Born and raised in South Carolina, he set other operas in the South including “Susannah” (1955), “The Passion of Jonathan Wade” (1962) and “Willie Stark” (1981). The composer is no stranger to southern culture. “Cold Sassy Tree” is Floyd’s most recent opera.

At that time, the University’s opera company was known as the University Opera Theatre.įloyd will return to UH, where he served as M.D. Holmquist also conducted music for the first UH opera, “The Mother of Us All” in 1986 in Dudley Recital Hall.

Holmquist was Floyd’s student at the Houston Grand Opera (HGO) Studio and is a former HGO staff member. Ross is directing “Cold Sassy Tree” and Ward Holmquist, artistic director of Lyric Opera of Kansas City, is conducting the orchestra. It has many funny moments, but it also has quite profound things to say.” “It’s a warm look at small town life at the turn of the 20 th century,” said Buck Ross, director of the Moores Opera Center. While rumors run rampant, Rucker’s grandson Will is the only person who supports the union and eventually strikes up a friendship with the new bride. Set in the fictional Georgia town of Cold Sassy, “Cold Sassy Tree” focuses on widower Rucker Lattimore sudden engagement – three weeks after his first wife’s death – to Love Simpson, a much younger woman. For ticket information, visit the online box office or call 71. “Cold Sassy Tree” will be performed April 4 – 7 in UH’s Moores Opera House. The University of Houston’s Moores Opera Center will present the city’s second production of “Cold Sassy Tree.” Floyd, who taught at UH, will revisit the campus and attend performances. In April, both the opera and composer will return to Houston for a homecoming. The work (based on the 1984 book by Olive Ann Burns) earned much acclaim and became a popular staple of contemporary opera.

Carlisle Floyd’s “Cold Sassy Tree” made its world premiere in 2000 at Houston Grand Opera.

Cold sassy