Houston Grand Opera - Company Foundation

Company Foundation

The HGO Association has 166 members: a 34-member Board of Directors, chaired by Beth Madison, as of August 1, 2011, one honorary director, and 131 Trustees. The Board of Directors meets four times, and the Trustees meet three times each year. The opera employs over 1,000 people annually, 120 of whom are full-time staff. On May 25, 2011, the Board of Directors appointed Patrick Summers as Artistic and Music Director, occupying the Margaret Alkek Williams Chair. At the same time, Perryn Leech was named Managing Director. They succeed Anthony Freud, OBE, the company's General Director from 2005–2011, who resigned at the end of the 2010–11 season to assume leadership of Lyric Opera of Chicago.

The permanent artistic foundation of HGO rests on three pillars: the HGO Orchestra, HGO Chorus and HGO Studio. During Patrick Summers’ thirteen years with the company, the HGO Orchestra has reached a new level of virtuosity, adding many great masterworks to its repertoire. The HGO Chorus, which was created at the same time as HGO itself in 1955, has become one of the world's most acclaimed opera choruses under the direction of Chorus Master Richard Bado.

HGO's 2011–2012 season consists of 31 performances of six mainstage productions: The Barber of Seville, Fidelio, La traviata, The Rape of Lucretia, Don Carlos and Mary Stuart.