The Houston Grand Opera (HGO) has announced a $22 million gift from Sarah and Ernest Butler to create a new fund within the its endowment.

In recognition of the largest in the opera’s history, the HGO Studio training program will be renamed the Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio. The gift was announced during the 2023 Concert of Arias, the 35th Annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers, a competition to identify candidates for the program.

Longtime supporters of HGO, the Butlers previously gave $1 million in support of the Texas Opera Alliance, a strategic partnership between HGO and four other companies that enabled the production of shareable digital art during the pandemic.

“We’ve followed the HGO Studio and what it’s done for as long as it’s been going on,” said Ernest Butler, “and we’ve seen what it’s accomplished and think it can accomplish more. We think it can help everybody, not just HGO.″

“The arts reflect who we are,” said Sarah Butler. “Our vision is to support HGO through the century.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/goodynewshoes)