Mar. 8, 9 & 10, 2019 data-filter="[2019 03|2019 03|2019 03|][jones-hall|jones-hall|jones-hall|][March|March|March|][[{|term_id|:7,|name|:|Classical|,|slug|:|classical-series|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:7,|taxonomy|:|series|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:15,|filter|:|raw|}]][{|term_id|:1544,|name|:|2018-19|,|slug|:|2018-19|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1544,|taxonomy|:|season|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:32,|filter|:|raw|}]"
As sensuous and bewitching as the sea by which it’s inspired, Debussy’s La mer stands as one of the most stunning achievements in symphonic music. Acclaimed French conductor Ludovic Morlot returns to interpret this immortal masterpiece, music of majesty, mystery and primordial power. A luminous all-French program spotlights world-renowned mezzo-soprano Susan Graham in Berlioz’ poignant reveries of love and loss, Les nuits d’été.
Pre-Concert Activities: Attend the Prelude pre-concert discussion, held 45 minutes prior to each Classical concert. Prelude is led by our Musical Ambassador Carlos Andrés Botero, and sometimes features guest artists or orchestra members.
Post-Concert Chamber Music
Your ticket includes a special chamber music performance by Houston Symphony musicians on the Jones Hall stage after the concert. The chamber music will begin after a short break immediately following the concert.
DUTILLEUX Les Citations
RAVEL Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet and String Quartet {|with_image|:[{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Ludovic Morlot|,|bio|:|The French conductor Ludovic Morlot has been Music Director of the Seattle Symphony since 2011. Amongst the many highlights of his tenure, the orchestra have won two Grammy Awards and gave an exhilarating performance at Carnegie Hall in 2014, as reported in the New York Times: \u201cThe performance Mr. Morlot coaxed from his players was rich with shimmering colours and tremulous energy.\u201d\nDuring the 2017\/18 season Ludovic and the Seattle Symphony will continue on their incredible musical journey, focusing particularly on the music of Berlioz, Stravinsky and Bernstein. In addition, they will be presenting some exciting new works by John Luther Adams, David Lang and Andrew Norman and welcoming Alexandra Gardner for a residency programme. The orchestra will also be performing on tour in California, including a two-day residency at the University of California, Berkeley. The orchestra have many successful recordings, available on their own label, Seattle Symphony Media.\u00a0 A box set of music by Dutilleux was recently released to mark the 100th anniversary of the composer\u2019s birth.\nThis season, Ludovic will be conducting at Seattle Opera for the first time (Berlioz B\u00e9atrice et B\u00e9n\u00e9dict), make his debut with the Orchestra of St Luke\u2019s and will return to the Atlanta and Houston Symphony Orchestras. He has regular relationships with the Chicago Symphony and New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras. Ludovic also has a particularly strong connection with the Boston Symphony Orchestra having been Seiji Ozawa Fellowship Conductor in 2001 at Tanglewood and subsequently appointed assistant conductor for the orchestra and their Music Director James Levine (2004-07).\u00a0 Since then he has conducted the orchestra in subscription concerts in Boston, at Tanglewood and on a tour to the west coast of America.\nOutside North America, recent and future debuts include the Berliner Philharmoniker, Vienna Symphony (closing concert of the prestigious Wien Modern Festival), Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, MDR Leipzig and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestras. Ludovic has conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall in London and on tour in Germany.\u00a0 Other recent notable performances have included the Royal Concertgebouw, Czech Philharmonic, Dresden Staatskapelle, Tonhalle, Budapest Festival, Orchestre National de France, Helsinki Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony, Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestras.\u00a0\u00a0 Ludovic served as conductor in residence with the Orchestre National de Lyon under David Robertson (2002-04).\nLudovic was Chief Conductor of La Monnaie for three years (2012-2014). During this time he conducted several new productions including La Clemenza di Tito, Jenufa and Pell\u00e9as et M\u00e9lisande. Concert performances, both in Brussels and Aix-en-Provence, included repertoire by Beethoven, Stravinsky, Britten, Webern and Bruneau.\nTrained as a violinist, Ludovic studied conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in London and then at the Royal College of Music as recipient of the Norman del Mar Conducting Fellowship.\u00a0 Ludovic was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 2014 in recognition of his significant contribution to music. He is Chair of Orchestral Conducting Studies at the University of Washington School of Music in Seattle.\n|,|title|:|conductor|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Susan Graham|,|bio|:|Susan Graham \u2013 hailed as \u201can artist to treasure\u201d by the New York Times \u2013 rose to the highest echelon of international performers within just a few years of her professional debut, mastering an astonishing range of repertoire and genres along the way. Her operatic roles span four centuries, from Monteverdi\u2019s Poppea to Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie\u2019s Dead Man Walking, which was written especially for her. A familiar face at New York\u2019s Metropolitan Opera, she also maintains a strong international presence at such key venues as Paris\u2019 Th\u00e9\u00e2tre du Ch\u00e2telet, the Sydney Opera House, Santa Fe Opera and the Hollywood Bowl. She won a Grammy Award for her collection of Ives songs, and her recital repertoire is so broad that 14 composers from Purcell to Sondheim are represented on her most recent Onyx album, Virgins, Vixens & Viragos. This distinctly American artist has also been recognized throughout her career as one of the foremost exponents of French vocal music. Although a native of Texas, she was awarded the French government\u2019s prestigious \u201cChevalier de la L\u00e9gion d\u2019Honneur,\u201d both for her popularity as a performer in France and in honor of her commitment to French music.\n \nTo launch the 2017-18 season, Graham sings Berlioz\u2019s La damnation de Faust with the Boston Symphony under Charles Dutoit. After reprising her star turn in the title role of Susan Stroman\u2019s take on Leh\u00e1r\u2019s The Merry Widow at the Met, she joins Nathan Gunn for Bernstein\u2019s Trouble in Tahiti at Lyric Opera of Chicago, in a special production to mark the composer\u2019s 100th birthday. To conclude the operatic season, she makes her title role debut opposite James Morris in Marc Blitzstein\u2019s 1948 opera Regina at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Back at the Boston Symphony, she joins Andris Nelsons for Mahler\u2019s Third Symphony, which is also the vehicle for her summer collaborations with the orchestra at Tanglewood and in Europe. Besides reuniting with Dutoit for Ravel\u2019s Sh\u00e9h\u00e9razade at the San Francisco Symphony, she graces a gala concert to celebrate Tulsa Opera\u2019s 70th anniversary, and gives solo recitals at Atlanta\u2019s Emory University and the Washington University in St. Louis.\nLast season, Graham partnered Ren\u00e9e Fleming for the San Francisco Symphony\u2019s opening-night gala, and joined Anna Netrebko, Pl\u00e1cido Domingo, and a host of other luminaries to celebrate the Metropolitan Opera\u2019s five decades at its Lincoln Center home. Having created the role of Sister Helen Prejean in the world premiere production of Dead Man Walking, she starred in Washington National Opera\u2019s revival of the opera, making her triumphant role debut as the convict\u2019s mother. She returned to Santa Fe Opera as Prince Orlofsky in a new production of Johann Strauss II\u2019s Die Fledermaus, and reprised her signature portrayal of Dido in Berlioz\u2019s Les Troyens at Chicago\u2019s Lyric Opera. Her concert highlights included selections from Mahler\u2019s Des Knaben Wunderhorn at Carnegie Hall and from Canteloube\u2019s Chants d\u2019Auvergne with the Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as a star-studded Der Rosenkavalier at the Boston Symphony. She gave U.S. recitals of \u201cFrauenliebe und -leben Variations,\u201d her program inspired by the Schumann song cycle, and expanded her discography with Nonesuch Records\u2019 DVD\/Blu-ray release of William Kentridge\u2019s new treatment of Berg\u2019s Lulu, which captures her celebrated role debut as Countess Geschwitz at the Met.\nGraham\u2019s earliest operatic successes were in such trouser roles as Cherubino in Mozart\u2019s Le nozze di Figaro. Her technical expertise soon brought mastery of Mozart\u2019s more virtuosic roles, like Sesto in La clemenza di Tito, Idamante in Idomeneo and Cecilio in Lucio Silla, as well as the title roles of Handel\u2019s Ariodante and Xerxes. She went on to triumph in two iconic Richard Strauss mezzo roles, Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier and the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos. These brought her to prominence on all the world\u2019s major opera stages, including the Met, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Covent Garden, Paris Opera, La Scala, Bavarian State Opera, Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival, among many others. In addition to creating the role of Sister Helen Prejean at San Francisco Opera, she sang the leading ladies in the Met\u2019s world premieres of John Harbison\u2019s The Great Gatsby and Tobias Picker\u2019s An American Tragedy, and made her Dallas Opera debut as Tina in a new production of The Aspern Papers by Dominick Argento. As Houston Grand Opera\u2019s Lynn Wyatt Great Artist, she starred as Prince Orlofsky in the company\u2019s first staging of Die Fledermaus in 30 years, before heading an all-star cast as Sycorax in the Met\u2019s Baroque pastiche The Enchanted Island and making her rapturously received musical theater debut in a new production of Rodgers & Hammerstein\u2019s The King and I at the Th\u00e9\u00e2tre du Ch\u00e2telet in Paris.\nIt was in an early Lyon production of Berlioz\u2019s B\u00e9atrice et B\u00e9n\u00e9dict that Graham scored particular raves from the international press, and a triumph in the title role of Massenet\u2019s Ch\u00e9rubin at Covent Garden sealed her operatic stardom. Further invitations to collaborate on French music were forthcoming from many of its preeminent conductors, including Sir Colin Davis, Charles Dutoit, James Levine and Seiji Ozawa. New productions of Gluck\u2019s Iphig\u00e9nie en Tauride, Berlioz\u2019s La damnation de Faust and Massenet\u2019s Werther were mounted for the mezzo in New York, London, Paris, Chicago, San Francisco and beyond. She recently made title role debuts in Offenbach\u2019s comic masterpieces La belle H\u00e9l\u00e8ne and The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein at Santa Fe Opera, as well as proving herself the standout star of the Met\u2019s star-studded revival of Les Troyens, which was broadcast live to cinema audiences worldwide in the company\u2019s celebrated \u201cLive in HD\u201d series. Graham\u2019s affinity for French repertoire has not been limited to the opera stage, also serving as the foundation for her extensive concert and recital career. Such great cantatas and symphonic song cycles as Berlioz\u2019s La mort de Cl\u00e9op\u00e2tre and Les nuits d\u2019\u00e9t\u00e9, Ravel\u2019s Sh\u00e9h\u00e9razade and Chausson\u2019s Po\u00e8me de l\u2019amour et de la mer provide opportunities for collaborations with the world\u2019s leading orchestras, and she makes regular appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Orchestre de Paris and London Symphony Orchestra.\n \nGraham\u2019s distinguished discography features all the works described above, as well as a series of lauded solo albums, including Un frisson fran\u00e7ais, a program of French song recorded with pianist Malcolm Martineau for Onyx; C\u2019est \u00e7a la vie, c\u2019est \u00e7a l\u2019amour!, an album of 20th-century operetta rarities on Erato; and La Belle \u00c9poque, an award-winning collection of songs by Reynaldo Hahn with pianist Roger Vignoles, from Sony Classical. Among the mezzo\u2019s numerous honors are Musical America\u2019s Vocalist of the Year and an Opera News Award, while Gramophone magazine has dubbed her \u201cAmerica\u2019s favorite mezzo.\u201d\n|,|title|:|mezzo-soprano|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Amy Lee|,|bio|:|Violinist Amy Lee enjoys a varied performing and teaching career, equally at home in both orchestral and chamber music settings. Currently, Ms. Lee is the associate concertmaster of The Cleveland Orchestra, a post she has held since 2008. She is also an Artist-in-Residence at Kent State University in the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music. Ms. Lee spends her summers as a faculty member at the Kent Blossom Music Festival in Kent, Ohio and performs at various festivals, including the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont.\nAn active chamber musician, Amy Lee is a member of several ensembles including the Omni Quartet, Ensemble HD and Kent State\u2019s Verve Chamber Players. Founded with fellow members of The Cleveland Orchestra, Alicia Koelz, Joanna Patterson Zakany, and Tanya Ell, the Omni Quartet performs regularly throughout Northeast Ohio with their Philadelphia Chamber Music Society debut during the 2018-19 season. Innovative and forward-thinking, Ensemble HD seeks to connect with a broad audience by performing at bars around the region and in concert halls. Their recently released album is entitled \u201cLive at the Happy Dog.\u201d Members include Ms. Lee, Joshua Smith, Frank Rosenwein, Tina Dahl, Joanna Patterson Zakany, and Charles Bernard. Ms. Lee was formerly a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two program, participating in tours, a digital concert series and recordings, and educational outreach.\nAs a soloist, Ms. Lee has appeared with orchestra\u2019s world-wide, making her debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra at 15 with a reappearance in 2000. During her tenure with The Cleveland Orchestra, she performed as soloist three times in Stravinsky\u2019s Violin Concerto, Luigi Dallapiccola\u2019s \u201cTartiniana\u201d and Franz Waxman\u2019s \u201cCarmen Fantasy.\u201d She has also performed with the Santa Fe Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra, the National Gallery Orchestra, and Germany\u2019s Baden-Baden Philharmonic, among others.\nAmy Lee holds a bachelor\u2019s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music and a master\u2019s degree from the Juilliard School. Ms. Lee is a former first prize winner of San Francisco\u2019s Irving M. Klein International String\nCompetition and the Corpus Christi International Competition for piano and strings.\n|,|title|:|guest concertmaster|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |}],|without|:[]}
BERLIOZ Overture to Béatrice et Bénédict
BERLIOZ Les nuits d’été
ROUSSEL Suite from The Spider’s Feast
DEBUSSY La mer
