Anthony Freud News

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) launches its 56th season with Giacomo Puccini's Madame Butterfly. 'Madame Butterfly is all at once extraordinarily popular and heartbreaking,' explained HGO's General Director and CEO Anthony Freud.

Director Michael Grandage, designer Christopher Oram and lighting designer Neil Austin - the creative team responsible for Houston Grand Opera's (HGO) new production of Puccini's Madame Butterfly - swept the prestigious Tony Awards Sunday night in New York City with six awards for their Broadway production of John Logan's Red.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) announced today that, due to popular demand, an additional performance of its new production of Giacomo Puccini's Madame Butterfly has been scheduled for Thursday, November 11, 2010 at 7:30 pm in the Wortham Theater Center's Brown Auditorium.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) continues its 2010-11 season with Peter Grimes, British composer Benjamin Britten's masterful opera about the human struggle of the individual versus the masses against the backdrop of the raging sea. Following HGO's acclaimed productions of Billy Budd (2008), A Midsummer Night's Dream (2009) and The Turn of the Screw (2010), Peter Grimes is the fourth opera in HGO's highly successful and innovative Benjamin Britten series. 'Peter Grimes is an opera that delivers a punch like no other,' explained HGO General Director Anthony Freud. 'It's an opera that has a visceral power, an emotional impact and an immediacy that is truly overwhelming.' HGO will present a series of Britten operas through the 2012-13 season, which marks the centennial of the composer's birth.

At its meeting today, the Board of Directors of Houston Grand Opera Association, Inc., extended Anthony Freud's contract as General Director and CEO through July 31, 2015. Freud, formerly the General Director of Welsh National Opera (UK) took the helm at HGO in 2006.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) today confirmed plans to co-produce a complete Ring cycle with Opera Australia, which will bring Wagner's complete Der Ring des Nibelungen to Houston for the first time in the company's history.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will present its forty-first world premiere, To Cross the Face of the Moon / Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, commissioned by HGO through its Song of Houston Project.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) launches its 56th season with Giacomo Puccini's Madame Butterfly. 'Madame Butterfly is all at once extraordinarily popular and heartbreaking,' explained HGO's General Director and CEO Anthony Freud.

OPERA America, the national service organization for opera, is pleased to announce that seven new members were elected to the Board of Directors during the organization's recent annual conference in Los Angeles.

Director Michael Grandage, designer Christopher Oram and lighting designer Neil Austin - the creative team responsible for Houston Grand Opera's (HGO) new production of Puccini's Madame Butterfly - swept the prestigious Tony Awards Sunday night in New York City with six awards for their Broadway production of John Logan's Red.

At its annual meeting on Wednesday, June 02, 2010 Houston Grand OperaAssociation, Inc. reported on the success of the 2009-10 season, including strong ticket sales andsignificant contributed support.

Houston Grand Opera Studio artist, Nathaniel Peake won the Zarzuela prize and Studio alumnus Ryan McKinny won the Birgit Nilsson prize at Placido Domingo's Operalia competition on Sunday, May 2. The weeklong worldwide competition took place this year at famed Milanese opera house Teatro alla Scala- this was the first time the contest has been hosted in Italy.

OPERA America, the national service organization for opera, is pleased to announce that the contract of its president & CEO, Marc A. Scorca, has been extended through 2016. Anthony Freud, chairman of OPERA America's Board of Directors, announced the news at the organization's Annual Business Meeting, which took place during OPERA America's recent conference in Houston, Texas. During Opera Conference 2009, the Board of Directors also elected two new members to join its ranks: Gregory C. Swinehart and Darren K. Woods.

Houston Grand Opera closes the 2008-09 season with its 39 th world premiere, Andr? Previn's Brief Encounter, at the Wortham Theater Center's Brown Theater, May 1 - May 8, 2009. Brief Encounter is German-born American pianist, conductor and composer Andr? Previn'ssecond opera. His first opera, A Streetcar Named Desire, which won the Grand Prix du Disques recording award, had its premiere in San Francisco in 1998 to much acclaim and continues to beperformed internationally.

Houston Grand Opera closes the 2008-09 season with its 39 th world premiere, Andr? Previn's Brief Encounter, at the Wortham Theater Center's Brown Theater, May 1 - May 8, 2009. Brief Encounter is German-born American pianist, conductor and composer Andr? Previn'ssecond opera. His first opera, A Streetcar Named Desire, which won the Grand Prix du Disques recording award, had its premiere in San Francisco in 1998 to much acclaim and continues to beperformed internationally.