Adams’s El Niño: The Nativity Story, Reimagined

David Robertson–conductor, artist, composer, thinker, American musical visionary–occupies the most prominent podiums in opera, orchestral, and new music. He is a champion of contemporary composers, and an ingenious and adventurous programmer.

David has served in numerous artistic leadership positions, including chief conductor and artistic director of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, a transformative 13-year tenure as music director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, positions with the Orchestre National de Lyon and BBC Symphony Orchestra, and as a protégé of Pierre Boulez, the Ensemble InterContemporain. He appears with the world’s great orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and many major ensembles and festivals on five continents.

In 2023, David made his first return to Sydney, and will begin a three-year tenure as the inaugural creative partner of the Utah Symphony and Opera. Since his 1996 Metropolitan Opera debut, he has conducted a breathtaking range of Met projects, including the 2019-20 Season opening premiere production of Porgy and Bess, for which he shared a Grammy Award, Best Opera Recording, in March 2021. In 2022, he conducted the Met Opera revival of the production, in addition to making his Rome Opera debut conducting Janáček’s Káťa Kabanová.

David is a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France, and is the recipient of numerous artistic awards. He serves on the Tianjin Juilliard Advisory Council, complementing his role as director of conducting studies, distinguished visiting faculty of The Juilliard School, New York. In the 2023-24 Season, in addition to the Houston Symphony, he conducts the Seattle Symphony, Royal Danish Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester-Berlin, the Minnesota Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic, among others.

Alabama-born soprano Susanna Phillips is one of today’s most sought-after singing actors and recitalists. She is a recipient of The Metropolitan Opera’s 2010 Beverly Sills Artist Award. Known for her sparkling portrayal of Musetta in La bohème, Susanna has sung at the Met as Musetta, Pamina, Donna Anna, Rosalinde, Antonia/Stella, Micaëla, Donna Elvira, and most recently in her role debut as Mimi. Role highlights at the Met under James Levine include Fiordigili, which The New York Times called a “breakthrough night,” and Clémence in the Met premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s L’amour de Loin. She was a featured artist in the Met’s Summer Recital Series.

In 2005, Susanna won four of the world’s leading vocal competitions: Operalia (First Place and Audience Prize), the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the MacAllister Awards, and the George London Foundation Awards Competition. She has also claimed the top honor at the Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition, and has won first prizes from the American Opera Society Competition and the Musicians Club of Women in Chicago. She has received grants from the Santa Fe Opera and the Sullivan Foundation, and is a graduate of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center. She holds bachelor and master of music degrees from The Juilliard School.

This season, Susanna joins Boston Baroque for Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra for Beethoven Nine. She joins both Music of the Baroque and Oratorio Society of New York for the Mozart Requiem and Bach Magnificat, and returns to OSNY for Beethoven Nine and Mahler Two. Additionally, she presents recitals with Myra Huang, Gloria Chein, and Anthony McGill at Dallas Chamber Music Society, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and Spivey Hall in Atlanta, among other venues.

Last season, she returned to the Metropolitan Opera for role debut as Mimi in La Bohème. She joined the Dallas Symphony for Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang and the Utah Symphony for Elijah with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Other concert and recital engagements included Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder, a recital with True Concord at the Tuscon Desert Song Festival, Vaughan Williams’s Sea Symphony, and a recital with Chamber Music Northwest.

Possessing a voice of uncommon allure, the Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor is one of the most compelling performers of her generation. She is internationally acclaimed equally in the pillars of the classical music canon–from Beethoven and Mahler to Brahms and Ravel–as she is in new works of modern masters, from Adams and Dessner to Lieberson and Talbot.

In the 2023-24 Season, Kelley performs with the Houston Symphony in John Adams’s El Niño led by David Robertson, and brings Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs to concerts with the New World Symphony under the baton of Stéphane Denève, with the Omaha Symphony and Music Director Ankush Bahl, and with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra led by Johannes Fritzsch. She performs as a soloist in Mahler’s Second Symphony with the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra with Music Director Michael Stern and in the composer’s Third Symphony with the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen. She also joins the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Fabio Luisi for Schmidt’s seldom-performed Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln. Additional performances of the season include Messiah with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Mozart’s Requiem with the Oregon Symphony under the direction of Music Director Michael Danzmayr. A vibrant chamber music schedule this season includes concerts in the Bay Area with the New Century Chamber Orchestra and recitals with pianist Myra Huang at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and with pianist Robert Spano at Chamber Music in Napa Valley.

John Adams wrote the title role of The Gospel According to the Other Mary for Kelley; she has performed the work, both in concert and in the Peter Sellars fully staged production, under the batons of John Adams, Gustavo Dudamel, Grant Gershon, Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Simon Rattle, and David Robertson. She has sung the composer’s El Niño with Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra and continues to be the eminent living interpreter of Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs, having given this moving set of songs with Christoph Eschenbach and the National Symphony Orchestra, and with Bernard Haitink and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, among many others.

Davóne Tines, heralded as an artist “changing what it means to be a classical singer” (The New Yorker) and “[one] of the most powerful voices of our time” (Los Angeles Times), is a pathbreaking artist whose work encompasses a diverse repertoire, ranging from early music to new commissions by leading composers, while exploring the social issues of today. A creator, curator, and performer at the intersection of many histories, cultures, and aesthetics, he is engaged in work that blends opera, art song, spirituals, contemporary classical, gospel, and protest songs to tell a deeply personal story of perseverance connecting to all of humanity.

Davóne is a musician who takes full agency of his work, devising new programs and pieces from conception to performance. He reflects this ethos in his Recital No. 1: MASS, an examination of the liturgy, comparing Western European, African American, and 21^st-century traditions; as well as in his orchestral creations: Concerto No. 1: SERMON, a work he premiered with the Philadelphia and BBC Symphony Orchestras; and Concerto No. 2: ANTHEM, premiered with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Davóne has also premiered operas by today’s leading composers, including John Adams, Terence Blanchard, and Matthew Aucoin; and his concert appearances include performances of works ranging from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony to Kaija Saariaho’s True Fire. This season, he makes his Metropolitan Opera debut performing in John Adams’s El Niño.

He is Brooklyn Academy of Music’s artist-in-residence and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale’s first-ever creative partner. He recently served as artist-in-residence at Detroit Opera—an appointment that culminated in his performance in the title role of Anthony Davis’s X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X in spring 2022. Davóne is featured on the Grammy-nominated world premiere recording of the opera released on BMOP/sound in 2022. He is a member of AMOC and co-creator of The Black Clown, a music theater experience commissioned and premiered by American Repertory Theater. He is Musical America’s 2022 Vocalist of the Year, a winner of the 2020 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, and the recipient of the 2018 Emerging Artists Award from Lincoln Center. Davóne is a graduate of The Juilliard School and Harvard University.

Daniel Bubeck, countertenor 1, has earned an international reputation on both opera and concert stages in repertoire ranging from Bach and Handel to John Adams. He has performed in major halls throughout the world, including Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw, English National Opera, Barbican Centre, Konzerthaus-Berlin, Théâtre Musical de Paris-Châtelet, English National Opera, Avery Fischer Hall, Walt Disney Hall, and festivals in Lucerne, Adelaide, Beijing, Chicago, and Cincinnati. He has sung with the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony, London Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony, Moscow National Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Orchestra, Estonian National Philharmonic, Concerto Köln, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Boston Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, American Bach Soloists, Carmel Bach Festival, Dallas Bach Society, and Haymarket Baroque, under such conductors as Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Vladimir Jurowski, Kent Nagano, David Robertson, Sir Simon Rattle, Robert Spano, Christopher Hogwood, and Nicholas McGegan.

Career highlights include the premieres, recordings, and more than 50 performances of John Adams’s El Niño and The Gospel According to the Other Mary; the American premiere of Lost Objects by David Lang, Julia Wolfe, and Michael Gordon; Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hawaii Opera Theater); Vivaldi cantatas recorded for Sony Classical; Frammenti di un’opera barocca perduta by Robert Moran; the premiere of Infinite Movement; a multi-media oratorio by Shara Nova and Matthew Ritchie; and the soundtrack of the Warner Brothers thriller, I am Legend. Daniel holds doctoral and master’s degrees in voice and is on the vocal faculty of the University of North Texas, Denton.

Brian Cummings, countertenor 2, made his professional debut in the premiere of John Adams’s El Niño in Paris and sang the premiere of Adams’s The Gospel According to the Other Mary in 2012 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel. He has appeared in performances of these pieces throughout the world, including Carnegie Hall, English National Opera, the London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Estonian National Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Orchestra (in Amsterdam, Strasbourg, and Cologne), Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, the Adelaide Festival, the Tokyo Symphony, Ravinia Festival, Cincinnati May Festival, and the Spoleto Festival USA. He has worked under leading conductors: Esa-Pekka Salonen, Robert Spano, David Robertson, Sir Simon Rattle, John Adams, Tõnu Kaljuste, and Kent Nagano.

He sang the title role of Handel’s Giulio Cesare with Opera Fuoco under David Stern and has collaborated with director Timothy Nelson in the roles of David in Charpentier’s David et Jonathas, Hamor in Handel’s Jephtha, and Iarbo/Corebo in Cavalli’s Didone. He appeared as a soloist at the Washington and Bloomington Early Music Festivals. He has sung with Paul Hillier’s Theatre of Voices and the Pro Arte Singers and can be heard on their recordings for Harmonia Mundi as well as the recording and DVD of El Niño and two recordings of The Gospel According to the Other Mary.

He has sung regularly with ensembles such as Les Arts Florissants, Opera Fuoco, Ensemble Entheos, and Les Muses Galantes. Brian studied Early Music Vocal Performance at Indiana University with Paul Elliott, Paul Hillier, and Nigel North.

Nathan Medley, countertenor 3, has emerged as one of the leading new-generation countertenors, with notable international success. He has sung at English National Opera, Barbican Centre, Carnegie Hall, Philharmonie di Paris, Kölner Philharmonie, La Salle Pleyel, Palais de Musique Strasbourg, Het Concertgebouw, the Lucerne Festival, Avery Fisher Hall, and Walt Disney Concert Hall. Recent performances have brought him to the Boston Early Music Festival, Berlin Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, London Symphony, the Netherlands Radio Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony, Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, the Cincinnati May Festival, Opera Omaha, Pacific MusicWorks, Mercury Baroque, Seraphic Fire, Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Cincinnati Collegium, Miami Bach Society, Dayton Bach Society, and Dallas Bach Society.

Nathan made his professional debut in 2012 in John Adams’s The Gospel According to the other Mary with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel, recorded for Duetsche Grammophon and recorded again by the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle. He returned to Los Angeles for Peter Sellars’s staging of this work, which toured to Switzerland and Lincoln Center, and again in 2015 for the U.S. premiere of Olga Neuwirth’s Hommage á Klaus Nomi, conducted by John Adams. He made his English National Opera debut in Adams’s The Gospel According to the other Mary, staged by Sellars. In 2016, he premiered a song cycle, The Cross of Snow, by John Harbison for countertenor and gamba consort with Chicago’s Second City Musick. He is a founding member the ensemble, Echoing Air.

The Houston Symphony Chorus is one of Houston’s oldest and most distinguished musical organizations.

Over the years, the Chorus has sung with dozens of the world’s most notable conductors, including Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Steven Reineke, Michael Krajewski, Robert Shaw, André Previn, Leopold Stokowski, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir John Barbirolli, Ferenc Fricsay, Lawrence Foster, and Hans Graf, to name only a very few.

In addition to performances in Jones Hall, the Symphony’s home venue, the Chorus has also delighted audiences in various concert halls throughout the United States, Europe, and Mexico.

Recent reactions to its performances include:

Classical/Chorus: “…beautifully balanced, modulated sound that seamlessly blended with the orchestra.”
—Review of A German Requiem, Houston Chronicle, May 8, 2018

Classical/Chorus: “… the chorus was magnificent.”
—Review of Stabat Mater, Houston Chronicle, September 27, 2018

The Chorus consists entirely of volunteer singers who have considerable musical skill, vocal talent, and choral experience. They audition for placement each year.  The Chorus performance schedule is possibly the busiest in the country, consisting of up to fourteen different sets of repertoire for a total of 45 concerts.

The Treble Choir of Houston at Christ Church Cathedral is an acclaimed ensemble of young women grades six through 12 that provides outstanding musical training in a nurturing environment. Coming from widely diverse backgrounds, these young women are united in their pursuit of musical excellence.

The Treble Choir of Houston at Christ Church Cathedral is an acclaimed ensemble of young women grades six through 12 that provides outstanding musical training in a nurturing environment. Coming from widely diverse backgrounds, these young women are united in their pursuit of musical excellence.

The Choir’s mission is to help each singer realize her full potential as a person and as a musician. The Treble Choir motto is: Helping young women to find their voice.

Founded in 2006 by Marianna Parnas-Simpson, the ensemble performs widely in the community and serves as the resident children’s choir at Christ Church Cathedral (Episcopal), Houston. Some of the Choir’s performance highlights include featured performances in Carnegie Hall; the International Choral Festival in Powell River, British Columbia; and the Washington National Cathedral. The Choir was named a finalist of the 2021 American Prize National Competition in Youth Choirs Division. Treble Choir is extremely proud of its annual collaboration with the Grammy Award-winning Houston Chamber Choir and the opportunities this collaboration created, including the annual Christmas at the Villa De Matel concert and the recording of Bob Chilcott’s cantata Circlesong, a CD released and distributed internationally by Signum Classics label.

Mark Grey is an Emmy Award-winning sound designer and composer who made history as the first sound designer for the New York Philharmonic (On the Transmigration of Souls, 2002, which also won the Pulitzer Prize in Music) and The Met Opera (Doctor Atomic, 2008; Nixon in China, 2011; Death of Klinghoffer, 2014; The Merry Widow, 2015; Bluebeard’s Castle/Iolanta, 2015; L’Amour de Loin, 2016). As the resident sound designer for the Park Avenue Armory in New York City, his sound design credits include St. Matthew Passion (Sellars/Rattle/Berlin Phil), Doppelganger, Euphoria, Assembly, The Shape of Things, and Deep Blue Sea, among several others.

As a composer, his grand opera, Frankenstein, recently premiered at La Monnaie in Brussels, and his mobile chamber opera, Birds in The Moon, premiered with the New York Philharmonic in 2021. Mark has had several commissions from the Atlanta Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has collaborated with composer John Adams and several others for more than three decades. His sound designs have been heard throughout most major concert halls, HD simulcast theaters, and opera houses worldwide.