The story
Founded by Walter Herbert in 1955.1
History
In 1955, the German-born impresario Walter Herbert and Houstonians Elva Lobit, Edward Bing, and Charles Cockrell founded the company. Its inaugural season featured two performances of two operas, Salome (starring Brenda Lewis in the title role) and Madama Butterfly. David Gockley succeeded Walter Herbert as general director in 1972. During Gockley's tenure, the company began regularly commissioning and producing new works, primarily from American composers. Gockley remained as general director until 2005.
Anthony Freud succeeded Gockley as general director in 2005, and held the post until 2011. Following Freud's departure, joint leadership was shared between Patrick Summers, who had been music director at HGO since 1998, and Perryn Leech, who joined the company in 2006 and became chief operating officer in 2010. Summers took the titles of artistic director and music director, and Leech became managing director. For the 2017–2018 season, HGO performed at the 'HGO Resilience Theater', a temporary space created in an exhibit hall at the George R. Brown Convention Center, after the Wortham Theater Center was closed due to flooding from Hurricane Harvey in August 2017. Leech stood down as managing director of the company in December 2020.
In June 2021, the company announced the appointment of Khori Dastoor as its next general director and CEO, effective January 2022. Dastoor is the first woman ever named to the posts.
World premieres through the 2022–23 season
The Seagull, Thomas Pasatieri and Kenward Elmslie, 1974
Bilby's Doll, Carlisle Floyd, 1976
Willie Stark, Carlisle Floyd, 1981
Starbird, Henry Mollicone and Kate Pogue, 1980
A Quiet Place, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Wadsworth, 1983
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Nixon in China, John Adams and Alice Goodman, 1987
The Making of the Representative for Planet 8, Philip Glass and Doris Lessing, 1988
Where's Dick?, Stewart Wallace and Michael Korie, 1989
New Year, Sir Michael Tippett, 1989
The Passion of Jonathan Wade (new version), Carlisle Floyd, 1991
ATLAS: an opera in three parts, Meredith Monk, 1991
Desert of Roses, Robert Moran and Michael John LaChiusa, 1992
The Achilles Heel, Craig Bohmler and Mary Carol Warwick, 1993
TEXAS!, Mary Carol Warwick and Kate Pogue, 1993
The Dracula Diary, Robert Moran and James Skofield, 1994
The Outcast (fully realized version), Noa Ain, 1994
Harvey Milk, Stewart Wallace and Michael Korie, 1995
Puppy and the Big Guy, Sterling Tinsley and Kate Pogue, 1995
The Tibetan Book of the Dead, a liberation through hearing, Ricky Ian Gordon and Jean-Claude van Itallie, 1996
Florencia en el Amazonas, Daniel Catán and Marcela Fuentes-Berain, 1996
Jackie O, Michael Daugherty and Wayne Koestenbaum, 1997
Cinderella in Spain/Cinderella en España, Mary Carol Warwick and Kate Pogue, 1998
Little Women, Mark Adamo, 1998
Resurrection, Tod Machover and Laura Harrington with additional materials by Braham Murray, 1999
Cold Sassy Tree, Carlisle Floyd, 2000
The Emperor's New Clothes, Mary Carol Warwick and Kate Pogue, 2001
Sibanda!, Michael Remson, 2003
The Little Prince, Rachel Portman and Nicholas Wright, 2003
The Velveteen Rabbit, Mary Carol Warwick and Kate Pogue, 2004
The End of the Affair, Jake Heggie and Heather McDonald, 2004
Salsipuedes, a tale of Love, War and Anchovies, Daniel Catán and Eliseo Alberto / Francisco Hinojosa, 2004
The Princess and the Pea, Mary Carol Warwick and Mary Ann Pendino, 2005
Lysistrata, or the Nude Goddess, Mark Adamo, 2005
Strega Nona, Mary Carol Warwick and Mary Ann Pendino, 2006
Send (who are you? I love you), Michael John LaChiusa, 2006
The Refuge, Christopher Theofanidis and Leah Lax, 2007
Three Decembers (premiered under the title Last Acts), Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer, 2008
Sleeping Beauty, Edward Charles Winkler, 2008
Brief Encounter, André Previn and John Caird, 2009
A Way Home, Ethan Frederick Greene and Irene Keliher, 2010
Cruzar la Cara de la Luna / To Cross the Face of the Moon, José "Pepe" Martínez and Leonard Foglia, 2010
Courtside, Jack Perla and Eugene Chan, 2011
Your Name Means the Sea, Franghiz Alizadeh, 2011
Pieces of 9/11, Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer, 2011
The Clever Wife—a Chinese Folktale, Mary Carol Warwick and Hugh Behm-Steinberg, 2012
The Bricklayer, Gregory Spears and Farnoosh Moshiri, 2012
New Arrivals, John Glover and Catherine Filloux, 2012
From My Mother's Mother, Jeeyoung Kim and Janine Joseph, 2012
Past the Checkpoints, David Hanlon and Joann Farías, 2013
The Memory Stone, Marty Regan and Kenny Fries, 2013
Rapunzel, Mary Carol Warwick and Alvaro Saar Rios, 2014
Bound, Huang Ruo and Bao-Long Chu, 2014
A Coffin in Egypt, Ricky Ian Gordon and Leonard Foglia, 2014
River of Light, Jack Perla and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, 2014
A Christmas Carol, Iain Bell and Simon Callow, 2014
The Pastry Prince, Mark Buller and Charles Anthony Silvestri, 2015
O Columbia, Gregory Spears and Royce Vavrek, September 2015
The Puffed-Up Prima Donna, Mark Buller and Charles Anthony Silvestri, January 2016
Prince of Players, Carlisle Floyd, March 2016
What Wings They Were: The Case of Emeline, John L. Cornelius II and Janine Joseph, April 2016
After the Storm, David Hanlon and Stephanie Fleischmann, May 2016
It's a Wonderful Life, Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer, December 2016
Some Light Emerges, Laura Kaminsky and Mark Campbell/Kimberly Reed, March 2017
The House without a Christmas Tree, Ricky Ian Gordon and Royce Vavrek, November 2017
Monkey & Francine in the City of Tigers, Kamala Sankaram and David Johnston, January 2018
The Phoenix, Tarik O'Regan and John Caird, April 2019
El Milagro del Recuerdo, Javier Martínez and Leonard Foglia, December 2019
Marian's Song, Damien Sneed and Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, March 2020
The Impresario of Oz, Mark Buller and Charles Anthony Silvestri, June 2020
The Snowy Day, Joel Thompson and Andrea Davis, December 2021
Another City, Jeremy Howard Beck and Stephanie Fleischmann, March 2023
From Wikipedia’s article on Houston Grand Opera, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3