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WSD Attends Tannhauser 
at Houston Grand Opera

Sunday, October 28, 2001

WSD Events

Home ] [ Tannhauser at Houston Grand Opera ] Supermen of Gotterdammerung ] Wagner, Liszt and Weimar ] Wagner and American Opera ] Wagner 189th Birthday Recital ]

A Trip Photo Album

Click on images for enlarged view.

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Houston's  Wortham 
Theater Center

Venus
Michelle DeYoung

Tannhauser
Stig Andersen

Wolfram von Eschenbach
Guido Paevatalu

Elizabeth
Tina Kiberg

Landgraf Hermann
Stephen Milling

Conductor
John Fiore

Director
Werner Herzog

Set Designer
Maurizio Balo

Costume Designer
Franz Blumauer

Houston Symphony Orchestra 
Houston Grand Opera Chorus

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HGO Marquee

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Tannhauser Curtain Calls

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WSD Founder
Virginia Abdo 
at the Opera

Pre-Curtain Luncheon at the Lancaster

On October 28, WSD members flew down as a group on Southwest Airlines to Houston from Dallas,  to attend Houston Grand Opera's Sunday Matinee performance of Tannhauser. Before the opera, there was a brunch buffet at the Lancaster Hotel, just across the street from the Wortham Center. Ann Thompson, a long time friend of the Wagner Society of Dallas, was originally scheduled to present a short lecture, but she was called away on other business. Instead, she sent one of her colleagues, Reese Marshall, to take her place. He did an excellent job of filling members in on some of the details of the production, as well as explaining a bit of the background of the story of Tannhauser, and how Wagner adapted his materials to become the opera we know today.

There is an excellent review of the performance we saw by WSD member Carroll Staton.

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Virginia Abdo Serves Guest Speaker Reese Marshall

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Virginia Greets Members at Luncheon

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WSD Vice Chairman Roger Carroll with Don Janak 

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Jim Wheeler, Dan Sneed, and WSD Chairman Joan Merriman

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Marion Ward and friend with Carroll Staton

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Sue Rekerdres and Fred Ward

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Kyle Kerr, Gaston Maurin, and Marion Ward

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Fred Ward and Pat Mattingly

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Before the Opera: Allesandra Comini at the Box Office

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Speaker Reese Marshall Discusses Wagner and Tannhauser

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Gaston and Don 
Visit with Reese Marshall 

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Virginia Abdo with HGO Violinist Friend

Houston Buildings:

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At Rigoletto on Saturday Night

HGO often pairs two operas back to back on one weekend. Out of town attendees can thus get two performances on one trip. Saturday night, October 27, the opera was Verdi's Rigoletto, with Robert Aronica as the Duke, Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Rigoletto, and Laura Claycomb as Gilda. Maddalena was sung by Marie Novacek, with Sparafucile by Raymond Aceto. Standout in this fine performance, lovingly conducted by Patrick Summers, was the stylish Gilda of Laura Claycomb. Sets were by Peter Yeargan and Costumes by Peter J. Hall. This was the same production that was used in Dallas last year, although with a different cast of singers.

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Oh, Say Can You See!

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The View from the Top

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The Brown Theater Lobby

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David Arata and Martin Reyes with Oklahoma Friend

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Gaston Maurin and Kyle Kerr Join the Group

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Rigoletto Curtain Calls

Texas Foreign Language Association Convention 
at the Adams Mark Hotel

Sunday Morning before Tannhauser at HGO, WSD Founder Virginia Abdo was an invited speaker at the Texas Foreign Language Association convention in Houston. She presented a workshop for German teachers, comparing the Neibelungen Leid, a German literary classic, with Wagner's treatment of the same story in his operatic tetrology, Der Ring des Neibelungen. During her presentation, Virgina played a video of Anna Russell's humorous re-telling of the Ring story, as well as clips from Fritz Lang's 1924 silent film, Die Neibelungen, and highlights from the recent Metropolitan Opera presentation of the operas Siegfried and Gotterdammerung. These selections concentrated on the character of Siegfried, how he forged his sword, Nothung, and was eventually stabbed in the back and killed by Hagen.

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A GRReat Expert addressing 
other GRReat Experts

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...very strong, and very brave, and very handsome, 
and very STUPID!

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And at the end, you're right back where you started from, 
20 hours ago!

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WSD Webmaster 
Ed Flaspoehler

The Wagner Society of Dallas
PO Box 25201
Dallas, TX 75225-0201

214/363-6070

WagnerTX@aol.com

Home Page

 
 

The Wagner Society of Dallas

www.WagnerDallas.com

PO Box 25201
Dallas, TX 75225-0201
(214) 363-6070

Virginia R. Abdo and
Dr. James T. Wheeler
Co-Founders

email: WSD@
WagnerDallas.com
  

Digital Photos on this website, unless otherwise noted,
copyright Edward P. Flaspoehler, JR

Home ] Up ] [ Tannhauser at Houston Grand Opera ] Supermen of Gotterdammerung ] Wagner, Liszt and Weimar ] Wagner and American Opera ] Wagner 189th Birthday Recital ]

THE COLD WAR SOPRANO

Many Wagner Society of Dallas members fondly remember Sheila Jones Harms, who was an active member of the organization, and who presented many interesting programs and recitals over the years.

Now, WSD member Ed Flaspoehler has completed his biography of Sheila, called The Cold War Soprano: Memoirs of a Singer-Spy.

If you are interested in opera and fine singing, Sheila's biography will surely be of interest to you. Not only will you get an inside glimpse of what it takes to become an opera singer, and learn about the world of opera in Post- WWII Vienna, but, because Sheila and her husband Werner, were also CIA agents, you will get a look at the Cold War from a personal point of view.

You can get a copy of Ed's book on the internet at Lulu.com

http://www.lulu.com/content/201274

The Wagner Society of Dallas
is a Member of
The International Association of Wagner Societies
www.Richard-Wagner-Verband.de

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