Strauss Festival: Salome in Concert

Conductor Juraj Valčuha is recognized for his effortless expressiveness and depth of musicianship. With sharp baton technique and natural stage presence, the impressive ease of his interpretations translate even the most complex scores into immersive experiences. His profound understanding of composer and score, taste, and naturally elegant style make him one of the most sought-after conductors of his generation.

In recent years, American soprano Jennifer Holloway has established herself internationally as one of the leading sopranos in the dramatic repertoire.
In the new season, she returns to the Bavarian State Opera as Senta (Der fliegende Holländer). At the Hamburg State Opera, she makes her role debuts as Fidelio-Leonore and as Ellen Orford (Peter Grimes). Under Kirill Petrenko, she sings Chrysothemis (Elektra) in Bergen and later at Oper Leipzig. Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège has invited her to perform Wagner’s Wesendoncklieder.

Highlights of recent seasons include Salome at the Vienna and Berlin State Operas and the Deutsche Oper Berlin; Chrysothemis, Tannhäuser-Elisabeth, and her role debut as Senta at the Hamburg State Opera; Cassandre (Les Troyens) at the Munich Opera Festival; Sieglinde (Die Walküre) in concert with the Orchestre de Paris under Jaap van Zweden and at the Vienna Konzerthaus under Joana Mallwitz; the title role of César Franck’s Hulda in Paris; Grete in a new production of Schreker’s Der ferne Klang at Oper Frankfurt; her role debut as Lohengrin-Elsa at Oper Leipzig; the Komponist (Ariadne auf Naxos) at Teatro Colon Buenos Aires; Cassandre and Salome at Semperoper Dresden; her debut as Sieglinde at Staatsoper Hamburg; and Salome in Bilbao and Atlanta.

Jennifer began her career as a mezzo-soprano at houses such as Teatro Real Madrid, Los Angeles Opera, Glyndebourne Festival, Maggio Musicale in Florence, Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse, and Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.

Grammy Award winner Mark S. Doss’s most recent engagements include the lead roles in Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice with Boston Lyric, Leoš Janáček’s From the House of the Dead with Rome Opera, and Germont in Welsh National Opera’s La Traviata. This past season also saw him at Lincoln Center’s Geffen Hall with New York Philharmonic players in a program entitled, Here I Stand: Paul Robeson’s 125^th Birthday Celebration. Over the past two seasons, he has sung the bass-baritone part in Beethoven’s 9^th with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, and the Teatro La Fenice in the Piazza San Marco, Venice, Italy. Other engagements include Creon and the Messenger in Opera Company of Philadelphia’s Oedipus Rex, Balstrode in Peter Grimes with La Fenice, Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana at London’s Royal Opera, Nicholas Lens’s Shell Shock with the Philharmonie of Paris, and Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca and the title role in Verdi’s Rigoletto with Welsh National Opera.

Beginning his career on the roster of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Mark’s illustrious career has taken him to the most prestigious opera houses in the world, including numerous roles at La Scala, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, the Teatro Regio in Turin, and La Monnaie in Brussels. Additionally, he has had important debuts with the Vienna Staatsoper (Amonasro in Aida), the Berlin Staatsoper, Madrid’s Teatro Real, and the Theatro of Sao Paulo in Brazil (Jochanaan in Salome), and the New National Opera in Tokyo (the Hoffmann Villains).

This season will see him in performances of Jochanaan in Salome with the Houston Symphony, and he will open the 2024-25 Season featured in a project to celebrate the contributions of Paul Robeson and commemorating the 75^th anniversary of the horrific events surrounding his 1949 concert in Peekskill and the Town of Cortlandt. Following that, Mark returns to La Monnaie to sing the Original Cast revival of The Time of Our Singing. A Grammy Award winner for his participation in Handel’s Semele (Best Opera Recording), he also is a recipient of the National Institute for Music Theatre’s George London Opera Prize, and Planet Africa’s Entertainment Award.

Admired for his vocal versatility and dramatic power, British tenor John Daszak enjoys a vibrant international opera career and regular collaborations with many key conductors and directors.

In recent seasons, the role of Herod in Strauss’s Salome has become central to John’s repertoire following an acclaimed debut in the role at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden conducted by Henrik Nánási and new productions at the Salzburg and Aix Festivals under Franz Welser-Möst and Ingo Metzmacher respectively. He continues to be closely associated with many works, including Wozzeck, Boris Godunov, Elektra, Il prigioniero, and Kat’a Kabanova.

Other operatic successes include appearances as Grishka Kuter’na in The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh at Dutch National Opera, as Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg at the Bayerische Staatsoper, and as Alviano Salvago in Die Gezeichneten at Opernhaus Zürich. Strongly associated with the music of Benjamin Britten, John made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Captain Vere (Billy Budd), sang Peter Grimes at Teatro alla Scala, and starred as Gustav von Aschenbach (Death in Venice) at the Teatro Real. He made house debuts at the Bayreuther Festspiele as Loge (Das Rheingold), at Staatsoper Unter den Linden as Tambour-Major (Wozzeck), and at Moscow’s historic Bolshoi Theatre as Sergei (Katarina Ismailova).

Highlights this season include Skuratov (From the House of the Dead) at Ruhr Triennale under Dennis Russel Davies, performances of Salome at both Staatsoper Hamburg conducted by Kent Nagano and at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma under Marc Albrecht, and a return to Bayreuther Festspiele as Loge.

A popular concert performer with a repertoire ranging from Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass through to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and from Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 to Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, John has worked with many esteemed conductors and orchestras, including Donald Runnicles and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Thomas Hengelbrock and the NDR Elbphilharmonie.

Featuring on several operatic DVD releases, John Daszak’s discography includes The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh from Dutch National Opera (Opus Arte), Death in Venice from the Teatro Real (Naxos), and Salome from the Salzburg Festival (Unitel).

Linda Watson, an American dramatic soprano made her career based in Germany where she began as a mezzo-soprano at the Theater Aachen in 1992. She has performed worldwide, including at the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Bayreuth Festival. She focused on dramatic roles by Wagner, Strauss, and Turandot. She was awarded the title Kammersängerin in Germany in 2004 and in Austria in 2020.

Early in her career, Linda performed Wagnerian roles such as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde and Venus in Tannhäuser. She became a member of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in 1997. The same year, she first appeared as Venus at the Vienna State Opera, and a year later as Kundry in Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival. From 2000 to 2005, she portrayed Ortrud in Lohengrin at Bayreuth.

From 2006 to 2010, she sang all three Brünnhilde roles in Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival, and she performed these roles in the new production at the Vienna State Opera, earning a solo Grammy nomination. She subsequently appeared as Brünnhilde at many of the world’s great opera houses, including at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, even in a nine-hour compilation of all the Ring in one day. She added more dramatic roles to her repertoire, including Isolde, Elektra, and both the Dyer’s Wife and the Nurse in Die Frau ohne Schatten. The credibility of her portrayals and her vocal bravura led to engagements worldwide. She has worked with the world’s leading conductors.

In 2013 and 2014, Linda returned to the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein to perform as Isolde, Marschallin, Elektra, Ariadne, and Brünnhilde. At the Vienna State Opera, she was appointed Kammersängerin in January 2020. At La Scala in Milan, she could be seen and heard in the 2020-21 and 2022-23 Seasons as Herodias in Salome. In June 2023, she sang the Amme in the San Francisco premiere of Hockney’s Frau Ohne Schatten under Donald Runnicles.

Linda Watson is a professor of voice at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna and performs master classes worldwide.

Dramatic tenor Issachah Savage has appeared with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, The Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, and the Melbourne Symphony. He has worked with some of today’s foremost conductors, including Yannick Nézet-Seguin, Gustavo Dudamel, Riccardo Muti, Fabio Luisi, James Conlon, Gianandrea Noseda, Marin Alsop, Jaap van Zweden, Robert Spano, and Susanna Mälkki.

Operatic highlights include appearances with The Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, LA Opera, Seattle Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Opéra National de Bordeaux, Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, and the Salzburg Festival. He has sung much of the great dramatic tenor repertoire, including the title roles in Tannhäuser, Otello, and Rienzi; Siegmund in Die Walküre; Radamès in Aida; Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos; Manrico in Il Trovatore; and Narraboth in Salome.

This season, in addition to this debut with the Houston Symphony for Salome (Narraboth), Issachah will make a highly anticipated role debut as Der Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten at Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse. On the concert stage, he returns to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for Mendelssohn’s Elijah conducted by James Conlon and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for a program of selections from Great American Songbook with Karen Slack and conducted by Fabio Luisi. He will also return to Los Angeles for a recital at UCLA.

Issachah is the winner of the Seattle International Wagner Competition earning the main prize, audience favorite prize, orchestra favorite prize, and a special honor by Speight Jenkins. He has received several prestigious awards, recognition, and career grants from institutions such as Wagner Societies of New York, Washington, D. C., and Northern California; Licia Albanese International Puccini Foundation; Olga Forrai Foundation; Gerda Lissner Foundation; Jensen Vocal Competition; Opera Index; and Giulio Gari Foundation.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from Morgan State University and a master’s degree in opera voice performance from The Catholic University of America.

The New York Times calls mezzo-soprano Hannah Ludwig “best in show.” In the 2023-24 Season, she made her debut with the New York Philharmonic singing Handel’s Messiah. She joins the Des Moines Symphony for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and sings Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia (Opera Louisiane).
Other recent engagements include Elgar’s Sea Pictures and Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky (Colorado Symphony), Handel’s Messiah (National Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Las Vegas Philharmonic), Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (Flint Symphony Orchestra), and Mozart’s Requiem (Columbus Symphony).
A prolific Rossini interpreter, she joined Eroica Berlin for L’italiana in Algeri; Teatro Nuovo for Maometto II, La gazza ladra, Tancredi, and Il barbiere di Siviglia; and Annapolis Opera for Il barbiere di Siviglia. Other bel canto performances include Anna Bolena (Baltimore Concert Opera), Lucia di Lammermoor (Opera Philadelphia), and Norma (Sacramento Philharmonic). She joined Utah Opera for Rigoloetto and Dallas Opera for Das Rheingold and Die Zauberflöte.

Praised by the Huffington Post for his “ringing high notes,” Texas-born tenor Bille Bruley has garnered attention for his strength and versatility in operatic repertoire from baroque to contemporary.

Bille’s 2023-24 Season began with his house debut at San Francisco Opera for Mason Bates and Mark Campbell’s The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs (Steve Wozniak) followed by joining the roster of the Lyric Opera of Chicago for Jenufa. On the concert stage, he makes this debut with the Houston Symphony in Salome (First Jew), and debuts with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic in Mozart’s Requiem, and cover in Act I of Die Walküre (Siegmund) with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

Last season, he made a role debut in Ariadne auf Naxos (Bacchus) at Arizona Opera. Other highlights included his returns to Austin Opera for Sweeney Todd (Beadle) and The Santa Fe Opera for Der fliegende Holländer (Steuermann).

Hailed for his ability to communicate “…romance and heartbreak with his soaring tenor tones,” by Broadway World and “…heroic bravado…,” “…acting chops…,” and “…irresistible mix of Italianate and Latin passion…” by Musical America Worldwide, Opera News, and Classical Voice North America respectively, tenor Rafael Moras is a rising operatic star whose voice, stage presence, and ability to speak off-the-cuff and passionately with audiences has connected and captivated on stages around the world.

In addition to the Houston Symphony, Rafael has performed as a featured soloist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, LA Philharmonic, Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, San Antonio Symphony, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Amarillo Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Austin Opera, Opera Idaho, Aspen Music Festival, and San Antonio Mastersingers. He has sung across the world with Grammy Award-winning jazz trumpeter Chris Botti as a featured soloist in the Chris Botti in Concert global tour.

Further career highlights include a Seattle Opera debut as Tariq in the critically acclaimed world premiere A Thousand Splendid Suns; Don José in Carmen, the directorial debut of acclaimed mezzosoprano Denyce Graves; and debuts with Houston Grand Opera and Arizona Opera as Father Matías in the world premiere of El Milagro del Recuerdo, Utah Opera and Holy City Arts & Lyric Opera as Alfredo in La traviata, Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera as the Duke in Rigoletto, and Arizona Opera as Zorro in its inaugural New Works Festival.

A graduate of LA Opera’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program and The Santa Fe Opera’s Apprentice Program for Singers, Rafael is a two-time recipient of The Santa Fe Opera’s Richard Tucker Fund Award, a Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition Grand Finalist, Operalia Quarter Finalist, and a two-time Eleanor McCollum Vocal Competition Finalist.

Possessed of a rare high-tenor voice and a winning stage persona that comfortably embraces both comedic and dramatic roles, Marc Molomot enjoys an international career and was recently named Artist of the Year by Voix des Arts.

Marc is praised as “an excellent actor-singer” in repertoire of all eras, winning acclaim most recently as Leonard Lev in the world premiere performances of Tobias Picker’s Awakenings at Opera Theatre of St. Louis. He recently made his role debuts as Mime in Wagner’s Das Rheingold in Germany, John Adams in Virgil Thomson’s The Mother of us All, and Der Hauptmann in Berg’s Wozzeck with the Houston Symphony. The live recording of Wozzeck was the winner of a Grammy Award and an ECHO Klassik Award.

His comedic talents have been showcased with performances as Adolphe de Valladolid in Offenbach’s Les brigands at Opéra Toulon and Opéra Comique in Paris, and he was featured as Le Fils in Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias at Opéra de Lyon and Opéra Comique. In the baroque arena, signature roles include the title role of Purcell’s King Arthur and Puck in Fairy Queen as well as Iro in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulise and Arnalta in L’incoronazione di Poppea.

Tenor Christopher Bozeka is quickly becoming recognized for his “beautiful, piercing tone” and “expressively captivating” performances (San Francisco Chronicle). This season, he made his solo stage debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Abdallo in Nabucco, for which a featured performance was broadcast live on Sirius XM radio. Additional season highlights include the Metropolitan Opera’s Grounded workshop, and he covered the roles of Otto Bader and Josef Bader in Aaron Zigman’s Émigré with the New York Philharmonic.

Christopher is a former second place winner in Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition, and he won first prize in the Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions in Ohio and Houston. A graduate of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, he was also a young artist with the Merola Opera Program and a three-time Filene artist at Wolf Trap Opera. He received his master’s degree at the University of Cincinnati College–Conservatory of Music.

Hailed by The New York Times as “vocally robust” and “lyrically malevolent,” American bass-baritone Joseph Barron recently returned to the Metropolitan Opera to sing Monterone in Rigoletto and cover Swallow in Peter Grimes, and he debuted with Dallas Opera and The Atlanta Opera as Donner in Das Rheingold, as well as the Cleveland Orchestra as Happy in La fanciulla del West. This season, he returns to the San Francisco Opera to cover King Heinrich in Lohengrin, the Metropolitan Opera to cover Melitone in La forza del destino, and Finger Lakes Opera to sing Ramfis in Aida.

Joseph has previously joined the Met for productions of Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, Rigoletto, La fanciulla del West, Salome, Tannhäuser, The Nose, Boris Godunov, Turandot, and The Exterminating Angel. He appeared at San Francisco Opera in the world premiere of The Gospel of Mary Magdalene and covered Leporello in Don Giovanni. He has also performed Leporello in Don Giovanni with Opera Hong Kong, Opera Philadelphia, Arizona Opera, and New Orleans. Other recent debuts include Don Pizarro in Fidelio with North Carolina Opera and the Princeton Festival, Kaspar in Der Freischütz at Virginia Opera, and the title role of Le nozze di Figaro at Opera Carolina and Opera Grand Rapids.

Other appearances include the Aix-en-Provence Festival and La Fenice as Polyphemus in Acis and Galatea; The Glimmerglass Festival as Ramfis in Aida, Grandpa Moss in The Tender Land, and Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro; Opera Philadelphia as Montano in Otello; Pittsburgh Opera as Masetto in Don Giovanni, Prophet/Larry King in Dark Sisters, Alidoro in La Cenerentola, Geronimo in Il matrimonio segreto, Monterone in Rigoletto, Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte, and The Bonze in Madama Butterfly; The Spoleto Festival as Roldano in Cavalli’s Veremonda; Arizona Opera as Monterone in Rigoletto; Bard Summerscape as Basmanov in Dvořák’s Dimitrij; The Princeton Festival as Henry Kissinger in Nixon in China and Swallow in Peter Grimes; Finger Lakes Opera as Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia; and Charlottesville Opera as Colline in La bohème.

Dramatic baritone Daniel Scofield is a two-time prize winner of The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a recipient of the Olga Forrai Foundation grant for dramatic voices in opera. He begins the 2023-24 Season with a return to the Prague State Opera for Pagliacci’s Cavalleria rusticana (Tonio/Algio) in a revival of last season’s critically acclaimed new production by Ondrej Havelka. He travels to Atlanta as a guest of the Emory University Symphony Orchestra for the Verdi Requiem and appears with the Houston Symphony in its spring production of Salome. Additional season engagements include returns to Opera Orlando for Tosca (Scarpia), Opera Baltimore for Eugene Onegin in the title role, and debuts with Fort Worth Opera for La bohème (Marcello) and the Teatro Municipal de Santiago as Scarpia in Tosca.

Future seasons include role and company debuts at Teatro Municipal de Santiago, Staatsoper Hannover, and a return to the Prague State Opera.

Baritone Navasard Hakobyan is the Third Prize Winner of the 2023 Operalia World Opera Competition, winner of the Don Plácido Domingo Ferrer Prize of Zarzuela, and top prizes at many of the world’s prestigious competitions.
As an artist with Houston Grand Opera, he has performed Puccini’s Madama Butterly as Sharpless, his role debut. He looks forward to house and role debuts as Gregorio in Romeo et Juliet with Dallas Opera and with Dresden Semperoper in the 2024-25 Season.
Past roles include Silvio in I Pagliacci with Yerevan Opera Theater, Germon in La traviata and Antonio in Il viaggio a Reims with the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, and Anchor in the Julliard-commissioned Oedipus in the District by Joshua Getman.
Navasard is a graduate of the Armenian State Song Theater and is completing a masters’ course at Yerevan Conservatory. He is a soloist of the Young Opera Singers Program of the Yerevan Opera Theater.

Bass Matthew Anchel, called “a voice to watch” by the Wall Street Journal, has performed with many of the world’s leading opera companies and orchestras. Highlights from his 2023-24 Season include singing Sarastro in The Magic Flute with Nashville Opera and returning to the Metropolitan Opera to cover Reinmar in Tannhäuser and sing 2nd Armed Man in The Magic Flute.

An accomplished veteran of the competition circuit, Matthew was a grand finalist in the 2013 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, won third place in the Palm Beach Opera Competition, the Judges Award from the Opera Index Competition, an Encouragement Award from the George London Foundation, and was a finalist and an Encouragement Award winner in the Loren L. Zachary Competition. Born and raised in New York City, Matthew earned his Bachelor of Music in vocal performance from the Manhattan School of Music.

Andrew Potter has garnered increasing demand across the country for his larger-than-life stage presence and voice to match. This season brings major house debuts at the Dallas Opera as Angelotti in Tosca, Detroit Opera as Harašta in The Cunning Little Vixen, The Atlanta Opera as Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the Santa Fe Opera for both Der Rosenkavalier and the world premiere of The Righteous, in which he covers Greer Grimsley’s lead role of Paul. Additionally, Andrew returns to Opera Santa Barbara as Ferrando in Il trovatore, and he joins the Fort Worth Symphony as Hundig in Act I of Die Walküre, Pacific Symphony as Colline in La bohème, and Houston Symphony as Second Soldier in Salome.

Last season included several important house debuts: joining Seattle Opera as Abimelech in Samson et Dalila and in its world premiere of A Thousand Splendid Suns, as well as Portland Opera as Vodnik in Rusalka. Additionally, Andrew joined Livermore Valley Opera as Belcore in L’elisir d’amore, performed Scarpia in Indianapolis Opera’s Tosca, Don Pizarro in Fidelio with Mid-Ohio Civic Opera, returned to Opera Grand Rapids as The Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance, and to Pacific Opera Project as Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia. Other recent engagements include Simone in Gianni Schicchi for Tulsa Opera, Sarastro in The Magic Flute for Eugene Opera, Sparafucile in Rigoletto for Opera Orlando, Commendatore in Don Giovanni with Indianapolis Opera, and René in Iolanta with Pacific Opera Project. Concert engagements included Mozart’s Mass in C major for Mid-Ohio Civic Opera and Verdi’s Requiem for Michigan State University.

Previous engagements include the title role in Don Pasquale with Opera Santa Barbara; Sam in Trouble in Tahiti with Pacific Opera Project; Prince Gremin in Eugene Onegin with Livermore Valley Opera; Sulpice in The Daughter of the Regiment and Dr. Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore with Winter Opera St. Louis; The Bonze in Madama Butterfly with St. Petersburg Opera; Hunding in Die Walküre, Fafner in Das Rheingold, and Colline in La bohème with Pittsburgh Festival Opera.

Soprano Meryl Dominguez most recently made her role debut as the title character in Maria Stuarda with Musica Viva Hong Kong; she is currently a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio program. A graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts, Music Academy of the West, Santa Fe Opera’s apprentice program, and other elite training institutions, she has performed roles such as Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), Violetta (La traviata), Juliette (Roméo et Juliette), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus), and Adina (L’Elisir d’Amore).

Enjoying success in the competition sphere, she was a finalist with HGO’s prestigious Eleanor McCollum Competition, a national semi-finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, first prize winner at Vero Beach Opera’s inaugural Rising Stars competition, a career development grantee with the Sullivan Foundation, an Encouragement Award winner with The Gerda Lissner Foundation, as well as a two-time Audience Favorite winner in AVA’s Giargiari Competition.

Adam Larsen is excited to return to the Houston Symphony after previously directing Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex. As a projection designer, Adam has designed more than 200 productions, including Hal Prince’s LoveMusik on Broadway; Lee Breuer’s The Gospel at Colonus at the Athens, Edinburgh, and Spoleto festivals; Esperanza Spalding’s 12 Little Spells national tour; David Lang’s Prisoner of the State at the NY Philharmonic; Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking The Waves at Opera Philadelphia; Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle at the Singapore and Edinburgh festivals; Janáček’s From the House of the Dead at Canadian Opera; Bernstein’s Mass at the LA Phil and Lincoln Center; Britten’s Peter Grimes, Bernstein’s On the Town, Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, and all ten seasons of the SoundBox series at SF Symphony.
Adam’s documentary work includes Neurotypical, about autism from the perspective of autistics, which premiered on the PBS series P.O.V.; and Undersung, about caregivers of severely disabled family members.

Jim French designs lighting for a broad spectrum of performing arts and live events, with work seen in 25 countries and across North America. Major credits include San Francisco Ballet, Atlanta Opera, Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Kronos Quartet, Finnish National Ballet, Opera Parallele, Ballet Basel, Alliance Theater, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, Playwright’s Horizons, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, and Alonzo King Lines Ballet. He has lit the vertical dance company Bandaloop on structures around the globe, was the founding house-lighting designer at the SF Jazz Center and is currently the lighting supervisor at San Francisco Ballet. Jim has designed lighting for the Global Climate Action Summit, and volunteers for Dancers Responding to AIDS and Bike East Bay.

Molly Irelan is a Los Angeles-based costume designer who prides herself on a holistic approach to her work. She is formally trained in the history and construction of garments as well as costume design. Molly holds a bachelor’s degree in costume history and design from the University of Redlands (2010), an associate degree in fashion design from the Art Institute of Portland (2012), and a master’s in costume design from UCLA (2016).

Molly works in stage and screen and has designed operas Elixir D’Amour (2017), Il Due Figaro (2018), Cold Mountain (2019), and Onegin (2023) at the Music Academy of the West; Amadigi (2016), Orphée (2020) at UCLA; p r i s m (2018) and Rev 23 (2020) at Prototype Festival; The Tragedy of Carmen (2022) in the Maldives; La Clemenza di Tito (2022) and Proving Up (2024) at The San Francisco Conservatory of Music; Il Due Figaro (2022) at The Handel and Haydn Society; The Central Park Five (2022),The Romance of the Rose (2023), and The Feast (2023) at Long Beach Opera; and last year’s Oedipus Rex at Houston Symphony; as well as the opera miniseries desert in (2021) and feature Mirror Flores (2021).

Los Angeles-based James Maloof is excited to debut with the Houston Symphony as a production and set designer. Most recently, he worked as the set designer on J.J. Abrams’s upcoming show, Duster, for HBO. Other television and film work can be seen on shows such as Outer Range, First Ladies, Ghosted, and Penny Dreadful.
James has designed live events in Los Angeles, New York, and Atlanta for productions with Beck’s 2019 tour, Deaf West Theatre, A Noise Within, The Fountain Theatre, The Public, The York Theatre, The Irish Rep, Theatrical Outfit, Dad’s Garage Theatre, and the Alliance Theatre for the Very Young. James received his MFA from UCLA School of Theatre Film and Television. He is a member of IATSE Local #800- Art Directors Guild. Visit www.maloofdesign.com to see more about his work.