Beethoven 9 & Bernstein | march 18, 19, 20
Biographies
R A N D G R O U P G R E AT P E R F O R M E R S S E R I E S
These performances are generously supported in part by: Diamond Guarantor Houston Symphony Endowment Sponsor Dr. Rita Justice Mr. & Mrs. Rodney H. Margolis Mr. & Mrs. J. Stephen Marks Partner Tad & Suzanne Smith Dede & Connie Weil
Supporter Vada & Walter Boyle Aaron Jussi Thomas & Jennifer Chang These concerts are also supported by Donors to the New Music Director Fund. For a full listing of supporters, please refer to page 12. For a full listing of sponsors to the 3 Weeks of Beethoven, please refer to page 21. The Classical Season is endowed by The Wortham Foundation, Inc. in memory of Gus S. and Lyndall F. Wortham
These performances are part of the Margaret Alkek Williams Sound + Vision series, which is also supported by The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts Endowed Fund for Creative Initiatives. Video enhancement of Houston Symphony concerts is made possible by the Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation through a special gift celebrating the Foundation’s 50th anniversary in 2015. Recent enhancements to the Jones Hall recording suite are generously provided by Silver Circle Audio.
KELLEY O’CONNOR, mezzo-soprano Possessing a voice of uncommon musical sophistication and innate dramatic artistry, the Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor is one of her generation’s most compelling performers. This season, the California native’s calendar includes Mahler’s Second Symphony in Atlanta, Colorado, Detroit and San Francisco; Mahler’s Third Symphony with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Nashville Symphony; Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde at the Grand Teton Music Festival; Lieberson’s Neruda Songs with the Minnesota Orchestra; and Berlioz’ Roméo et Juliette with the St. Louis Symphony. Her operatic highlights include performances of Suzuki in Madama Butterfly in a new production at the Boston Lyric Opera and at the Cincinnati Opera; Ursule in Berlioz’ Béatrice et Bénédict at Opera Boston; Meg Page in Falstaff with The Santa Fe Opera; and Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Canadian Opera Company. She created the role of Federico García Lorca in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar for the world premiere at Tanglewood and has received international critical acclaim for performances of the role. Internationally, she has performed at The Proms and Edinburgh International Festival, and she toured with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, among other performances. Her discography includes the Grammy Award-winning Ainadamar with Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. She recorded Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. March 2016 33