Simon O’Neill as Siegfried and Christine Goerke as Brunnhilde will star in the final installment of Wagner’s epic Ring cycle, Götterdämmerung —  one of the highlights of the 2016-17 season at Houston Grand Opera, which will also include a world premiere of It’s a Wonderful Life by composer Jake Heggie with Gene Scheer providing the libretto. 

Announcing its season today, HGO also will present Nixon in China, in a new to Houston production; Faust with a Houston debut from tenor Michael Fabiano playing opposite Ana Maria Martinez (now onstage at HGO in the title role of Rusalka); Mozart’s The Abduction From the Seraglio featuring the return of coloratura Albina Shagimuratova and tenor Lawrence Brownlee; Donizetti’s comedy The Elixir of Love with tenor Dimitri Pittas and soprano Nicole Heaston and featuring the debut of English conductor Jane Glover; and perhaps most unusually: HGO Artistic Director Patrick Summers will conduct Verdi’s Requiem, an “opera in disguise” prompted by the Super Bowl being in town that February. 

Here’s the details:

Donizetti: The Elixir of Love
October 21 through November 4, 2016

Gounod: Faust
October 28 through November 11, 2016

World Premiere
Jake Heggie/Gene Scheer: It’s a Wonderful Life
December 2 through December 17, 2016

John Adams/Alice Goodman: Nixon in China
January 20 – 28, 2017

Verdi: Requiem
February 10 – 18, 2017

Wagner: Götterdämmerung
April 22 through May 7, 2017

Mozart: The Abduction From the Seraglio
April 28 through May 12, 2017

For more information, call 713-228-6737 or visit houstongrandopera.org. 

This article appears in Jan 28 – Feb 3, 2016.

Margaret Downing is the editor-in-chief who oversees the Houston Press newsroom and its online publication. She frequently writes on a wide range of subjects.