Artistic Team

Chorus Master - Joseph Rawley

Bass-baritone Joseph Rawley enjoys an active performing career, including opera performances, recitals, and choral works.  Some of the venues where Mr. Rawley has performed include Seattle Opera, Portland (OR) Opera, Opera Idaho, and Opera in the Heights here in the Houston area.   He performs locally with various churches and other artistic outlets as a chorus member and soloist.  

He is the Christian Education Director and Children’s Choir Director at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Houston. He also serves the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Houston as their Artistic Director and Chorus Master, teaches music through Alvin Community College, and teaches voice privately. When not busy with work, Mr. Rawley enjoys reading, golfing, and spending time with his family. 

Mr. Rawley makes his home in Pearland, TX where he lives with his wife, pianist Dr. Sarah Spencer-Rawley, and their daughter Susannah.  [photo credit: Shannon Langman]
 

Stage Director - Buck Ross

Buck Ross, currently Professor Emeritus at the University of Houston, was the founder and director of the Moores Opera Center from 1985 to 2022, where he produced and directed over 140 operas.

Under him, the program grew to be one of the largest university opera production programs in the country, producing four mainstage operas annually. The Center became a noted producer of contemporary opera starting with its landmark production of The Ghosts of Versailles in 1998. In addition, starting in 2009, the Center produced the Daniel Catán Project in which all of the late Mexican-American composer’s operas were produced in the space of eight years.

Mr. Ross is the librettist for A Room with a View and The School for Scandal, both for composer Robert Nelson. He is also the author of several singing translations of operas and his version of Orpheus in the Underworld has been performed frequently nationwide. Mr. Ross has directed for many professional regional opera companies as well, including Nevada Opera, Kentucky Opera, El Paso Opera, Utah Opera, Sacramento Opera, and Sarasota Opera. Known as an acting teacher for singers, for many years he directed the apprentice program for the Des Moines Metro Opera and was director of dramatic studies for the Houston Grand Opera Studio.

He received a Master of Fine Arts degree in stage direction from the University of Minnesota, studying with noted director and acting teacher H. Wesley Balk. His undergraduate degree is in theatre and music from Bucknell University. Mr. Ross holds the distinction of having directed more operas in Houston than anyone in the history of the city.

Music Director - Eiki Isomura

Eiki Isomura is pleased to return to Houston Gilbert & Sullivan Society this summer, having previously music directed the Society's 2023 production of Pirates of Penzance. 

Isomura is artistic director and principal conductor of Opera in the Heights in Houston, where he has led over 30 operas ranging across the standard literature as well as numerous world premieres, to consistent praise for dramatically elevating the company's performance standard. He previously served on the music staff of HGO, preparing the workshops and world premieres of numerous chamber operas for its Song of Houston series. In 2023 he returned to HGO to conduct world-premieres of vocal chamber pieces by Shih Hui Chen, J.E. Hernández, and Mark Buller for Music and Meditations, the final presentation of HGO's Seeking the Human Spirit initiative.

Earlier this season, he conducted the world premiere of Meilina Tsui and Melisa Tien's The Big Swim in a co-production between HGO and the Asia Society Texas Center. Other recent guest engagements include Toshio Hosokawa’s The Raven at Opera Philadelphia; Jack Perla/Jessica Murphy Moo’s An American Dream at Opera Santa Barbara; the world premiere of Laura Schwendinger/Ginger Strand’s Cabaret of Shadows, Trevor Weston’s Stars, Marcus Maroney’s Velvet, Rob Smith’s Sprint, and Pierre Jalbert’s All is Now with MUSIQA; Tosca at Opera Orlando; Albert Herring at the Harrower Workshop at Georgia State University; L'elisir d'amore at Temple University; and Madama Butterfly at Pacific Opera Project.

A devoted advocate for new music, Isomura has formed partnerships between numerous organizations and his home company, Opera in the Heights, to co-commission and co-produce several critically acclaimed new operas. In addition to his work as conductor, producer, educator, and librettist/translator, Isomura is a sought-after adjudicator of vocal competitions and panelist for arts organizations. He serves on the Opera America Artistic Services Council and holds a doctorate in orchestral conducting from the University of Michigan.