Houston Grand Opera Presents Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades
Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades Photo by Johan Jacobs courtesy of La Monnaie
A haunting tale of obsession, the internationally acclaimed Richard Jones production of Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades opens Houston Grand Opera’s (HGO) 2010 spring repertory. Performances run April 16 – May 1, 2010 in the Brown Theater of the Wortham Theater Center.
Opera News calls Richard Jones’s production of The Queen of Spades, originally created for Welsh National Opera “telling theatricality.” London’s Observer wrote “Once every few seasons, a production gets pretty much everything right. This is one … dramatically spine-chilling, visually spare and coherent; it was the kind of theatrical experience which changes the way you look at life.”
Russian tenor Vladimir Galouzine (Canio in HGO’s production of Leoncavallo’s Pagliaccib 2008), considered to be one of the world’s leading tenors and the finest interpreter of the role of Hermann, returns to HGO to sing the role of the tormented gambler. Russian soprano Tatiana Monogarova whom the London Financial Times calls “definitely a young singer to watch,” makes her HGO debut as Lisa. Legendary Canadian mezzo-soprano Judith Forst, recently seen as Mrs. Grose in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, sings the role of the Countess, who possesses the gambling secret for which Hermann risks everything to discover. Also making his HGO debut, Icelandic baritone Tómas Tómasson sings the role of Count Tomsky. Soprano and HGO Studio alumna Maria Markina, who was last seen at HGO in the role of Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto (2009), returns to
sing Pauline/Daphnis and Russian baritone Vasily Ladyuk makes his HGO debut as Prince Yeletsky. Carlo Rizzi, former Music Director of Welsh National Opera and frequent guest conductor at the Theatre alla Scala, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin and The Metropolitan Opera, will conduct the HGO Orchestra and Chorus. Director Roy Rallo revives Richard Jones’s original direction. The production also incorporates puppets by the Green Ginger puppeteers, who make their HGO debut with this production. Set and costume design by John Macfarlane.
The Queen of Spades opens on Friday, April 16, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. in the Brown Theater at the Wortham Theater Center. Additional performances continue through May 1, 2010 with curtain time at 7:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. for Sunday matinees. The Queen of Spades will be performed in Russian with English supertitles.
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