Company to present critically acclaimed contemporary opera in five mainstage performances
WHAT: On April 19, 2025, Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will open Breaking the Waves, the award-winning 2016 opera by composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek, based on the art film by Lars von Trier. A co-production of HGO, Opera Ventures, Scottish Opera, Théâtre National de l’Opéra Comique, and Adelaide Festival, this presentation of Breaking the Waves represents its anticipated regional premiere.
The opera will transport audiences to 1970s Scotland, where the impressionable young Bess, part of a strict Calvinist community, wins permission to marry an outsider—the offshore oil rigger Jan. After the impatient lovers consummate their union at their own wedding, Bess embarks upon a journey of sexual exploration that is tragically interrupted when Jan is paralyzed in an accident, setting off a series of shocking events that culminates in the unthinkable.
The May 2 Breaking the Waves show is an Under 40 Friday performance offering $40 Orchestra-level seats to audience members younger than 40. On the same date, the company is also encouraging Houston-area university students to gather with likeminded arts lovers for our College Night, presented in partnership with Houston Cinema Arts Society, using HGO’s $20 student ticket deal, available for any performance of any opera.
The production runs two hours and 49 minutes, including one intermission. It is sung in English with projected English text.
Content advisory: Breaking the Waves contains explicit material, sexual violence, and nudity. It is intended for adult audiences only.
WHO: The opera will be led by two beloved Houston favorites, both of whom launched their careers after training with HGO’s Butler Studio: luminous soprano Lauren Snouffer as Bess, and charismatic bass-baritone Ryan McKinny as Jan. Sara Brodie directs the revival of Tom Morris’s production, with Maestro Patrick Summers at the podium.
WHEN: Saturday, April 19, 2025, at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 26, 2025, at 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, April 30, 2025, at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 2, 2025, at 7:30 p.m. – Under 40 Friday performance, College Night
Sunday, May 4, 2025, at 2 p.m.
WHERE: Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas Ave.
TARIFF: Tickets to mainstage performances range from $25 to $210. For more information and to buy tickets, visit HGO.org or call the Box Office at 713-228-6737. Audiences 40 and younger may purchase $40 Orchestra-level seats for the opera’s Under 40 Friday performance. Students with a valid student ID may purchase $20 tickets one month prior to the opening of every performance; see HGO.org/Tickets.
PHOTO: Link to Breaking the Waves images can be found here.