Houston Grand Opera announces first full-time composer-in-residence

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) has announced the appointment of Joel Thompson as the first full-time composer-in-residence in the company’s history. His five-year residency begins on 1 August this year.

Following the successful commissioning and premiere of Thompson’s first opera, The Snowy Day, in 2021, Thompson will join the company’s artistic leadership team, in charge of developing the company’s relationship with the surrounding community and will live and work in Houston full time.

HGO general director and CEO Khori Dastoor said: ‘This position was created for Joel because he is one of the most brilliant minds of his generation, a transformative artist that is redefining the future of opera and expanding its reach. We are thrilled for Joel to be joining the artistic leadership of HGO.’

Thompson was born in the Bahamas to Jamaican parents before his family immigrated to the United States. In addition to his composition practice, he is a conductor, pianist, and educator and is currently a studying for a doctorate at the Yale School of Music as well as participating in the Metropolitan Opera/Lincoln Center Theater New Works commissioning program.

Over the course of his five-year tenure with HGO, Thompson will support leadership team initiatives including educational partnerships and mentoring the next generation of composers, librettists, and other artists. Thompson also plans to compose a major commission and a set of smaller scale works to be premiered at HGO. These will be informed by relationships formed within the Houston community.

Thompson said: ‘This residency will provide me with an opportunity to do the things that matter to me most: creating music through community and creating community through music. I believe that opera can be a space for us to hold each other’s stories and imaginations. HGO is giving me the chance to dream and to create works that I hope will be deeply meaningful to the community we will build together over the next five years.’

Houston Grand Opera aims to develop and advance opera as an art form, as well as to support the Houston community. It is the only opera company to have won a Tony, a Grammy, and an Emmy.

You can find out more about Houston Grand Opera here.

You can find out more about Joel Thompson here.