St. Matthew Passion

During the 2020/21 season, British-American tenor Joshua Blue will sing Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. He was scheduled to make a return to Washington National Opera to sing the role of Jacquino in Beethoven’s Fidelio conducted by Robert Spano and directed by Francesca Zambello; perform Beethoven’s Symphony #9 at the Lensic Performing Arts Center and Oberlin Conservatory of Music; and sing Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Jacksonville Symphony and Eugene Symphony led by Francesco Lecce-Chong.

In the 2019/20 season, Mr. Blue performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Thomas Wilkins, for the opening festival of The Reach at the Kennedy Center. Opera engagements featured role debuts as Tamino in the Maurice Sendak production of The Magic Flute with Washington National Opera in addition to scheduled roles of Alfred in Die Fledermaus at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with the Berkshire Opera Festival. Additional performances at Washington National Opera included singing the role of the Philistine Messenger in Samson and Delilah, conducted by John Fiore, and a contract to perform Man 1 in the D.C premiere of Jeanine Tesori’s Blue directed by the work’s librettist, Tazewell Thompson. Concerts last season marked a return to Carnegie Hall to join Musica Sacra for Handel’s Messiah; his first performances in Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the Florida Orchestra; and the premiere of a fascinating new program called T'ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do: Songs from Gay Harlem with the New York Festival of Song with pianist Steven Blier.

​Highlights of the 2018/19 season for Mr. Blue included debuts at the Kennedy Center as Alfredo in La Traviata with Washington National Opera led by Renato Palumbo and Act I of La Bohème in concert with the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda. He joined Wolf Trap Opera to sing the role of Harlekin in Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis conducted by Geoffrey McDonald and traveled to Japan to cover the role of Monsieur Triquet in Eugene Onegin conducted by Fabio Luisi and directed by Peter McClintock at the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival. Mr. Blue was tenor soloist in Verdi’s Requiem with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall and the Cleveland Chamber Orchestra under conductor James Gaffigan. Mr. Blue also sang the American premiere of the rarely heard Franz Liszt opera Sardanapalo at the Library of Congress. Additional roles with Washington National Opera included Monsieur Triquet in Eugene Onegin; Hippo/Holy man/Dog/Water Seller in Tesori’s The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me; and David in Benavides’s Pepito as part of the American Opera Initiative Festival.

Mr. Blue’s previous seasons have included his debut at Carnegie Hall in Handel’s Messiah with the Oratorio Society of New York; performances in Moravec’s Sanctuary Road at Merkin Concert Hall with New York Festival of Song; the American premiere of Philip Glass’s The Trial at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; and performing the roles of Scaramuccio in Ariadne auf Naxos with Austin Opera and Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore  with the Music Academy of the West. Mr. Blue was a semi-finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and sang on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in 2018. He has also received the Ellen Lopin Blair award for first place in the 2017 Oratorio Society of New York solo competition and was noted as an Emerging Artist in the 2017 Opera Index Competition in New York City.

Mr. Blue earned his bachelor’s degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and graduated from The Juilliard School with a master’s degree, studying voice with Dr. Robert C. White, Jr. In 2018, Mr. Blue was an Apprentice Singer with Santa Fe Opera’s summer festival. He is an alumnus of the Cafritz Young Artist program with the Washington National Opera.

Learn more at JoshuaBlueTenor.com.

Michael Sumuel began the 2020/21 season with his role and house debut at the Seattle Opera performing Leporello in Don Giovanni. (COVID cancellations include appearances with Opera Philadelphia as Angelotti in Tosca, with Bard SummerScape as Allan in Chausson’s King Arthur, and Beethoven’s Missa solemnis with the Kansas City Symphony, as well as a solo recital of Schubert lieder with the Schubert Club in Minneapolis.)

In the 2019/20 season, Michael Sumuel returned to San Francisco Opera to perform the title role in a new production of The Marriage of Figaro. Other operatic appearances included reprising Escamillo in Carmen with the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, and joining the roster of the Metropolitan Opera in Agrippina. Concert engagements included the Cleveland Orchestra for Mozart’s Mass in C minor, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the Pittsburgh Symphony and Grant Park Music Festival for Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, St. Matthew Passion with the Washington National Cathedral, and the St. John Passion with Florida Orchestra.

In the 2018/19 season, Michael Sumuel performed Marcello in La Bohème at Houston Grand Opera, and Alidoro in La Cenerentola at Norwegian National Opera and Ballet. On the concert stage, Mr. Sumuel sang Haydn’s Theresienmesse with the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria with the San Diego Symphony, and participated in a Schubertiade at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia. He also joined the Phoenix Symphony for performances of Messiah and Mercury Houston for Bach’s Magnificat.

In the 2017/18 season, Michael Sumuel returned to Glyndebourne Festival Opera to perform Sharpless in Madama Butterfly and made his debut at Teatro Massimo di Palermo performing Theseus in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Concert appearances included debuts with the BBC Proms, singing Kate Whitley’s “I am I say” with the Multi-Story Orchestra at Eastgate Centre Rooftop Car Park, Mozart’s Mass in C minor with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado at Carnegie Hall, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Seattle Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Bach’s St. John Passion with Music of the Baroque in Chicago, conducted by Jane Glover, and a return to Mercury Houston to perform the bass solos in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.

Previous seasons have included his Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as Masetto in a new production of Don Giovanni, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, as well as his San Francisco Opera debut as Tom in the world premiere of Christopher Theofanidis’ Heart of a Soldier in Francesca Zambello’s production. Subsequent appearances included Escamillo in Calixto Bieito’s production, Masetto, conducted by Marc Minkowski, and Elviro in Handel’s Xerxes. At Houston Grand Opera, he has performed Belcore in L’elisir d’amore, Papageno in The Magic Flute, Frank in Die Fledermaus, Masetto, Sharpless, and Schaunard in John Caird’s new production of La Bohéme, a role that also served as his European debut with Glyndebourne Festival Opera. He subsequently returned there to sing Junius in The Rape of Lucretia and Theseus. At Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, he performed Alidoro and Escamillo, and made his role debut as Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro with Dayton Opera, later reprising the role for his company debut with Central City Opera. At Opera Southwest, Wolf Trap Opera and Juilliard Opera, in cooperation with the Metropolitan Opera, Mr. Sumuel performed the role of Selim in Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia.

Notable concert appearances include Messiah with San Francisco Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, United States Naval Academy, and University Musical Society in Ann Arbor. He later returned to San Francisco Symphony to perform Copland’s Old American Songs. He made his European concert debut with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic in Mozart’s Mass in C minor at the Concertgebouw, conducted by Speranza Scappucci.  With the Cleveland Orchestra, he performed Pilatus in Bach’s St. John Passion, conducted by Franz Welser-Möst, as well as Mozart’s Requiem with the North Carolina Symphony and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the American Classical Orchestra at David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City. He has made multiple appearances with Mercury Houston, including a Haydn’s Paukenmesse and excerpts from Rameau’s Les Indes galantes and Thétis, a concert of select Bach cantatas, and Messiah. He has also appeared with Da Camera of Houston for a program of Brahms and Schönberg lieder in a multi-media project called “In the Garden of Dreams” and the Santa Barbara Symphony for selected scenes from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.

Mr. Sumuel’s competition accolades include being awarded a Richard Tucker Career Grant, Metropolitan Opera National Council audition Grand Finalist and a winner of the Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition. A Texas native, he is an alumnus of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera and the Filene Young Artist program at Wolf Trap Opera.

The 2016 recipient of the prestigious Richard Tucker Award, soprano Tamara Wilson is quickly gaining international recognition for her interpretations of Verdi, Mozart, Strauss and Wagner. Other recent honors include a 2016 Olivier Award nomination and receipt of the "Revelation Prize" by the Argentine Musical Critics Association. Ms. Wilson is also a Grand Prize Winner of the Annual Francisco Viñas Competition held at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.

Her 2019/20 season includes performances with the Canadian Opera Company, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Oper Frankfurt and the Santa Fe Opera. In concert, she will sing Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in a special Christmas performance and television broadcast with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and debut the role of Isolde with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Opera performance highlights in Tamara Wilson's 2018/19 season included a return to the Metropolitan Opera as the title role in Aida, the role of Leonora in Il Trovatore at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Desdemona in Otello at the Canadian Opera Company, the title role in Ariadne auf Naxos at Teatro alla Scala, and Chrysothemis in Elektra at Opernhaus Zurich. In concert Ms. Wilson presented Mahler's Symphony No. 8 at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and at the Edinburgh International Festival, as well as with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She also sang Bruckner's Te Deum at Teatro alla Scala, and Ariadne in Ariadne auf Naxos with the Cleveland Orchestra. She performed her signature role of Aida at Arena di Verona followed by a special guest performance at the Santa Fe Opera's summer gala and a recital at the Song Source Festival.

Tamara Wilson opened the the 2017/18 season as the title role in Aida at the Washington National Opera in a production by Francesca Zambello. She then returned to her home company of Houston Grand Opera for her role debut as Chrysothemis in Elektra. She also made her New York Philharmonic debut in Bernstein’s Kaddish Symphony (Symphony No. 3) with Leonard Slatkin in celebration of Bernstein's Centennial.

Ms. Wilson made her acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut in Aida and London debut in Calixto Bieto’s new production of La Forza del Destino at the English National Opera, for which she received an Olivier Award nomination. She also inaugurated the new opera house in Kyoto, Japan with Seiji Ozawa as Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus.

She made her LA Opera debut in 2009 as the First Lady in The Magic Flute, returning in 2011 as Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw .

Learn more at TamaraWilsonSoprano.com.

"A VOICE OF STEELY BEAUTY AND GREAT POWER"

—The Houston Chronicle

She was heard at Oper Frankfurt for her first performances as the Empress in Die Frau ohne Schatten conducted by Sebastian Weigle and subsequently released by Oehms Classics. She recently debuted at the Bayerische Staatsoper and Opernhaus Zürich conducted by Fabio Luisi, both as Elisabetta di Valois in Don Carlo. She debuted at the Deutsche Oper Berlin as Amelia in Un ballo in maschera, triumphed in Act 3 of Die Walküre as Brünnhilde with Mark Wiggleworth and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at Royal Albert Hall, and debuted with the Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev in Act 3 of Die Walküre as Sieglinde.

A noted interpreter of Verdi roles, she has been seen as Elisabeth de Valois in the five-act French Don Carlos (Houston Grand Opera); Amelia in Un ballo in maschera (Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Florida Grand Opera, and Teatre Principal de Maó in Menorca); Elvira in Ernani (Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse); Elisabetta in Don Carlo (Bayerische Staatsoper, Zurich Oper, and Oper Frankfurt); Lucrezia Contarini in I due Foscari (Théâtre du Capitole, Teatro Municipal de Santiago and Netherlands Radio Orchestra); Leonora in Il trovatore (Gran Teatre del Liceu, Houston Grand Opera, Théâtre du Capitole under Daniel Oren and Palma de Mallorca); Desdemona in Otello (Cincinnati Symphony and James Conlon); Alice Ford in Falstaff (Washington National Opera debut); Amelia Grimaldi in Simon Boccanegra (Canadian Opera Company); the title role in Aida (Opera Australia, Teatro de la Maestranza, and Teatro Municipal de Santiago); Marchesa del Poggio in Un giorno di regno (Wolf Trap Opera); and Gulnara in Il corsaro (Washington Concert Opera). Other notable performances include her debut in Norma at Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus at the Canadian Opera Company; her German debut at Oper Frankfurt in concert performances of Wagner’s early opera Die Feen as Ada under Sebastian Weigle; Elettra in Idomeneo under Harry Bicket at the Canadian Opera Company and under James Conlon at the Ravinia Festival; Donna Anna in Don Giovanni under James Conlon and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as well as with Edo de Waart and the Milwaukee Symphony.

On the concert stage, Ms. Wilson debuted with the Cleveland Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 under Franz Welser-Möst, the National Symphony in Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2 (“Lobgesang”) with Matthew Halls and with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Verdi’s Messa da Requiem conducted by Marin Alsop at the BBC Proms, which was recorded for commercial release.

Susan Graham – hailed as “an artist to treasure” by the New York Times – rose to the highest echelon of international performers within just a few years of her professional debut, mastering an astonishing range of repertoire and genres along the way. Her operatic roles span four centuries, from Monteverdi’s Poppea to Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, which was written especially for her. A familiar face at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, she also maintains a strong international presence at such key venues as Paris’s Théâtre du Châtelet, Santa Fe Opera and the Hollywood Bowl. She won a Grammy Award for her collection of Ives songs, and has also been recognized throughout her career as one of the foremost exponents of French vocal music. Although a native of Texas, she was awarded the French government’s prestigious “Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur,” both for her popularity as a performer in France and in honor of her commitment to French music.

Engagements for the truncated 2019/20 season included her celebrated portrayal of Mrs. Patrick De Rocher, mother of the convicted murderer, in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s company premiere of Dead Man Walking. She also starred as Madeline Mitchell in Jake Heggie's Three Decembers with Opera San José. In concert, she sang excerpts from Les Troyens with Donald Runnicles and the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin at the Berlin Musikfest.

For the 2018/19 season, Graham joined Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony for Mahler’s Third Symphony at London’s BBC Proms and in Berlin, Leipzig, Vienna, Lucerne, and Paris. She made her role debut as Humperdinck’s Witch in Hansel and Gretel at LA Opera, hosted “An Evening with Susan Graham” at Dallas’s Meyerson Symphony Center, sang Canteloube’s Chants d’Auvergne with David Robertson and the Sydney Symphony, headlined the Mayshad Foundation’s season-closing gala concert in Marrakech, and returned to Carnegie Hall, first with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and then with Alec Baldwin and Leonard Slatkin for the Manhattan School of Music’s Centennial Gala Concert. To mark the 150th anniversary of Berlioz’s death, she performed Les nuits d’été with the Houston Symphony and made her New Zealand debut in La mort de Cléopâtre with the New Zealand Symphony under Edo de Waart. Other highlights of recent seasons include starring in Trouble in Tahiti at Lyric Opera of Chicago to honor the Bernstein Centennial, making her title role debut opposite James Morris in Marc Blitzstein’s 1948 opera Regina at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and appearing alongside Anna Netrebko, Renée Fleming and a host of other luminaries to celebrate the Metropolitan Opera’s five decades at its Lincoln Center home.

Graham’s earliest operatic successes were in such trouser roles as Cherubino in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. Her technical expertise soon brought mastery of Mozart’s more virtuosic roles, like Sesto in La clemenza di Tito, Idamante in Idomeneo and Cecilio in Lucio Silla, as well as the title roles of Handel’s Ariodante and Xerxes. She went on to triumph in two iconic Richard Strauss mezzo roles, Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier and the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos. These brought her to prominence on all the world’s major opera stages, including the Met, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Covent Garden, Paris Opera, La Scala, Bavarian State Opera, Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival, among many others. In addition to creating the role of Sister Helen Prejean at San Francisco Opera, she starred in Washington National Opera’s recent revival of Dead Man Walking, making her triumphant role debut as the convict’s mother. She also sang the leading ladies in the Met’s world premieres of John Harbison’s The Great Gatsby and Tobias Picker’s An American Tragedy, and made her Dallas Opera debut as Tina in a new production of The Aspern Papers by Dominick Argento. As Houston Grand Opera’s Lynn Wyatt Great Artist, she starred as Prince Orlofsky in the company’s first staging of Die Fledermaus in 30 years, before heading an all-star cast as Sycorax in the Met’s Baroque pastiche The Enchanted Island and making her rapturously received musical theater debut in a new production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.

It was in an early Lyon production of Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict that Graham scored particular raves from the international press, and a triumph in the title role of Massenet’s Chérubin at Covent Garden sealed her operatic stardom. Further invitations to collaborate on French music were forthcoming from many of its preeminent conductors, including Sir Colin Davis, Charles Dutoit, James Levine and Seiji Ozawa. New productions of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride, Berlioz’s La damnation de Faust and Massenet’s Werther were mounted for the mezzo in New York, London, Paris, Chicago, San Francisco and beyond. More recently, she made title role debuts in Offenbach’s comic masterpieces La belle Hélène and The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein at Santa Fe Opera, as well as proving herself the standout star of the Met’s star-studded revival of Les Troyens, which was broadcast live to cinema audiences worldwide in the company’s celebrated “Live in HD” series. Graham’s affinity for French repertoire has not been limited to the opera stage, also serving as the foundation for her extensive concert and recital career. Such great cantatas and symphonic song cycles as Berlioz’s La mort de Cléopâtre and Les nuits d’été, Ravel’s Shéhérazade and Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer provide opportunities for collaborations with the world’s leading orchestras, and she makes regular appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Orchestre de Paris and London Symphony Orchestra.

Graham recently expanded her distinguished discography with Nonesuch Records’ DVD/Blu-ray release of William Kentridge’s new treatment of Berg’s Lulu, which captures her celebrated role debut as Countess Geschwitz at the Met. She has also recorded all the works described above, as well as appearing on a series of lauded solo albums, including Virgins, Vixens & Viragos on the Onyx label, featuring songs and arias by composers from Purcell to Sondheim; Un frisson français, a program of French song recorded with pianist Malcolm Martineau, also for Onyx; C’est ça la vie, c’est ça l’amour!, an album of 20th-century operetta rarities on Erato; and La Belle Époque, an award-winning collection of songs by Reynaldo Hahn with pianist Roger Vignoles, from Sony Classical. Among the mezzo’s numerous honors are Musical America’s Vocalist of the Year and an Opera News Award, while Gramophone magazine has dubbed her “America’s favorite mezzo.”

Learn more at SusanGraham.com.

American tenor Ben Bliss, whom the New York Classical Review called “one of the leading Mozartian tenors,” has gained a reputation as one of the most valuable and versatile performers of his generation. He is a 2021 winner of the Metropolitan Opera's Beverly Sills Artist Award.

In the 2021/22 season, he will return to the Metropolitan Opera as Tom Rakewell in The Rake's Progress and as Pylade in Iphigénie en Tauride. 

In the 2020/21, he performed Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. He also sang Handel’s Messiah at the United States Naval Academy, as well as Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Handel & Haydn Society in Boston. He had also been scheduled to return to the Metropolitan Opera to sing Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and to make his house debut at Opernhaus Zürich as Flamand in Capriccio. 

In the 2019/20 season, Mr. Bliss returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Ferrando in Così fan tutte, conducted by Harry Bicket, and made his debut at Lyric Opera of Chicago as Don Ottavio. He also sang Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress at the Glyndebourne Festival and Belmonte in The Abduction from the Seraglio at his hometown Lyric Opera of Kansas City. In concert, he sang Handel’s Messiah in debuts with the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He also sang Carmina Burana for his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Alain Altinoglu, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, featuring performances both in Atlanta and New York City at Carnegie Hall, Bernstein’s Songfest with the Seattle Symphony, and the Steersman in The Flying Dutchman, again with the San Francisco Symphony.

Craig Colclough began the 2019/20 season with his Metropolitan Opera debut in the title role of Macbeth, a role he previously performed with Belgium’s Opera Vlaanderen in Antwerp in the summer of 2019. He reprised the role of Macbeth with the company again this season, with performances in both Ghent and in Luxembourg, and he returned to Arizona Opera for a role debut as Bishop Dyer in Riders of the Purple Sage. Engagements originally scheduled before the COVID-19 shortened season include his role debut as Don Pizarro in Fidelio (canceled), touring with Gustavo Dudamel and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra to Barcelona, Dortmund, and Luxembourg, as well as his return to LA Opera for the title role in The Marriage of Figaro (postponed).

During the COVID-impacted 2020/21 season, Craig Colclough had been scheduled for appearances as Henry Kissinger in Nixon in China with Washington National Opera and the LA Philharmonic, Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde with Opera Vlaanderen and Amonasro in Aida with LA Opera. 

Future seasons include multiple returns to the Metropolitan Opera, his return to Canadian Opera Company, and his debut with the Grand Théâtre de Genève.

His engagements for the 2018/19 season included debuts with Opera Vlaanderen in Belgium as Count Telramund with Lohengrin and with the Frankfurt Opera as Fra Melitone in La Forza del Destino. In July 2018, he debuted at Covent Garden as Pistola in Falstaff. 

Highlights of the previous season include the title role of Falstaff in a new Christoph Waltz production in Belgium, the title role of Don Pasquale for Minnesota Opera, The Ring of Polykrates for Dallas Opera, Donner in Das Rheingold for Arizona Opera and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the LA Philharmonic.

Other recent appearances include Scarpia in Tosca with English National Opera and Canadian Opera Company; Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde with ENO; Falstaff with Minnesota Opera, Opera Saratoga and Arizona Opera; and Timur in Turandot with Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra. He debuted with the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl as Doctor Grenvil in La Traviata.

Craig Colclough began his career at LA Opera. After two seasons appearing with the company in various roles, he joined Florida Grand Opera’s Young Artist Studio, and in 2012, became a Filene Young Artist at the Wolf Trap Opera Company. (CraigColclough.com)

The Hamburg Ballet is famous far beyond the city of Hamburg. International tours have made it not only a highlight of the international ballet scene, but also one of Germany's most important cultural ambassadors. The heart of the company is artistic director and chief choreographer John Neumeier, who has directed the company since 1973. Mr. Neumeier is a master at combining classical ballet tradition with contemporary forms in his works, while developing a unique personal choreographic language. John Neumeier's lecture demonstrations (Ballett-Werkstatt) are a special feature of the Hamburg Ballet's tradition. During these matinees, which have taken place on the stage of the Hamburg State Opera several times per season since 1973, Mr. Neumeier, with his company, explains specific aspects of ballet history: information concerning current repertoire or the technical and historical background of traditional ballets. Since 1975, the dance festival "Hamburg Ballet Days" has provided the high point and finale of every season. The festival traditionally opens with a premiere of a new work and ends with the Nijinsky Gala, featuring international guest stars as well as the entire Hamburg Ballet ensemble.

Although the company performs at the Hamburg State Opera, its creative home, rehearsal venue and educational centre is a separate building, the Hamburg Ballet Center, which opened in 1989. Founded in 1978, the ballet school with its integrated boarding facilities, a pre-ballet department, eight professional classes including a final two-year "Theatre Class" program, trains the next generation of dancers. The Ballet Center is also the home of the National Youth Ballet, founded by John Neumeier in 2011.

Learn more at HamburgBallet.de.

Since his debut that year with La Traviata, he has conducted 61 different operas and 403 performances to date with the company. Most recently, he conducted the 2020 company premiere of The Anonymous Lover (L'Amant Anonyme) by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges.

One of today’s most versatile and respected conductors, he has cultivated a vast symphonic, operatic and choral repertoire. He has conducted virtually every major American and European symphony orchestra since his debut with the New York Philharmonic in 1974. He has conducted more than 270 performances at the Metropolitan Opera. Through worldwide touring, an extensive discography and videography, numerous essays and commentaries, frequent television appearances and guest speaking engagements, Mr. Conlon is one of classical music’s most recognized interpreters.

In 2016, he became Principal Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of the RAI in Torino. He previously was Music Director of the Ravinia Festival, summer home of the Chicago Symphony (2005-2015), Principal Conductor of the Paris National Opera (1995-2004), General Music Director of the City of Cologne (1989-2002), Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic (1983-91) and Music Director of the Cincinnati May Festival (1979-2016). He has won three Grammy Awards and was awarded France’s Légion d’Honneur.

John Neumeier was born in 1939 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he received his first dance training. He continued his dance studies in Chicago as well as at Marquette University in Milwaukee where he created his first choreographic works. After further ballet study both in Copenhagen and at the Royal Ballet School in London, John Cranko invited him in 1963 to join the Stuttgart Ballet, where he progressed to soloist and continued his choreographic development.

In 1969, Ulrich Erfurth appointed Mr. Neumeier as the director of Ballet Frankfurt, where he soon caused a sensation with his new interpretations of such well-known ballets as The Nutcracker and Romeo and Juliet. In 1973, August Everding invited him to become director and chief choreographer of the Hamburg Ballet. Under his direction, the Hamburg Ballet became one of the leading ballet companies on the German dance scene and soon received international recognition. As a choreographer, Mr. Neumeier has continually focused on the preservation of ballet tradition, while giving his works a modern dramatic framework. His ballets range from new versions of full-length story ballets to musicals and to his symphonic ballets, especially those based on Gustav Mahler's compositions, as well as his choreographies to sacred music. His latest creations for the Hamburg Ballet include Anna Karenina in 2017, Beethoven Project in 2018 and The Glass Menagerie in 2019. In 1975, Neumeier conceived the Hamburg Ballet Festival as a climax and end to each season.

In 1978, he founded the School of the Hamburg Ballet. In 1989 the school, together with the company, moved into its own "Ballettzentrum" (ballet center) provided by the city of Hamburg. Its facilities include nine studios and a boarding school for over 30 students. Today more than 80% of the company's dancers are graduates from the school.

Mr. Neumeier has worked as guest choreographer with many companies, including the Royal Ballet in London; the Vienna, Munich and Dresden State Operas; the Stuttgart Ballet (for which he has created several works); the Royal Danish Ballet; the Ballet of the Paris Opera; the Tokyo Ballet; American Ballet Theatre in New York; San Francisco Ballet; Joffrey Ballet; Boston Ballet; the National Ballet of Canada; the Ballet of the Mariinsky Theater; Moscow Bolshoi and Stanislavsky Ballet; and the National Ballet of China, among others.

Mr. Neumeier holds the Dance Magazine Award (1983), Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and French Order of Arts and Letters and the Legion of Honour. In 2006, he was awarded the prestigious Nijinsky Award for Lifetime Achievement. He received the Herbert von Karajan Musikpreis in 2007 and the Deutscher Jubiläums Tanzpreis in 2008. In 2007, he was made an honorary citizen of the city of Hamburg. In November 2012, he accepted the Order of Friendship of the Russian Federation. In 2015, the Inamori Foundation presented Mr. Neumeier with the Kyoto Prize for his contributions to the Arts and Philosophy; in 2016 he received the renowned Prix Benois de la Danse for Lifetime Achievement. Among his recent awards are the Livetime Achievement Award of the Prix de Lausanne 2017, the Erich Fromm Prize 2017 and in 2019 the People's Republic of China Friendship Award.

Mr. Neumeier established the John Neumeier Foundation in February 2006 with the aim of preserving and eventually making available to the public his collection of dance and ballet-related objects. The Foundation will maintain and secure his repertoire and related materials for the city of Hamburg. In 2011, he founded Germany's National Youth Ballet. The young company of eight dancers is based at the Ballettzentrum in Hamburg but finds its performing spaces away from the Hamburg Opera. In addition to international touring this creative young company dances in schools, retirement homes and prisons.

He has additionally conducted LA Opera performances of Handel's L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato and Lee Holdridge's Dulce Rosa, as well as Madama Butterfly, Carmen, Florencia en el Amazonas, Gianni Schicchi, Wonderful Town, The Tales of Hoffmann, Tosca, The Pearl Fishers and Satyagraha.

Grant Gershon is hailed for his adventurous and bold artistic leadership and for eliciting technically precise and expressive performances from musicians. He has conducted Rigoletto, Tosca, La Bohème, La Traviata, Carmen and Madama Butterfly at Wolf Trap Opera with the National Symphony Orchestra; John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary at the San Francisco Symphony and Ravinia Festival; Vivaldi’s Griselda at Santa Fe Opera; and many concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

The 2019/20 season marks his 19th season as the Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale. The Los Angeles Times has said the Master Chorale "has become the most exciting chorus in the country under Grant Gershon,” a reflection on both his programming and performances. During his tenure, he has led more than 200 Master Chorale performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall in programs encompassing choral music from the earliest writings and pillars of the repertoire through to contemporary compositions. He has led world premiere performances of major works by John Adams, Esa-Pekka Salonen, David Lang, Louis Andriessen, Christopher Rouse, Steve Reich, Morten Lauridsen, Ricky Ian Gordon, Gabriela Lena Frank, Shawn Kirchner, Ellen Reid, and Chinary Ung, among many others.