premiere of a production by British director Lee Blakely. Performances of 'Sweeney Todd' will mark the U.S. After New Zealand-born tenor Simon O'Neill performed Wagner's 'Lohengrin' here in 2009, he and the company's leaders began planning for O'Neill's return as Verdi's tragic hero.

He is currently the Director of the American Repertoire Council at the Opera Company of Philadelphia and is also a professor of voice at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and General Director of the Lyric Theater Illinois.The long wait since the company's last staging of 'Otello' - which starred Placido Domingo - demonstrates how difficult it is to cast the title role, Leech said. Gunn recently ventured outside the standard opera repertoire with performances of the title role in Sweeney Todd at the Houston Grand Opera, Camelot and Carousel with the New York Philharmonic (both broadcast on PBS’s Great Performances) and Showboat at Carnegie Hall and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He also starred in the Metropolitan Opera's HD broadcasts of The Magic Flute and The Merry Widow. His growing discography includes Billy Budd (Virgin Classics) which won the 2010 Grammy Award, Rogers & Hammerstein’s Allegro (Sony Masterworks Broadway), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (SONY Classics), and his solo albums Just Before Sunrise (Sony/BMG Masterworks) and American Anthem (EMI). Gunn appears regularly with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra, and has been presented in recitals in New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Toronto, London, and Brussels. Also a distinguished concert performer, Mr. He has sung leading lyric baritone roles and appeared in several world premieres in many of the most renowned opera houses of the world including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Royal Opera House, Paris Opera, and Bayerische Staatsoper.

Baritone NATHAN GUNN has made a reputation as one of the most exciting and versatile baritones performing today.

Houston grand opera sweeney todd