Name: Carols on the Green
Start: 2026-12-12T19:00:00
Location: Discovery Green

Houston Grand Opera

A deeply American masterpiece, Susannah, launches HGO’s 2026-27 season, continuing the company’s centenary celebration of opera icon Carlisle Floyd. Set in the hills of Tennessee and inspired by Floyd’s own roots as a minister’s son, the story follows Susannah, a young woman whose life is shattered after she’s seen bathing in a creek by church elders, leading to cruel gossip, judgment, and finally, her harrowing assault. Shared through a genre-blending score infused with revival hymns and Appalachian folksong—and a libretto, also by Floyd, written in colorful regional dialect—the opera will be presented in a new staging from celebrated soprano-turned-director Patricia Racette. Soprano Angel Blue, an international sensation, makes her role debut as Susannah, with leading baritone Rod Gilfry as the Reverend Olin Blitch and rising tenors Bille Bruley and Aaron Blake as Sam and Little Bat. Maestro James Gaffigan conducts.

Susannah

Wortham Theater Center

Temptation, redemption, and the price of desire take center stage in Gounod’s Faust, arriving in a dazzling, dance-infused production from visionary director David McVicar. Reimagined as a tormented composer in Belle Époque Paris, the title character makes a fateful pact with Mephistopheles: his soul in exchange for youth and sensual pleasure. After Faust sets his sights on the pure-hearted Marguerite, his passion leads to her ruin—but also her salvation. Set to one of the most beloved scores in French opera, Faust is full of iconic moments, from the diabolical “Song of the Golden Calf” to Marguerite’s glittering “Jewel Song.” Sublime soprano Pretty Yende makes her company debut as Marguerite, joined by tenor Matthew Polenzani as Faust and bass-baritone Ildebrando D’Arcangelo as Mephistopheles. Giacomo Sagripanti, music director of the Tbilisi Opera House, conducts in his HGO debut.

Faust

Free outdoor holiday concert at Discovery Green featuring opera classics, holiday favorites, and joyful singalongs. Celebrating the Songs of the Season.

Carols on the Green

Discovery Green

Forty years after Aida opened the newly constructed Wortham Theater Center, Verdi’s monumental masterwork returns to HGO in a visionary new production from director Kaneza Schaal. Inspired by a diverse array of cultures and art forms from across the globe, this staging blooms with colors, flowers, and dance to share the opera’s story of love, betrayal, and sacrifice, set to an iconic score that represents the pinnacle of the Italian Romantic style. Radiant soprano Ailyn Pérez returns to HGO as enslaved Ethiopian woman Aida, with leading tenors Jonathan Tetelman and Adam Smith sharing the role of her love, Egyptian military commander Radames; Grammy Award-winning baritone Lucas Meachem in his role debut as Aida’s father, Amonasro; and powerful mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis as the revenge-bent Amneris. The celebrated Milanese conductor Michele Gamba makes his company debut at the podium.

Aida

With its unforgettable melodies, comic adventures, and themes of truth, love, and transformation, Mozart’s The Magic Flute has stood as one of opera’s most brilliant imaginative experiences for centuries. With this production, director/choreographer Renaud Doucet and designer André Barbe have delightfully reimagined the story for modern audiences, transferring the action to a whimsical 19th-century hotel, where a cigar-smoking Queen of the Night leads an underground suffragette movement and chef Sarastro’s kitchen staff guards culinary secrets like sacred Masonic rites. Expect black-and-white storybook sets, puppetry, and laugh-out-loud visual gags—all brought to life by Mozart’s luminous score, performed with virtuosity by the HGO Chorus and Orchestra and a powerhouse cast. Tenor Paul Appleby stars as sleepwalking hotel guest Tamino opposite soprano Janai Brugger as Pamina, with baritone Joshua Hopkins as Papageno, soprano Aigul Khismatullina in her HGO debut as the Queen of the Night, and bass Grigory Shkarupa as Sarastro. David Chan—artistic director of the Taipei Music Academy and Festival, principal conductor of the Apollo Orchestra, and a recently appointed professor of violin at Rice University—conducts in his company debut.

The Magic Flute

Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier waltzes into HGO in a stylish production from director Bruno Ravella. The staging transports the 18th-century comedy of manners into the chic world of 1950s Vienna, where the glamorous Marschallin is having an affair with the young Count Octavian—until his heart is captured by Sophie, the innocent fiancée of the blundering Baron Ochs. What follows is a delicious mix of mistaken identities, romantic awakenings, and bittersweet partings, all set to Strauss’s lush, sparkling score, filled with swirling waltzes and opera’s most transcendent final trio. Sublime soprano Tamara Wilson makes her role debut as the Marschallin, with bass Matthew Rose reprising his acclaimed Ochs, and two rising stars in their company debuts, mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey as Octavian and soprano Soraya Mafi as Sophie. Conductor Henrik Nánási makes his HGO debut in this sumptuous staging of Strauss’s most beloved opera.

Der Rosenkavalier

A century ago, Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s Show Boat changed American musical theater forever with its racially integrated cast and bold portrayal of injustice along the Mississippi. Set aboard the floating theater Cotton Blossom, the groundbreaking musical traces the intertwined lives of performers navigating decades of love, loss, and prejudice—backed by a sweeping score that is influenced by genres from spirituals to ragtime to jazz. In the 1980s, HGO made history of its own by restoring Show Boat to operatic scale—and now, the company is inviting audiences to again experience this treasured classic with an acclaimed production by Francesca Zambello, performed by a cast of superstars. Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard makes her role debut as Julie, with soprano Lauren Snouffer as Magnolia, baritone Edward Nelson as Gaylord, and bass Morris Robinson as Joe, whose haunting number, “Ol’ Man River,” captures the ceaseless roll of the Mighty Mississippi. Making his first return to HGO in his new role as music director emeritus, Maestro Patrick Summers conducts.