Entitled Our Stories: Staged Scenes from American Operas, this year’s OPERA GEMS Concert will be held at 4 p.m. Sunday, October 7, 2012 in The Hobby Center’s Zilka Hall, 800 Bagby Street, Houston 77002. Houston-based and guest artists will be featured in dramatic excerpts from operas including Treemonisha by Scott Joplin, Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin, Susannah by Carlisle Floyd, Street Scene by Kurt Weill (with text by Langston Hughes), Strange Fruit by Chandler Carter, The Ballad of Baby Doe by Douglas Moore, and other works by American composers. The Houston Ebony Opera Guild Chorus will also perform.

Tickets are available through The Hobby Center’s box office at www.thehobbycenter.org or by phone at 713-315-2525. A discount is available through midnight on October 5. For more detailed program information visit www.houstonebonymusic.org.

The roster of soloists for OPERA GEMS 2012 includes the following:

Visiting Soloists:

• Bronwen Forbay
  Ms. Forbay is an acclaimed South African-born soprano who has performed internationally. On the OPERA GEMS concert, she will sing principal arias from Douglas Moore’s opera, The Ballad of Baby Doe.
  
  
• Robert Hughes
  A tenor, Mr. Hughes is a native Houstonian who maintains an active singing career from a base in New York. On the October 7th concert, he will sing excerpts from William Grant Still’s Highway One in addition to selections from Chandler Carter’s dramatic opera, Strange Fruit, the premiere of which featured Mr. Hughes in a prominent role.

Houston-Based Soloists:

The concert’s other featured soloists are the following Houston-based artists:

• Imani Anderson, soprano; Dorceal Duckens, bass-baritone; Julie Frederick, soprano; Melissa Givens, soprano; Jason Oby, tenor; Leon Turner, bass; and Michael Vaughn, baritone.

OPERA GEMS 2012 was conceived by director Jason Oby, who is providing overall leadership for the project’s artistic staff. Others in key roles include the following: A. Jan Taylor, choral director; and John Cornelius and Vicki Seldon, pianists. Rachel Hemphill Dickson, as co-director, is in charge of staging.

For additional information, please call 713-335-3800 or 713-591-6439. E-mail communication may sent to ebonymusic92@earthlink.net.

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