Patrick Summers Publishes Tapestries: Connections From an Artistic Life

NEW YORK, NY – March 20, 2026 – Renowned American conductor, pianist, author, and educator Patrick Summers has announced the arrival of his latest book, a collection of personal essays entitled Tapestries: Connections From an Artistic Life. Summers’s fifty essays included in the collection weave together a tapestry showcasing opera’s many threads and colors across the centuries into today, with stories encompassing the innermost workings of musical productions to profiles of preeminent opera stars, composers, and teachers past and present.
 
Released on March 7, the book is available for purchase in hardcover on BookBaby and preorder at other online booksellers; ebook version is available at HERE and an expanding list of global retailers.
 
The varied essays of Tapestries draw upon Patrick Summers’s storied career as a conductor who has served as the Artistic and Music Director of Houston Grand Opera for nearly three decades and has led a multitude of live and recorded performances and premieres at companies including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Dallas Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Bregenz Festival in Austria, Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and many others. The essays can be read independently in any order, providing a glimpse into the myriad connections that link together to create the ultimate art form.
 
After a foreword by Summers’s frequent collaborator, soprano Renée Fleming, Tapestries is divided into four sections: Part 1. Weaving Our Days: Diverse Connections; Part 2. Brilliant Stitches: Operas That Reach Across Time; Part 3. The Diorama: Houston as More Than Commerce; and Part 4. The Loom: Great Artists, Teachers, Humans. Essay subjects span Disney’s film Fantasia to Gilbert and Sullivan to contemporary composers like Matthew Aucoin and Joel Thompson to the financial impact of coronavirus on the arts, to operas like The Marriage of Figaro, Turandot, Porgy and Bess, and Lee Hoiby’s Bon Appétit.
 
“These writings align with the various passions of my heart, as anyone’s personal essays would,” writes Summers in his introduction. “In rereading some of these writings for this collection, while they fairly represent a microcosm of any arts audience, I realized they also form a multilayered tapestry, illustrative of what every day of working in the arts is like. This book, though, isn’t really ‘about’ opera. It is about the connections we make to the things we love.”
 
Summers’s previously published titles include novels Birdie’s Forever Day, A Collection of Brevities,  and Key Change: An Alternative History of Mozart; The Spirit of This Place: How Music Illuminates the Human Spirit; and poetry collections The Prison of Time and 52 Sundays: Weekly Sonnets From 2025 On the Passage of a Quarter of the 21st Century.

About Patrick Summers
 
Patrick Summers is a renowned American conductor, pianist, author, and educator, celebrated for his contributions to the world of opera and classical music. With a career spanning over three decades, Summers has led performances at some of the most prestigious opera houses and symphony halls across the globe, including the Houston Grand Opera, Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. His artistry has been recognized not only through his extensive operatic repertoire but also through his deep collaborations with contemporary composers, resulting in the world premieres of nearly 20 works, including major operas by Jake Heggie, Carlisle Floyd, and André Previn.
 
For over two decades, Summers has been closely associated with Houston Grand Opera, where he served as Music Director from 1998 to 2026. Under his leadership, the company gained international recognition for its innovative productions and commitment to new works, premiering significant operas that expanded the canon of contemporary opera.
 
A graduate of Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, Summers' early career included significant engagements with San Francisco Opera, where he served as principal guest conductor from 1999 to 2016 and was awarded the San Francisco Opera Medal. His international presence has taken him to the podiums of the Bregenz Festival, Gran Teatre del Liceu, and Deutsche Oper Berlin, among many others. In addition to his operatic work, Summers has conducted numerous symphonic performances with orchestras like the LA Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and the Munich Radio Orchestra.
 
Beyond conducting, Summers is a sought-after teacher and lecturer, serving as Co-Director of the Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS program at the Aspen Music Festival alongside Renée Fleming. His commitment to musical scholarship is further demonstrated through his writings, including essays on music and culture, as well works of fiction and poetry.
 
At the close of the 2026 season, Summers steps down from his role at Houston Grand Opera and assumes the title of Music Director Emeritus, marking a new chapter in his career. With a focus on performance and expanding his literary work, Summers continues to shape the world of classical music in the US and abroad. More at patricksummersmusic.com

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