystical journey with a group of knights that try to protect the Holy Grail and their wounded king. Tony Award-winner John Caird directs this colorful production.

Madame Butterfly

Puccini’s beloved tragedy returns featuring a diverse cast led by internationally sought-after soprano Ailyn Pérez. Jordan Braun directs the revival of Tony Award winner Michael Grandage’s acclaimed production.

Don Giovanni

Mozart’s sublime tragicomedy opens HGO’s Spring repertoire, led by superstar Italian bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni as the womanizing antihero and conducted by world-renowned Dame Jane Glover.

The Sound of Music

Closing the season is this vibrant new staging of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s timeless tale from acclaimed director Francesca Zambello.  It features an outstanding cast, including Grammy Award-winning Isabel Leonard as Maria and Alexander Birch Elliott as Captain Von Trapp, and the world-class HGO Orchestra and Chorus.

For more information on the entire 2023-2024 season, visit HGO.org.

Houston Grand Opera makes opera accessible to all through diverse and innovative programs, community events, and education projects.  They invite all Houstonians to experience this art form and provide discounted tickets, free productions, and subsidized student performances.

To listen to Ernie Manouse’s interview with acclaimed composer Jake Heggie on the show InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse, click here.

Guest:

Khori Dastoor

• General Director & CEO, Houston Grand Opera

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