Giving Voice 2025

Event Details

Giving Voice is the brainchild of tenor Lawrence Brownlee, who created the series in 2019. This year’s event, held during Black History Month, will honor the legacy of the country’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) as an important training ground for Black artists in classical music and opera.   

Giving Voice will feature a program of arias and songs performed by operatic soloists including HGO favorite, Butler Studio alumnus, WABC member, and Grammy Award-winning baritone Reginald Smith, Jr.; one of today’s most impressive young dramatic tenors, Issachah Savage; and two talented first-year members of HGO’s Butler Studio, soprano Elizabeth Hanje and bass-baritone Sam Dhobhany. The concert also will feature choral works by a mass choir of singers from Texas Southern University, Jackson State University, WABC, the Houston Ebony Opera Guild, and Voices of Houston. The evening will be emceed by Ruth J. Simmons, Distinguished Presidential Fellow at Rice University; Adviser to the President of Harvard University on HBCU Initiatives; and former President of Prairie View A&M University, Brown University, and Smith College. 

Tickets are free to the public but require a reservation, RSVP here: https://my.houstongrandopera.org/giving-voice/022825?_gl=1*1itii0l*_gcl_au*MTE4ODc3NjAxMC4xNzM2MzYyMjYw