Who’s Who REGINALD SMITH, JR. (UNITED STATES) BARITONE
HGO studio alumnus Reginald Smith, Jr. has been seen at HGO most
recently as Amonasro in Aida (2020). Other HGO appearances include
the roles of Bonze in Madame
Butterfly; Speaker, Priest, and Armoured Man in outdoor
performances of The Magic Flute and Speaker in selected mainstage
performances of The Magic Flute (all 2015); Dancaïre in Carmen and
Marullo in Rigoletto (2014); and Blind in Die Fledermaus (2013–14).
Smith’s 2019–20 season opened with his much- anticipated debut at
The Metropolitan Opera as Jim in Porgy and Bess; also last season,
he performed the role of Jake in Porgy and Bess at Atlanta Opera.
Previous roles include Sharpless in Madama Butterfly (Opera
Memphis); Amonasro in Aida (Opera Idaho); Senator Charles Potter,
General Airlie, and Bartender in Gregory Spears’s Fellow Travelers
(Lyric Opera of Chicago); Monterone in Rigoletto (Portland Opera);
and Taddeo in L’Italiana in Algeri (Opera Memphis). His orchestral
appearances include Christmas Pops Concerts with the Dallas
Symphony Orchestra and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Oregon
Symphony.
RICHARD BADO (UNITED STATES)The Sarah and Ernest Butler Chorus
Master ChairPIANO
HGO Studio alumnus Richard Bado is director of artistic
operations and chorus master at HGO. He made his professional
conducting debut in 1989 leading HGO’s acclaimed
production of Show Boat at the newly restored Cairo Opera House
in Egypt. Since then, he has conducted for Houston Ballet, La
Scala, Opéra national de Paris, New York City Opera, the Aspen
Music Festival, Tulsa Opera, the Russian National Orchestra, the
Florida Philharmonic, the Montreal Symphony, and Wolf Trap Opera.
With HGO, he has conducted Carousel (2016) and Robert Wilson’s
production of Four Saints in Three Acts at the Edinburgh Festival
(1996). An accomplished pianist, Bado appears regularly with Renée
Fleming in recital. He has also played for Cecilia Bartoli,
Frederica von Stade, Susan Graham, Denyce Graves, Marcello
Giordani, Ramón Vargas, Samuel Ramey, Jamie Barton, Ryan McKinny,
and Nathan Gunn. Bado holds music degrees from the Eastman School
of Music, where he received the 2000 Alumni Achievement Award, and
West Virginia University; he also studied advanced choral
conducting with Robert Shaw. He has appeared on A Prairie Home
Companion with Garrison Keillor. For 12 years, he was the director
of the opera studies program at Rice University’s Shepherd School
of Music. He has served on the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival
and School, the Dolora Zajick Institute for Young Dramatic Voices,
the International Vocal School in Moscow, and the Texas Music
Festival, and has served on the music staffs of the Metropolitan
Opera, Seattle Opera, the Bolshoi Opera Young Artist Program, Opera
Australia, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Utah Opera, Chautauqua
Opera, and Wolf Trap Opera. He regularly judges for the
Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He received HGO’s
Silver Rose Award in 2013 in celebration of his 25th year as chorus
master.
Credits Ben Doyle Video Director Molly Dill Producing Director
Daniel James Video Producer Michael James Clark Lighting Designer
Kristen Burke Stage Manager Jeremy Johnson English Subtitles Dotti
Staker Hair & Makeup
Program 3 Lieder für Bariton Fremde Stadt Eine Geige in den
Gärten Im Nebel
Creole Songs Mister Banjo Lizette, ma chêre amie Chêre, mo lemmé
toi Nightsongs Prayer Drums of Tragedy The Heart of a Woman Night
Song Sence You Went Away Creole Girl It’s Me, O Lord Steal Away
Ain’t-a That Good News!
Guarantor
Video Production
Streaming Partner
Produced in association with Austin Opera
Performing artists, stage directors, and choreographers are
represented by the American Guild of Musical Artists, the union for
opera professionals in the United States.
Stage crew personnel provided by IATSE, Local #51.
Wardrobe personnel provided by Theatrical Wardrobe Union, Local
#896.
Robert Owens (1925-2017)
arr. Camille Nickerson (1888-1982)
H. Leslie Adams (b. 1932)
Traditional, arr. Betty Jackson King Traditional, arr. Dave
Ragland
Traditional, arr. Uzee Brown, Jr.
