Houston Grand Opera is poised for their 2009-10 season -- 6 operas running from October 23, 2009 to May 14, 2010 -- opening with a new production of L'elisir, borrowed from Glyndebourne. Also offered is Wagner's Lohengrin, Puccini's Tosca, Britten's The Turn of the Screw, Haendel's Xerxes, and Richard Jones' Welsh National Opera production of Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades. Former MD of the WNO, Carlo Rizzi, conducts Jones' acclaimed, gritty nightmare of a ruthless, decrepit post-war Russia (with puppets).
Russian tenor Vladimir Galouzine is the Gambler; Russian soprano Tatiana Monogarova is Lisa; Canadian mezzo Judith Forst is the Countess; Icelandic baritone Tómas Tómasson is Count Tomsky; and Vasily Ladyuk is Prince Yeletsky. Awesome photos below:
(Above & below photos by Johan Jacobs courtesy of La Monnaie)