Concerts

data-filter="[2018 11|2018 11|2018 11|][jones-hall|jones-hall|jones-hall|][November|November|November|][[{|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|:1595,|name|:|Holiday|,|slug|:|holiday-series|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1595,|taxonomy|:|series|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:5,|filter|:|raw|}]][{|term_id|:1544,|name|:|2018-19|,|slug|:|2018-19|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1544,|taxonomy|:|season|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" How glorious it is to behold pure genius at its prime in Mozart’s late, great Piano Concerto No. 22, written during an astoundingly prolific stretch in which the music poured forth as if fully formed. Celebrated pianist Inon Barnatan—“a true poet of the keyboard” (London Evening Standard)—is your soloist. Then, peer through a dazzling kaleidoscope of color with Brahms’ final symphony, whose radiant melodies ebb and flow like a sun-lit river. It’s a program of musical delights, this Thanksgiving with the Houston Symphony. Listen to a concert preview: https://www.houstonsymphony.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/MozartBrahms-Thanksgiving.mp3 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. {|with_image|:[{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|David Danzmayr|,|bio|:|Described by The Herald as \u201cextremely good, concise, clear, incisive and expressive,\u201d David Danzmayr is widely regarded as one of the most talented and exciting European conductors of his generation.\nDavid is chief conductor of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, the first to hold this title in seven years. He and the orchestra regularly perform to sold-out audiences and have been awarded the Zagreb City Award. David is music director of the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, which includes musicians from across the United States. His contract has recently been extended.\nPreviously, David served as music director for Chicago\u2019s Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, where he was lauded by the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Classical Review. He was the only conductor in the Chicago area who programmed a piece of American music on every concert.\nDavid has won prizes at some of the world\u2019s most prestigious conducting competitions, including second prize at the international Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition and prizes at the Malko Competition. For his extraordinary success, he was awarded the Bernhard Paumgartner Medal by the International Stiftung Mozarteum.\nPropelled by these early successes into an international career, David has quickly become a sought-after guest conductor for orchestras around the globe. Besides numerous re-invitations, future engagements will include concerts here and with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Grant Park Music Festival.\nDavid frequently appears in the world\u2019s major concert halls such as the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, Grosses Festspielhaus Salzburg, Usher Hall in Edinburgh and Chicago\u2019s Symphony Hall.\nHe has served as assistant conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, which he has conducted in more than 70 concerts, performing in all the major Scottish concert halls and in the prestigious, Orkney-based St. Magnus Festival.\nDavid Danzmayr received his musical training at the Mozarteum University Salzburg where, after initially studying piano, he went on to study conducting in the class of Dennis Russell Davies. He finished his studies with the highest honors.\nHe was strongly influenced by Pierre Boulez and Claudio Abbado in his time as conducting stipendiate of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and by Leif Segerstam during his additional studies in the conducting class of the Sibelius Academy. He subsequently gained significant experience as assistant to Neeme J\u00e4rvi, St\u00e9phane D\u00e8neve, Carlos Kalmar, Sir Andrew Davis and Boulez, who entrusted David with the preparatory rehearsals for his own music.\n|,|title|:|conductor|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Inon Barnatan|,|bio|:|“One of the most admired pianists of his generation” (New York Times), Inon Barnatan is celebrated for his poetic sensibility, musical intelligence, and consummate artistry. He was a recipient of Lincoln Center\u2019s Martin E. Segal Award in 2015, recognizing \u201cyoung artists of exceptional accomplishment,\u201d as well as the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2009. He recently completed his third and final season as the inaugural Artist-in-Association of the New York Philharmonic, a position created by former Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert, who calls him \u201cthe complete artist: a wonderful pianist, a probing intellect, passionately committed, and a capable contemporary-music pianist as well.\u201d Gilbert and Barnatan have since collaborated numerous times and are in the process of recording the complete cycle of Beethoven piano concertos with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, marking that orchestra\u2019s first complete recorded Beethoven concerto cycle.\nThe summer of 2017 saw Barnatan make his BBC Proms debut, playing Ravel\u2019s Piano Concerto in G with conductor Kazushi Ono and the BBC Symphony in Royal Albert Hall. He also played the world premiere in Aspen of a new concerto by Alan Fletcher, and opens the 2017-18 season performing the same piece with the commissioning Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl under the baton of Ken-David Masur. Later in the season he will play it again with the Atlanta Symphony under Robert Spano. Another season highlight is a New Year’s Eve performance of Tchaikovsky\u2019s First Piano Concerto in Minneapolis with the Minnesota Orchestra led by Osmo V\u00e4nsk\u00e4, followed by a tour of the Midwest with the orchestra culminating at Chicago\u2018s Symphony Hall. He debuts with the London and Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestras; returns to the Cincinnati Orchestra to play the notoriously difficult Barber Piano Concerto; and plays solo recitals at London\u2019s Wigmore Hall and South Bank Centre, New York\u2019s 92nd Street Y, and the Vancouver Recital Society, among others. As a chamber musician he will curate and play in a multi-concert Schubert festival for La Jolla Music Society, and tour the U.S. and Europe with his frequent recital partner, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, including concerts at Carnegie Hall and Wigmore Hall.\nA regular performer with many of the world\u2019s most celebrated orchestras and conductors, the pianist\u2019s 2016-17 season included debuts with the Chicago, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Seattle, Nashville, San Diego and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras; and returns to many other orchestras and venues around the U.S. He made debuts with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Hong Kong Philharmonic, returned to Tokyo with the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, and performed a complete Beethoven piano concerto cycle in Marseilles. He toured the U.S. twice, once with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, playing and conducting Mozart and Shostakovich concertos from the keyboard and premiering a newly commissioned concerto by Alasdair Nicolson, and again with Alisa Weilerstein and New York Philharmonic principal clarinetist Anthony McGill, in a program that included the world\u00a0premiere of a new work by the young American composer Joseph Hallman.\nHighlights of recent seasons include his Walt Disney Hall debut with the\u00a0Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel; performances of Copland\u2019s jazz-inflected Piano Concerto with the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas in San Francisco and at Carnegie Hall; a debut with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic; performances with the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon; and solo recital debuts at the Celebrity Series of Boston and the Harris Theater in Chicago. He also collaborated with choreographer Mark Morris and pianist Garrick Ohlsson in a string of performances by the Mark Morris Dance company at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York.\nA sought-after chamber musician, Barnatan was a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center\u2019s \u201cCMS Two\u201d program from 2006 to 2009, and is still a regular performer on CMS programs at home in New York and on tour. His passion for contemporary music has led him to commission and perform many works by living composers, including premieres of works by Thomas Ad\u00e8s, Sebastian Currier, Avner Dorman, Matthias Pintscher, Alasdair Nicolson, Andrew Norman and others.\nBarnatan\u2019s latest album release is a live recording of Messiaen’s 90-minute masterpiece, Des canyons aux \u00e9toiles (\u201cFrom the Canyons to the Stars\u201d), in which he played the exceptionally challenging solo piano part with an ensemble conducted by Alan Gilbert at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Last October the pianist released Rachmaninov & Chopin: Cello Sonatas on Decca Classics with Alisa Weilerstein, which earned rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. His most recent solo album, featuring Schubert’s late piano sonatas, was released by Avie in September 2013. It garnered praise from such publications as Gramophone and BBC Music, and his rendition of the great A major Sonata, D. 959 from the disc was chosen by BBC Radio 3 as one of the all-time best recordings of this piece. His 2012 album, Darknesse Visible, debuted in the Top 25 of the Billboard Traditional Classical chart in its first week of release and received universal critical acclaim, being named BBC Music\u2019s \u201cInstrumentalist CD of the Month\u201d and winning a coveted place on the New York Times\u2019s \u201cBest Classical Music Recordings of 2012\u201d list. His debut solo recording of Schubert piano works, released by Bridge Records in 2006, prompted Gramophone to hail him as \u201ca born Schubertian\u201d and London\u2019s Evening Standard to call him \u201ca true poet of the keyboard: refined, searching, unfailingly communicative.\u201d\nBorn in Tel Aviv in 1979, Inon Barnatan started playing the piano at the age of three after his parents discovered he had perfect pitch, and he made his orchestral debut at eleven. His musical education connects him to some of the 20th century\u2019s most illustrious pianists and teachers: he studied first with Professor Victor Derevianko, who, himself, studied with the Russian master Heinrich Neuhaus; and in 1997 he moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Maria Curcio \u2013 a student of the legendary Artur Schnabel \u2013 and with Christopher Elton. Leon Fleisher has also been an influential teacher and mentor. Barnatan currently resides in New York City. For more information about Inon Barnatan visit www.inonbarnatan.com.\n|,|title|:|piano|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Robin Scott|,|bio|:|Robin Scott, violin, has built a varied career as a soloist, chamber musician, concertmaster, and pedagogue. He is the first violinist of the Ying Quartet, and as such, an associate professor at the Eastman School of Music.\nScott has appeared as a soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Montgomery Symphony, Orchestre National de Lille in France, and many others. He has given numerous recitals and performances throughout the United States and abroad, and has competed internationally, winning prizes in the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition, the Irving M. Klein International String Competition, Stulberg International String Competition, California International Young Artists Competition, and the WAMSO Young Artist Competition in Minnesota.\nAs an avid and passionate chamber musician, Scott has performed at the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, Boston\u2019s Jordan Hall, the Morgan Library, Town Hall in New York City, Weill Hall and other venues around the world. His festival appearances include the Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia\u2019s Steans Institute for Young Artists, Yellow Barn, Kneisel Hall, and others. He has participated in the acclaimed Music From Marlboro tours, as well as tours under the auspices of the Ravinia Festival.\nHe has played guest concertmaster with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and has served as concertmaster of the New York Classical Players. He has performed many times with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra as guest principal second violin.\nA native of Indiana, Scott began studying the violin at age five. His principal teachers include Donald Weilerstein, Kim Kashkashian, Miriam Fried, and Mimi Zweig. He plays on a J. B. Guadagnini violin from 1758 generously loaned to him by the Eastman School of Music.\n|,|title|:|guest concertmaster|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |}],|without|:[]} SUPPÉ  Overture to The Beautiful Galatea MOZART  Piano Concerto No. 22 BRAHMS  Symphony No. 4 Click to view the program notes in InTune – the Houston Symphony magazine.

data-filter="[2018 11|2018 12|2018 12|][jones-hall|jones-hall|jones-hall|][November|December|December|][[{|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|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" Beethoven’s soulful and sparkling Piano Concerto No. 3 gets the superstar treatment from legendary pianist Garrick Ohlsson, whose virtuosic artistry yields “a sound so lush it almost glistens” (Seattle Times). Then, immerse yourself in the soaring musical world of Sir Edward Elgar as renowned conductor Edo de Waart—a master of grand-scale symphonies—leads the composer’s lavish, heartfelt First. Listen to a concert preview: https://www.houstonsymphony.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/HSYMP-103118-Ohlsson-Radio-30-Rev-1.mp3 Pre-Concert Activities: Chamber Music Prelude Your ticket includes a special chamber music performance by Houston Symphony musicians on the Jones Hall stage starting 45 minutes before the concert. The first people to arrive will be given the opportunity to sit onstage for the prelude performance.Those interested should line up outside the Jones Hall main entrance on the Louisiana Patio near the first door on the right before doors open, 1 hour before the concert begins. All others may watch the chamber music performance from the front orchestra seating of Jones Hall. The chamber music replaces the regularly scheduled Prelude discussion. Beethoven: String Quartet No. 4 in C minor, Op.18 No. 4, movements 1 & 4 Carlos Botero, host Rodica Gonzalez, violin Mihaela Frusina, violin Wei Jiang, viola Jeff Butler, cello {|with_image|:[{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Edo de Waart|,|bio|:|Music Director of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Edo de Waart also holds the positions of Conductor Laureate of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, having concluded his tenure at the latter as Music Director at the end of the 2016\/17 season.\nIn addition to his existing posts, he was previously Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and Chief Conductor of De Nederlandse Opera.\nThe 2017\/18 season sees his annual appearance with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra where he conducts a programme of Bernstein and Brahms, as well as his return to the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra who he joins for a German tour in May 2018. He opens the season for the San Diego Symphony with Jean-Yves Thibaudet and returns to the Orchestra for two more periods later in the season, and also conducts the Atlanta Symphony. Other regular guest conducting appearances include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre symphonique de Montr\u00e9al. A renowned orchestral trainer, he has a number of projects with talented young players at the Juilliard and Colburn Schools, which follows on from his summer visit to the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara.\nAs an opera conductor, de Waart has enjoyed success in a large and varied repertoire in many of the world\u2019s greatest opera houses. He has conducted at Bayreuth, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Grand Th\u00e9\u00e2tre de Gen\u00e8ve, Op\u00e9ra Bastille, Santa Fe Opera, and The Metropolitan Opera. As Music Director in Milwaukee, Antwerp and Hong Kong \u00a0in an attempt bring the operatic canon to broader audiences where stage limitations mean staged performances are not possible, he has often conducted semi-staged and concert opera performances. He still continues this mission with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam matinee series.\nde Waart\u2019s extensive catalogue encompasses releases for Philips, Virgin, EMI, Telarc and RCA.\u00a0 Recent recordings include Henderickx Symphony No.1 and Oboe Concerto, Mahler\u2019s Symphony No.1 and Elgar\u2019s Dream of Gerontius, both with the Royal Flemish Philharmonic.\nBeginning his career as an Assistant Conductor to Leonard Bernstein at the New York Philharmonic, de Waart then returned to Holland where he was appointed Assistant Conductor to Bernard Haitink at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. In 1973 he was appointed Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.\nEdo de Waart has received a number of awards for his musical achievements, including becoming a Knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion and an Honorary Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.\n|,|title|:|conductor|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Garrick Ohlsson|,|bio|:|Since his triumph as winner of the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, pianist Garrick Ohlsson has established himself worldwide as a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess. Although long regarded as one of the world’s leading exponents of the music of Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Chopin, Mr. Ohlsson commands an enormous repertoire, which ranges over the entire piano literature. A student of the late Claudio Arrau, Mr. Ohlsson has come to be noted for his masterly performances of the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, as well as the Romantic repertoire. To date he has at his command more than 80 concertos, ranging from Haydn and Mozart to works of the 21st century, many commissioned for him. This season that vast repertoire can be sampled in concerti ranging from Chopin, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Barber and Busoni in cities including St. Louis, Washington D.C., Cincinnati, San Francisco, Portland, OR, Prague, Stockholm, Wroclaw and Strasbourg. In recital he can be heard in New York’s Tully Hall, Seattle, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles and Puerto Rico. At the invitation of Music Director Krzysztof Urbanski he will appear twice during the season with the Indianapolis Symphony – first playing two Prokofiev concerti in a weekend in which all five will be programmed, and returning later in the season with Tchaikovsky’s beloved Concerto No.1.\nA frequent guest with the orchestras in Australia, Mr. Ohlsson has recently visited Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Hobart as well as the New Zealand Symphony in Wellington and Auckland. An avid chamber musician, Mr. Ohlsson has collaborated with the Cleveland, Emerson, and Tokyo string quartets, and this fall will tour with the Takacs Quartet. Together with violinist Jorja Fleezanis and cellist Michael Grebanier, he is a founding member of the San Francisco-based FOG Trio. Passionate about singing and singers, Mr. Ohlsson has appeared in recital with such legendary artists as Magda Olivero, Jessye Norman, and Ewa Podles.\nMr. Ohlsson can be heard on the Arabesque, RCA Victor Red Seal, Angel, BMG, Delos, H\u00e4nssler, Nonesuch, Telarc, Hyperion and Virgin Classics labels. His ten-disc set of the complete Beethoven Sonatas, for Bridge Records, has garnered critical acclaim, including a GRAMMY\u00ae for Vol. 3. His recording of Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 3, with the Atlanta Symphony and Robert Spano, was released in 2011. In the fall of 2008 the English label Hyperion re-released his 16-disc set of the Complete Works of Chopin followed in 2010 by all the Brahms piano variations, “Goyescas” by Enrique Granados, and music of Charles Tomlinson Griffes. Most recently on that label are Scriabin’s Complete Po\u00e8mes, Smetana Czech Dances, and \u00e8tudes by Debussy, Bartok and Prokofiev. The latest CDs in his ongoing association with Bridge Records are the Complete Scriabin Sonatas, “Close Connections,” a recital of 20th-Century pieces, and two CDs of works by Liszt. In recognition of the Chopin bicentenary in 2010, Mr. Ohlsson was featured in a documentary “The Art of Chopin” co-produced by Polish, French, British and Chinese television stations. Most recently, both Brahms concerti and Tchaikovsky’s second piano concerto were released on live performance recordings with the Melbourne and Sydney Symphonies on their own recording labels, and Mr. Ohlsson was featured on Dvorak’s piano concerto in the Czech Philharmonic’s recordings of the composer’s complete symphonies & concertos, released July of 2014 on the Decca label.\nA native of White Plains, N.Y., Garrick Ohlsson began his piano studies at the age of 8, at the Westchester Conservatory of Music; at 13 he entered The Juilliard School, in New York City. His musical development has been influenced in completely different ways by a succession of distinguished teachers, most notably Claudio Arrau, Olga Barabini, Tom Lishman, Sascha Gorodnitzki, Rosina Lh\u00e9vinne and Irma Wolpe. Although he won First Prizes at the 1966 Busoni Competition in Italy and the 1968 Montr\u00e9al Piano Competition, it was his 1970 triumph at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, where he won the Gold Medal (and remains the single American to have done so), that brought him worldwide recognition as one of the finest pianists of his generation. Since then he has made nearly a dozen tours of Poland, where he retains immense personal popularity. Mr. Ohlsson was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize in 1994 and received the 1998 University Musical Society Distinguished Artist Award in Ann Arbor, MI. He is also the 2014 recipient of the Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance from the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music. He makes his home in San Francisco.\n|,|title|:|piano|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Madeline Adkins|,|bio|:|Madeline Adkins joined the Utah Symphony as Concertmaster in September 2016. Prior to this appointment, she was a member of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO), performing as Associate Concertmaster from 2005-2016. Additionally, she was Concertmaster of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra from 2008-2016. Adkins also serves as the Music Director of the NOVA Chamber Music Series, in its 41st season in Salt Lake City, UT.\nA sought-after soloist, Adkins has appeared with orchestras in Europe, Asia, Africa, and 21 US states, including over 25 works as soloist with the BSO. Her recording of the complete works for violin and piano by Felix Mendelssohn with pianist Luis Magalh\u00e3es on the TwoPianists label was released to critical acclaim in late 2016. American Record Guide notes that Adkins and Magalh\u00e3es are “ardent and spontaneous” and “their fierce coordination is breathtaking.”\nAdkins has performed as guest concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony, and the Grant Park Symphony in Chicago, where she was featured in Beethoven\u2019s Missa Solemnis. She has been a guest artist at numerous summer festivals including the Sarasota Music Festival, the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival in South Africa, Music in the Mountains, and the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, as well as a clinician and coach at the National Orchestral Institute, the National Youth Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, and the Haitian Orchestra Institute.\nShe performs on the “ex-Chardon” Guadagnini of 1782, graciously loaned by Gabrielle Israelievitch to perpetuate the legacy of her late husband, former Toronto Symphony concertmaster, Jacques Israelievitch (1948-2015).\nA champion of early music, Adkins has been active in baroque performance on period instruments since the age of 11. She has been a member of the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, the Dallas Bach Society, and Pro Musica Rara of Baltimore. Additionally, she was featured on the BSO’s subscription series as the leader of five different programs of baroque music, and as a host on the Casual Series.\nThe daughter of noted musicologists, Adkins is the youngest of eight children, six of whom are professional musicians. She received her Bachelor\u2019s summa cum laude from the University of North Texas and her Master\u2019s degree from New England Conservatory, where she studied with James Buswell. While a student, she served as concertmaster of the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa and won first prize in a number of competitions, including the Stulberg International String Competition, the ASTA National Solo Competition, and the New England Conservatory Concerto Competition. She was also a second prize winner in the Irving Klein International String Competition.\nWhen not on stage, Madeline is passionate about animal rescue and has fostered over 100 kittens.\n|,|title|:|guest concertmaster|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |}],|without|:[]} BEETHOVEN  Piano Concerto No. 3 ELGAR  Symphony No. 1 Click to view the program notes in InTune – the Houston Symphony magazine.

data-filter="[2018 12|2018 12|2018 12|2018 12|][jones-hall|jones-hall|jones-hall|jones-hall|][December|December|December|December|][[{|term_id|:1595,|name|:|Holiday|,|slug|:|holiday-series|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1595,|taxonomy|:|series|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:5,|filter|:|raw|},{|term_id|:8,|name|:|POPS|,|slug|:|pops-series|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:8,|taxonomy|:|series|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:7,|filter|:|raw|}]][{|term_id|:1544,|name|:|2018-19|,|slug|:|2018-19|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1544,|taxonomy|:|season|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" Sleigh bells ring and jingle bells chime as the Houston Symphony’s beloved holiday spectacular returns! Gather with family and friends in a cozy winter wonderland for a sparkling celebration filled to the brim with traditional carols, festive favorites and heartwarming cheer. The fabulous Ali Ewoldt, who currently stars as Christine in Broadway’s The Phantom of the Opera, joins in the fun, performing unforgettable renditions of your favorite holiday classics. Listen to a concert preview: https://www.houstonsymphony.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/VMP-2018-Radio-Spot.mp3 {|with_image|:[{|type|:|existing|,|name|:|Steven Reineke|,|bio|:||,|title|:|Principal POPS Conductor|,|small_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|url|:|https:\/\/www.houstonsymphony.org\/about-us\/conductor\/steven-reineke\/|},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Ali Ewoldt|,|bio|:|Ali Ewoldt recently completed more than two years\u00a0as Christine Daa\u00e9 in Broadway\u2019s\u00a0The Phantom of the Opera.\u00a0She\u00a0made her Broadway debut as Cosette in\u00a0Les Mis\u00e9rables,\u00a0a role she also played on the national tour, and\u00a0appeared in Lincoln Center’s recent Tony Award-winning revival of\u00a0The King and I.\u00a0Ali\u00a0has played Maria in numerous productions of\u00a0West Side Story\u00a0across the world, including in Houston on the 2009 Broadway Revival\u2019s first national tour.\nOther credits include:\u00a0The Fantasticks\u00a0(Luisa) off-Broadway,\u00a0A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum\u00a0(Philia) at The Muny in St. Louis, Lyric Opera of Chicago’s\u00a0The King and I\u00a0(Tuptim) and McCarter Theatre’s\u00a0A Christmas Carol\u00a0(Fan\/Mrs. Bonds).\nAli performed her solo concert at Feinstein’s\/54 Below in New York and has sung in Lincoln Center\u2019s Alice Tully Hall and The Town Hall. She made her The New York Pops Carnegie Hall debut with Matt Doyle and Maestro Steven Reinecke last year. She has sung with the American Pops Orchestra under the direction of Luke Frazier and with the Boston Pops Orchestra with Maestro Keith Lockhart. Her TV\/film credits include\u00a0The Michael J. Fox Show,\u00a0Yield, Drama: The Web Series\u00a0and the short film\u00a0Mia.\u00a0Ali has a BA in psychology from Yale University.\u00a0Visit www.aliewoldt.com.\n|,|title|:|vocalist|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |}],|without|:[{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Houston Symphony Chorus|,|bio|:||,|title|:|Betsy Cook Weber, director|,|small_image|:false,|bio_image|:false,|full_image|:false}]}

data-filter="[2018 12|2018 12|][jones-hall|jones-hall|][December|December|][[{|term_id|:1035,|name|:|Family|,|slug|:|family-series|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1035,|taxonomy|:|series|,|description|:|Now in his tenth season, our Associate Conductor Robert Franz is ready to help your family create cherished memories. Buckle up! Our Family Series is taking you on a magical, musical quest on Saturday mornings.\r\n\r\nAlso, enjoy pre- and post-concert activities, including our Instrument Petting Zoo, young musician performances in the lobby as well as crafts and musical activities. \r\n\r\n|,|parent|:0,|count|:3,|filter|:|raw|},{|term_id|:1595,|name|:|Holiday|,|slug|:|holiday-series|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1595,|taxonomy|:|series|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:5,|filter|:|raw|}]][{|term_id|:1544,|name|:|2018-19|,|slug|:|2018-19|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1544,|taxonomy|:|season|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" All aboard! Find your compartment and get ready for a magical journey to the North Pole on The Polar Express. Featuring the original storybook images projected on the big screen, this timeless tale of a boy who believes will have your young ones waiting for the sound of Santa’s sleigh! Plus, enjoy festive favorites like “Frosty the Snowman” and “Let it Snow” and lift your voices in a holiday sing-along. Children of all ages, including infants, are welcome at Family Series performances. All patrons must have a ticket when entering a concert venue. For lap child tickets, please contact our Patron Services Center at 713-224-7575. Listen to a concert preview: https://www.houstonsymphony.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Polar-Express-Radio-Spot.mp3 {|with_image|:[{|type|:|existing|,|name|:|Robert Franz|,|bio|:||,|title|:|Associate Conductor|,|small_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|url|:|https:\/\/www.houstonsymphony.org\/about-us\/conductor\/robert-franz\/|}],|without|:[{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|The Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts Chorale|,|bio|:|The Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts Chorale comprises 54 junior and senior vocal music majors and one student accompanist from the Classical Piano Department. Members also perform in one of three upper-level small ensembles. Annual performances include the Spaghetti Supper, the Winter and Spring Concerts and the UIL Concert and Sight-Reading Contest. Chorale performed at the 1986 and 1994 Texas Music Educators Association Conventions and the 2018 American Choral Directors Association Southwestern Division Conference. Members of the ensemble have been selected to the Texas All-State Choir, have won numerous solo vocal competitions and have been selected for the Houston Grand Opera Bauer Family High School Voice Studio.\n|,|title|:|Shannon Carter and Julia Hall, directors|,|small_image|:false,|bio_image|:false,|full_image|:false},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Davis High School Choir|,|bio|:||,|title|:|Daryle Freeman director|,|small_image|:false,|bio_image|:false,|full_image|:false}]}

data-filter="[2018 12|][jones-hall|][December|][[{|term_id|:1595,|name|:|Holiday|,|slug|:|holiday-series|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1595,|taxonomy|:|series|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:5,|filter|:|raw|},{|term_id|:1598,|name|:|Specials|,|slug|:|symphony-specials|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1598,|taxonomy|:|series|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:5,|filter|:|raw|}]][{|term_id|:1544,|name|:|2018-19|,|slug|:|2018-19|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1544,|taxonomy|:|season|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" A true holiday favorite, this beloved comedy classic features renowned composer John Williams’ charming and delightful score performed live to picture by the Houston Symphony. Macaulay Culkin stars as Kevin McCallister, an 8-year-old boy who’s accidentally left behind when his family leaves for Christmas vacation, and who must defend his home against two bungling thieves. Hilarious and heart-warming, Home Alone is holiday fun for the entire family! Listen to a concert preview: https://www.houstonsymphony.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Home-Alone-Radio-Spot.mp3 © 1990 Twentieth Century Fox {|with_image|:[{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Constantine Kitsopoulos|,|bio|:|Constantine Kitsopoulos has established himself as a dynamic conductor known for his work in many different genres and settings. He is equally at home with opera, symphonic repertoire, film with live orchestra, music theatre and composition. His work has taken him to major orchestras all over the world.\nIn addition to Constantine\u2019s engagements as guest conductor, he is music director of the Festival of the Arts Boca and general director of Chatham Opera. He was recently appointed general director of the New York Grand Opera charged with bringing free opera back to New York\u2019s Central Park.\nHighlights of the 2018-19 season include his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and return engagements here and with orchestras in Dallas, Detroit, New Jersey, San Francisco, Toronto, New York, Louisiana and San Antonio. He will conduct Leonard Bernstein\u2019s Mass at Indiana University Opera Theatre.\nHis commitment to opera has led him to develop semi-staged productions of Mozart\u2019s The Magic Flute, for which he has written a new translation,\u00a0Don Giovanni and\u00a0La boh\u00e8me. With Indiana University Opera Theatre, he has conducted productions of Falstaff, Die Fledermaus, A View from the Bridge, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Most Happy Fella, South Pacific, Oklahoma!, The Music Man and The Last Savage. He was assistant chorus master at New York City Opera, 1984-1989.\nOn Broadway, Constantine served as music director of Rodgers and Hammerstein\u2019s Cinderella, the Gershwins\u2019 Porgy and Bess (cast album, PS Classics), A Catered Affair (cast album, PS Classics), Coram Boy, La boh\u00e8me\u00a0(cast album, DreamWorks Records),\u00a0Swan Lake\u00a0and Les Mis\u00e9rables. He was music director of American Conservatory Theater\u2019s acclaimed production of Weill\/Brecht\u2019s Happy End and made the only English language recording of the piece for Sh-K-Boom Records. A Broadway highlight was serving as music director and principal conductor of Baz Luhrmann\u2019s production of Puccini\u2019s\u00a0La boh\u00e8me.\nAs composer, he is music director\/supervisor of Temple, with book and lyrics by Silvia Peto, music by Norman Durkee; Constantine provided additional music, arrangements and orchestrations. Other works in development are Alamo, with music and lyrics by Timothy Noble and Constantine as music director\/supervisor, arranger and orchestrator; and a chamber opera about three generations of Greek women, Holy Week, with librettist Evangelia Kingsley.\nConstantine Kitsopoulos studied piano with Marienka Michna, Chandler Gregg, Edward Edson and Sophia Rosoff. He studied conducting with Semyon Bychkov, Sergiu Commissiona, Gustav Meier and his principal teacher, Vincent La Selva.\n|,|title|:|conductor|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |}],|without|:[{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|The Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts Chorale|,|bio|:|The Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts Chorale comprises 54 junior and senior vocal music majors and one student accompanist from the Classical Piano Department. Members also perform in one of three upper-level small ensembles. Annual performances include the Spaghetti Supper, the Winter and Spring Concerts and the UIL Concert and Sight-Reading Contest. Chorale performed at the 1986 and 1994 Texas Music Educators Association Conventions and the 2018 American Choral Directors Association Southwestern Division Conference. Members of the ensemble have been selected to the Texas All-State Choir, have won numerous solo vocal competitions and have been selected for the Houston Grand Opera Bauer Family High School Voice Studio.\n|,|title|:|Shannon Carter, director|,|small_image|:false,|bio_image|:false,|full_image|:false}]}

data-filter="[2018 12|2018 12|2018 12|][jones-hall|jones-hall|jones-hall|][December|December|December|][[{|term_id|:1595,|name|:|Holiday|,|slug|:|holiday-series|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1595,|taxonomy|:|series|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:5,|filter|:|raw|},{|term_id|:1598,|name|:|Specials|,|slug|:|symphony-specials|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1598,|taxonomy|:|series|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:5,|filter|:|raw|}]][{|term_id|:1544,|name|:|2018-19|,|slug|:|2018-19|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1544,|taxonomy|:|season|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" This Christmas, be moved by Handel’s ever-glorious setting of the greatest story ever told. The Houston Symphony, chorus and guest soloists join forces to fill Jones Hall with joyous refrains and exultant arias, including the powerful “Hallelujah” Chorus. Listen to a concert preview: https://www.houstonsymphony.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Messiah.mp3 {|with_image|:[{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Jane Glover|,|bio|:|British conductor Jane Glover has been Music of the Baroque\u2019s music director since 2002. After making her professional debut at the Wexford Festival in 1975,\u00a0she joined Glyndebourne in 1979 and was music director of Glyndebourne Touring Opera from 1981 to 1985. Other posts have included artistic director of the London Mozart Players (1984-1991), director of opera at the Royal Academy of Music (2009-2016) and principal conductor of the Huddersfield and the London Choral Societies.\nJane has conducted all the major symphony and chamber orchestras in Britain, as well as orchestras in Europe, the United States, Asia and Australia. Jane has appeared with the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, English National Opera, Royal Danish Opera, Glyndebourne, Berlin Staatsoper, Glimmerglass Opera, New York City Opera, Op\u00e9ra National de Bordeaux, Opera Australia, Chicago Opera Theater, Op\u00e9ra national du Rhin, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Luminato, Madrid\u2019s Teatro Real and Teatro La Fenice. She has regularly conducted all of Mozart\u2019s operas all over the world since she first performed them at Glyndebourne in the 1980s. Her core operatic repertoire also includes Monteverdi, Handel and Britten.\nCurrent and future engagements include\u00a0Cos\u00ec fan tutte\u00a0with Lyric Opera of Kansas City;\u00a0continuing seasons with Music of the Baroque in Chicago; and concert appearances with the Cleveland, Minnesota and BBC Concert Orchestras, the San Francisco Symphony and the Oregon Bach and Aspen Music Festivals.\nJane\u2019s discography includes recordings of Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Britten and Walton with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Mozart Players and the BBC Singers. She has authored two critically acclaimed books,\u00a0Mozart\u02bcs Women\u00a0(2005) and\u00a0Handel in London\u00a0(2018). Jane holds a doctorate from St. Hugh\u2019s College, several honorary degrees, a personal professorship at the University of London, a fellowship of the Royal College of Music and an honorary membership in the Royal Academy of Music, where she is now the Felix Mendelssohn Visiting Professor. She is a visiting professor of opera at the University of Oxford. She was created a Commander of the British Empire in the 2003 New Year\u2019s Honours.\n|,|title|:|conductor|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Ying Fang|,|bio|:|Soprano Ying Fang has been hailed by the New York Times for her \u201cpure and moving soprano, phrasing with scrupulous respect for the line and traveling with assurance through the mercurial moods,\u201d as well as \u201csinging with a fresh, appealing soprano and acting with coquettish flair.\u201d\nThe 2017-2018 season launches with a house debut at Opernhaus Z\u00fcrich as Pamina in Mozart\u2019s Die Zauberfl\u00f6te. Additional opera highlights of the season include a return to the Metropolitan Opera to sing No\u00e9mie in Massenet\u2019s Cendrillon in a new production directed by Laurent Pelly, performances as Morgana in Handel\u2019s Alcina with Washington National Opera, and a house debut at Vancouver Opera as Adina in Donizetti\u2019s L\u2019Elisir d\u2019Amore. Concert appearances will include Schumann\u2019s Das Paradies und die Peri with the Los Angeles Philharmonic directed by Peter Sellars under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, a recital with pianist Ken Noda at Carnegie Hall featuring Schubert lieder, and Mahler\u2019s Symphony No. 4 with the Montclair Symphony conducted by David Chan. Ms. Fang will return to the Verbier Festival for a solo recital, Mahler\u2019s Symphony No. 4 conducted by Christoph Eschenbach, and\u00a0 a performance of the Faur\u00e9 Requiem under Mark Minkowski. She will also appear with the Verbier Chamber Ensemble at Schloss Elmau.\nMs. Fang\u2019s 2016-2017 season included Metropolitan Opera appearances as Ilia in Mozart\u2019s Idomeneo, Elvira in Rossini\u2019s L\u2019Italiana in Algeri, and Jano in Jan\u00e1\u010dek\u2019s Jen\u016ffa. She also portrayed Susanna in Mozart\u2019s Le Nozze di Figaro in a Stephen Lawless production for Opera Philadelphia and sang Bellezza in Handel\u2019s Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno with conductor Emmanuelle Ha\u00efm with Op\u00e9ra de Lille. Ms. Fang appeared with the New York Philharmonic in a concert of Mahler\u2019s Symphony No. 4 conducted by Alan Gilbert and an all-Mozart program under Bernard Labadie. She also performed Handel\u2019s Messiah with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Nathalie Stutzmann, sang Mahler\u2019s Symphony No. 2 with the Pittsburgh Symphony under conductor Manfred Honeck, ventured to Chicago for Telemann\u2019s Der Tag des Gerichts with Music of the Baroque Orchestra conducted by Jane Glover, and joined St. Luke\u2019s Chamber Ensemble for a Schubertiade in New York.\nPrevious appearances for Ms. Fang include Barbarina in the season-opening new production of Le Nozze di Figaro conducted by James Levine at the Metropolitan Opera, where she also sang Giannetta in\u00a0 L\u2019elisir d\u2019amore, the Shepherd in Wagner\u2019s Tannh\u00e4user, and the Dew Fairy in H\u00e4nsel und Gretel conducted by Sir Andrew Davis; as well as Susanna in Mozart\u2019s Le Nozze di Figaro directed by Stephen Wadsworth at The Juilliard School, where she also performed the title role in Gluck\u2019s Iphig\u00e9nie en Aulide conducted by Jane Glover. In addition, she made her Verbier Festival and role debut singing Nannetta in Verdi\u2019s Falstaff alongside Bryn Terfel and led by Jes\u00fas L\u00f3pez Cobos, and returned to the Festival d\u2019Aix-en-Provence for its production of Handel\u2019s Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno. She also debuted at the Ravinia Festival in Mahler\u2019s Symphony No. 2 under the baton of James Levine, joined the Mediterranean Youth Symphony for a European tour of Mahler\u2019s Symphony No. 4 conducted by Carlo Rizzi, and was featured in the Metropolitan Opera and the Juilliard School\u2019s joint concert of comic operas conducted by James Levine, in which she sang Konstanze, Teresa, and Adina. She has also appeared in recital at Carnegie Hall as part of the Neighborhood Concert Series and at the Kennedy Center under the auspices of Vocal Arts DC, both with pianist Ken Noda. Other notable recent appearances include\u00a0Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare and Contessa di Folleville in Rossini\u2019s Il Viaggio A Reims, both\u00a0with the Wolf Trap Opera Company, the title role\u00a0in Mozart\u2019s Za\u00efde\u00a0with the New World Symphony, and Bellezza in Handel\u2019s oratorio Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno with Juilliard 415 under the baton of William Christie at Alice Tully Hall. She also appeared at Aspen Opera Theater Center where she was heard as Maria in Bernstein\u2019s West Side Story and in the role of Pamina in Mozart\u2019s Die Zauberfl\u00f6te with the Aspen Opera Theater Center, of which the Aspen Times wrote: \u201cSoprano Ying Fang sang Pamina with a creamy tone and marvelous specificity in each moment.\u201d\nMs. Fang\u00a0made her Metropolitan Opera debut in the 2013-14 season singing the role of Madame Podtochina\u2019s Daughter in Shostakovich\u2019s opera The Nose.\u00a0At the Juilliard School, she has been seen as Zerlina in\u00a0Mozart\u2019s Don Giovanni,\u00a0Fanny in Rossini\u2019s La Cambiale di Matrimonio, and the Spirit of the Boy in Britten\u2019s Curlew River.\u00a0 She made her Alice Tully Hall debut performing Handel\u2019s motet Silete Venti with conductor Steven Fox leading the Juilliard 415, and appeared as the soprano soloist in Carl Orff\u2019s Carmina Burana with the National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap.\nA native of Ningbo, China, Ms. Fang is the recipient of the Martin E. Segal Award, the Hildegard Behrens Foundation Award, the\u00a0Rose Bampton Award of\u00a0The Sullivan Foundation, The Opera Index Award, and the 1st Prize Award of the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition. In 2009, she become one of the youngest singers to win one of China\u2019s most prestigious awards \u2013 the China Golden Bell Award for Music. She has been hailed as \u201cthe most gifted Chinese soprano of her generation\u201d by Ningbo Daily.\nMs. Fang holds a Master\u2019s degree and an Artist Diploma in Opera Study from The Juilliard School and a Bachelor\u2019s degree from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. She was a member of the Metropolitan Opera\u2019s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.\n|,|title|:|soprano|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Elizabeth Deshong|,|bio|:|When Elizabeth DeShong sang in Rossini\u2019s rarely-performed Maometto II at the Canadian Opera Company, the National Post wrote, \u201cEven more impressive was Elizabeth DeShong as Calbo, a bellicose Venetian general with a human side. . . there could be no better demonstration of the viability of a woman in a heroic male role. Vibrant tone, pyrotechnic technique, intense stage presence, spot-on-diction: this American mezzosoprano has it all.\u201d\nThis season, Elizabeth sang Adalgisa in Norma with the North Carolina Opera. She will tour with The English Concert performing Juno and Ino in Handel\u2019s Semele and sing Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito with the Los Angeles Opera. In addition to these Houston concerts, she performed in recital for Vocal Arts DC at the Kennedy Center and will perform in concert with Music of the Baroque. She debuts with the San Francisco Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic (as Ariel in Sibelius\u2019 The Tempest) and with the Philadelphia Orchestra in the Rossini Stabat Mater under the direction of Yannick N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin. In summer 2019, she will make her role debut in the title role in Handel\u2019s Rinaldo at Glyndebourne.\nLast season, she returned to Washington National Opera to sing Ruggiero in Alcina and Arsace in Semiramide at the Metropolitan Opera. In concert, she performed Mendelssohn\u2019s Elijah with Music of the Baroque and debuted with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Schubert\u2019s Mass No. 6 and the world premiere of Three Lisel Mueller Settings by Maxwell Raimi, both conducted by Riccardo Muti. In Europe, Elizabeth returned to Glyndebourne to perform Suzuki in Madama Butterfly and made her debut with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and at the Proms in Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1, followed by her debut at the Edinburgh Festival singing Hansel in Hansel and Gretel in a concert performance with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.\nElizabeth DeShong received Washington National Opera\u2019s 2010 Artist of the Year award, as the Composer in Richard Strauss\u2019 Ariadne auf Naxos. On DVD, she can be seen as Hermia in the Metropolitan Opera\u2019s pastiche opera The Enchanted Island (Virgin) and as Maffio Orsini in the San Francisco Opera\u2019s production of Lucrezia Borgia (EuroArts Music and Naxos of America). Her recording of Handel\u2019s Messiah with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Sir Andrew Davis (Chandos) received two Grammy nominations in the Best Choral Performance and Producer of the Year, classical categories for 2018.\n|,|title|:|mezzo-soprano|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Thomas Cooley|,|bio|:|Thomas Cooley is a singer of great versatility, expressiveness and virtuosity, in demand internationally for a wide range of repertoire in concert, opera and chamber music.\nHis repertoire on the symphonic stage includes works such as Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and Ninth Symphony; Berlioz’ Requiem, Les nuits d’\u00e9t\u00e9 and L’enfance du Christ; Haydn’s The Seasons; Britten’s War Requiem and Serenade; Stravinsky’s Les Noces; Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang and Elijah; Mozart’s Requiem; Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius; Rihm’s Deus Passus; Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde; and Penderecki’s Credo. Recent concert highlights include the world premiere and recording of Christopher Theofanidis\u2019 Creation\/Creator with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Kod\u00e1ly\u2019s Psalmus Hungaricus, Bruckner\u2019s Te Deum and his first foray into Wagner with an excerpt from Parsifal with the St. Louis Symphony.\nHe has collaborated with internationally prominent conductors, including Helmuth Rilling, Donald Runnicles, Osmo V\u00e4nsk\u00e4, Eiji Oue, Lan Shui, Michael Tilson Thomas, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Nicholas McGegan, Robert Spano, David Robertson, Markus Stenz, Carlo Rizzi, Franz Welser-M\u00f6st, Manfred Honeck and Bernard Labadie. He performs regularly with major orchestras and festivals such as the Lincoln Center Mostly Mozart Festival; Atlanta (including an appearance at Carnegie Hall), Pittsburgh, Baltimore, National and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestras; St. Louis and Oregon Symphonies; the Minnesota Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; Orchestre Symphonique de Qu\u00e9bec; Coppenhagen Philharmonic; Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra; Ottawa\u2019s National Arts Center Orchestra; the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra; and the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra.\nParticularly renowned for his agility and skill in Baroque music, Thomas is in demand as an interpreter of the works of Bach and Handel, most especially in the role of the Evangelist in Bach’s Passions and in the great oratorios of Handel. He appears regularly with such historically informed groups as Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Handel and Haydn Society, Music of the Baroque, The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Akadamie f\u00fcr Alte Musik Berlin, Boston Baroque, the Carmel and Oregon Bach Festivals, Les Violons du Roy and the Munich Bach Choir. Named artist-in-residence for the 2015-16 season at Music of the Baroque in Chicago, he performed Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, a program of Bach cantatas and the title role in Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus.\n|,|title|:|tenor|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Christ\u00f2pheren Nomura|,|bio|:|Baritone Christ\u00f2pheren Nomura stands at the forefront of his generation of singers. He has performed throughout the world, hailed as one of classical music’s “rising stars” by The Wall Street Journal.\nHe has earned a prominent place on the operatic, concert and recital stages, appearing with orchestras such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and the Boston Pops Orchestra under conductors Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, James Conlon, Christopher Hogwood, Jane Glover and Nicholas McGegan, among others.\nChrist\u00f2pheren has been a regular guest with the Pacific Symphony, North Carolina Symphony and the National Philharmonic. He premiered Philip Glass\u2019 The Passion of Ramakrishna for the Pacific Symphony, reprised and recorded it there and showcased it at Carnegie Hall in 2017. A noted Bach specialist, he has performed with The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Oregon Bach Festival, Carmel Bach Festival, Music of the Baroque, Handel and Haydn Society and the Boston Early Music Festival.\nIn opera, Christ\u00f2pheren is a noted Mozartean who has likewise had a strong association with Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and was Prince Yamadori in the Scorsese \/ Mitterand film, conducted by James Conlon. In 2015, he debuted on Broadway in Allegiance with George Takei, Lea Salonga and Telly Leung, subsequently recorded and shown in HD video broadcasts throughout the world. He has collaborated with the Borromeo, Brentano and St. Lawrence String Quartets as well as Martin Katz, Charles Wadsworth, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and William Bolcom at leading music festivals: Santa Fe, Marlboro, Tanglewood, La Jolla, Spoleto, Music@Menlo and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.\nKnown for his commitment to art song, he has given hundreds of recitals throughout North America, Europe, Asia, South America and Africa. He has appeared at Lincoln Center, the Making Music series at Carnegie Hall, the Celebrity Series in Boston, Ravinia Festival, the John F. Kennedy Center and the Vancouver Recital Society. He was artist-in-residence with San Francisco Performances for four seasons.\nAmong many notable career highlights, he sang Bernstein’s Mass at the Vatican for the Jubilee Year in 2000 performing before an audience of 15,000 in the Sala Nervi, simulcast to some 200,000 people in Vatican Square. Christ\u00f2pheren Nomura’s discography includes recordings on the Sony, Dorian, Teldec, London, Denon, TDK and l’Oiseau Lyre labels.\n|,|title|:|baritone|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |}],|without|:[{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Houston Symphony Chorus|,|bio|:||,|title|:|Betsy Cook Weber, director|,|small_image|:false,|bio_image|:false,|full_image|:false}]} HANDEL Messiah

data-filter="[2019 01|2019 01|2019 01|][jones-hall|jones-hall|jones-hall|][January|January|January|][[{|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|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" Saucy as the city streets, majestic as a city skyline, Rhapsody in Blue’s iconic opening and unforgettable melodies make it one of the most enduringly popular works in all of classical music. Hear the original jazz band version, alongside Ravel’s bluesy, dreamy Concerto in G as the phenomenal Jeffrey Kahane plays and conducts this program of symphonic gems with a French twist and a Jazz Age flair. There’s no better way to ring in the New Year! 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. {|with_image|:[{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Jeffrey Kahane|,|bio|:|Equally at home at the keyboard or on the podium, Jeffrey Kahane has established an international reputation as a truly versatile artist, recognized by audiences around the world for his mastery of a diverse repertoire ranging from Bach, Mozart and Beethoven to Gershwin, Golijov and John Adams.\nMr. Kahane appears as soloist with major orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra and the Chicago and San Francisco symphonies among many others and is also a popular artist at all of the major US summer festivals, including Aspen, Blossom, Caramoor, Mostly Mozart and Ravinia. In April 2016, he was appointed Artistic Director of the Sarasota Music Festival, which offers master classes and chamber music coaching by a distinguished international faculty and features chamber music performances and orchestral concerts performed by highly advanced student and young professionals as well as faculty members.\nSince making his Carnegie Hall debut in 1983, he has given recitals in many of the nation\u2019s major music centers including New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Atlanta. Equally at home as a chamber musician, Mr. Kahane collaborates with many of today\u2019s most important chamber ensembles and was the Artistic Director of the Green Music Center Chamberfest during the summers of 2015 and 2016.\nJeffrey Kahane made his conducting debut at the Oregon Bach Festival in 1988. Since then, he has guest conducted many of the major US orchestras including the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Baltimore, Indianapolis and New World symphonies among others. He served as the Music Director of the Colorado Symphony from the 2005\/06 season through the 2009\/10 season and for ten seasons was Music Director of the Santa Rosa Symphony, where he is now Conductor Laureate. He has received much recognition for his innovative programming and commitment to education and community involvement with all three orchestras and received ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming for his work in both Los Angeles and Denver.\nRecent and upcoming engagements include a play\/conduct for the fourth time with the New York Philharmonic as well as with the Houston, Indianapolis, Vancouver, Detroit, Milwaukee, Colorado, San Diego and Phoenix symphonies; concerto appearances with the Toronto, Cincinnati, New World, Oregon and Utah symphonies; and appearances at the Aspen, Britt, Oregon Bach and Tippet Rise festivals as well as with the Chicago Symphony at Ravinia and with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra.\nIn May 2017, Mr. Kahane completed his 20th and final season as Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. During his highly successful tenure with the orchestra, he spearheaded the creation of many new initiatives, including Westside Connections, a chamber music series that brings together LACO musicians and guest artists with speakers from a wide range of disciplines; Baroque Conversations, which presents chamber and orchestral music of the 17th and 18th centuries with spoken program notes and audience Q and A; \u201cDiscover\u201d concerts, evenings devoted to the exploration of a single work involving an hour long lecture with the orchestra on stage, followed by a complete performance; and Sound Investment, a commissioning club whereby for a modest investment, LACO patrons can participate in the commissioning of a major new work and interact with the composer from the very first stages of its conception to the performance. Between this program and the regular commissioning of new pieces, over 50 works have been given their premieres by LACO during Mr. Kahane\u2019s tenure.\nTo celebrate his final season, Mr. Kahane programmed and oversaw a three week city-wide festival in January 2017. The festival incorporated a major educational and outreach project honoring the legacies of composer Kurt Weill and civil rights activist Rabbi Joachim Prinz and culminated in Kahane conducting LACO and a distinguished cast of vocalists in a rare production of Kurt Weill\u2019s final Broadway opera, \u201cLost in the Stars.\u201d\nJeffrey Kahane has recorded for the SONY, EMI, Telarc, RCA, Nonesuch, Deutsche Grammophon, Virgin Records, Decca\/Argo and Haenssler labels in collaboration with the New World, Cincinnati, Bournemouth and Oregon Bach Festival symphonies. He has also recorded works by Gershwin and Bernstein with Yo-Yo- Ma, the complete works for violin and piano by Schubert with Joseph Swensen, and Bach concertos with LACO and Hilary Hahn.\nA native of Los Angeles and a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Mr. Kahane’s early piano studies were with Howard Weisel and Jakob Gimpel. First Prize winner at the 1983 Rubinstein Competition and a finalist at the 1981 Van Cliburn Competition, he was also the recipient of a 1983 Avery Fisher Career Grant. An avid linguist who reads widely in a number of ancient and modern languages, Mr. Kahane received a Master\u2019s Degree in Classics from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2011. He is currently a Professor of Keyboard Studies at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music.\nJeffrey Kahane resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Martha, a clinical psychologist in private practice. They have two children – Gabriel, a composer, pianist and singer\/songwriter and Annie, a dancer and poet.\n|,|title|:|conductor and piano|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |}],|without|:[]} RAVEL  Piano Concerto in G TIMO ANDRES  Paraphrase on Themes of Brian Eno MILHAUD  La création du monde GERSHWIN  Rhapsody in Blue

data-filter="[2019 01|2019 01|2019 01|][jones-hall|jones-hall|jones-hall|][January|January|January|][[{|term_id|:8,|name|:|POPS|,|slug|:|pops-series|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:8,|taxonomy|:|series|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:7,|filter|:|raw|}]][{|term_id|:1544,|name|:|2018-19|,|slug|:|2018-19|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1544,|taxonomy|:|season|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" Break out those Members Only jackets, stirrup pants and shoulder pads and hold on to your hairspray—we’re going Totally ‘80s! Nicole Parker (Mad TV, Broadway’s Wicked) and Aaron Finley (Broadway’s Kinky Boots, Rock of Ages), bring you the greatest hits from the raddest decade around, including chart-toppers by Michael Jackson, Phil Collins, George Michael and Billy Joel. Plus relive the treasured film music from Chariots of Fire, Back to the Future and Ghostbusters. Sure to have you on your feet until The Final Countdown, sing along with these blasts from the past. Listen to a concert preview: https://www.houstonsymphony.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Totally-80s-Radio-Spot.mp3 {|with_image|:[{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Stuart Chafetz|,|bio|:|Stuart Chafetz is the newly appointed Principal Pops Conductor of the Columbus Symphony. Chafetz, a conductor celebrated for his dynamic and engaging podium presence, is increasingly in demand with orchestras across the continent and this season Chafetz will be on the podium in Seattle, Detroit, Naples, Phoenix, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Vancouver and many more.\nHe\u2019s had the privilege to work with renowned artists such as Chris Botti, 2 Cellos, Michael Bolton, America, Roberta Flack, George Benson, Richard Chamberlain, The Chieftains, Jennifer Holliday, John Denver, Marvin Hamlisch, Thomas Hampson, Wynonna Judd, Jim Nabors, Randy Newman, Jon Kimura Parker and Bernadette Peters.\nHe previously held posts as resident conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and associate conductor of the Louisville Orchestra. As principal timpanist of the Honolulu Symphony for twenty years, Chafetz would also conduct the annual Nutcracker performances with Ballet Hawaii and principals from the American Ballet Theatre. It was during that time that Chafetz led numerous concerts with the Maui Symphony and Pops. He annually leads the Spring Ballet at the world-renowned Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.\nIn the summers, Chafetz spends his time at the Chautauqua Institution, where he conducts the annual Fourth of July and Opera Pops concerts with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra in addition to his role as that orchestra\u2019s timpanist.\nWhen not on the podium, Chafetz makes his home near San Francisco, CA, with his wife Ann Krinitsky. Chafetz holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in music performance from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and a master\u2019s from the Eastman School of Music.\n|,|title|:|conductor|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Nicole Parker|,|bio|:|Nicole Parker is best known for her portrayal of Elphaba in the Broadway production of Wicked. Since playing the green witch in the Broadway company, she has reprised the role for the First National Tour of Wicked. Nicole\u2019s other Broadway credits include Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me and The People in the Picture with Donna Murphy. Regionally, Nicole played Juliet in The Second City’s Romeo and Juliet Musical at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, for which she received a Jeff Award nomination. She also appeared as Rosemary in How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying at Reprise Theater, and Pamina in The Magic Flute at the Falcon Theater.\nFor six years, Nicole was also a cast member and contributing writer on Fox’s MADtv. For two years, Nicole was a performer and write for Boom Chicago, an all American sketch and improvisation theater in Amsterdam. Nicole\u2019s film credits include Funny People, directed by Judd Apatow as well as the short films Weathered and Sitting Babies. This year she was featured as a guest star on the mock game show Bunk on IFC, as well as on ABC in Trust Us With Your Life, an improvisation show from the creators of Whose Line Is It Anyway? She is also a founding member or Waterwell, a non-profit theater company in New York.\nA frequent soloist with orchestras around the country, recent and upcoming performances include Peter Nero and the Philly Pops, Houston Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Utah Symphony and Opera, Colorado Symphony, Greensboro Symphony (where she will return in 2014), Kalamazoo Symphony, Santa Rosa Symphony, Pueblo Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Sarasota Symphony, Orlando Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, Idaho Civic Symphony, Hamilton Philharmonic, and Fresno Philharmonic.\n|,|title|:|vocalist|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Aaron Finley|,|bio|:||,|title|:|vocalist|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |}],|without|:[]}

data-filter="[2019 01|][jones-hall|][January|][[{|term_id|:1598,|name|:|Specials|,|slug|:|symphony-specials|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1598,|taxonomy|:|series|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:5,|filter|:|raw|}]][{|term_id|:1544,|name|:|2018-19|,|slug|:|2018-19|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1544,|taxonomy|:|season|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" Renowned for their smooth style and soulful hits, four-time GRAMMY award winning trio Boyz II Men joins the Houston Symphony for one night of musical magnitude. Redefining the genre of R&B by combining elements of a cappella and new jack swing, their expressive harmonies continue to captivate audiences decades later. From Motownphilly to End of the Road, relive the rhythms that dominated airwaves in the 90s. false

data-filter="[2019 01|2019 01|2019 01|][jones-hall|jones-hall|jones-hall|][January|January|January|][[{|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|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" Filled with radiant warmth and dazzling flights into the stratosphere, Korngold’s Violin Concerto is one of the most treasured in the repertoire. In the hands of Latvian star Baiba Skride, “a passionate, heart-on-sleeve player” (The Guardian), it promises to be nothing short of extraordinary. A program tinged in the tumult of the 20th century ends with Ravel’s fiery showstopper, a hair-raising whirlwind that evokes old-world elegance waltzing on the brink of oblivion. 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. {|with_image|:[{|type|:|existing|,|name|:|Andr\u00e9s Orozco-Estrada|,|bio|:||,|title|:|Music Director|,|small_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|url|:|https:\/\/www.houstonsymphony.org\/about-us\/conductor\/andres-orozco-estrada\/|},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Baiba Skride|,|bio|:|Baiba Skride\u2019s natural approach to her music-making has endeared her to some of today\u2019s most important conductors and orchestras worldwide. She is consistently invited for her refreshing interpretations, her sensitivity and delight in the music. The list of prestigious orchestras with whom she has worked include the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orkest. Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Orchestre de Paris, London Philharmonic, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and NHK Symphony. Notable conductors she collaborates with include Christoph Eschenbach, Thierry Fischer, Paavo and Neeme J\u00e4rvi, Andris Nelsons, Santtu Matias Rouvali, Vasily Petrenko, Yannick N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin, John Storg\u00e5rds and Kazuki Yamada.\nEuropean highlights for the 2016\/17 season include debuts with Philharmonia Orchestra London, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai and Orquestra Simf\u00f2nica de Barcelona. She will return to the Vienna Symphony with Gustavo Gimeno, the Stockholm, Bergen and Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestras, and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic with Vasily Petrenko. She opens the season for Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra with Alain Altinoglu before embarking on a tour to Northern Europe. Further afield, she performs with Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra\/Cornelius Meister, Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra\/ Thierry Fischer and returns to the Sydney, Tasmanian, and Western Australian Symphony Orchestras.\nIn February 2016, Baiba Skride made her debut with the New York Philharmonic with Christoph Eschenbach. The concerts were a huge success with Vivien Schweitzer in the New York Times writing, \u201cMs. Skride brought a wide tonal palette to her insightful and passionate interpretation, her tone meaty and bold to open, then sweet, gossamer and brash.\u2019\u2019 This season Baiba Skride will appear with Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Symphony, as well as Boston Symphony for the American premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina\u2019s Triple Concerto for violin, cello, and bayan.\nBaiba Skride is a sought after chamber musician, regularly performing at festivals and venues, such as Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall London, Palais des Beaux Arts Brussels, Bad Kissingen and Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommen. In the 2016\/17 season she appears in a new piano quartet with Lauma Skride, Harriet Krijgh and Lise Berthaud performing at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Malm\u00f6 Chamber Festival and BASF Ludwigshafen. Other artists she collaborates with include Bertrand Chamayou, Brett Dean, Sol Gabetta, Alban Gerhardt, Xavier de Maistre and Daniel Mueller-Schott.\nSkride was born into a musical Latvian family in Riga where she began her studies, transferring in 1995 to the Conservatory of Music and Theatre in Rostock. In 2001 she won the 1st prize of the Queen Elisabeth Competition. Baiba Skride plays the Yfrah Neaman Stradivarius kindly loaned to her by the Neaman family through the Beares InternBaiba Skride\u2019s natural approach to her music-making has endeared her to some of today\u2019s most important conductors and orchestras worldwide. She is consistently invited for her refreshing interpretations, her sensitivity and delight in the music. The list of prestigious orchestras with whom she has worked include the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orkest. Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Orchestre de Paris, London Philharmonic, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and NHK Symphony. Notable conductors she collaborates with include Christoph Eschenbach, Thierry Fischer, Paavo and Neeme J\u00e4rvi, Andris Nelsons, Santtu Matias Rouvali, Vasily Petrenko, Yannick N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin, John Storg\u00e5rds and Kazuki Yamada.\nEuropean highlights for the 2016\/17 season include debuts with Philharmonia Orchestra London, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai and Orquestra Simf\u00f2nica de Barcelona. She will return to the Vienna Symphony with Gustavo Gimeno, the Stockholm, Bergen and Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestras, and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic with Vasily Petrenko. She opens the season for Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra with Alain Altinoglu before embarking on a tour to Northern Europe. Further afield, she performs with Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra\/Cornelius Meister, Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra\/ Thierry Fischer and returns to the Sydney, Tasmanian, and Western Australian Symphony Orchestras.\nIn February 2016, Baiba Skride made her debut with the New York Philharmonic with Christoph Eschenbach. The concerts were a huge success with Vivien Schweitzer in the New York Times writing, \u201cMs. Skride brought a wide tonal palette to her insightful and passionate interpretation, her tone meaty and bold to open, then sweet, gossamer and brash.\u2019\u2019 This season Baiba Skride will appear with Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Symphony, as well as Boston Symphony for the American premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina\u2019s Triple Concerto for violin, cello, and bayan.\nBaiba Skride is a sought after chamber musician, regularly performing at festivals and venues, such as Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall London, Palais des Beaux Arts Brussels, Bad Kissingen and Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommen. In the 2016\/17 season she appears in a new piano quartet with Lauma Skride, Harriet Krijgh and Lise Berthaud performing at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Malm\u00f6 Chamber Festival and BASF Ludwigshafen. Other artists she collaborates with include Bertrand Chamayou, Brett Dean, Sol Gabetta, Alban Gerhardt, Xavier de Maistre and Daniel Mueller-Schott.\nSkride was born into a musical Latvian family in Riga where she began her studies, transferring in 1995 to the Conservatory of Music and Theatre in Rostock. In 2001 she won the 1st prize of the Queen Elisabeth Competition. Baiba Skride plays the Yfrah Neaman Stradivarius kindly loaned to her by the Neaman family through the Beares International Violin Society.ational Violin Society.\n|,|title|:|violin|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |}],|without|:[]} IVES  Symphony No. 4, Fugue KORNGOLD  Violin Concerto STRAVINSKY  Symphony in Three Movements RAVEL  La valse

data-filter="[2019 02|2019 02|2019 02|][jones-hall|jones-hall|jones-hall|][February|February|February|][[{|term_id|:1598,|name|:|Specials|,|slug|:|symphony-specials|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1598,|taxonomy|:|series|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:5,|filter|:|raw|}]][{|term_id|:1544,|name|:|2018-19|,|slug|:|2018-19|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1544,|taxonomy|:|season|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" Grab your broom and get ready for the tasks ahead! The Triwizard Tournament comes to Hogwarts™ in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire™ in Concert. Relive the magic of Harry Potter™ soaring across the big screen in high-definition and experience the Houston Symphony performing Patrick Doyle’s unforgettable score. HARRY POTTER characters, names and related indicia are © & ™ Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. J.K. ROWLING`S WIZARDING WORLD™ J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Publishing Rights © JKR. (s18) Watch a concert preview: false

data-filter="[2019 02|2019 02|2019 02|][jones-hall|jones-hall|jones-hall|][February|February|February|][[{|term_id|:8,|name|:|POPS|,|slug|:|pops-series|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:8,|taxonomy|:|series|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:7,|filter|:|raw|}]][{|term_id|:1544,|name|:|2018-19|,|slug|:|2018-19|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1544,|taxonomy|:|season|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" The Queen of Jazz. The First Lady of Swing. Lady Ella. No matter what you call her, Ella Fitzgerald’s sweet, silvery voice and scintillating scat improvisations are unmistakable and unforgettable. Celebrate Valentine’s Day with vintage Ella standards that never go out of style—romantic songs like “Our Love is Here to Stay” and “Come Rain or Come Shine”—sung with pitch-perfect verve by Broadway’s Capathia Jenkins, Montego Glover and N’Kenge. {|with_image|:[{|type|:|existing|,|name|:|Steven Reineke|,|bio|:||,|title|:|Principal POPS Conductor|,|small_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|url|:|https:\/\/www.houstonsymphony.org\/about-us\/conductor\/steven-reineke\/|},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Montego Glover|,|bio|:|Tony Award Nominee for her starring role as Felicia Farrell in Memphis. Ms. Glover also received a Drama League Nomination, and won both the Outer Critic\u2019s Circle Award and Drama Desk Award for her performance.\nMs. Glover has appeared on Broadway in Les Miserable as Fantine, It Shoulda Been You as Annie Shepard, made her Broadway debut in The Color Purple in the roles of Celie and Nettie, and most recently appeared at Lincoln Center Theater as Nina in The Royale, earning her a second Drama Desk Award.\nMs. Glover has been a Guest Artist with The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, Seattle\u2019s 5Th Avenue Theatre, Huntington Theatre, and the Elgin Theater among others, earning a Craig Noel Nomination, a Helen Hayes Nomination and an IRNE Award for her work.\n \nMs. Glover has appeared in concert with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Caramoor Music Festival, Delacorte Theatre and the Smith Center.\nTelevision and film include: The Following, Black Box, Hostages, Smash, Golden Boy, The Good Wife, White Collar, Made In Jersey, and Law & Order. \u00a0She can be seen and heard in numerous commercials, voiceovers, and animated series.\nMs. Glover has served as a member of the Artists\u2019 Committees for the Kennedy Center Honors, as well as Lincoln Center Theater and is a New York PopsEd Ambassador.\nMs. Glover is set to join the Chicago cast of the smash hit Hamilton, in the role of Angelica Schuyler.\n@MontegoGlover www.MontegoGlover.com\n|,|title|:|vocalist|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Capathia Jenkins|,|bio|:|The Brooklyn-born and raised actress,\u00a0Capathia Jenkins, most recently starred as \u2018Medda\u2019 in the hit Disney production of\u00a0Newsies\u00a0 on Broadway. She made her Broadway debut in\u00a0The Civil War,\u00a0where she created the role of Harriet Jackson. She then starred in the Off-Broadway 2000 revival of\u00a0Godspell,\u00a0where she wowed audiences with her stirring rendition of \u2018Turn Back, O Man\u2019 \u00a0which can still be heard on the original cast recording. She returned to Broadway in\u00a0The Look of Love\u00a0 and was critically acclaimed for her performances of the Bacharach\/David hits. Ms. Jenkins then created the roles of \u2018The Washing Machine\u2019 in\u00a0Caroline, Or Change\u00a0and \u2018Frieda May\u2019 in\u00a0Martin Short-Fame Becomes Me\u00a0 where she sang \u2018Stop the Show\u2019 and brought the house down every night.\nIn 2007 she went back to Off-Broadway and starred in\u00a0(mis) Understanding Mammy-The Hattie McDaniel Story\u00a0 for which she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. Most recently she was seen in Nora Ephron\u2019s\u00a0Love, Loss, and What I Wore.\nAn active concert artist, Ms. Jenkins has appeared with numerous orchestras around the world including the Cleveland Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony (with Marvin Hamlisch), National Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Utah Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Memphis Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus, Toledo Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony and the Hong Kong Philharmonic among many others.\u00a0 She will return this summer as a soloist with the Festival Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic for the third time.\u00a0 Capathia had\u00a0the great honor of performing in the \u2018Broadway Ambassadors to Cuba\u2019 concert as part of the\u00a0Festival De Teatro De La Habana.\u00a0Ms. Jenkins was the guest soloist with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops and has several return engagements with the Cincinnati Pops.\u00a0 She has appeared several times at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops and recently sang in a Tribute to Marvin Hamlisch at the Library of Congress.\nHer Television credits include\u00a030 Rock, the Practice, Law & Order SVU, the Sopranos, Law & Order.\u00a0She can be seen in the 2012 film \u2018Musical Chairs\u2019\u00a0directed by Susan Seidelman. Ms. Jenkins was recently seen in\u00a0The Wiz\u00a0in a live performance on NBC.\u00a0 She can be heard on the following film soundtracks:\u00a0Nine, Chicago, Legally Blonde 2.\n \n|,|title|:|vocalist|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|N\u2019Kenge|,|bio|:|\u201cN\u2019Kenge\u2019s an artist who\u2019s destined to make a serious impact on several musical fronts. From operatic to spiritual, from pop to musical theater, from jazz to blues. Tender or intense, N\u2019Kenge\u2019s performances are consistent in her technical excellence. Her musical repertoire covers 11 languages, and her power and control are uncanny.\u201d \u2013 Joe Berger, LBTV Music\nBerry Gordy calls her \u201cthe most versatile artist I know.\u201d Burt Bacharach says, \u201cN\u2019Kenge is an amazing talent that needs to be heard.\u201d The New York Post called her \u201celectrifying\u201d as Mary Wells, a role she originated in Broadway’s smash hit Motown: The Musical. N’Kenge made her Broadway debut in Sondheim on Sondheim singing alongside Vanessa Williams, Barbara Cook, Tom Wopat and Norm Lewis.\nRecently, N’Kenge was seen on TV presenting an award at the 58th Annual New York Emmy Awards and singing the National Anthem at Madison Square Garden. She performed for President Bill Clinton at the White House and for President Barack Obama at the Commander-in-Chief\u2019s Ball. She starred in London\u2019s West End at the Theatre Royal in a tribute to the late great Ray Charles and has performed as soloist at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. A performance at the Library of Congress was broadcast by NPR.\nThis energetic, well-rounded singer was recently nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of the leading roles in both the Elton John\/Tim Rice musical Aida and in Marion Caffey\u2019s 3 Mo\u2019 Divas by the Helen Hayes Awards and the ariZoni Theater Awards of Excellence. N’Kenge starred in the Michael Jackson Tribute Show world tour and is consistently seen as a soloist in pops programs with the Indianapolis and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras, Cleveland Orchestra and The New York Pops, among others.\nN’Kenge is currently working on a new album. To learn more about her tours and recordings, visit www.nkengemusic.com.\n|,|title|:|vocalist|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |}],|without|:[]}

data-filter="[2019 02|2019 02|][jones-hall|jones-hall|][February|February|][[{|term_id|:1035,|name|:|Family|,|slug|:|family-series|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1035,|taxonomy|:|series|,|description|:|Now in his tenth season, our Associate Conductor Robert Franz is ready to help your family create cherished memories. Buckle up! Our Family Series is taking you on a magical, musical quest on Saturday mornings.\r\n\r\nAlso, enjoy pre- and post-concert activities, including our Instrument Petting Zoo, young musician performances in the lobby as well as crafts and musical activities. \r\n\r\n|,|parent|:0,|count|:3,|filter|:|raw|}]][{|term_id|:1544,|name|:|2018-19|,|slug|:|2018-19|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1544,|taxonomy|:|season|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" Grab your spurs and trusty steed, lil’ pardners—we’re gallopin’ back to the days of covered wagons and Wild West adventure! Do a do-si-do through Copland’s “Hoedown” and hold tight to the reins for Rossini’s William Tell Overture. Plus, hear fun favorites from Toy Story 2, Oklahoma! and more, and encounter a few special surprises on the western frontier. Yee Haw! Children of all ages, including infants, are welcome at Family Series performances. All patrons must have a ticket when entering a concert venue. For lap child tickets, please contact our Patron Services Center at 713-224-7575. {|with_image|:[{|type|:|existing|,|name|:|Robert Franz|,|bio|:||,|title|:|Associate Conductor|,|small_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|url|:|https:\/\/www.houstonsymphony.org\/about-us\/conductor\/robert-franz\/|}],|without|:[{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|TUTS Humphreys School of Musical Theatre and The River|,|bio|:||,|title|:||,|small_image|:false,|bio_image|:false,|full_image|:false}]}

data-filter="[2019 02|2019 03|2019 03|][jones-hall|jones-hall|jones-hall|][February|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|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" Lively peasant festivals, knights on horseback, merry hunting scenes and mist-shrouded forests—all are evoked in the sweeping sonorities of Bruckner’s Fourth, which draws as its inspiration the imagery of medieval romance. The Symphony gave its composer one of the greatest triumphs of his career when first premiered and was proclaimed an “extraordinary musical creation.” Former Houston Symphony Music Director Christoph Eschenbach—an acclaimed Bruckner interpreter—returns to Jones Hall in a concert that also features fiery and fearless virtuoso Leila Josefowicz in a concerto written specially for her. 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. {|with_image|:[{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Christoph Eschenbach|,|bio|:||,|title|:|conductor|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Leila Josefowicz|,|bio|:|Leila Josefowicz\u2019s passionate advocacy of contemporary music for the violin is reflected in her diverse programmes and enthusiasm to perform new works. She frequently collaborates with leading composers and works with orchestras and conductors at the highest level around the world. In 2008 she was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, joining prominent scientists, writers and musicians who have made unique contributions to contemporary life.\nHighlights of Josefowicz\u2019s 2017\/18 season include concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Orchestra and Iceland, Boston, Lahti and Finnish Radio symphony orchestras, as well as Washington\u2019s National Symphony Orchestra. Alongside pianist John Novacek, with whom Josefowicz has enjoyed a close collaboration since 1985, she performs recitals in Reykjavik, Leeds, Chicago, San Francisco, Santa Barbara and Halifax (Nova Scotia) and has appeared recently at world-renowned venues such as New York\u2019s Zankel Hall and London\u2019s Wigmore Hall, where she returns in autumn 2017.\nViolin concertos have been written especially for Leila Josefowicz by composers including John Adams, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Colin Matthews and Steven Mackey. Scheherazade.2 (Dramatic Symphony for Violin and Orchestra) by Adams was given its world premiere by Josefowicz in 2015 with the New York Philharmonic. Luca Francesconi\u2019s concerto Duende \u2013 The Dark Notes, also written for Josefowicz, was given its world premiere by her in 2014 with Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Susanna M\u00e4lkki before being performed by Josefowicz, M\u00e4lkki and the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms in 2015.\nRecent highlights include engagements with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Tonhalle-Orchester Z\u00fcrich, Helsinki Philharmonic and Tokyo Metropolitan, St. Louis, San Francisco and Minnesota symphony orchestras. In summer 2017, Josefowicz appeared at Birmingham\u2019s Symphony Hall and London\u2019s Royal Albert Hall at the BBC Proms with City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. She returned to the London Symphony Orchestra in December 2016, performing John Adams\u2019 Scheherazade.2 in London, Paris and Dijon.\nJosefowicz has released several recordings, notably for Deutsche Grammophon, Philips\/Universal and Warner Classics and was featured on Touch Press\u2019 acclaimed iPad app, The Orchestra. Her latest recording, featuring Scheherazade.2 with the St Louis Symphony conducted by David Robertson, was released in 2016 and nominated for a Grammy Award. Josefowicz\u2019s recording of Esa-Pekka Salonen\u2019s Violin Concerto with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer, was also nominated for a Grammy Award in 2014.\n|,|title|:|violin|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |}],|without|:[]} ESA-PEKKA SALONEN  Violin Concerto BRUCKNER Symphony No. 4, Romantic

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|:30,|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 |}],|without|:[]} BERLIOZ  Overture to Béatrice et Bénédict BERLIOZ  Les nuits d’été ROUSSEL  Suite from The Spider’s Feast DEBUSSY  La mer

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|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" Nine symphonies. Five piano concertos. One perfect violin concerto. A violin lovers’ dream season continues as the incomparable Joshua Bell, hailed as “the greatest American violinist active today” (The Boston Herald), plays and conducts Beethoven’s sublime, supremely beautiful masterpiece. A blockbuster all-Beethoven program ends with the joyous and jovial Fourth Symphony. 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. {|with_image|:[{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Joshua Bell|,|bio|:|With a career spanning more than 30 years as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, and conductor, Joshua Bell is one of the most celebrated violinists of his era. An exclusive Sony Classical artist, Bell has recorded more than 40 albums garnering Grammy, Mercury, Gramophone, and Echo Klassik awards, and is a recipient of the Avery Fisher Prize. Named the Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in 2011, he is the only person to hold this post since Sir Neville Marriner formed the orchestra in 1958.\nIn 2018,\u00a0Bell tours with Academy to the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, and Asia.\u00a0With pianist Sam Haywood, Bell performs 10 recitals in Europe and America, and on February 7, 2018, reunites with collaborator pianist Jeremy Denk for a recital broadcast live from Carnegie Hall. Further season highlights include dates with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Danish National Symphony, and an all-Beethoven play\/direct program with the Orchestre National de Lyon.\nRecently Sony Classical released\u00a0Joshua Bell \u2013 The Classical Collection, a 14-CD set of albums of classical repertoire that displays Bell\u2019s unique breadth, versatility and breathtaking virtuosity. Slated for April, 2018 is Bell\u2019s recording with the Academy of the Bruch\u2019s Scottish Fantasy and g minor Concerto.\nBell recently engaged in two tech projects: With Embertone, the leading virtual instrument sampling company, the Joshua Bell Virtual\u00a0Violin was created for producers, artists, engineers and composers. Bell also\u00a0 teamed up with Sony for the Joshua Bell VR Experience featuring Bell performing Brahms\u2019 Hungarian Dance No. 1 in full 360-degree VR.\u00a0 This experience\u00a0\u00a0 is available for free download for SONY PlayStation 4 VR.\nConvinced of the value of music as a diplomatic and educational tool, Bell participated in President Obama\u2019s Committee on the Arts and Humanities\u2019 first cultural mission to Cuba.\u00a0 He is also involved in Turnaround Arts, administered by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts which provides arts education to low-performing elementary and middle schools. Bell has devoted himself to several charitable causes, most notably Education Through Music, which puts instruments in the hands of thousands of children in America\u2019s inner cities.\nBell performs on the 1713 Huberman Stradivarius violin.\n|,|title|:|conductor and violin|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |}],|without|:[]} BEETHOVEN  Violin Concerto BEETHOVEN  Symphony No. 4

data-filter="[2019 03|2019 03|2019 03|2019 03|2019 03|][jones-hall|jones-hall|jones-hall|jones-hall|jones-hall|][March|March|March|March|March|][[{|term_id|:8,|name|:|POPS|,|slug|:|pops-series|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:8,|taxonomy|:|series|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:7,|filter|:|raw|}]][{|term_id|:1544,|name|:|2018-19|,|slug|:|2018-19|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1544,|taxonomy|:|season|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… For the first time ever in Houston, experience Star Wars like never before! Jump in the Millennium Falcon and journey to Tatooine, Alderaan and beyond with a complete showing of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope on the big screen at Jones Hall, with John Williams’ epic, unforgettable score played live by the Houston Symphony. Luke Skywalker leaves his home planet, battles the evil empire and learns the ways of the Force in the iconic film that started it all. Presentation licensed by Disney Concerts in association with 20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm Ltd.,and Warner /Chappell Music. ©2018 & TM LUCASFILM LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © DISNEY {|with_image|:[{|type|:|existing|,|name|:|Steven Reineke|,|bio|:||,|title|:|Principal POPS Conductor|,|small_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|url|:|https:\/\/www.houstonsymphony.org\/about-us\/conductor\/steven-reineke\/|}],|without|:[]}

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|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" Bold and bawdy, fiery and visceral, Carmina Burana is one of the most instantly-recognizable pieces in all of music. Escape into this intoxicating ode to life, lust and all things earthy, an unforgettable concert experience that thrills with haunting medieval chants, dynamic spectacle and sheer sonic force. Plus, Principal Cellist Brinton Averil Smith takes center stage for d’Albert’s lyrical concerto. 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. {|with_image|:[{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Yaniv Dinur|,|bio|:|Currently Associate Conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony and newly appointed Music Director of the New Bedford Symphony in Massachusetts, Yaniv Dinur is a rapidly rising young conductor. His debut at the Round Top Festival in June, according to Program Director Alain Declert, \u201cwill remain as one of the most successful ever.\u201d He has also guest conducted prominent American orchestras, including the Houston Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, New World Symphony, and the San Antonio Symphony.\nMr. Dinur’s conducting career began at the age of 19 with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. Following his European debut, he was invited to perform with the Israel Camerata, the youngest conductor ever to conduct a professional orchestra in Israel. Since then, he has conducted orchestras around the world, including the Israel Philharmonic, Portugal Symphony, Sofia Festival Orchestra, State Orchestra of St. Petersburg, Torino Philharmonic, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, among others. Broadcast live on Israeli radio, he has conducted for the Jerusalem Symphony\u2019s Young Artists Competition since 2003.\nAmong his numerous honors are the 2015, 2016, and 2017 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Awards. In 2011, he was chosen by the League of American Orchestras to be a featured conductor at the Bruno Walter National Conducting Preview in New Orleans. Other awards include Second Prize at the International Eduardo Mata 2009 Conducting Competition in Mexico City; the Yuri Ahronovitch First Prize at the 2005 Aviv Conducting Competition in Israel; as well as grants from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation and the Zubin Mehta Scholarship Endowment.\nBorn in Jerusalem, Yaniv Dinur is a graduate of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and holds a Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Michigan. Also a passionate music educator, he recently completed a highly successful tenure as Director of Orchestral Activities at American University in Washington D.C.\n|,|title|:|conductor|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|existing|,|name|:|Brinton Averil Smith|,|bio|:||,|title|:|Principal|,|small_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|url|:|https:\/\/www.houstonsymphony.org\/about-us\/musicians\/brinton-averil-smith\/|},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Matthew Grills|,|bio|:|Opera News exclaims that in San Francisco Opera\u2019s Sweeney Todd, \u201cTenor Matthew Grills made the strongest impression, delivering Tobias\u2019s \u2018Not While I\u2019m Around\u2019 with touching tenderness.\u201d In the 2018-19 season, he makes house debuts with both Opera San Jose singing his first performances of Belmonte in Die Entf\u00fchrung aus dem Serail and with New Orleans Opera in a return to his beloved characterization of Pedrillo in the same opera. He returns to the Bayerische Staatsoper to reprise Kedril in From the House of the Dead and to Portland Opera for the company\u2019s \u201cBig Night\u201d concert as well as joins Dallas Opera for a debut as the Dance Master in Manon Lescaut and for the company\u2019s production of Falstaff. On the concert stage, he sings Orff\u2019s Carmina Burana with the Houston Symphony, a concert celebrating Bernstein\u2019s Broadway with the Florida Orchestra, as well as Puccini\u2019s\u00a0Messa di Gloria and excerpts of L\u2019elisir d\u2019amore with Das Musikkollegium Wintherthur. Future engagements include bel canto role debuts with Berkshire Opera Festival and in a return to Seattle Opera. Last season, he made his Seattle Opera debut as Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia and returned to the Bayerische Staatsoper in his final season as a member of the company\u2019s ensemble, where his roles included further performances of include further performances of Pedrillo in Die Entf\u00fchrung aus dem Serail, Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos as well as Kedril in From the House of the Dead, Danieli in Les v\u00eapres siciliennes, and Vierter Knappe in Parsifal, all new productions; Don Gaspard in La favorite, among others.\nSought after in classical musical theatre repertoire as well, he recently returned to San Francisco Opera as Tobias Ragg. In the realm of bel canto repertoire, he recently made a company and role debut at the Op\u00e9ra national de Lorraine as Idreno in Semiramide and joined the Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra in Seoul, Korea and Portland Opera for Nemorino in L\u2019elisir d\u2019amore. Other recent performances for the tenor include Pedrillo in Die Entf\u00fchrung aus dem Serail with Atlanta Opera, David, Jeremiah, and the Voice of God in Weill\u2019s The Road of Promise with Kristjan J\u00e4rvi conducting the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Kurt Weill Festival in Dessau, Fenton in Falstaff with Wolf Trap Opera, as well as Almaviva in family performances of Il barbiere di Siviglia and Nathaniel in Les contes d’Hoffmann with San Francisco Opera in addition to joining the company for its production of Cos\u00ec fan tutte.\nPrior to joining the ensemble at the Bayerische Staatsoper, he was a member of the company\u2019s prestigious Opernstudio and sang title role of Le comte Ory and Fabrizio in Martin\u016f\u2019s Mirandolina in the historic Cuvilli\u00e9s Theatre, Ernesto in Donizetti\u2019s Il gioved\u00ec grasso at the Schloss Nymphenberg, as well as a his first performances of Pedrillo in Die Entf\u00fchrung aus dem Serail on the company\u2019s mainstage. He sang a solo recital at the Terrace Theater at the Kennedy Center presented by the Vocal Arts D.C. and the Washington Performing Arts Society and recently joined the Hartford Symphony Orchestra for Handel\u2019s Messiah. As a Resident Artist with Portland Opera, he also sang Goffredo in Rinaldo in addition to covering Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni. He is a also former Resident Artist with Santa Fe Opera, where he sang the role of Frank Harris in workshops of Morrison’s Oscar in advance of the opera’s world premiere. At the Seagle Music Colony, he sang Ferrando in Cos\u00ec fan tutte.\nMr. Grills is the unprecedented winner of both grand prize in Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and first prize in the Lotte Lenya Competition in the same year, 2012. He holds a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music where his performances included Jenik in The Bartered Bride and the Balladeer and Lee Harvey Oswald in Assassins. He earned his Bachelor of Music from The Boston Conservatory where he sang Prunier in La rondine.\n|,|title|:|tenor|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |}],|without|:[{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Houston Symphony Chorus|,|bio|:||,|title|:|Betsy Cook Weber, director|,|small_image|:false,|bio_image|:false,|full_image|:false},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Laura Claycomb|,|bio|:||,|title|:|soprano|,|small_image|:false,|bio_image|:false,|full_image|:false},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Reginald Smith, Jr.|,|bio|:||,|title|:|baritone|,|small_image|:false,|bio_image|:false,|full_image|:false},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Fort Bend Boys Choir|,|bio|:||,|title|:|William R. Adams, founder and artistic director|,|small_image|:false,|bio_image|:false,|full_image|:false}]} D’ALBERT  Cello Concerto ORFF  Carmina Burana

data-filter="[2019 04|2019 04|2019 04|][jones-hall|jones-hall|jones-hall|][April|April|April|][[{|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|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" Opulent and unabashedly beautiful, Rachmaninoff’s piano music speaks straight to the heart. Pianist extraordinaire Simon Trpčeski shines in the composer’s shimmering final concerto. Composed during a carefree summer in the Russian countryside, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 3 features some of his sunniest and most delightful music. 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. {|with_image|:[{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Kazushi Ono|,|bio|:|Kazushi Ono cherishes music\u2019s power to bring people together. His manner in rehearsal, quiet and calm, exudes qualities of openness and receptivity. The conductor conveys complex messages in performance with effortless expressive gestures and a wisdom informed by his inexhaustible passion for making and exploring music with others. It is in his nature to unwind after conducting by playing through passages from the evening\u2019s programme at the piano. Music, in short, has supplied the essential spirit of life since childhood.\nKazushi Ono is Music Director of Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and Orquestra Simf\u00f2nica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya. In 2016 he became Artistic Advisor to the New National Theatre Tokyo, a position that he will hold until September 2018, after which he will become the Theatre\u2019s Artistic Director. From 2008 to 2017, Kazushi Ono maintained his position as Principal Conductor of Op\u00e9ra National de Lyon, during which he attracted international critical acclaim with landmark performances of works such as Prokofiev\u2019s The Gamblers, Berg\u2019s Lulu and Wagner\u2019s Parsifal, thus reinforcing the company\u2019s reputation for creating a series of new productions, including the compelling double bill of Dallapiccola\u2019s Il prigioniero and Schoenberg\u2019s Erwartung (2013); Beethoven\u2019s Fidelio, in Lyon and at the Edinburgh International Festival (2013); Britten\u2019s Peter Grimes and The Turn of the Screw (2014); Debussy\u2019s Pell\u00e9as et M\u00e9lisande , Berlioz\u2019s La Damnation de Faust (2015), and Shostakovich\u2019s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (2016).\nFollowing his tenure as Principal Conductor in Lyon, he was awarded \u00a0\u2018Officier de l\u2019ordre des Arts et des Lettres\u2019 by French cultural minister Fran\u00e7oise Nyssen, a further distinguished title adding to the prestigious Asahi Prize, given in January 2015, for his contribution to Japanese society. This award distinguishes individuals who have greatly contributed to the development and progress of Japanese culture and society at large.\n|,|title|:|conductor|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Simon Trp\u010deski|,|bio|:|Macedonian pianist Simon Trp\u0109eski (pronounced terp-CHESS-kee) has established himself as one of the most remarkable musicians to have emerged in recent years, praised not only for his powerful virtuosity and deeply expressive approach, but also for his warm personality and commitment to strengthening Macedonia\u2019s cultural image.\nMr. Trp\u0109eski\u2019s 2017-18 season includes performances with the San Francisco Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Philharmonia Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. He also continues a multi-year residency for Wigmore Hall and appears in recital at the Meany Center for the Performing Arts in Seattle. In the summer of 2017, Mr. Trp\u0109eski was featured in a pair of performances with the Chicago Symphony at the Ravinia Festival performing concertos by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.\nSimon Trp\u0109eski works regularly with a prominent list of conductors including Marin Alsop, Jakub Hrusa, Vladimir Jurowski, Susanna Malkki, Gianandrea Noseda, Antonio Pappano, Vasily Petrenko, Robert Spano, and Edo deWaart. He is a frequent soloist with the major North American orchestras, including the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, and the Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Baltimore Symphonies. Engagements with major European ensembles include the London Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, and St. Petersburg Philharmonic. Additionally, he has performed with the New Japan, Seoul and Hong Kong Philharmonics, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne symphonies, and has toured with the New Zealand Symphony.\nA sought-after recitalist, Mr. Trp\u0109eski has given solo performances at major halls in New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., London, Paris, Amsterdam, Milan, Munich, Prague, Hamburg, Bilbao, Istanbul, Dublin, and Tokyo. Mr. Trp\u0109eski has recorded prolifically to widespread acclaim on EMI Classics, Avie Records, Onyx Classics, and Wigmore Hall Live. His first recording, released in 2002, featured works by Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, Stravinsky, and Prokofiev, and received both the \u201cEditor\u2019s Choice\u201d and \u201cDebut Album\u201d awards at the Gramophone Awards. His 2005 Rachmaninoff, 2007 Chopin, and 2008 Debussy recordings received extensive praise from critics, and in 2010 and 2011, his interpretations of Rachmaninoff\u2019s four piano concertos and the\u00a0Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini\u00a0with Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic were recognized with Classic FM, Gramophone \u201cEditor\u2019s Choice,\u201d and Diapason d\u2019Or distinctions. Mr. Trp\u0109eski\u2019s March 2012 recital at the Wigmore Hall was released on the \u201cWigmore Hall Live\u201d label, and was immediately hailed by The Telegraph as \u201cClassical CD of the Week.\u201d\nA recording featuring Tchaikovsky\u2019s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 with Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra was released in the autumn of 2014 on the Onyx Classics label, and another Wigmore Hall Live album featuring works by Brahms, Ravel, and Poulenc was released in early 2016. His most recent recording \u2013 released by Onyx Classics in June 2017 \u2013 revives his much-heralded collaboration with Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and features Prokofiev\u2019s Piano Concertos No. 1 and 3 together with the\u00a0Overture on Hebrew Themes.\nMr. Trp\u0109eski also performs chamber music as often as he can, at festivals such as Aspen, Verbier, Risor, Bergen, and the Baltic Sea Festival. He recently launched a new project called\u00a0Makedonissimo\u00a0featuring arrangements of Macedonian folk music by Pande Shaov for piano, clarinet, violin, cello, and percussion. The project debuted at the Ludwigsburg and Ljubljana Festivals, with additional performances being planned for future seasons. He has a regular duo partnership with cellist Daniel M\u00fcller-Schott and recent collaborations have included a North American tour; appearances at the Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall, and in Bilbao; and trio performances with Julia Fischer and Daniel M\u00fcller-Schott at the Wigmore Hall and Dresden Philharmonie.\nWith the special support of KulturOp \u2014 Macedonia\u2019s leading cultural and arts organization \u2014 and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Trp\u0109eski works regularly with young musicians in Macedonia in order to cultivate the talent of the country\u2019s next generation of artists.\nBorn in the Republic of Macedonia in 1979, Simon Trp\u0109eski is a graduate of the School of Music at the University of St. Cyril and St. Methodius in Skopje, where he studied with Boris Romanov. He was previously named a BBC New Generation Artist, and in May 2003, he was honored with the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award. In December 2009, the President of Macedonia, H.E. Gjorge Ivanov, honored him with the Presidential Order of Merit for Macedonia, a decoration given to foreign and domestic dignitaries responsible for the affirmation of Macedonia abroad. Most recently, in September 2011, Mr. Trp\u0109eski became the first ever recipient of the title \u201cNational Artist of the Republic of Macedonia.\u201d He makes his home in Skopje with his family.\n|,|title|:|piano|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |}],|without|:[]} SHOSTAKOVICH  Ballet Suite No. 1 RACHMANINOFF  Piano Concerto No. 4 TCHAIKOVSKY  Symphony No. 3, Polish

data-filter="[2019 04|2019 04|2019 04|][jones-hall|jones-hall|jones-hall|][April|April|April|][[{|term_id|:8,|name|:|POPS|,|slug|:|pops-series|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:8,|taxonomy|:|series|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:7,|filter|:|raw|}]][{|term_id|:1544,|name|:|2018-19|,|slug|:|2018-19|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1544,|taxonomy|:|season|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" The breathtaking, gravity-defying artists of Cirque de la Symphonie drop into Jones Hall for an evening of high-flying excitement and incredible music! Be dazzled by world-class acrobats, aerial flyers, contortionists, strongmen, jugglers and tumblers as Jones Hall transforms into a Cirque wonderland. Michael Krajewski and the Houston Symphony take care of the sonic thrills in this must-see concert event that’s perfect for the whole family. Note: Sunday subscribers attend Sunday matinee performance. {|with_image|:[{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Michael Krajewski|,|bio|:||,|title|:|conductor|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |}],|without|:[]}

data-filter="[2019 04|2019 04|][jones-hall|jones-hall|][April|April|][[{|term_id|:1035,|name|:|Family|,|slug|:|family-series|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1035,|taxonomy|:|series|,|description|:|Now in his tenth season, our Associate Conductor Robert Franz is ready to help your family create cherished memories. Buckle up! Our Family Series is taking you on a magical, musical quest on Saturday mornings.\r\n\r\nAlso, enjoy pre- and post-concert activities, including our Instrument Petting Zoo, young musician performances in the lobby as well as crafts and musical activities. \r\n\r\n|,|parent|:0,|count|:3,|filter|:|raw|}]][{|term_id|:1544,|name|:|2018-19|,|slug|:|2018-19|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1544,|taxonomy|:|season|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" Wave your magic wand and enter an enchanted land of glass slippers, mysterious witches and fairy godmothers as your favorite fairy tales come to life through music and dance! Ballet dancers will dazzle the senses as the Houston Symphony performs the treasured music from Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty, Prokofiev’s Cinderella, Stravinsky’s Firebird and more. Whether you get there by car, carriage or magic pumpkin, you won’t want to miss it! Children of all ages, including infants, are welcome at Family Series performances. All patrons must have a ticket when entering a concert venue. For lap child tickets, please contact our Patron Services Center at 713-224-7575. {|with_image|:[{|type|:|existing|,|name|:|Robert Franz|,|bio|:||,|title|:|Associate Conductor|,|small_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|url|:|https:\/\/www.houstonsymphony.org\/about-us\/conductor\/robert-franz\/|}],|without|:[{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Dancers \u2013 Kinder HSPVA dance department|,|bio|:||,|title|:| Janie Caruthers and Courtney Jones, directors|,|small_image|:false,|bio_image|:false,|full_image|:false}]}

data-filter="[2019 05|2019 05|2019 05|][jones-hall|jones-hall|jones-hall|][May|May|May|][[{|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|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" Heroic. Ferocious. Groundbreaking. Hear the symphony that changed it all as Andrés conducts Beethoven’s Eroica, a staggering musical vision too powerful to be contained. A monumental weekend also features the grand unveiling of Composer-in-Residence Jimmy López’ Violin Concerto, a stunning feast for the senses that combines light displays with musical luminescence to immerse you in the breathtaking beauty of the Northern Lights. 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. {|with_image|:[{|type|:|existing|,|name|:|Andr\u00e9s Orozco-Estrada|,|bio|:||,|title|:|Music Director|,|small_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|url|:|https:\/\/www.houstonsymphony.org\/about-us\/conductor\/andres-orozco-estrada\/|},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Leticia Moreno|,|bio|:|Recognized as a truly exciting and versatile violinist, Leticia Moreno \u201ccaptivates audiences and critics alike with her natural charisma, virtuosism and deep interpretative force\u201d. In 2012 she was appointed to Europe\u00b4s prestigious award Echo Rising Star leading her to play recitals in the main concert halls across Europe.\nShe has appeared with the most renowned conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Christoph Eschenbach, Yuri Temirkanov, Krzysztof Penderecki, Andr\u00e9s Orozco Estrada, Josep Pons, Juanjo Mena and Andrey Boreyko among others and with leading orchestras such us Wiener Symphoniker, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Washington National, Mariinsky Orchestra, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Orchestre Philharmonique de Montecarlo, Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields, Orquesta Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar and is a regular guest with most of the major Spanish orchestras.\nSeason 2016\/2017 started with Leticia\u2019s debut with Hall\u00e9 Orchestra \/ Sir Mark Elder in Santander Festival, followed by her debut with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra. Next concerts in the season includes Staatskapelle Weimar with Penderecki, Hall\u00e9 Orchestra with Pablo Gonz\u00e1lez, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic with Andrey Boreyko, RTE National Orchestra with Josep Pons, ending the season with two tours: St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Temirkanov and Youth National Orchestra of Colombia with Orozco Estrada.\nUpcoming highlights includes Yomiuri Orchestra with Temirkanov, Houston Symphony Orchestra with Orozco Estrada, WDR Orchestra with Alondra de la Parra, a tour in Germany with Orquesta de Cadaqu\u00e9s and Mozarteum Orchestra with Penderecki.\nAs a keen recitalist and chamber musician, Leticia has collaborated alongside Sol Gabetta, Bertrand Chamayou, Kirill Gerstein, Alexander Ghindin, Lauma Skride, Mario Brunello, Leonard Elschenbroich and Maxim Rysanov.\nLeticia has recently recorded two CDs for Universal\/Deutsche Grammophon: Spanish Landscapes – a study of Spanish Music (Sarasate, Lorca, Granados, Falla etc) and Shostakovich Violin Concerto No 1 with St Petersburg Philharmonic conducted by Yuri Temirkanov.\nLeticia studied with Zakar Bron at Escuela Superior de M\u00fasica Reina Sof\u00eda in Madrid and Musikhochschule Koeln, being the youngest member of the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung.\u00a0 Leticia Moreno has won international violin competitions such as Szeryng, Concertino Praga, Novosibirsk, Sarasate and Kreisler.\nLeticia plays a 1762 Nicola Gagliano\nwww.leticiamoreno.com\n|,|title|:|violin|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |}],|without|:[]} JIMMY LÓPEZ  Aurora, for Solo Violin and Orchestra (Houston Symphony commission, world premiere) BEETHOVEN  Symphony No. 3, Eroica

data-filter="[2019 05|2019 05|2019 05|][jones-hall|jones-hall|jones-hall|][May|May|May|][[{|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|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" Edgar Allan Poe’s words meet the lavish opulence of Rachmaninoff in this powerful choral symphony, which Rachmaninoff himself cited as his favorite creation. The vibrant, jazzy rhythms of Gershwin and the blistering energy of Prokofiev are on full display as International Tchaikovsky Competition Silver Medalist George Li brings his “staggering technical prowess” (Washington Post) to Houston. To start, step inside the haunting, visionary world of America’s greatest musical pioneer and prophet as Andrés’ season-long exploration of Charles Ives’ Fourth Symphony continues. 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. {|with_image|:[{|type|:|existing|,|name|:|Andr\u00e9s Orozco-Estrada|,|bio|:||,|title|:|Music Director|,|small_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|url|:|https:\/\/www.houstonsymphony.org\/about-us\/conductor\/andres-orozco-estrada\/|},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|George Li|,|bio|:|Praised by the Washington Post for combining \u201cstaggering technical prowess, a sense of command and depth of expression,\u201d pianist George Li possesses an effortless grace, brilliant virtuosity and poised authority far beyond his years. Since winning the Silver Medal at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition, Li has rapidly established a major international reputation and performs regularly with some of the world\u2019s leading orchestras and conductors such as Gergiev, Dudamel, Honeck, Petrenko, Tilson Thomas and Long Yu.\nRecent and upcoming concerto highlights include performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon, Sydney Symphony and St Petersburg Philharmonic. In 2018\/19, Li makes his debut with the London Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony, Tokyo Symphony and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, embarks on a 11-city recital tour of China and is the soloist on the Russian National Orchestra\u2019s major US tour with Mikhail Pletnev. He frequently appears with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra, including performances at the Paris Philharmonie, Luxembourg Philharmonie, New York\u2019s Brooklyn Academy of Music, Graffenegg Festival and in various venues throughout Russia.\nIn recital, Li performs at venues including Carnegie Hall, Davies Hall in San Francisco, the Mariinsky Theatre, Munich\u2019s Gasteig, the Louvre, Seoul Arts Center, Tokyo\u2019s Asahi Hall and Musashino Hall, NCPA Beijing, Shanghai Poly Theater and Amici della Musica Firenze, as well as appearances at major festivals including the Edinburgh International Festival, Ravinia Festival, Festival de P\u00e2ques in Aix-en-Provence Festival, and Montreux Festival.\nAn active chamber musician, Li has performed alongside James Ehnes, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Benjamin Beilman, Kian Soltani, Pablo Ferrandez and Daniel Lozakovich and future plans include collaborations with Daniel Hope, Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Lawrence Power. Li is an exclusive Warner Classics recording artist, with his debut recital album released in October 2017 which was recorded live from the Mariinsky.\nLi gave his first public performance at Boston\u2019s Steinway Hall at the age of ten and in 2011, performed for President Obama at the White House in an evening honoring Chancellor Angela Merkel. Among Li\u2019s many prizes, he was the recipient of the 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, a recipient of the 2012 Gilmore Young Artist Award, and the First Prize winner of the 2010 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. In summer 2018, Li graduated from the Harvard University \/ New England Conservatory joint program, where he studied with Wha Kyung Byun.\n|,|title|:|piano|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|*Peter Dugan|,|bio|:|Pianist Peter Dugan\u2019s 2017 debut solo performances with\u00a0Michael Tilson Thomas\u00a0and the San Francisco Symphony were described by the Los Angeles Times as \u201cstunning\u201d and by the San Francisco Chronicle as \u201cfearlessly athletic.\u201d He has appeared as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician across North America and abroad. Valuing versatility as the key to the future of classical music, Peter is equally at home in classical, jazz and pop idioms.\nA sought-after crossover artist, Peter has performed in duos and trios with artists ranging from\u00a0Itzhak Perlman and\u00a0Joshua Bell\u00a0to Jesse Colin Young and\u00a0Glenn Close. The Wall Street Journal described his collaboration with violinist Charles Yang as a \u201cclassical-meets-rockstar duo.\u201d\nPeter\u2019s recent chamber music recitals include the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, Music@Menlo and a Weill Hall debut presented by Carnegie Hall. His debut album with baritone John Brancy, A Silent Night: A WWI Memorial in Song, pays homage to composers who lived through, fought in and died in the Great War.\u00a0Brancy and Peter won first prize at the 2017 Montreal International Music Competition and second prize at the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition.\nPeter holds bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied under Matti Raekallio. He lives in New York with his wife, mezzo-soprano Kara Dugan, and serves on the piano faculty at the Juilliard Evening Division.\nPeter Dugan is a Yamaha Artist.\n|,|title|:|piano |,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |}],|without|:[{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Houston Symphony Chamber Chorus|,|bio|:||,|title|:|Betsy Cook Weber, director|,|small_image|:false,|bio_image|:false,|full_image|:false},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Mane Galoyan|,|bio|:||,|title|:|soprano|,|small_image|:false,|bio_image|:false,|full_image|:false},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Garrett Sorenson|,|bio|:||,|title|:|tenor|,|small_image|:false,|bio_image|:false,|full_image|:false},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Andrei Bondarenko|,|bio|:||,|title|:|baritone|,|small_image|:false,|bio_image|:false,|full_image|:false}]} IVES  Symphony No. 4, Finale GERSHWIN I Got Rhythm Variations PROKOFIEV  Piano Concerto No. 1 RACHMANINOFF  The Bells

data-filter="[2019 05|2019 05|][jones-hall|jones-hall|][May|May|][[{|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|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" A sinister castle, shrouded in darkness. Inside, seven doors hold seven shocking secrets. In time, all will be revealed… Prepare for an extraordinary concert experience as the 2018–19 Classical season closes with a complete semi-staged performance of Bartók’s riveting psychological thriller, in which a young bride slowly discovers the gruesome depths of her husband’s dark secrets. A dream cast featuring two of the world’s most sought-after opera stars joins Andrés Orozco-Estrada and the Houston Symphony for the must-see event of the season. Note: Thursday and Sunday subscribers attend Thursday performance. Saturday subscribers attend Friday performance. 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. {|with_image|:[{|type|:|existing|,|name|:|Andr\u00e9s Orozco-Estrada|,|bio|:||,|title|:|Music Director|,|small_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|url|:|https:\/\/www.houstonsymphony.org\/about-us\/conductor\/andres-orozco-estrada\/|},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Michelle DeYoung|,|bio|:||,|title|:|mezzo-soprano (Judith)|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Matthias Goerne|,|bio|:||,|title|:|baritone (Bluebeard)|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |}],|without|:[]} BARTÓK  Bluebeard’s Castle

data-filter="[2019 05|2019 05|2019 05|][jones-hall|jones-hall|jones-hall|][May|May|May|][[{|term_id|:8,|name|:|POPS|,|slug|:|pops-series|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:8,|taxonomy|:|series|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:7,|filter|:|raw|}]][{|term_id|:1544,|name|:|2018-19|,|slug|:|2018-19|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1544,|taxonomy|:|season|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:30,|filter|:|raw|}]" Experience iconic moments from musical theater—everything from beloved overtures and dream ballets to electrifying “full company” renditions featuring the Houston Symphony Chorus—in this blockbuster POPS Season finale. Featuring music of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Leonard Bernstein, Jule Styne and more! {|with_image|:[{|type|:|existing|,|name|:|Steven Reineke|,|bio|:||,|title|:|Principal POPS Conductor|,|small_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|url|:|https:\/\/www.houstonsymphony.org\/about-us\/conductor\/steven-reineke\/|}],|without|:[]}