Hosted at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, the 68th Annual Grammy Awards was another star-studded affair. The event saw history made, with highlights ranging from Bad Bunny’s Debi Tirar Mas Fotos becoming the first all-Spanish-language album to win Album of the Year, to the Super Bowl’s previous performer, Kendrick Lamar, becoming the most awarded rapper in Grammy history with Luther for the Record of the Year award and Steven Spielberg achieving EGOT status upon winning Best Music Film for Music by John Williams.
While this year’s Grammys didn’t feature as much Houston representation as previous years’, the city did come away with a Grammy award with the Houston Grand Opera winning the Grammy for Best Opera Recording for Intelligence.
Created in collaboration between composer, Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Sheer with director/choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Intelligence is based on the real-life story of two women who spied for the Union during the Civil War –Elizabeth Van Lew of the prominent Confederate family, and Mary Jane Bowser, a slave under the Van Lew household.
HGO Orchestra cast who contributed to the Grammy Award-winning recording include:
- Maestro: Kwamé Ryan
- Mezzo-soprano: Jamie Barton
- Mezzo-soprano: J’Nai Bridges
- Soprano: Janai Brugger
- Soprano: Caitlin Lynch
- Baritone: Michael Mayes
- Tenor: JoshuaBlue
- Bass-Baritone: Nicholas Newton
- Movement: Urban Bush Women
HGO recorded Intelligence at the Wortham Theater Center in Houston as part of the production’s world premiere in late 2023, before releasing the track in August 2025 as its first under the Houston Grand Opera label in collaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra’s LSO Live label. The Grammy win marks the orchestra’s first Grammy win under the leadership of Khori Dastoor, HGO CEO and General Director.
“This Grammy win is an affirmation of what Houston Grand Opera stands for—bold creativity, artistic excellence, and the power of American opera”, said Dastoor in a press release.
This marks the Houston Grand Orchestra’s third Grammy win, previously securing Grammys for Porgy and Bess (1978) and Nixon in China (1989). In 1977, HGO was nominated for Treemonisha.
The Houston Grand Opera is the only opera company in the world to have won a Tony, Emmy, and Grammy awards.