PATRICK SUMMERS, conductor

Patrick Summers is Music Director of the Houston Grand Opera (HGO), and also appears in major opera houses worldwide. Mr. Summers is best known for his formidable grasp of  extensive and diverse repertoire, ranging from period performances of the baroque, through bel canto and grand opera of the late romantic period to contemporary American works. 

Mr. Summers's appointment as Music Director of the HGO was announced even prior to making his company conducting debut in April 1998 (Verdi's La Traviata).  He formally became the HGO Music Director the following season 1998-1999 and since then, has led more than 30 HGO productions, among them several world premieres including Tod Machover's Resurrection in 1999 (CD - Albany, 2002), Carlisle Floyd's Cold Sassy Tree in 2000, Jake Heggie's The End of the Affair (CD - Albany 2005), and Rachel Portman's The Little Prince, and last season, two world premieres:  The Refuge, an oratorio by Christopher Theofanidis, for orchestra, chorus and soloists and Jake Heggie's newest chamber opera, Last Acts, with libretto by Gene Scheer, based on the play by Terrance McNally. 

From Patricia Racette's first Cio Cio San, at the HGO, to recent MET performances of Ana Netrebko's first Puritani, Mr. Summers is particularly renowned for his work with the finest singers of today, who, due to his deep musical insight, have frequently sought him out to conduct their premiere productions in signature roles. In a decade at the Houston Grand Opera as music director, Mr. Summers has presided over the expansion and growth of the HGO Orchestra, and has continued to attract leading international opera stars to come to the company.  Some highlights include Renée Fleming's first Violetta (La Traviata - 2003), and unforgettable L'Elisir d'Amore (2000) with Ramón Vargas and Ana Maria Martinez, the teaming of Sergei Leiferkus, Maria Guleghina, and Samuel Ramey in Nabucco (2000), Don Carlo with Ramon Vargas, Samuel Ramey, and Patricia Racette (2001), Rigoletto with Laura Claycomb and Dmitri Hvorostovsky (2001), and The Merry Widow (2001) pairing Susan Graham and Bo Skovhus together for the first time in this opera, which the two have since gone on to perform with many opera companies in many cities worldwide. 

Formerly its Principal Guest Conductor, Mr. Summers has been closely associated with the San Francisco Opera for nearly twenty years, and has conducted a vast repertoire ranging from his own realization of Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea to performances of André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire, to the acclaimed world premiere of Jake Heggie's and Terrence McNally's Dead Man Walking (2000), (CD: Erato - 2002). Most recently he conducted Handel's Ariodante in June 2008, and over his two decade association with the company has conducted  Guillaume Tell, La Cenerentola, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Otello (Rossini), Norma, Die Fledermaus, Tosca, Samson et Dalila, Rigoletto, La Traviata, Faust, Così fan tutte, L'Elisir d'amore, La fille du Régiment, Iphigénie en Tauride and the American premiere of Rossini's Ermione.   

Mr. Summers made his Metropolitan Opera debut in December 1998 conducting Die Fledermaus and has returned to conduct the Metropolitan's Millennium Gala, Così Fan Tutte (2001), Lucia di Lammermoor with Ruth Ann Swenson (2002), Rodelinda with Renee Fleming (2006), and I Puritani with Anna Netrebko (2007), transmitted world-wide during the MET's first season of HD transmissions into cinemas, and released as a DVD (Deutsche Grammophon).  

Mr. Summers' growing discography includes the 2002 Grammy Award-winning recording Bel Canto featuring soprano Renée Fleming, with the Orchestra of St. Luke's. He also led the recorded revivals of two of Houston Grand Opera's world premieres: Mark Adamo's Little Women (Ondine, 2001) and Daniel Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas (Albany, 2002). The revival of Little Women was broadcast nationally on PBS/WNET's "Great Performances."

In addition to his work in opera, Mr. Summers led the 1997 European concert tour of the English Chamber Orchestra with Russian vocal stars Olga Borodina and Dmitri Hvorostovsky performing at Berlin's Deutsche Oper, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, London's Royal Festival Hall, Rotterdam's de Doelen, and Paris' Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, which was recorded and released on CD by Philips. Most recently, Mr. Summers made debuts with three major American Orchestras, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the National Symphony, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, in concerts with soprano Renée Fleming.