Ilana Walder-Biesanz on Muck Rack

Ilana Walder-Biesanz

Houston
As seen in: Bachtrack, Medium, San Francisco Chronicle, Chalkbeat, eSchool News, Stark Insider, San Francisco Classical Voice, Parterre box, Classical Voice North America, Festival Napa Valley
Reviews theater and opera. Sings, mostly trouser roles. Dances in hoop skirts. Fights with swords.
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Articles

Of Floyd and Houston

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By Ilana Walder-Biesanz
| Parterre box Verified
Carlisle Floyd / Photo: Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera is having a very American year. The 2025-26 season kicked off with Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, with American conductor James Gaffigan on the podium. During that run, HGO announced that Gaffigan would become HGO’s new Music Director, beginning in 2027. The company has been trumpeting their Grammy win for the recording of Jake Heggie’s Intelligence, an opera set during the U.S. Civil War.
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The best thing I saw in 2025 was Breaking the Waves

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By Ilana Walder-Biesanz
| Parterre box Verified
Over the years, plenty of Parterre reviewers and commenters have praised Mazzoli’s score — tuneful but eerie, with an exciting, relentless momentum. This was the “big opera house” production it deserved: Patrick Summers leading the HGO orchestra, an A-list cast with unflinching dramatic commitment, and sets/productions/choreography of the highest caliber.
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Everything is “and,” not “or”

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By Ilana Walder-Biesanz
| Parterre box Verified
James Gaffigan likes his wines like he likes his classical music: with the best of Europe meeting the best of America. He raves about Domaine Drouhin and Beaux Frères, Willamette Valley wineries that respect the traditions and expertise of Burgundy. “That’s what we should be doing in America,” he says of both winemaking and opera, “taking what they’ve done and making it better.” As Houston Grand Opera’s incoming music director, Gaffigan is something of a rarity: an American in, well, America.
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