Unveiling
Ana María Martínez with Andy Einhorn
Presented by the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts
Program will be announced from the stage.
Performance will include both English and Spanish language music.
Ana María Martínez
Grammy Award® winner and Houston, Texas resident, soprano Ana María Martínez is one of the foremost sopranos of her generation with an international career that spans the world’s most important opera houses and concert halls. She is known for her stunning portrayals of the title roles of Rusalka, Carmen, and Florencia in Florencia en el Amazonas, as well as Mimi in La bohème, Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly, Elisabetta in Don Carlo, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Fiordiligi and Despina in Cosi fan Tutte, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Nedda in Pagliacci, Liù in Turandot, Marguerite in Faust, Alice Ford in Falstaff, Desdemona in Otello, and Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, among countless others. These roles have taken her to The Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera, Washington National Opera, Opera de Puerto Rico, and Santa Fe Opera, as well as to Opera National de Paris, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Vienna Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, The Dutch National Opera, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, and the Glyndebourne Festival. In addition to opera, concert and recital performances, she engages in such diverse opportunities as voicing the role of opera singer Alessandra in season three of Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle, to performing in tribute to operatic legend Justino Díaz at the 44th Annual Kennedy Center Honors (CBS), to proudly representing her birthplace of Puerto Rico as an honoree and performer in the 62nd Annual Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City. She is the winner of the 15th Annual OPERA NEWS Awards, and in 2021 was a recipient of Houston Mayer Sylvester Turner’s Hispanic Heritage Awards in the Arts, and was named one of Houston’s “50 Most Influential Women of 2020-2021” by Houston Woman Magazine. In May 2025 Ana María was named Texas State Musician-Classical (2026) by the Texas State Legislature in recognition of the exceptional quality of her work and for her outstanding commitment to the arts in Texas. Ms. Martinez is equally recognized off-stage for being a leader in the performing arts industry as an advocate and educator to the next generation of musicians, and as such was Houston Grand Opera’s first-ever Artistic Advisor, a position she served in for five years,
Andy Einhorn
BROADWAY: Music Supervisor/Conductor: Gypsy (Audra McDonald), Hello, Dolly! (Bette Midler), Carousel (Renée Fleming), Holiday Inn. Music Director/Conductor: Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Brief Encounter, Sondheim on Sondheim. Music director and conductor for Audra McDonald since 2011 including two albums. TOURING Music Supervisor: Peter Pan, Sound of Music. Regional: George Street Playhouse, PaperMill Playhouse, Goodspeed Opera House, Oregon Shakespeare Festival. TV: HBO’s “Six by Sondheim,” PBS “Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy,” Academy Awards 2019, “Eat Sh*t Bob” for HBO’s LAST WEEK TONIGHT starring John Oliver. Faculty: Juilliard, Aspen Music Festival, Brevard Music Festival. Rice University, summa cum laude.
Jesús Pacheco
Jesús Pacheco obtained his bachelor’s degree in percussion from the Seville Conservatory in Spain. As a young musician, he was part of the Andalusian Youth Orchestra under the baton of Michael Thomas -former concertmaster of the BBC London- , and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, directed by maestro Daniel Baremboim.
Jesús has performed at the Festivalensemble in Stuttgart, Germany, and served as a timpanist with the Bach Collegium -Stuttgart Bachakademie- both under the direction of Helmut Rilling, touring through Europe and China. In Southern Spain -Andalusia-, Jesús was a regular working with the Royal Symphonic Orchestra of Sevilla, and the Cordoba Symphony Orchestra, as well as other music ensembles devoted to early and contemporary music, and created and performed with his Percussion quartet Hits-Palis.
During his time living in Houston, TX., Jesús has collaborated with Bach Society Houston, The Houston Brass Band, Octave Illusion, and often performs with Mercury Houston, The Magnolia City Brass Band, Ars Lyrica Houston, Apollo Chamber Players, and the Houston Brass Quintet, among others. Along with his wife, Mezzo-Soprano Cecilia Duarte, Jesús has co-curated Orígenes, and Contemplation in Light, both community programs created for Ars Lyrica Houston promoting Latin American Baroque music, and meditational Chant with improvisatory percussion.
A versatile musician, Jesús also can be found playing Flamenco music or Latin Jazz in the Houston area with different artists. Late performances include his debut with Houston Grand Opera in Suite Española 2: Exploring the Caribbean and his debut with the famous Early Music Ensemble The Newberry Consort in Chicago.
Photo credit: Shannon Langman
Unveiling is presented as part of the Hobby Center’s new annual initiative “Houston is Inspired” that celebrates and supports local artists who broaden our city’s cultural fabric and embody the iconic idea that Houston is Inspired. Building on the Hobby Center’s mission to serve as a connector, convenor, and incubator, this program brings audiences and artists together through experiences that center connection and community.