Played with warmth and lustiness by the HGO Orchestra, led by Summers, the overture accompanied a photo montage of Floyd across the years-in settings ranging from bustling rehearsal studios to the White House, where he received the National Medal for the Arts in 2004.įloyd’s artistic spirit finally came into focus when soprano Andrea Carroll-HGO Studio alumna and Pamina in HGO’s current staging of The Magic Flute-strode onstage and launched into “Ain’t it a pretty night!” from Susannah.įrom the sweetness she gave the aria’s opening to the richness and fervor she lavished on Susannah’s vision of the big-city world beyond the mountains, Carroll captured not only the allure of Floyd’s lyricism but the innocence and goodness of Susannah herself-the naive country girl who is eventually destroyed by a lascivious preacher. The guardian angels who appear in Hansel, HGO artistic director Patrick Summers explained, harkened back to Floyd’s role as guardian and guide to the company. The concert’s only non-Floyd music was the opening work, the Overture from Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. His influence on the opera world extended to his helping found and lead the HGO Studio training program, whose alumni include soprano Ana Maria Martinez mezzo-sopranos Joyce DiDonato, Denyce Graves and Jamie Barton and many other notables. The evening also heralded Floyd as a mentor. Through excerpts from Floyd’s operas and reminiscences by people who knew him, the program at Wortham Theater Center created a portrait of Floyd the composer-a champion of traditional melody, harmony and such when they were out of fashion. HGO looked back across his career on Friday with “Celebrating Carlisle Floyd”-a memorial concert to the company’s longtime ally, who died last September 30 at age 95.
His move to the University of Houston in 1976 brought him the bonus of a new creative home: Houston Grand Opera, which staged a decades-long series of Floyd premieres and revivals, right up to the unveiling of his last opera, Prince of Players, in 2016. Photo: Melissa TaylorĬarlisle Floyd was a young faculty member at Florida State University when his Susannah made him an operatic sensation in the mid-1950s.
In his free time, Timothy Judd enjoys working out with Richmond’s popular SEAL Team Physical Training program.Andrea Carroll performed “Ain’t it a pretty night!” from Susannah at Houston Grand Opera’s tribute to composer Carlisle Floyd Friday night. Judd has maintained a private violin studio in the Richmond area since 2002 and has been active coaching chamber music and numerous youth orchestra sectionals. He was a student of Anastasia Jempelis, one of the earliest champions of the Suzuki method in the United States.Ī passionate teacher, Mr. The son of public school music educators, Timothy Judd began violin lessons at the age of four through Eastman’s Community Education Division. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music where he earned the degrees Bachelor of Music and Master of Music, studying with world renowned Ukrainian-American violinist Oleh Krysa. Photograph: The Wortham Theater Center About Timothy JuddĪ native of Upstate New York, Timothy Judd has been a member of the Richmond Symphony violin section since 2001. Here is the opening of the first act and Summertime: Houston Grand Opera’s 1976 staging of George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, conducted by John DeMain, restored the complete score after it had languished for years. In April, 1988, the premiere of John Adams’ Nixon in China was nationally broadcast by PBS’s Great Performances. Here are a few “drop the needle” highlights from Houston Grand Opera’s discography which remind us that opera is still a vibrant, continually-evolving art form: Porgy and Bess In 1984, the company was one of the first to introduce supertitles for non-English language operas. Houston Grand Opera will recover and deliver a fantastic season to our patrons, giving them the art they need to heal from this calamity. The only future water we want coming across our stage is that of the Rhine!įounded in 1955, Houston Grand Opera regularly commissions and produces new operas by American composers. Referencing a recent staging of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, the company put out a statement this week including the following lines, The water is receding and the cleanup begins in Houston’s hard-hit theater district. The Wortham Theater Center, home of Houston Grand Opera, experienced significant flooding from Hurricane Harvey with water reaching the top of one of the complex’s stages.