Calling local street performers: Houston Grand Opera offers opportunity to present works about the state at Wortham Theater Center | Arts

The winner will contribute an original large-scale work of art to the set for new production from the company Il trovatore by Verdi, opening in autumn 2024

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is proud to invite Houston street artists to apply for the opportunity to present a large-scale work of art on stage at the Brown Theater at Wortham Theater Center. Applicants will submit a sample of their work to the jury, with one artist selected to create a custom work for Verdi’s company’s new production. Seller, opening the new season on October 18, 2024, and will receive an honorarium of $3,000. Houston area artists are encouraged to apply at HGO.org/StreetArt.

HGO’s New Commissioned Production of Verdi’s Enduringly Popular Novel Seller represents the vision of influential director Stephen Wadsworth, who set the story in contemporary Europe, where the old world meets the new, castles stand amid skyscrapers, and monuments rub shoulders with street art. The selected artist will collaborate with Wadsworth and award-winning set designer Charlie Corcoran to incorporate a wall-sized street art-style piece into the production’s clever and colorful ensemble.

“The stories shared through masterpieces like Seller are universal,” says Khori Dastoor, Managing Director and CEO of HGO. “As in Verdi’s opera, all families have old secrets; unresolved issues; long-buried mysteries coming to the fore. With this new production, we want to emphasize that great operas are about and for We– and that’s why we want to showcase a local Houston art piece on the Brown Stage. Fortunately for HGO, there is an incredible talent pool of street artists in our great city. I can’t wait to see which one helps bring this incredible production to life.

Area artists are invited to submit an image of their original street art, which may take the form of graffiti, murals, stencils or wheat-pasted posters; a short biography; and other documents detailed in the application. The submission deadline is June 21. The winner, who will be selected on July 15, will have two weeks to create an original piece, which will be part of the set for HGO’s new production of Seller. Complete application guidelines are available at HGO.org/StreetArt.

In addition to a $3,000 honorarium, the selected artist will receive invitations to attend the opera’s opening night and other special events. Two additional artists will be chosen to create smaller-scale artworks inspired by HGO’s 2024-25 season, which may be exhibited by HGO online or in a public exhibition, with each receiving an honorarium of $500 and an invitation to Seller.

HGO has hired Houston gallerist Janice Bond, chief curator and artistic advisor for Bond Creative Advisors, as creative consultant for this initiative. In addition to participating in the public call for nominations, Bond will serve as a judge alongside Dastoor, Wadsworth and Corcoran.

Seller, which runs from October 18 to November 3, 2024, will feature sublime soprano Ailyn Pérez as Leonora, opposite virtuoso baritenor Michael Spyres as her revolutionary lover Manrico, with baritone Lucas Meachem as the royalist Count di Luna and mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis. like the fascinating woman Manrico knows as his mother, Azucena. Maestro Patrick Summers conducts.

Subscriptions for the 2024-25 HGO season are available now. Single tickets, ranging from $25 to $210, will be available beginning August 6, 2024. For more information, visit HGO.org or call the box office at 713-228-6737.