Houston Grand Opera has announced its 2024-25 season, which features six productions, including a revival of West Side Story starring Shereen Pimentel.
Shereen Pimentel will reprise the role of Maria, which she previously played on Broadway in the 2020 revival directed by Ivo van Hove. HGO's production, directed by Francesca Zambello (The Little Mermaid), will also star Brenton Ryan as Tony, Kyle Coffman as Riff, Yurel Echezarreta as Bernardo, Nathan Keen as Action, and soprano Ana María Martínez as the "Somewhere" soloist. Roberto Kalb will conduct Leonard Bernstein's iconic score.
The season will open October 18 with Verdi's Il Trovatore, source of the famous "Anvil Chorus," starring tenor Michael Spyres as Manrico, the titular troubadour. Baritone Lucas Meachem plays Count di Luna, Manrico's rival for the affection of Leonora, played by soprano Ailyn Pérez. Mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis plays Azucena, Manrico's secretive mother, and bass Morris Robinson rounds out the cast as di Luna's henchman Ferrando.
Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard will star as Angelina in Rossini's La Cenerentola (Cinderella), a comic opera spin on the classic fairy tale, full of the vocal fireworks for which the composer is famous. The cast will include Alessandro Corbelli in the role of Don Magnifico, Angelina's wicked stepfather. Like Leonard, Corbelli is a Rossini specialist, and established veteran in the role. Tenor Jack Swanson will play the prince Don Ramiro, with baritone Iurii Samoilov as his valet Dandini. Bass-baritone Cory McGee plays the prince's tutor Alidoro, and rounding out the cast are Alissa Goretsky and Emily Treigle as the two stepsisters Clorinda and Tisbe.
Puccini's La Bohème is next in the lineup, in a revival of a production directed by John Caird. Tenor Joshua Guerrero and soprano Yarita Véliz star as Rodolfo and Mimi, with baritone Edward Parks as Marcello, soprano Juliana Grigoryan as Musetta, bass-baritone Cory McGee as Colline, and baritone Héctor Vásquez as Benoit and Alcindoro.
Missy Mazzoli's Breaking The Waves will have its Houston premiere in April. The opera, with a libretto by Royce Vavrek based on the film by Lars von Trier will star soprano Lauren Snouffer as Bess McNeill, with bass-baritone Ryan McKinny as Jan Nyman. The cast also includes soprano Michelle Bradley as Mother, mezzo-soprano Maire Therese Carmack as Dodo McNeill, tenor David Portillo as Dr. Richardson, and baritone Michael Mayes as Councilman.
The season will conclude with a new production of Wagner's Tannhäuser, directed by Francesca Zambello. Russell Thomas stars as Tannhäuser, the troubadour who seeks redemption after having spent a year under the spell of the goddess Venus, played by mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke. The cast also features soprano Tamara Wilson as Elisabeth, baritone Luke Sutliff as Wolfram, bass Alexandros Stavrakakis as Landgraf Hermann, bass-baritone Cory McGee as Biterolf, and tenor Martin Luther Clark as Walther.
For more information, visit HoustonGrandOpera.org.
