Patrick Summers (born August 14, 1963) is an American conductor best known for his work with Houston Grand Opera (HGO), where he has been the artistic and music director since 2011, and with San Francisco Opera, where he served as principal guest conductor, 1999–2016.
Early years and San Francisco
Summers was born in Washington, Indiana, and raised in Loogootee, Indiana. He graduated from the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University with a bachelor's degree in music in 1986. Upon graduation, he participated in the San Francisco Opera's Merola Opera Program as an apprentice coach in 1986 and 1987, and won the Otto Guth Memorial Award for excellence in vocal coaching both years. Summers's first professional engagement, with San Francisco Opera's Western Opera Theater, was conducting La bohème in its 1986–87 season. Following that performance, he served as musical director of the Western Opera Theater until 1989. He led the Western Opera Theater on its 1987 tour to China, performing for audiences that had never experienced Western opera. In 1988, he conducted the first Chinese performances of Puccini's Tosca in the modern era. In 1989, Summers began his tenure as the music director of the San Francisco Opera Center, a training program for young singers; his first mainstage production, Die Fledermaus, was in 1990. Other highlights include collaborating with André Previn on the 1998 world premiere of A Streetcar Named Desire and conducting several of the performances; serving as principal guest conductor from 1999 through 2016; conducting Jake Heggie's Moby-Dick, which was recorded and telecast on PBS's Great Performances; and in 2015 receiving the San Francisco Opera Medal, the company's highest honor. He conducted the West Coast premiere of Heggie's It's a Wonderful Life at SFO during the 2018–19 season.
Houston Grand Opera and the Metropolitan Opera
In 2011, Summers was named artistic and music director of Houston Grand Opera after serving as music director since 1998. As music director of Houston Grand Opera, Summers oversaw the foundation and development of the HGO Orchestra: prior to the orchestra's foundation, HGO hired outside orchestras for its productions. Since 1998, Summers has conducted over 60 productions at Houston Grand Opera, including eight world premieres (notably Jake Heggie's It's a Wonderful Life, The End of the Affair, Three Decembers, and Carlisle Floyd's Cold Sassy Tree). In recent years, Summers helped oversee the creation of HGOco, an initiative designed to create partnerships between the company and the community. HGOco commissions new works and presents numerous opportunities for children and young voice students.
In 1998, Summers made his Metropolitan Opera conducting debut in Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus, and returned regularly as a guest conductor, including participating in the Metropolitan Opera's 125th Anniversary Gala. He has appeared in four of the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD transmissions of Saturday matinee performances shown in cinemas around the world and has led the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions finals concert on several occasions. In 2006, Summers led the Metropolitan Opera on a tour of Japan.
International opera conducting
Summers's European debut was in 1994 at the Rome Opera conducting Manon Lescaut. Also in 1994, he made his debut with Opera Australia, conducting La Cenerentola. He has since appeared at Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu, most recently conducting La favorite (2018) after his house debut in La Cenerentola, the Welsh National Opera (Rigoletto), the Bregenz Festival (The Magic Flute and Carlisle Floyd's Of Mice and Men), Lisbon's Teatro Nacional de São Carlos (Ariadne auf Naxos), the Opéra national de Bordeaux (Don Pasquale and La bohème), and the European premiere of André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire at the Opéra national du Rhin in Strasbourg.