InTune — The Houston Symphony Magazine — November 2019

THE HOUSTON SYMPHONY MAGAZINE

NOVEMBER 2019

STAR WARS : THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 22 —IN CONCERT

AX PLAYS BEETHOVEN 26

November 7, 8, 9 & 10 November 15, 16 & 17

TRIFONOV PLAYS TCHAIKOVSKY 30

ALL-STRAUSS THANKSGIVING 36

November 22, 23 & 24

November 29, 30 & December 1

A M US ICA L F E A S T

Your Values.

Your Influence.

Your Legacy.

Our Advice.

From left: Shelitha Smodic, Maureen Phillips, Tom Williams, Leah Bennett, Donnie Roberts, Susan Wedelich, Katie Slater

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InTUNE | N O V E M B E R

2019

Programs

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back —In Concert

November 7, 8, 9 & 10 ��������������������������������������������������������������������������22 Ax Plays Beethoven

November 15, 16 & 17 ���������������������������������������������������������������������������26 Trifonov Plays Tchaikovsky

November 22, 23 & 24 ��������������������������������������������������������������������������30 All-Strauss Thanksgiving

November 29, 30 & December 1 ������������������������������������������������������36

Features

Letter to Patrons ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 4 A Letter from Andrés Orozco-Estrada ����������������������������������������������� 12 2019 Opening Night Gala and Concert ����������������������������������������������� 14 2019–20 Chamber Music Series ������������������������������������������������������������ 16 Concert Preview: Ad Astra �������������������������������������������������������������������������� 18 Fans in the Band �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������20 Houston Symphony School Residencies ������������������������������������������42 Backstage Pass with Tina Zhang �����������������������������������������������������������52

Your Houston Symphony

Your Symphony Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Music Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Upcoming Broadcasts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Orchestra Roster ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������8 Society Board of Trustees ������������������������������������������������������������������������������9 Staff Listing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Our Supporters

Houston Symphony Donors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Young Associates Council . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Corporate, Foundation, and Government Partners ��������������������46 In-Kind Donors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Houston Symphony Endowment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Legacy Society & In Memoriam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Education and Community Engagement Donors . . . . . . . . . 50 Musician Sponsorships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Explore Jimmy López Bellido’s Ad Astra before its world premiere in December.

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InTUNE is published by the Houston Symphony.

615 Louisiana, Suite 102, Houston, TX 77002 713.224.4240 | houstonsymphony.org All rights reserved.

InTune is produced by the Houston Symphony’s Marketing and Communications department.

Calvin Dotsey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Publications Editor Melanie O’Neill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Publications Production & Design Elaine Reeder Mayo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editorial Consultant Shweiki Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Printing Ventures Marketing Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Advertising The Houston Symphony is a non-profit organization that relies on the support of our generous donors. Presenting nearly

170 concerts annually with an ensemble of 88 full-time professional musicians, the Symphony is Houston’s largest performing arts organization. We enrich the lives of hundreds of thousands through more than 1,000 annual community-based performances and inspiring classroom visits. Your support enables us to continue creating innovative and commanding musical experiences.

The activities and projects of the Houston Symphony are funded in part by grants from the City of Houston, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Texas Commission on the Arts.

The Houston Symphony currently records under its own label, Houston Symphony Media Productions, and for Pentatone and Naxos. Houston Symphony recordings are also available on the Telarc, RCA Red Seal, Virgin Classics, and Koch International Classics labels.

Cameras, Recorders, Cell Phones & Pagers

Cameras and recorders are not permitted in the hall. Patrons may not use any device to record or photograph performances. Please silence cell phones, pagers, and alarm watches and refrain from texting during performances.

All content © 2019. Contents cannot be reproduced in any manner, whole or in part, without written permission from the Houston Symphony or InTune Magazine.

LETTER TO PATRONS NOVEMBER 2019

It’s hard to believe it’s already November! Here at the Symphony, we have some star-studded concerts planned for this month, starting with one of the most anticipated events of the season, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back—In Concert. Piano fans are in for a treat with concerts featuring star soloists Emanuel Ax and Daniil Trifonov playing Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. The month concludes when Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada returns to lead our All-Strauss Thanksgiving, a showcase of glittering orchestral masterpieces for the holiday weekend.

The starry theme continues in December with one of the most exciting Classical Series concerts this season: Shaham Plays Brahms.

In addition to a performance of Brahms’ Violin Concerto from one of the world’s leading virtuosos, Andrés conducts the world premiere of Ad Astra, a symphony by Composer-in-Residence Jimmy López Bellido. Jimmy explains how the adventure of space exploration inspired this vivid and imaginative new work on page 18. The same weekend, the Houston Symphony launches a new Chamber Music Series featuring internationally renowned guest artists and Houston Symphony musicians. Learn more about these exciting concerts on page 16.

We then get into the spirit of the season with some of Houston’s most treasured holiday traditions. Beloved former Principal POPS Conductor Michael Krajewski returns to conduct this year’s Very Merry Pops, a program he created in December 2000, and Nicholas McGegan—one of today’s leading interpreters of baroque music— conducts Handel’s Messiah. Kids of all ages will also enjoy ’Twas the Night Before Christmas, our holiday BBVA Family Series concert.

Until then, happy Thanksgiving from all of us at the Houston Symphony. Whether they appear in iconic films, virtuoso masterpieces, or exciting world premieres, we hope you will be back to see the stars of Jones Hall again soon.

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HOUSTON symphony JONES HALL FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS 615 Louisiana St. Suite 102 Houston, TX 77002

PATRON SERVICES

713.224.7575 Mon–Sat | 12 p.m.– 6 p.m. patronservices@houstonsymphony.org

GROUP SALES

713.238.1435 Mon–Fri | 9 a.m.–5 p.m. groupsales@houstonsymphony.org

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES 713.238.1420 Mon–Fri | 9 a.m.–5 p.m.

YOUR SYMPHONY EXPERIENCE JONES HALL

ETIQUETTE

Sixty-six foot ceilings, scarlet carpet, teakwood, and travertine marble greet visitors to Jones Hall, the home of the Houston Symphony. Opened in 1966, Jones Hall has a uniquely designed movable ceiling that enables the auditorium to shrink or expand from approximately 2,150 to 2,900 seats.

For Classical concerts, if a work has several movements it is traditional to hold applause until the end of the last movement. If you are unsure when a piece ends, check the program or wait for the conductor to face the audience.

If you feel truly inspired, however, do not be afraid to applaud! Brief applause between movements after an exceptional performance is always appreciated.

PRELUDE PRE-CONCERT CONVERSATIONS Led by Musical Ambassador Carlos Andrés Botero, Prelude Pre-Concert Conversations are held 45 minutes in advance of each Classical Series performance and provide interesting insights into composers and their works.

DEVICES Please silence all electronic devices before the performance. Photography and audio/video recordings of these performances are strictly prohibited.

FOOD & DRINK POLICY Encore Café offers a selection of food and drink options before performances and during intermission; we also have several bars located throughout the concert hall where you may purchase beer, wine, and mixed drinks. However, food or drinks are prohibited in the auditorium for Classical Series performances. Drinks (in plastic containers) are allowed for POPS concerts and some Symphony Specials.

LOST AND FOUND For lost and found inquiries, please contact Front of House Manager Sarah Rendón during the performance.

She also can be reached at sarah.rendon@houstonsymphony.org.

You also may contact Houston First after the performances at 832.487.7050.

CONNECT WITH US |

CHILDREN Children ages 6 and up are welcome to all Classical, POPS, and Symphony Special concerts. Children of all ages are welcome at BBVA Family Series performances. Children must have a ticket for all ticketed events.

LATE SEATING Each performance typically allows for late seating, which is scheduled in intervals and determined by the conductor. Our ushers and front of house manager will instruct you on when late seating is allowed.

TICKETS Subscribers to six or more Classical or POPS concerts, as well as BBVA Family Subscribers, may exchange their tickets at no cost. Tickets to Symphony Specials or single ticket purchases are ineligible for exchange or refund.

If you are unable to make a performance, your ticket may be donated prior to the concert for a tax-donation receipt. Donations and exchanges may be made in person, over the phone, or online.

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InTUNE — November 2019 | 5

OROZCO-ESTRADA MUSIC DIRECTOR

ROY AND LILLIE CULLEN CHAIR Energy, elegance, and spirit—these are the qualities that distinguish Andrés Orozco-Estrada as a musician. Since the 2014–15 season, he has been music director of the Houston Symphony and principal conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. Beginning in the 2020–21 season, he will be chief conductor of the Vienna Symphony.

Andrés conducts many of the world's leading orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Orchestre National de France, and American orchestras in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Chicago. He has also directed successful concerts and opera performances at the Glyndebourne and Salzburg festivals.

Highlights of the 2019–20 season include performances with the Vienna Philharmonic at the BBC Proms and the Lucerne Festival, as well as tours to China, South Korea, and Japan. In the spring, Andrés conducts his debut concert with the New York Philharmonic and returns as a guest to the rostrum of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. In May 2020, the Dutch National Opera Amsterdam premieres a new production of Carmen under his direction. With the Houston Symphony, he presents a new two-week Schumann Festival in February featuring the composer’s symphonies, concertos, choral works, and chamber music. The same month, he conducts three concerts at the Wiener Musikverein, leading the Vienna Symphony as principal conductor designate.

Andrés is particularly committed to new concert formats in which spoken commentary and visual elements complement the music as he rediscovers known repertoire together with the audience—be it a Spotlight concert with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra or a Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra family concert.

His CD releases at Pentatone have attracted critical praise. His Dvořák cycle with the Houston Symphony was praised by Pizzicato as a “vital Dvořák with warm colors.” With the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, recordings of Stravinsky's Firebird and The Rite of Spring were hailed as “beguiling” by Gramophone, and the same publication recently described him as “a fine Straussian” in a review of their recent recording of the Alpine Symphony from his Richard Strauss cycle.

In addition, his interpretations of all the Brahms and Mendelssohn symphonies are available on recordings.

Born in Medellín, Colombia, Andrés began his musical education with the violin. He received his first conducting lessons at 15 and began study in Vienna in 1997, where he was accepted at the prestigious University of Music and Performing Arts in the conducting class of Uroš Lajovic, a student of the legendary Hans Swarowsky. Andrés has since lived in Vienna.

6 | Houston Symphony

Tune in to Houston Public Media News 88.7 FM Sunday nights at 8 p.m. to hear great performances from past Houston Symphony concerts. You can also listen Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. online through Houston Public Media's digital Classical station.

NOVEMBER 2019 BROADCAST SCHEDULE ALL BROADCASTS AIR AT 8 P.M. November 3 | News 88.7 November 6 | Classical RECORDED: October 26–28, 2018

November 10 | News 88.7 November 13 | Classical RECORDED: January 12, 14 & 15, 2017 November 17 | News 88.7 November 20 | Classical RECORDED: February 23, 25 & 26, 2017 November 24 | News 88.7 November 27 | Classical RECORDED: November 2–4, 2017

Fabien Gabel, conductor Karen Gomyo, violin Herrmann: Suite from Vertigo Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto Tchaikovsky: The Tempest, Fantasy Overture Korngold/Russ: Suite from The Sea Hawk James Gaffigan, conductor Behzod Abduraimov, piano Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor Strauss: Don Juan Liszt: Les préludes, Symphonic Poem No. 3 Hans Graf, conductor Timothy McAllister, alto saxophone Stravinsky: Symphonies of Wind Instruments Adams: Saxophone Concerto Mussorgsky/Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition Bramwell Tovey, conductor Storm Large, vocalist Hudson Shad, vocalists R. Strauss: Dance of the Seven Veils from Salome Scriabin: The Poem of Ecstasy Weill: The Seven Deadly Sins

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ROSTER

ORCHESTRA Andrés Orozco-Estrada Music Director Roy and Lillie Cullen Chair FIRST VIOLIN Yoonshin Song, Concertmaster Max Levine Chair Eric Halen, Co-Concertmaster Ellen E. Kelley Chair Qi Ming, Assistant Concertmaster Fondren Foundation Chair Marina Brubaker Tong Yan MiHee Chung Sophia Silivos Rodica Gonzalez Ferenc Illenyi Si-Yang Lao Kurt Johnson Christopher Neal Sergei Galperin SECOND VIOLIN MuChen Hsieh, Principal Hitai Lee Mihaela Frusina Annie Kuan-Yu Chen Jing Zheng Martha Chapman Tianjie Lu Anastasia Sukhopara Tina Zhang Boson Mo+ Amy Semes+ Katrina Bobbs Savitski*

HORN William VerMeulen, Principal Mr. and Mrs. Alexander K. McLanahan Endowed Chair Robert Johnson, Associate Principal Jesse Clevenger*, Assistant Principal Brian Thomas Nancy Goodearl Ian Mayton

FLUTE Aralee Dorough, Principal General Maurice Hirsch Chair Matthew Roitstein, Associate Principal Judy Dines Kathryn Ladner

TRUMPET Mark Hughes, Principal George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Chair John Parker, Associate Principal Robert Walp, Assistant Principal Richard Harris

PICCOLO Kathryn Ladner

TROMBONE Allen Barnhill, Principal Bradley White, Associate Principal Phillip Freeman

ENGLISH HORN Adam Dinitz

CELLO Brinton Averil Smith, Principal Janice and Thomas Barrow Chair Christopher French, Associate Principal Anthony Kitai Louis-Marie Fardet Jeffrey Butler Maki Kubota Xiao Wong Charles Seo Annamarie Reader* James R. Denton**

8 | Houston Symphony

DOUBLE BASS Robin Kesselman, Principal Timothy Dilenschneider, Associate Principal Mark Shapiro Eric Larson Andrew Pedersen Burke Shaw Donald Howey Michael McMurray

OBOE Jonathan Fischer, Principal Lucy Binyon Stude Chair Anne Leek, Associate Principal Colin Gatwood Adam Dinitz

VIOLA Wayne Brooks, Principal Mr. & Mrs. Jesse B. Tutor Legacy Society Chair Joan DerHovsepian, Associate Principal George Pascal, Assistant Principal Wei Jiang Linda Goldstein Sheldon Person Fay Shapiro Daniel Strba Jarita Ng Phyllis Herdliska

Community-Embedded Musicians David Connor, double bass Rainel Joubert, violin Patricia Quintero Garcia, violin Alexa Sangbin Thomson, viola

Steven Reineke Principal POPS Conductor Robert Franz Associate Conductor Betsy Cook Weber Director, Houston Symphony Chorus

CLARINET Mark Nuccio, Principal Thomas LeGrand, Associate Principal Christian Schubert Alexander Potiomkin E-FLAT CLARINET Thomas LeGrand BASS CLARINET Alexander Potiomkin Tassie and Constantine S. Nicandros Chair BASSOON Rian Craypo, Principal Issac Schultz*, Associate Principal Elise Wagner Adam Trussell

BASS TROMBONE Phillip Freeman TUBA Dave Kirk, Principal TIMPANI Leonardo Soto, Principal Matthew Strauss, Associate Principal PERCUSSION Brian Del Signore, Principal Mark Griffith Matthew Strauss HARP Megan Conley, Principal** KEYBOARD Scott Holshouser, Principal + Rotating Chairs *Contracted Substitute ** On Leave

CONTRABASSOON Adam Trussell

Orchestra Personnel Manager Michael Gorman

Librarian Thomas Takaro

Stage Manager Stefan Stout

Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager Position Vacant

Assistant Librarians Aspen McArthur Michael McMurray

Assistant Stage Manager José Rios

Stage Technicians Nick DiFonzo Justin Herriford Armando Rodriguez

TRUSTEES

2019–20 SEASON

SOCIETY BOARD of

PAST PRESIDENTS OF THE HOUSTON SYMPHONY SOCIETY

Executive Committee Janet F. Clark President John Rydman President-Elect Steven P. Mach Chairman Immediate Past President

Robert A. Peiser* Honorary Chairman Paul Morico General Counsel Mike S. Stude Chairman Emeritus

Barbara McCelvey Secretary John Mangum^ Executive Director/CEO

Evan B. Glick Chair, Popular Programming Barbara J. Burger Chair, Finance Miles O. Smith Chair, Artistic & Orchestra Affairs Brad W. Corson Chair, Governance & Leadership Viviana Denechaud Chair, Development Tracy Dieterich Chair, Community Partnerships Bobby Tudor At Large Immediate Past Chair

Mary Lynn Marks Chair, Volunteers & Special Events Billy McCartney Chair, Education William J. Toomey II President, Houston Symphony Endowment Robert Orr Chair, Strategic Planning Manolo Sánchez Chair, Marketing & Communications Jesse B. Tutor Chair, Audit

Maureen Higdon^ President, Houston Symphony League Andrés Orozco-Estrada^ Music Director Adam Dinitz^ Musician Representative Mark Hughes^ Musician Representative Mark Nuccio^ Musician Representative Christine Kelly-Weaver^ Assistant Secretary ^Ex-Officio *In Memoriam

GOVERNING DIRECTORS Farida Abjani Michael W. Adler Marcia Backus Janice Barrow ** Gary Beauchamp Bill Bullock Barbara J. Burger Janet F. Clark Brad W. Corson Viviana Denechaud Michael Doherty Terry Cheyney Sippi Khurana, M.D.

TRUSTEES

Jonathan Ayre James M. Bell Jr. Devinder Bhatia, M.D. Nancy Shelton Bratic Terry Ann Brown** Eric Brueggeman Ralph Burch Justice Brett Busby Dougal Cameron John T. Cater** Michael H. Clark Virginia Clark Evan D. Collins, M.D., MBA Andrew Davis, Ph.D. Tracy Dieterich Bob Duff Joan Duff Kelli Cohen Fein, M.D. Jeffrey B. Firestone Eugene A. Fong Aggie L. Foster

Rochelle Levit, Ph.D. Cora Sue Mach ** Steven P. Mach Paul M. Mann, M.D. Rodney Margolis** Jay Marks ** Mary Lynn Marks Billy McCartney Barbara McCelvey Alexander K. McLanahan ** Paul R. Morico Robert Orr John Rydman**

Kafi Slaughter Ex-Officio Miles O. Smith Tracy Dieterich Anthony Speier Evan B. Glick Mike S. Stude ** Maureen Higdon William J. Toomey II Nina McGlashan Bobby Tudor ** Gloria G. Pryzant Betty Tutor ** Manolo Sánchez Jesse B. Tutor ** Andrés Orozco-Estrada Judith Vincent John Mangum Margaret Alkek Williams ** Mark Nuccio Scott Wulfe Adam Dinitz David Wuthrich Mark Hughes Christine Kelly-Weaver

Julia Anderson Frankel Ron Franklin Betsy Garlinger Evan B. Glick Susan A. Hansen Gary L. Hollingsworth Stephen Incavo, M.D. Brian James Tammie Johnson Joan Kaplan I. Ray Kirk, M.D. Ulyesse J. LeGrange** Carlos J. López Michael Mann, M.D. Jack Matzer Jackie Wolens Mazow Gary Mercer Marilyn Miles Shane A. Miller Janet Moore Leslie Nossaman

Scott Nyquist Edward Osterberg Jr. Gloria G. Pryzant David Pruner Tadd Pullin Floyd Robinson J. Hugh Roff Jr.** Miwa Sakashita Manolo Sánchez Ed Schneider Christian Schwartz Helen Shaffer ** Michael E. Shannon** Robert B. Sloan, D.D. Theol.

Jim R. Smith Tad Smith Ishwaria Subbiah, M.D. L. Proctor (Terry) Thomas III Shirley W. Toomim Margaret Waisman, M.D.

Fredric A. Weber Mrs. S. Conrad Weil Robert Weiner Vicki West Steven J. Williams Frank Wilson Ellen A. Yarrell Robert Yekovich Frank Yonish Ex-Officio Ann Ayre Jessie Woods David Flores **Lifetime Trustee

Mrs. Edwin B. Parker Miss Ima Hogg Mrs. H. M. Garwood Joseph A. Mullen, M.D. Joseph S. Smith Walter H. Walne H. R. Cullen Gen. Maurice Hirsch Charles F. Jones Fayez Sarofim John T. Cater Richard G. Merrill Ellen Elizardi Kelley John D. Platt

E.C. Vandagrift Jr. J. Hugh Roff Jr. Robert M. Hermance Gene McDavid Janice H. Barrow Barry C. Burkholder Rodney H. Margolis Jeffrey B. Early Michael E. Shannon Ed Wulfe Jesse B. Tutor Robert B. Tudor III Robert A. Peiser Steven P. Mach

PAST PRESIDENTS OF THE HOUSTON SYMPHONY LEAGUE Miss Ima Hogg Mrs. John F. Grant Mrs. J. R. Parten Mrs. Andrew E. Rutter Mrs. Aubrey Leno Carter Mrs. Stuart Sherar Mrs. Julian Barrows Ms. Hazel Ledbetter Mrs. Albert P. Jones Mrs. Ben A. Calhoun Mrs. James Griffith Lawhon Mrs. Olaf LaCour Olsen Mrs. Ralph Ellis Gunn Mrs. Leon Jaworski Mrs. Garrett R. Tucker Jr. Mrs. M. T. Launius Jr. Mrs. Thompson McCleary Mrs. Theodore W. Cooper Mrs. Allen W. Carruth Mrs. David Hannah Jr. Mary Louis Kister Mrs. Edward W. Kelley Jr. Mrs. John W. Herndon Mrs. Charles Franzen Mrs. Harold R. DeMoss Jr. Mrs. Edward H. Soderstrom

Mrs. Lilly Kucera Andress Ms. Marilou Bonner Mrs. W. Harold Sellers Mrs. Harry H. Gendel Mrs. Robert M. Eury Mrs. E. C. Vandagrift Jr. Mrs. J. Stephen Marks Terry Ann Brown Nancy Strohmer Mary Ann McKeithan Ann Cavanaugh Mrs. James A. Shaffer Lucy H. Lewis Catherine McNamara Shirley McGregor Pearson Paula Jarrett Cora Sue Mach Kathi Rovere Norma Jean Brown Barbara McCelvey Lori Sorcic Jansen Nancy B. Willerson Jane Clark Nancy Littlejohn Donna Shen Dr. Susan Snider Osterberg Dr. Kelli Cohen Fein Vicki West Mrs. Jesse Tutor Darlene Clark Beth Wolff

PAST PRESIDENTS OF THE HOUSTON SYMPHONY LEAGUE BAY AREA Fran Strong Selma Neumann Julia Wells Dagmar Meeh Priscilla Heidbreder Harriett Small Nina Spencer Elizabeth Glenn Ebby Creden Charlotte Gaunt Norma Brady Cindy Kuenneke Helen Powell Sharon Dillard Diane McLaughlin Roberta Liston Suzanne Hicks Sue Smith

Shirley Wettling Jo Anne Mills Phyllis Molnar Pat Bertelli Emyre B. Robinson Dana Puddy Angela Buell Pat Brackett Joan Wade Yvonne Herring Deanna Lamoreux Glenda Toole Carole Murphy Patience Myers James Moore Mary Voigt Martha McWilliams

FRIENDS OF JONES HALL REPRESENTATIVES Ronald G. Franklin

Steven P. Mach

Barbara McCelvey

Robert Orr InTUNE — November 2019 | 9

STAFF

ADMINISTRATIVE

The Houston Symphony Administrative Staff is made up of 68 full-time and part-time professionals who work diligently behind the scenes to ensure all operations within the organization are run effectively and efficiently.

This inspiring team is dedicated to bringing the great music of the Houston Symphony to our community.

SENIOR MANAGEMENT GROUP

FINANCE | ADMINISTRATION | IT | HR

John Mangum, Executive Director/CEO,

Margaret Alkek Williams Chair Pam Blaine, Chief of Education and Community Engagement Elizabeth S. Condic, Chief Financial Officer Vicky Dominguez, Chief Operating Officer Nancy Giles, Chief Development Officer Gwen Watkins, Chief Marketing Officer

Brittany Basden, Support Engineer Robert Boyd, Budget Manager Henry Cantu, Accountant II Kimberly Cegielski, Staff Accountant Joel James, Senior HR Manager Jessica Jelinek, Database Manager Tanya Lovetro, Director, Finance Morgana Rickard, Controller Gabriela Rivera, Senior Accountant Anthony Stringer, Director, IT Ariela Ventura, Office Manager/HR Coordinator Lee Whatley, Senior Director, IT and Analytics

Christine Kelly-Weaver, Executive Assistant/Board Liaison DEVELOPMENT Michael Arlen, Associate Director,

Individual Giving and Major Gifts Julie Busch, Manager, League Relations and Fundraising J. Steven Covington, Director, Endowment and Planned Giving Timothy Dillow, Director, Corporate Relations Amanda T. Dinitz, Major Gifts Officer Samuel García, Development Associate Amber Jones, Manager, Donor Stewardship Megan McIlwain, Associate, Institutional Giving Tyler Murphy, Development Officer, Major Giving Groups Shane L. Platt, Development Associate, Individual Giving Martin Schleuse, Senior Manager, Development Communications Molly Simpson, Senior Director, Individual Giving and Major Gifts Jennifer Staples, Manager, Special Events Christine Ann Stevens, Major Gifts Officer Lena Streetman, Research Analyst Christina Trunzo, Associate Director,

Foundation and Government Grants EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Allison Conlan, Director, Education Anna Dean, Education and Community Engagement Coordinator Emily Nelson, Associate Director,

Education and Community Engagement Ana Rodriguez, Education and Community Engagement Manager

10 | Houston Symphony

MARKETING | COMMUNICATIONS | PATRON SERVICES Mark Bailes, Marketing Coordinator Shelby Banda, Patron Services Representative Joshua Chavira, Patron Services Representative Calvin Dotsey, Communications Specialist Heather Fails, Manager, Ticketing Database BreeAngela Hamilton, Digital Marketing Coordinator Kerry Ingram, Director, Digital Marketing Edgar Ivan-Morales, Patron Services Representative Kathryn Judd, Director, Marketing Melanie O’Neill, Creative Specialist Sarah Rendón, Front of House Manager Mireya Reyna, Publicist Vanessa Rivera, Digital Marketing Manager Ashley Rodriguez, Patron Services Senior Representative Eric Skelly, Senior Director, Communications Melissa Taylor, Graphic Designer Jenny Zuniga, Director, Patron Services OPERATIONS | ARTISTIC Carlos Andrés Botero, Musical Ambassador Becky Brown, Director, Operations Stephanie Calascione, Artistic Operations Assistant Anna Diemer, Chorus Manager Jessica Fertinel, Assistant to the Music Director Michael Gorman, Orchestra Personnel Manager Aspen McArthur, Assistant Librarian Michael McMurray, Assistant Librarian Lesley Sabol, Director, Popular Programming Brad Sayles, Recording Engineer Thomas Takaro, Librarian Meredith Williams, Associate Director, Operations Rebecca Zabinski, Director, Artistic Planning

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InTUNE — November 2019 | 11

DEAR SYMPHONY FAMILY, Each time the orchestra and I perform, we connect to you through our shared passion of great orchestral music. You have hopefully already experienced this earlier in the season, when it was my privilege to conduct three fantastic programs —including our first livestream!

For Thanksgiving weekend, we will be joined by soprano Miah Persson in an ​exciting all-Strauss program. The first weekend of December will a​ lso be very special: we welcome Gil Shaham, one of the world’s great violinists, performing the Brahms Violin Concerto and present to you the world premiere of our Composer-in-Residence Jimmy López Bellido’s Symphony No. 2, Ad Astra.

Looking ahead, in February the orchestra and I will bring you a Robert Schumann Festival packed with a variety of concerts a​ nd events including all four of his symphonies as well as concerti, choral works, c​ hamber music, and other opportunities to delve into the creations of this timeless composer whose life was touched by both great romance and great tragedy.

Whether we are playing works you have heard many times before o​ r a piece you are hearing for the first time, I look forward to seeing you in the audience to share the experience of wonderful music!

All my best,

Andrés Orozco-Estrada Music Director Roy and Lillie Cullen Chair

12 | Houston Symphony

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The Houston Symphony officially launched its 2019–20 Season with the Opening Night Concert and Gala on September 14. The event, chaired by Barbara J. Burger with co-chairs Kusum and K. Cody Patel, raised more than $575,000 for the Symphony’s Education and Community Engagement programs. For the 33rd consecutive year, ConocoPhillips served as Concert Sponsor and Lead Gala Corporate Underwriter.

K. Cody and Kusum Patel, Lindy and John Rydman

Jones Hall welcomed more than 1,700 guests for the Opening Night concert featuring renowned pianist Yefim Bronfman. Conductor Leonard Slatkin led the orchestra in a thrilling allRussian program, with works by Tchaikovsky, Borodin, and Glinka, culminating with Yefim performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concert No. 3, one of the great challenges for a soloist.

For the chair and co-chairs, the night was extra sparkling. Barbara Burger and Kusum Patel wore jewels on loan from the Symphony’s Preferred Jewelry Partner, Tenenbaum.

Following the performance, more than 400 Symphony supporters continued the evening at a black-tie celebration in the Theater District at The Ballroom at Bayou Place. Guests enjoyed a seated dinner created by Jackson and Company, with wine pairings by Lindy and John Rydman of Spec’s Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods. The décor by The Events Company was inspired by Peter Carl Fabergé, with centerpieces of red roses in black and white vases evoking the artist’s Imperial Eggs. Guests danced to the sounds of The Richard Brown Orchestra into the late hours.

Margaret Alkek Williams

Eric Lindsey and Lisa Rydman

Janet F. Clark

Betty and Jesse Tutor

14 | Houston Symphony

Edward and Rini Ziegler

Ann and Jonathan Ayre

Barbara Burger, John Mangum

Anne and Albert Chao

Leonard Slatkin, Courtney and Bill Toomey

Virgina Clark, Susan Hansen, Maureen Higdon

T

he Houston Symphony is excited to announce a new Chamber Music Series, featuring members of the orchestra and some of this season’s most acclaimed guest soloists. With luminaries like Gil Shaham, John Storgårds, Alisa Weilerstein, and Cédric Tiberghien, the Chamber Music Series brings Houston Symphony musicians to the Greater Houston community, up close and personal in interesting, intimate spaces.

“Chamber music is one of the most intimate forms of music making, allowing audiences to experience the outstanding musicians of the Houston Symphony in smaller settings, up close,” said Houston Symphony Executive Director/CEO, and holder of the Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, John Mangum. “We’ve been very thoughtful about choosing a variety of different intimate settings.”

CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES CALENDAR D E C E M B E R 6 | 7 : 3 0 P. M .

Location MATCH – Midtown Arts and Theater Center, Matchbox 4 Guest Artist

Gil Shaham, violin

Featuring the music of Johannes Brahms

J A N U A R Y 1 9 | 7 : 3 0 P. M .

Location Live Oak Friends Meeting House Guest Artist

John Storgårds, violin/leader

Featuring the music of Felix Mendelssohn

F E B R U A R Y 1 4 | 7 : 3 0 P. M .

Location Zilkha Hall at Hobby Center Guest Artist

Alisa Weilerstein, cello

Featuring the music of Robert Schumann

M A R C H 2 7 | 7 : 3 0 P. M .

Location Duncan Recital Hall, Shepherd School of Music Guest Artist

Cédric Tiberghien, piano

Featuring the music of Ernest Chausson

16 | Houston Symphony

Asked why the Houston Symphony is embarking on this new artistic venture, John explained: “It’s critical for the artistic growth of our musicians…strengthening their ensemble skills in ways that complement their work in the orchestra. There is an intuitive level of communication among the musicians in chamber music, a kind of musical ESP. This is part of what makes chamber music so exciting for audiences.”

The first concert in the series takes place Friday, December 6 and features violinist Gil Shaham with members of the Houston Symphony performing a program that includes Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet in B minor at MATCH (Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston) in Matchbox 4.

The series continues at Live Oak Friends Meeting Skyspace January 19 with conductor John Storgårds taking up the violin and joining Houston Symphony musicians for a program that includes Mendelssohn’s Octet for Strings. The series’ third performance, part of the Symphony’s two-week Schumann Festival, happens on Valentine’s Day, February 14. Cellist Alisa Weilerstein joins Symphony musicians for a performance of some of Schumann’s most romantic works.

And on March 27, 2020, Chausson’s Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet finds Symphony musicians joined by pianist Cédric Tiberghien.

Adds Houston Symphony Principal Clarinetist Mark Nuccio: “Chamber music is only one musician on a part, requiring each player to be a soloist and to share their musical ideas with colleagues and audiences. Many times, our audiences only hear the solo players in an orchestra and have no idea how wonderfully capable and musical all of the musicians are. Having experiences like this makes everyone stronger as a musician, but especially those who don’t have the opportunity to do so on a regular basis. This is an experience that also allows audiences to have a close-up opportunity to hear the wonderful musicians of the Houston Symphony.”

—Eric Skelly The Houston Symphony Chamber Music Series is made possible in part by: Robin Angly & Miles Smith, Nancy & Walter Bratic, Eugene Fong, Gary L. Hollingsworth & Kenneth J. Hyde, Ms. Leslie Nossaman, Mr. & Mrs. Mark Nuccio, Ed & Janet Rinehart, and Bobby & Phoebe Tudor.

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concert PREVIEW DECEMBER 5, 7 & 8 | JONES HALL

SYMPHONY NO. 2

JIMMY LÓPEZ BELLIDO On December 5, 7, and 8, the Houston Symphony presents the world premiere of Ad Astra, a new symphony by Composerin-Residence Jimmy López Bellido (the program also features the internationally renowned virtuoso Gil Shaham in Brahms’ classic Violin Concerto). Get a preview of Jimmy’s exciting and imaginative new work below. Visit houstonsymphony.org for tickets and more information.

Perhaps no sound is more thrilling to a composer’s ears than that of musicians practicing a new piece before the first rehearsal begins. All at once, imagined music becomes real, passing through the minds and fingers of other human beings for the first time. There was certainly electricity in the air as the orchestra sat down to play through the first movement of a new symphony by Composer-in-Residence Jimmy López Bellido at Jones Hall on September 25. Manning the vibraphone, Principal Percussionist Brian Del Signore softly beat out the words “ad astra” in Morse code, and the orchestra launched into a voyage of musical discovery.

“Ad astra” comes from the Latin motto “per aspera ad astra”— “from adversity to the stars.” Fittingly, Jimmy’s new symphony is about space exploration. “I wanted it to be connected to the city of Houston,” he explained. “I have been fascinated by NASA since I was a child, so I decided to pay homage to the people of NASA with this symphony, which is dedicated to them. Space exploration is Houston’s gift to the world, because it is something that fascinates all of us, all of humanity.”

The Morse code for “per aspera ad astra” was included on the Voyager space probes’ famous Golden Records, which contained greetings and information about Earth for spacefarers that might find them. These words were the spark that ignited Jimmy’s imagination as he began to compose. “‘Ad astra’ is the basic building block of the whole symphony, in a way,” he said. The Morse code rhythms for those two words recur throughout the symphony in various forms. “Some are easy to recognize, while others are more subtle, but they are everywhere.”

18 | Houston Symphony

Jimmy has written many pieces that connect with the world outside the concert hall by telling stories or evoking images, but Ad Astra perhaps surpasses them with its remarkable vividness. “One of the things I did before writing each movement was research,” Jimmy explained. “I’m telling a story that was lived by real people, and I wanted the symphony to be informed by that. It is in five movements. The first four were inspired by iconic programs or missions from NASA’s history: Voyager, Apollo, Hubble, and Challenger. The last movement, Revelation, imagines that Voyager’s message is found by distant lifeforms. All of the other movements are struggle, trying to reach the stars.”

Each movement features ingenious uses of the instruments, some of them rather unusual. “It is a challenge to take the limited number of musicians on the stage and then create the illusion that you have the universe in front of you,” Jimmy noted. Inspired by the missions of the Apollo program, the second movement uses the glass harmonica to evoke the lunar landscape. “I thought of that sound because it gives you this sense of extreme but eerie calm,” he said. The third movement, Hubble, uses a wind machine combined with extended techniques (musicians blow through the mouthpieces of woodwinds and brass instruments and play directly on the bridges of the strings). The orchestra sounds like a machine that refuses to start, a whimsical reference to the space telescope’s early malfunctions. After electronic bleeps and boops from col legno strings, harp, and celesta, a pair of twinkling glockenspiels at last brings the stars into focus.

But Ad Astra is not simply a celebration of the wonders of the universe; it also acknowledges the dangers of space exploration and commemorates the sacrifices made by the brave astronauts who have made these incredible discoveries possible. The Apollo movement contains a meditative passage reflecting on the tragic Apollo 1 mission, but the fourth movement, Challenger, addresses this theme most powerfully.

Rather than compose an elegy, Jimmy has written music that

also deals with the publicity and fanfare that preceded—and in part influenced—the decisions that led to the disaster. “It’s about what people were thinking and feeling in their hearts as they were watching this—the confusion that ensued and the time it took for what happened to sink in,” Jimmy said. “This is the ‘per aspera’ part of Ad Astra.”

After the harrowing conclusion of Challenger, the finale, Revelation, begins in a somber, meditative mood. “It’s born from the ashes,” Jimmy says. “I really left everything exposed in that movement. There’s this kind of childlike, very simple melody in it. When I wrote it, I felt somehow embarrassed, because when I expressed those emotions in such a transparent way, I wondered if it was too simple. But there is a certain beauty to simplicity as well. It is hard to write simple music that is good, and one of the simplest things you can have is a well-constructed melody. I felt it was necessary because we required this moment of quiet, of childlike innocence.

“This long, ruminating beginning builds to a return of the ‘ad astra’ rhythm, humanity’s last attempt to communicate with someone from a distant world. That could have been the end of the piece, but then offstage trumpets respond. A dialogue begins, and then the offstage trumpets, representing these distant civilizations, come onto the stage opposite from the trumpets in the orchestra.” The antiphonal effect of different motifs flying throughout the orchestra is sure to prove overwhelming. “I envision that these civilizations come in peace. The whole universe opens up, and we become part of a brotherhood,” Jimmy said.

Ad Astra is the culmination of Jimmy’s three-year residency with the Symphony. With the premiere approaching, he reflected, “The feeling that comes is gratitude to the Houston Symphony and Houston’s audiences for believing in me and for allowing me to be creative. There has to be a lot of faith in what I’m doing for them to bet on a major work like this and to allow me to experiment.” After Ad Astra, Houstonians will have another chance to hear Jimmy’s music in May when the chorus and orchestra perform his oratorio Dreamers, which was premiered by conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra in March. Until then, the premiere of Ad Astra gives us the chance to be the first to hear a new work by one of the leading musical voices of our time—an opportunity not to be missed. —Calvin Dotsey Witness the world premiere performances of Ad Astra this December 5, 7, and 8! Visit houstonsymphony.org for tickets and more information.

The Houston Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence and commissioning initiatives are supported in part by Robin Angly & Miles Smith, Barbara J. Burger, Michael J. Shawiak, and the “Campaign for a Sound Future” in honor of Winifred Safford Wallace.

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FANS IN THE BAND

Many Houston Symphony musicians are big fans of Star Wars— especially of John Williams’ iconic scores. As we prepared for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back—in Concert, we asked them what makes this composer’s music so special. If you enjoy the music of Star Wars, be sure to come back to Jones Hall for The Best of John Williams —Star Wars & More with Chorus! May 22, 23, and 24, 2020. Visit houstonsymphony.org for tickets and more information.

WHEN DID YOU FIRST HEAR THE MUSIC OF STAR WARS? I went to an early open of Star Wars when I was a student. The Main Title theme blew me away. I stayed for the next showing too. Since it was before most of the reviews had posted, the theater was almost empty. That changed to sold-out houses a couple of days later.

—Thomas LeGrand, clarinet In the theater for first run of Star Wars back in the ’70s. I thought the horn licks were amazing and went right out to buy an LP of the soundtrack. —William VerMeulen, principal horn I didn’t hear about Star Wars until the summer before college (I was born and raised in Hong Kong). I watched all six movies within a week. Since then I have listened to the original sound track by the London Symphony Orchestra countless times. —Jarita Ng, viola I was probably 7 years old. It was exhilarating! The music is like an unseen character in the story. It is as timeless as any of the characters to me. —Richard Harris, trumpet

WHAT MAKES JOHN WILLIAMS SUCH AN OUTSTANDING FILM COMPOSER? He is able to define the emotions of a scene better than any other film composer. His orchestrations are spectacular, and he writes challenging music for every instrument in the orchestra.

—Daniel Strba, viola He’s a genius at composing and orchestrating amazingly beautiful and unforgettable themes. His music ties all eight movies together on an emotional level. When I hear Leia’s theme in The Last Jedi, it instantly brings me back to when she is first introduced as the earnest, determined young princess hoping to save her people. —Tina Zhang, violin Star Wars stands out because of the extensive use of leitmotifs— recurrent motifs, harmonies, or phrases that are associated with a person or an idea. For example, at the end of Anakin Skywalker’s music in the prequels, a faint version of the Imperial March can be heard, implying the plot that is yet to be revealed.

The music is able to tell the story by itself. It never fails to impress me whether I am watching the movie or playing the score. —Jarita Ng, viola

ARE THERE ANY MOMENTS YOU ARE PARTICULARLY LOOKING FORWARD TO IN THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK? The light sabre battle between Luke and Darth Vader. I also love the Jedi training sequences with Luke and Yoda.

—Daniel Strba, viola The Asteroid Belt music is fantastic! Cannot wait.

—Richard Harris, trumpet Enjoy Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back—in Concert, and don’t miss The Best of John Williams—Star Wars & More with Chorus! May 22, 23, and 24, 2020. Visit houstonsymphony.org for tickets and more information.

InTUNE — November 2019 | 21

FEATURED PROGRAM

HE’S NO GOOD TO ME DEAD. STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK— IN CONCERT Thursday Friday Saturday Saturday Sunday

November 7 November 8 November 9 November 9 November 10

8:00 p.m.

8:00 p.m.

2:30 p.m.

8:00 p.m.

2:30 p.m.

Jones Hall

Steven Reineke, conductor

J. Williams/ H. Spencer

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes BackTM

Part 1

[2:00] [00:48]

I N T E R M I S S I O N

[0:15]

[00:52]

Part 2

PRESENTATION LICENSED BY DISNEY CONCERTS IN ASSOCIATION WITH 20TH CENTURY FOX, LUCASFILM LTD.,AND WARNER /CHAPPELL MUSIC. ©2019 & TM LUCASFILM LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © DISNEY

22 | Houston Symphony

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back—In Concert | Program Biographies

These performances are generously supported in part by: Sponsor Mach Family Audience Development Fund Supporter Radoff Family

Video enhancement of Houston Symphony concerts is made possible by the Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation through a special gift celebrating the foundation’s 50th anniversary in 2015.

Program BIOGRAPHIES Steven Reineke | conductor Steven Reineke has established himself as one of North America’s leading conductors of popular music. In addition to his role as Principal POPS Conductor of the Houston Symphony, this season, he celebrates his 10th anniversary as music director of The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. Additionally, he is principal pops conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Steven is a frequent guest conductor with The Philadelphia Orchestra, and his extensive North American conducting appearances include Atlanta, Cincinnati, Edmonton, San Francisco, and Sarasota.

On stage, he has created programs and collaborated with a range of leading artists from the worlds of hip hop, Broadway, television, and rock, including Common, Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Sutton Foster, Megan Hilty, Cheyenne Jackson, Wayne Brady, Peter Frampton, and Ben Folds, among others. In 2017, he led the National Symphony Orchestra on NPR’s All Things Considered, performing live music excerpts between news segments in a first for the show’s 45-year history. In 2018, Steven led the same orchestra and hip hop legend Nas performing his seminal album, Illmatic, on PBS’s Great Performances.

Phillips 66 is a diversified energy manufacturing and logistics company. With a portfolio of Midstream, Chemicals, Refining, and Marketing and Specialties businesses, the company processes, transports, stores, and markets fuels and products globally.

Headquartered in Houston, the company has 14,600 employees committed to safety and operating excellence. Last year, Phillips 66 was honored by Americans for the Arts with a BCA 10 Award, in recognition of its exceptional involvement with the arts in the community.

As the creator of more than 100 orchestral arrangements for the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Steven’s work has been performed worldwide, and can be heard on numerous Cincinnati Pops Orchestra recordings on the Telarc label. His symphonic works Celebration Fanfare, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and Casey at the Bat are performed frequently in North America, including performances by the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic. His Sun Valley Festival Fanfare commemorated the Sun Valley Summer Symphony’s pavilion, and his Festival Te Deum and Swan’s Island Sojourn were debuted by the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Pops Orchestras. His numerous wind ensemble compositions are published by the C.L. Barnhouse Company and are performed by concert bands worldwide.

A native of Ohio, Steven is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio, where he earned Bachelor of Music degrees with honors in both trumpet performance and music composition. He lives in New York City with his husband, Eric Gabbard.

InTUNE — November 2019 | 23

Program BIOGRAPHIES , continued

John Williams | composer In a career spanning more than five decades, John Williams has become one of America’s most accomplished and successful composers for film and for the concert stage, and he remains one of our nation’s most distinguished and contributive musical voices. He has composed the music for more than 100 films, including all eight Star Wars films, the first three Harry Potter films, Superman, Memoirs of a Geisha, Home Alone, and The Book Thief.

His 45-year artistic partnership with director Steven Spielberg has resulted in many of Hollywood’s most acclaimed and successful films, including Schindler’s List, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the Indiana Jones films, Saving Private Ryan, Lincoln, The BFG, and The Post.

John has composed themes for four Olympic Games. He served as music director of the Boston Pops Orchestra for 14 seasons and remains its laureate conductor. He has composed numerous works for the concert stage, including two symphonies and concertos commissioned by many of America’s most prominent orchestras.

He has received five Academy Awards and 51 Oscar nominations (making him the second-most nominated person in the history of the Oscars), seven British Academy Awards, 24 Grammys, four Golden Globes, and five Emmys. In 2003, he received the Olympic Order (the IOC’s highest honor) for his contributions to the Olympic movement. In 2004, he received the Kennedy Center Honors, and in 2009, he received the National Medal of Arts, the highest award given to artists by the U.S. Government.

In 2016, he received the 44th Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute—the first time a composer was honored with this award.

Production CREDITS Presentation licensed by Disney Concerts in association with 20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm Ltd., and Warner/Chappell Music.

All rights reserved.

President, Disney Music Group: Ken Bunt SVP/GM, Disney Concerts: Chip McLean Supervising Technical Director: Alex Levy – Epilogue Media Film Preparation: Ramiro Belgardt Business Affairs, Lucasfilm: Rhonda Hjort and Chris Holm Business Affairs, Disney Concerts: Darryl Franklin and Meg Ross Business Affairs, Warner-Chappell: Scott McDowell Music Preparation: Mark Graham, Matthew Voogt, and Joann Kane Music Service Operations, Disney Concerts: Royd Haston Disney Music Library Non-Theatrical Sales, Twentieth Century Fox: Julian Levin Presentation licensed by Disney Concerts in association with 20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm Ltd., and Warner /Chappell Music.

24 | Houston Symphony

STAR WARS FILM CONCERT SERIES

S T A R R I N G MARK HAMILL HARRISON FORD CARRIE FISHER BILLY DEE WILLIAMS ANTHONY DANIELS

C O - S T A R R I N G DAVID PROWSE as Darth Vader KENNY BAKER as R2-D2 PETER MAYHEW as Chewbacca FRANK OZ as Yoda Directed by IRVIN KERSHNER Produced by GARY KURTZ Screenplay by LEIGH BRACKETT AND LAWRENCE KASDAN Story by GEORGE LUCAS Executive Producer GEORGE LUCAS Music by JOHN WILLIAMS

Original Motion Picture DISNEYMUSICEMPORIUM.COM

InTUNE — November 2019 | 25

FEATURED PROGRAM

AX PLAYS BEETHOVEN Friday Saturday Sunday

November 15 November 16 November 17

8:00 p.m.

8:00 p.m.

2:30 p.m.

Jones Hall

Fabien Gabel, conductor Emanuel Ax, piano

Beethoven

Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Opus 15

I Allegro con brio II Largo

III Rondo: Allegro

ca. 37

I N T E R M I S S I O N

Brahms

Symphony No. 2 in D major, Opus 73

I Allegro non troppo

II Adagio non troppo

III Allegretto grazioso (Quasi andantino)

IV Allegro con spirito

26 | Houston Symphony

ca. 39

Did you know? • Beethoven’s stay in Vienna was only supposed to last a few years, but French revolutionaries invaded much of his native Rhineland in June 1794.

Instead of returning home, Beethoven stayed in Vienna and wrote his Piano Concerto No. 1.

Ax Plays Beethoven | Program Biographies

Program BIOGRAPHIES SHELL FAVORITE MASTERS

Fabien Gabel | conductor

These performances are generously supported in part by:

The Classical Season is endowed by The Wortham Foundation, Inc. in memory of Gus S. and Lyndall F. Wortham.

GAETAN BERNARD

Partner Fifth Third Bank

Hailed as “boldly evocative,” Fabien Gabel is internationally recognized as one of the stars of a new generation of conductors, having established a broad repertoire ranging from core symphonic works to contemporary music and lesser-known works by French composers. He has been the music director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec (OSQ) since 2012 and music director of the innovative Orchestre Français des Jeunes since 2017.

Fabien’s 2019–20 season features debuts with the San Francisco Symphony, Utah Symphony, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, and Lucerne Symphony Orchestra. In his eighth season with the OSQ, he leads the orchestra in works by Chausson, Ravel, Duparc, Dutilleux, Aubert, Schmitt, Dubugnon, Rebel, Tomasi, and Poulenc and collaborates with world-class soloists, including Augustin Hadelich, Juho Pohjonen, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Michael Barenboim, Ana María Martínez, Philippe Jaroussky, and others. He returns to conduct the Houston Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse.

Fifth Third Bank has been looking toward the future and helping businesses shape what’s next for more than 160 years—with more to come. The bank entered the Texas market in 2012 and expanded its focus in 2019 to include Commercial Banking and Treasury Management teams in Houston.

As one of the country’s 10 largest banks, Fifth Third provides sophisticated solutions and expert guidance to drive change, innovation, and growth.

By partnering with fintechs, it stays on the cutting edge of technological advances in the industry. At the same time, Fifth Third employees work from a foundation of strong community connections and are empowered to make local decisions. This is the commercial banking value that only Fifth Third Bank can deliver.

His conducting has taken him across the globe to lead top orchestras and work with the world’s most formidable soloists. Fabien first attracted international attention in 2004 by winning the Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition, which subsequently led to his appointment as the London Symphony Orchestra’s assistant conductor for two seasons.

The LSO has since regularly engaged him as a guest conductor.

Born in Paris into a family of accomplished musicians, Fabien began studying trumpet at age 6, honing his skills at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, which awarded him a First Prize in trumpet in 1996, and later at the Musik Hochschule of Karlsruhe. He went on to play in several Parisian orchestras under the direction of prominent conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Sir Colin Davis, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Simon Rattle, and Bernard Haitink. In 2002, Fabien pursued his interest in conducting at the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he studied with David Zinman, who invited him to appear as a guest conductor at the Festival in 2009. He has worked as an assistant to Haitink and Davis.

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InTUNE — November 2019 | 27

LISA MARIE MAZZUCCO

Program BIOGRAPHIES , continued

Program NOTES

Emanuel Ax | piano

Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Opus 15

Born in modern day Lvov, Poland, Emanuel Ax moved to Winnipeg, Canada with his family when he was a young boy. His studies at The Juilliard School were supported by the sponsorship of the Epstein Scholarship Program of the Boys Clubs of America, and he subsequently won the Young Concert Artists Award. He captured public attention in 1974 when he won the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv. In 1975, he won the Michaels Award of Young Concert Artists, followed four years later by the coveted Avery Fisher Prize.

Highlights of the 2019–20 season include a European summer festivals tour with the Vienna Philharmonic and long-time collaborative partner Bernard Haitink, an Asian tour with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle, U.S. concerts with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Lahav Shani in addition to three concerts with regular partners Leonidas Kavakos and Yo-Yo Ma at Carnegie Hall in March 2020. Further participation in Carnegie Hall’s celebration of Beethoven’s 250th birthday will culminate in a solo recital in May preceded by recitals in Madison, Santa Barbara, Orange County, Washington, Las Vegas, and Colorado Springs. With orchestra, he can be heard here and in Baltimore, Atlanta, San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Montreal, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis. In Europe, he performs with orchestras in London, Frankfurt, Berlin, Rome, Zurich, Rotterdam, and Tel Aviv.

Always a committed exponent of contemporary composers with works written for him by John Adams, Christopher Rouse, Krzysztof Penderecki, Bright Sheng, and Melinda Wagner, most recently he has added HK Gruber’s Piano Concerto and Samuel Adams’ Impromptus to his repetoire.

A Sony Classical exclusive recording artist since 1987, he has recently recorded Mendelssohn’s Piano Trios with Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman, Strauss’s Enoch Arden narrated by Patrick Stewart, and discs of two-piano music by Brahms and Rachmaninoff with Yefim Bronfman. He has received Grammy Awards for the second and third volumes of his cycle of Haydn’s piano sonatas and for a series of recordings with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. He lives in New York City with his wife, pianist Yoko Nozaki.

They have two children together, Joseph and Sarah. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and holds honorary doctorates of music from Skidmore College, Yale University, and Columbia University.

28 | Houston Symphony

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)

Though this piano concerto was the second Beethoven composed, it is known as his first because he published them out of order. While he would continue to refine it until 1800, Beethoven composed this showcase for his own piano playing in 1794, apparently with haste. A friend reported that the finale was composed “only on the afternoon two days before the [first] performance […] Four copyists sat in the hallway working from the manuscript sheets he handed over to them one at a time.” Nevertheless, this piece shows the emergence of Beethoven’s own unmistakable voice; he often assumes the role of a musical trickster, confounding listeners’ expectations with his bold ideas.

The concerto begins with perhaps the simplest idea possible; some have heard the influence of French Revolutionary music in its flourishes and martial staccato.

The ensuing orchestral introduction presents two other main ideas: a lyrical but fragmentary second theme and a tune for woodwinds in a more popular style. The soloist then enters to reinterpret these three main ideas (this time, the lyrical second theme appears complete). After an orchestral passage, the soloist initiates a more developmental section.

As the harmonies darken, the music dies away until the soloist commences the reprise of the main themes with a sweeping downward flourish. The movement ends with a cadenza—an extended passage for the soloist alone.

Beethoven improvised the cadenza when he performed the concerto himself, but he later wrote down three different cadenzas from which performers may choose.

Throughout the slow, tranquil second movement, the clarinet almost acts as a second soloist. After the hymn-like main theme, a transition leads to a delicate passage for the piano. A brief but trenchant development leads to a reprise, but the delicate passage is replaced by a long, lingering coda.

The lively finale is Beethoven’s sophisticated, unconventional take on the contredanse—normally a simple, rustic dance. Each phrase of the recurring main theme is unexpectedly a different length, and contrasting episodes include a tune full of unexpected jolts and an almost swinging, minor-key dance. Near the end, a second cadenza proves to be a set up for another sly musical joke.

The traditional final trill slips up a half step, and the soloist returns to the main theme in the wrong key, correcting the “mistake” just in time for the orchestra to take over. The movement then seems to fade to a slow, quiet ending—but after all of Beethoven’s surprises, we ought to know better.

The Instruments: flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings

Ax Plays Beethoven | Program Notes

Symphony No. 2 in D major, Opus 73 Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)

Brahms completed his Second Symphony in 1877 while visiting the Austrian Alps and Bavaria’s Black Forest. Ever the joker, he delighted in teasing his friends with misleading descriptions of the work in progress. To his publisher, he wrote, “The new symphony is so melancholy that you won’t stand it. I have never written anything so sad, so minorish: the score must appear with a black border. I have given enough warning. Are you really still proposing to buy yourself such a thing? We can always alter the terms […]” On the contrary, when Brahms’ friend Theodor Billroth heard the actual piece, he declared that “it is all blue sky, babbling of streams, sunshine and cool green shade.”

Even so, there is a grain of truth in Brahms’s joking remarks, as one perceptive early listener noted. Soon after the first movement begins with a lyrical, pastoral theme, an ominous timpani roll introduces dark harmonies for trombones and tuba. The conductor Vincenz Lachner wrote to Brahms, “Why do you throw into the idyllically serene atmosphere with which the first movement begins the rumbling kettledrum, the gloomy lugubrious tones of the trombones and tuba?”

With uncharacteristic candor, Brahms responded, “I very much wanted to manage in that first movement without using trombones, and tried to. […] But their first entrance, that’s mine, and I can’t get along without it and thus the trombones. […] in my output—perhaps not entirely by chance—that symphony is followed by a little essay about the great ‘Why.’ […] It casts the necessary shadow on the serene symphony and perhaps accounts for those timpani and trombones.” The “little essay” Brahms cryptically refers to is his a cappella choral setting of Job 3:20–23, in which the suffering Job cries out to God. Brahms’s “great ‘Why’” suggests the piece is about finding joy and beauty even in an imperfect world—a world with trombones.

After the enigmatic trombone harmonies, the music takes flight, but breaks off to reveal a country wind band. As if daydreaming, the music wanders to the second main theme of the movement, a wistful melody for cellos. Many commentators have noted this theme’s striking similarity to Brahms’s famous lullaby (“Wiegenlied,” Opus 49, No. 4). Decisive, staccato figures then alternate with lyrical, yearning passages until a reprise of the lullaby theme fades to a repeat of everything that has happened so far.

After the repeat, an extended development begins with the return of the movement’s opening theme as a horn solo. The harmonies become more unstable, leading to an intense fugato passage based on fragments of the movement’s main themes. The threatening trombones return as waves of sound

build to a powerful climax. During the following reprise of the opening theme, the dark trombone harmonies return, but this time, they lead directly into the lullaby theme.

The movement’s final section begins with a long, expressive horn solo. A tender passage for strings then leads to the reappearance of an old friend: the country wind band.

Brahms ends the movement with a musical joke: the band’s clarinetist comes in early, resulting in a comic series of “wrong notes.” The horns brush aside the mistake, and the movement comes to a quiet close.

The slow second movement is the emotional heart of the work; it is here that the “great ‘Why’” appears most directly.

The cellos open it with music halfway between singing and speaking; their soliloquy begins with strange, murky harmonies, but soon opens up with more lyrical phrases.

Melancholy, wavering voices of horn and woodwinds interrupt, but the cellos reassert themselves, leading to a lovely, gently swaying second theme for woodwinds. The ensuing intense development climaxes with the return of the dark sounds of trombone and tuba. The opening soliloquy then returns. Fragmented at first, it transforms into one of Brahms’s most beautiful passages as the violins reach higher and higher to complete it. The graceful second theme does not follow, however; in its place is a devastating second development more intense than the first.

These shadows are banished in the third movement (in which the trombones remain silent). Organized around an ABACA structure, it begins with a graceful, landler-like main theme for oboe that is subtly varied with each reappearance.

This main theme alternates with faster contrasting sections, which have a mischievous—perhaps even supernatural— character, especially the playful grotesquerie of the woodwind parts.

Brahms begins the finale by retelling an old but well-loved musical joke: a sly, whispering theme grows softer and softer until the entire orchestra erupts in a jubilant forte.

After a warm, rich second theme, the whispering main theme seems to return, but soon drifts into darker keys for an intense developmental section. The music slows and fades amid mysterious harmonies. The trombones return ominously, but soon vanish. After a reprise of the movement’s main ideas, the trombones reappear; the music becomes more intense and unstable until it suddenly comes to a halt. The mysterious music from the development returns transformed, rising higher and higher; with a blast from the trumpets, the trombones at last join the orchestral merriment, giving their benediction to the symphony’s ecstatic conclusion. —Calvin Dotsey The Instruments: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, and strings InTUNE — November 2019 | 29

FEATURED PROGRAM

TRIFONOV PLAYS TCHAIKOVSKY Friday Saturday Sunday

November 22 November 23 November 24

8:00 p.m.

8:00 p.m.

2:30 p.m.

Krzysztof Urbański, conductor G. Connesson

Tchaikovsky

Jones Hall

Daniil Trifonov, piano

Les cités de Lovecraft

I Céléphaïs

1. Les portes de bronze: Vivo—

2. Entrée dans la cité aux rues d’Onyx: Tempo primo—

3. Le temple de turquoise: Tempo primo—

4. Le Palais de cristal rose des Soixante-dix Délices:

Più largo—

5. Le sept processions des Prêtres couronné d’orchidées:

Solennel

ca. 9

Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Opus 23

I Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso

II Andantino semplice

III Allegro con fuoco

ca. 33

I N T E R M I S S I O N Mussorgsky/Ravel

Tableaux d’une exposition (Pictures at an Exhibition) Introduction: Promenade: Allegro giusto, nel modo russico—

I Gnomus: Vivo Promenade: [Moderato comodo assai e con delicatezza]—

II Il vecchio castello (The Old Castle): Andante Promenade: Moderato non tanto, pesamente—

III Tuileries: Allegretto non troppo, capriccioso

IV Bydlo: Sempre moderato pesante Promenade: Tranquillo—

V Ballet des poussins dans leurs coques (Ballet of the Chicks in

Their Shells): Scherzino, Vivo leggiero

VI Samuel Goldenberg und Schmuÿle: Andante

VII Limoges, Le marché (The Marketplace): Allegretto vivo,

sempre scherzando— VIII Catacombæ: Largo— Cum mortuis in lingua mortua: Andante non troppo, con lamento

IX La cabane sur des pattes de poules (The Hut on Fowl’s Legs):

Allegro con brio feroce—

X La grande porte de Kiev (The Great Gate of Kiev): Allegro alla

brève, Maestoso, Con grandezza

30 | Houston Symphony

ca. 30

Did you know?

• Lovecraft described the city of Celephaïs thus: “[…] he beheld the glittering minarets of the city, and saw the graceful galleys riding at anchor in the blue harbour, and watched the gingko trees of Mount Aran swaying in the sea-breeze. […]

When he entered the city, past the bronze gates and over the onyx pavements, the merchants and cameldrivers greeted him as if he had never been away; and it was the same at the turquoise temple of Nath-Horthath, where the orchid-wreathed priests told him that there is no time in Ooth-Nargai, but only perpetual youth.”

Trifonov Plays Tchaikovsky | Program Biographies

Program BIOGRAPHIES FROST BANK GOLD CLASSICS

These performances are generously supported in part by: Underwriter Margaret Alkek Williams Supporter Anne Morgan Barrett Supporter Lila Rauch

The Classical Season is endowed by The Wortham Foundation, Inc. in memory of Gus S. and Lyndall F. Wortham.

Krzysztof Urbański | conductor In September 2019, Krzysztof Urbański entered the ninth season of his tenure as music director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. In 2015, he became principal guest conductor of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra. In addition to concerts in Hamburg, last season he and the orchestra toured Japan and Europe and released for Alpha Classics “wholly excellent renderings” (Gramophone) of Lutosławski’s works, Dvořák’s Symphony No.9, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5. His discography includes Chopin’s small pieces for piano and orchestra with Jan Lisiecki and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra (Deutsche Grammophon) and Martinů’s Cello Concerto No.1 with Sol Gabetta and the Berliner Philharmoniker (Sony).

Krzysztof has appeared as guest conductor with numerous orchestras around the world, including the Münchner Philharmoniker, Berliner Philharmoniker, Staatskapelle Dresden, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich, Wiener Symphoniker, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra, among others.

Krzysztof served as chief conductor and artistic leader of the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, 2010–2017, and embarked on a concurrent four-season tenure as principal guest conductor of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra in 2012. In 2017, he was appointed honorary guest conductor of the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and Opera.

In June 2015, Krzysztof received the prestigious Leonard Bernstein Award at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival. Notably, he is the first conductor to have received this award.

InTUNE — November 2019 | 31

Program BIOGRAPHIES , continued Daniil Trifonov | piano Grammy Award-winning Russian pianist and composer Daniil Trifonov—Musical America’s 2019 Artist of the Year—combines consummate technique with rare sensitivity and depth. “He has everything and more…tenderness and also the demonic element. I never heard anything like that,” marveled pianist Martha Argerich. Daniil won the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Solo Album with Transcendental, his third title as an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist. As The Times (London) notes, he is “without question the most astounding pianist of our age.” When he premiered his own Piano Concerto in 2013, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) marveled: “Even having seen it, one cannot quite believe it. Such is the artistry of pianist-composer Daniil Trifonov.”

This fall brings the release of Destination Rachmaninov: Arrival, the third volume of the Deutsche Grammophon series he recorded with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, following Destination Rachmaninov: Departure, named BBC Music’s 2019 Concerto Recording of the Year, and Rachmaninov: Variations, a 2015 Grammy nominee. Daniil begins his tenure as 2019–20 artist-in-residence of the New York Philharmonic with Scriabin’s Piano Concerto under Jaap van Zweden. The residency includes the New York premiere of his own Piano Quintet; and he joins the music director and orchestra for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 in New York and on a European tour. He performs with conductor Michael Tilson Thomas with the New World Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the San Francisco Symphony. Other highlights include Mosolov’s First Piano Concerto with the Nashville Symphony and Beethoven concertos with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Nézet-Séguin. In recital, Daniil plays a Bach program in New York, Chicago, Boston, and European destinations, besides partnering with his mentor and fellow pianist Sergei Babayan at Carnegie Hall, Cornell University, Eastman School of Music, and in Dortmund, Germany.

It was during the 2010–11 season that Daniil won medals at three of the music world’s most prestigious competitions: Third Prize in Warsaw’s International Chopin Piano Competition, First Prize in Tel Aviv’s Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, and both First Prize and Grand Prix in Moscow’s International Tchaikovsky Competition.

Born in Nizhny Novgorod in 1991, Daniil began his musical training at age 5, and went on to attend Moscow’s Gnessin School of Music as a student of Tatiana Zelikman before pursuing piano studies with Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Program NOTES Les cités de Lovecraft

Guillaume Connesson (1970) In the early 20th century, the American author H. P. Lovecraft was a pioneer of the genre known as weird fiction. Though Lovecraft is most famous for creating Cthulhu and other horrors beyond human comprehension, connoisseurs also cherish his Dream Cycle, a series of stories set in a fantasy world which may only be reached through sleep. In 2017, French composer Guillaume Connesson completed The Cities of Lovecraft, a symphonic suite of tone poems inspired by Dream Cycle locales.

The first movement depicts “the splendid city of Celephaïs in Ooth-Nargai beyond the Tanarian Hills.”

Connesson provides his own analysis (French titles have been translated back into Lovecraftian English): “After the introduction (The Bronze Gates) in which orchestral shocks are superimposed on brass fanfares, the first theme bursts forth (Entry into the City with Onyx Pavements) in the violins and […] depicts the bustling streets. In The Turquoise Temple, a second theme […] appears in the trumpets, giving life to a colourful pagan celebration. The third part (The Rose-Crystal Palace of the Seventy Delights) is a moment of calm in which we again find the first theme transformed in a chorale of translucent strings surrounded by shimmering sonorities in the winds, harp, and celesta. After a bridge, made up of three trilled chords, begins The Seven Processions of the Orchid-Wreathed Priests […] The ‘visit’ to Céléphaïs concludes with a dazzling fortissimo.”

The Instruments: 3 flutes (1 doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, piano (doubling celesta), and strings 32 | Houston Symphony

Trifonov Plays Tchaikovsky | Program Notes

Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Opus 23 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)

Today, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 is one of the most popular pieces of its kind, but it initially met with a rocky start. In November 1874, Tchaikovsky wrote to his brother Anatoly, “I am now immersed in the composition of a Piano concerto. I definitely want Rubinstein to play it at his concert; it’s going with much difficulty...” Aged 34, he was at this time working as a professor at the still new Moscow Conservatory; the Rubinstein he mentioned was Nikolai Rubinstein, the head of the Conservatory. Tchaikovsky was able to complete the concerto the following month, and he played it for Rubinstein and some friends on Christmas Eve. “I played the first movement,” Tchaikovsky recalled. “Not a word, not an observation! […] Rubinstein was preparing his thunder.” After Tchaikovsky finished, Rubinstein declared that the concerto “was worthless […] that there are only two or three pages worth preserving […]” Undaunted, Tchaikovsky refused to change “a single note.” Instead, he sent the concerto to the eminent pianist and conductor Hans von Bülow, who declared “this true gem shall earn you the gratitude of all pianists.” Bülow gave the world premiere in Boston the following October, and it was wildly applauded by the American audience. A few years later, Rubinstein came around and performed it himself. Tchaikovsky was “very, very pleased” by his change of heart. Later, Tchaikovsky made a few relatively minor revisions to the concerto; the version we know today was prepared during the winter of 1888–89 in collaboration with the pianist Alexander Siloti.

The emotional first movement begins with one of Tchaikovsky’s most famous melodies; this passionate introductory theme, however, never returns. Instead, the music slows, and we are introduced to three main themes: the first, introduced by the piano, is a nervous Ukrainian folksong Tchaikovsky once heard sung by a blind beggar; the second is a melancholy theme that first appears in the clarinets; a gentle, more hopeful third theme is introduced by strings. The ensuing intense development seamlessly transforms into a reprise of the main themes. After the melancholy second theme, the soloist has a pivotal cadenza— an extended, unaccompanied solo passage. The movement ends with the optimistic return of the gentle third theme, which builds to a thrilling conclusion.

The slow second movement begins with a delicate melody for solo flute. Altering one note, the piano takes up the theme and is later joined by two solo cellos (or one, at the conductor’s discretion). The tempo picks up for a fast, contrasting middle section. Tchaikovsky’s brother Modest wrote that the strings’ melody is taken from a popular French song, “Il faut s’amuser, danser et rire” (“One must have fun,

dance and laugh”). The slow first theme returns, appearing in the piano then the oboe. The third movement begins with a lively melody based on another Ukrainian folksong. A singing, contrasting theme appears soon after in the violins.

With some variations and interpolations, the two themes alternate. After a grand crescendo and virtuoso octaves for the soloist, the lyrical second theme returns for the last time, now played by the entire orchestra. The music then races to its end.

The Instruments: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, and strings

Tableaux d’une exposition (Pictures at an Exhibition)

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (1839–1881) One of Modest Mussorgsky’s best friends was Viktor Hartmann, an artist who tragically died of an aneurism at age 39. Two weeks after Hartmann’s death, his friends and supporters organized a major exhibition of his works at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. About a year later, Mussorgsky composed Pictures at an Exhibition.

Completed in only 20 days, Pictures was originally a set of short pieces for piano in which Mussorgsky depicted himself walking through the exhibition and contemplating Hartmann’s works. Mussorgsky must have played through Pictures privately for his friends, but there is no record of any public performance during his lifetime. After Mussorgsky’s own untimely death, the piece languished in obscurity. It only entered the standard repertoire when the conductor Serge Koussevitzky commissioned Maurice Ravel’s celebrated orchestration in 1922.

The piece begins with a “Promenade in modo russico.”

“Promenade” is French for “a walk,” and “in modo russico” is Italian for “in the Russian style.” A kind of musical self-portrait, it depicts Mussorgsky walking into the great hall of the Imperial Academy. The Promenade melody reappears throughout Pictures as Mussorgsky walks from one work of art to another. The first picture is Gnomus, Latin for “gnome.” The critic Vladimir Stasov (a steadfast friend of Mussorgsky’s), tells us it was inspired by a design for a nutcracker: “a fantastic lame figure on crooked little legs.” The next picture, Il Vecchio Castello (Italian for “the old castle”), was based on architectural sketch into which Hartmann inserted a tiny troubadour for scale. Mussorgsky seems to have imagined the Italian setting, evoked by the gentle rhythms of the siciliano. Ravel gave the troubadour’s song to the saxophone.

Tuileries was inspired by a now lost crayon drawing of the Tuileries Garden in Paris. For scale, Hartmann added figures of children playing with their nurse. The music InTUNE — November 2019 | 33

Program NOTES , continued depicts the children’s games. Rosa Newmarch, an early champion of Mussorgsky’s music, commented that the opening melody may represent the children’s teasing calls of “Nianya, Nianya” or “nanny, nanny” in Russian. The title of Sandomirzsko bydlo (le télégue) combines Polish and faux-French: in Polish, the word “bydlo” means “cattle”; “le télégue” is a French-sounding version of the Russian word “telega,” whchy means “cart”; and “Sandomirzsko” indicates that this cart is from Sandomir, a Polish province Hartmann visited. This picture does not survive, but Mussorgsky likely had in mind a large cart pulled by cattle and driven by a weather-beaten peasant. In the first published edition (Ravel’s source), Rimsky-Korsakov changed the fortissimo at the beginning of Bydlo to a pianissimo, creating the impression of a cart approaching from a distance, passing by, and fading away.

The next picture is The Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks.

According to Stasov, “Hartmann designed the costumes for the staging of the ballet Trilbi at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg. In the cast were a number of boy and girl pupils from the theatre school, arrayed as canaries. Others were dressed up as eggs.” The next picture, Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle, appears without an intervening Promenade.

Stasov explained, “Viktor Hartmann gave Mussorgsky two of his sketches from real life, those of the rich and the poor Jew. [...] Mussorgsky was most delighted with the expressiveness of these pictures.” Like the lost Bydlo picture, these portraits came from the time Hartmann spent in Sandomir. First, we meet Samuel Goldenberg, the wealthier of the two; Mussorgsky gives him a deep, booming voice. Mussorgsky depicts the poor Schmuÿle, by contrast, with a melody that depicts his shivering in the cold; Ravel scored it as a trumpet solo.

Next, we are back in France, this time at the marketplace in the town of Limoges. The picture for this movement has been lost, but Stasov tells us the music illustrates “the crowd shrieking, disputing, chattering and quarrelling in the marketplace.” The next movement begins without pause, transporting us from the world of the living to that of the dead. This movement is titled “Catacombae: Sepulchrum Romanum,” which is Latin for “Catacombs: Roman Sepulchre.” Hartmann’s watercolor depicts the catacombs of Paris: two men in top hats whisper to each other, accompanied by a third man holding a lantern that illuminates rows of neatly arranged skulls. A series of strange, often dissonant harmonies rings out in the darkness, the alternation of loud and soft a kind of written-out reverberation that suggests the cavernous space.

A tam-tam fades into what Mussorgsky marks as “Cum mortuis in lingua mortua”— “with the dead in a dead language.” The Promenade theme returns in the oboe as 34 | Houston Symphony

high, tremolo violins evoke the flickering light; perhaps Mussorgsky imagined himself in the catacombs. Near the end, the music brightens, and Ravel adds a hint of the heavenly with harp arpeggios. This peaceful mood is shattered by the next movement: The Hut on Fowl’s Legs. In Russian folklore, Baba Yaga is a witch who flies through the woods on a mortar and pestle, searching for children to eat. She lives in a hut on hen’s legs that stalks the land. This movement was inspired

by Hartmann’s design for an ornate clock in the shape of Baba Yaga’s hut. In the music, one can hear the clock ticking, another traditional symbol of mortality.

Suddenly, the specter of Baba Yaga is banished by the resplendent final picture: The Great Gate at Kiev. Hartmann’s design for this monumental gate survives; the grand, arched entryway connects to a chapel and domed bell tower in the shape of a Slavonic helmet. The main “gate” melody alternates with the Russian hymn, “As you are baptized in Christ,” scored softly by Ravel for woodwinds. The distinctive sound of Russian church bells emanates from the gate’s tower, above which the Promenade theme returns: Mussorgsky appears to us once more, now fully in the world of the pictures. Ravel unleashes the full power of the orchestra for the climactic return of the great gate theme. —Calvin Dotsey The Instruments: 3 flutes (2 doubling piccolo), 3 oboes (1 doubling English horn), 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 2 tubas, timpani, percussion, 2 harps, celesta, and strings

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SPIRIO IS THE FIRST S T E I N W AY P L AY E R P I A N O .

A MUSICAL EXPERIENCE INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM A LIVE PERFORMANCE STEINWAY PIANO GALLERY 2001 w. gray st. houston, tx 77019 (713) 520-1853 STEINWAYPIANOS.COM

FEATURED PROGRAM

A MUSICAL FEAST

ALL-STRAUSS THANKSGIVING Friday Saturday Sunday

November 29 November 30 December 1

8:00 p.m.

8:00 p.m.

2:30 p.m.

Jones Hall

Andrés Orozco-Estrada, conductor *Miah Persson, piano *Houston Symphony debut

R. Strauss

Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration), Opus 24

ca. 24

R. Strauss

Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs)

I Frühling: Allegretto

II September: Andante

III Bein Schlafengehen: Andante

IV Im Abendrot: Andante

ca. 25

I N T E R M I S S I O N

R. Strauss

Don Juan, Opus 20

ca. 18

R. Strauss

Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks), Opus 28

ca. 16

36 | Houston Symphony

Did you know?

• The son of a famous horn player, the precocious Richard Strauss began by composing in a conservative style in accordance with his father's tastes; at 21, however, he rebelled when he discovered the revolutionary music of Wagner, which inspired him to write the graphic, narrative works for which he is famous.

RAND G ROUP

GREAT PERFORMERS SERIES

All-Strauss Thanksgiving | Program Biographies

Program BIOGRAPHIES

These performances are generously supported in part by: Grand Guarantor Texas Commission on the Arts

Andrés Orozco-Estrada | conductor

Please see Andrés Orozco-Estrada's biography on page 6.

Miah Persson | soprano These concerts 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.

The Classical Season is endowed by The Wortham Foundation, Inc. in memory of Gus S. and Lyndall F. Wortham.

Video enhancement of Houston Symphony concerts is made possible by the Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation through a special gift celebrating the foundation’s 50th anniversary in 2015.

The Texas Commission on the Arts has awarded the Houston Symphony a grant of $250,000 to support its holiday programming, beginning with the All-Strauss Thanksgiving, and to attract visitors to the Houston Theater District. TCA Executive Director Gary Gibbs approved more than $4.6 million in grants for Arts Respond–Cultural District Projects for the 2020 fiscal year. These grants are offered to arts organizations in designated cultural districts—like the Houston Theater District—for projects focusing on significant cultural tourism efforts through activities, including marketing, infrastructure, and major events.

The Houston Symphony is grateful to the TCA and the State of Texas for supporting the arts in our home state.

Internationally renowned Swedish soprano Miah Persson has worked all over the world as a recital, concert, and operatic artist.

Throughout her distinguished career, she has performed Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at the Metropolitan Opera; Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro and Zerlina in Don Giovanni at Covent Garden; the title role of L'incoronazione di Poppea and the Governess in The Turn of the Screw at Teatro alla Scala; Fiordiligi, Sophie, and Susanna at the Wiener Staatsoper; several roles at the Glyndebourne Festival; Donna Elvira at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and with the Liceu Opera Barcelona; Fiordiligi at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Staatsoper Hamburg, New National Theatre Tokyo, in Stockholm and for a Deutsche Grammophon recording at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden; and L’incoronazione di Poppea at Carnegie Hall. She sang Michel van der Aa’s Blank Out, a chamber opera for solo soprano, for Netherlands Opera with performances in Amsterdam, Rome, Aix-en-Provence, and New York.

In concert, Miah has sung Bach’s Mass in B minor at Teatro la Fenice; Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra; Beethoven’s Ninth with the London Symphony Orchestra with conductor Vladimir Jurowski at the BBC Proms; Brahms’s Requiem with the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia and the London Philharmonic Orchestra; Peer Gynt with the Vienna Symphony; Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the MDR Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, London Symphony Orchestra, Teatro alla Scala, and the Philharmonie Luxembourg; as well as recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall, Wiener Konzerthaus, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Spivey Hall, the Schubert Club of St. Paul, Cal Performances at Berkeley, Vancouver Playhouse, and Carnegie Hall.

Engagements in 2019–20 include role debuts as Elettra in Idomeneo at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma; Cleopatra Giulio Cesare at the New National Theatre Tokyo; Countess Almaviva at Staatsoper Berlin; Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni on tour with Kammerorchester Basel at the George Enescu Festival and Theater an der Wien; Donna Elvira at the Verbier Festival; Les nuits d’été on tour with the Budapest Festival Orchestra; Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lyon, and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic; Vier letzte Lieder here and with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra; Mozart’s Mass in C minor with the New York Philharmonic; Beethoven’s Ninth at the Prague Spring International Festival; the Nobel Prize Concert in Stockholm; and Mozart’s Concert Arias on tour with the Freiburger Barockorchester.

InTUNE — November 2019 | 37

Program NOTES • Richard Strauss (1864–1949) Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration), Opus 24 At just 25 years old, Strauss completed Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration), an ambitious work that explored the mystery of death and what might lie beyond. The piece was not based on any personal experience, but intriguingly, on his deathbed Strauss remarked that “dying is exactly as I composed it sixty years ago in Tod und Verklärung.”

Strauss provided his own summary: “[…] it occurred to me to present in the form of a tone poem the dying hours of a man who had striven towards the highest idealistic aims, maybe indeed those of an artist.” In the slow introduction, “The sick man lies in bed, asleep, with heavy irregular breathing; friendly dreams [in the form of woodwind and violin solos] conjure a smile on the features of the deeply suffering man.”

When the tempo quickens, “he wakes up; he is once more racked with horrible agonies; his limbs shake with fever” amidst an orchestral maelstrom. Suddenly, the storm breaks as a new theme resounds in the trumpet, trombones, and tuba: the first glimpse of transfiguration.

The music fades “as the attack passes and the pains leave off,” and a gentle theme from the introduction returns as he falls asleep again: “his thoughts wander through his past life; his childhood passes before him […]” A momentary attack of pain cinematically cuts to “the time of his youth with its strivings and passions”: the protagonist appears as a strapping young man with a fanfare-like theme for horns and winds. Another cinematic cut leads to an unmistakable Straussian love scene, but during this passionate love-dream “the pains already begin to return,” and the music of love and suffering combine in a searing passage of virtuoso complexity.

All at once, the pain falls away, and the transfiguration theme now appears in full: “there appears to him the fruit of his life’s path, the conception, the ideal which he has sought to realize, to present artistically, but which he has not been able to complete, since it is not for man to be able to accomplish such things.” But, in order to be transfigured, he must leave this world. The pained music of the slow introduction returns as “The hour of death approaches […]” The intense music of suffering returns once more, vanishing with the stroke of a gong as “the soul leaves the body in order to find gloriously achieved in everlasting space those things which could not be fulfilled here below.”

The Instruments: 3 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, 2 harps, and strings

38 | Houston Symphony

Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs) Late in life, Strauss came across Joseph von Eichendorff’s Im Abendrot (At Sunset), a lyrical poem in which an old couple contemplates the end of life together. Strauss was deeply affected by Eichendorff’s verses, which reminded him of his own long and happy marriage. In 1948, he completed a musical setting of the poem for soprano and orchestra. Intending to make Im Abendrot the conclusion of his final masterpiece, Strauss planned to set four more songs to accompany it; he only lived to complete three, all to poems by Hermann Hesse.

Each song features exquisite word painting. In the first, Frühling (Spring), the soprano’s voice rises up as she dreams of trees and sky, and the flute evokes birdsong. September paints a picture of a fading summer garden: we hear the allegorical figure of Summer shiver and laugh, and twirling, golden leaves fall from the high Acacia tree. When Summer at last falls asleep, the soprano lingers on the word “Augen” (“eyes”), paralleling the slow drifting into unconsciousness.

A horn solo concludes the song.

In Beim Schlafengehen (When Going to Sleep), the celesta evokes the starry sky as the soprano yearns to forget all thoughts in slumber. A violin solo seems to lead the soul up into the heavens, and the soprano’s voice flies over the orchestra into “the magic circle of night.” Im Abendrot begins with a vivid orchestral depiction of sunset; two trilling flutes represent the poem’s pair of larks ascending into the sky (a metaphor for the souls of the old couple). The light fades as the song unfolds, until the soprano asks, “Ist dies etwa der Tod?”— “Is this perhaps death?” The orchestra responds with the transfiguration theme from Death and Transfiguration. The song fades away to the sound of flutes—the larks disappear into the distance.

The Instruments: 3 flutes (1 doubling piccolo), piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons (1 doubling contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, harp, celesta, and strings

Don Juan, Opus 20 Completed in 1889, Don Juan was Strauss’s first mature masterpiece. Officially, he was inspired by Nikolaus Lenau’s fragmentary verse drama, but there is also evidence that Strauss had more personal sources of inspiration. Sometime between 1883 and 1889, he had a passionate, but ultimately impossible affair with a married woman, and in 1887, he began giving music lessons to the fiery soprano Pauline de Ahna, who would later become his wife. continued 

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Program NOTES , continued Though Strauss titled his tone poem Don Juan and prefaced the score with quotations from the play, he never provided a detailed plot for the piece, although traditional interpretations have arisen. The beginning is clear enough: Lenau’s play commences with a scene in which Don Juan declares, “That magic circle, immeasurably wide, of beautiful femininity with their multiple attractions, I want to traverse in a storm of pleasure, and die of a kiss upon the lips of the last woman.”

The frenzied opening represents Don Juan’s lust; the giggling transitional passage that follows has traditionally been interpreted as Don Juan’s first conquest. No sooner is it completed than the lust theme strikes up again, until a demure violin solo appears—usually interpreted as the next feminine object of Don Juan’s desire. Soon the violins (the woman) begin a duet with the horns and cellos (Don Juan), their melodies entwining about each other with increasing passion.

The climax, however, is surprisingly dark—perhaps hinting at Don Juan’s ultimate fate—and the lust theme immediately resumes its insatiable course.

Don Juan begins his next seduction with a brooding melody in the cellos and violas, to which a sighing flute responds.

This time, however, a tender oboe melody arises, suggesting a deeper emotional involvement. Alas, this interlude does not last: Don Juan renounces love as the horns belt a new, heroic theme, traditionally matched with verses from the play: “I shun satiety and the weariness of pleasure, and keep myself fresh in the service of the beautiful; hurting the individual woman, I adore the whole species. […] Out, then, and away after ever-new victories as long as the fiery ardors of youth still soar!”

This new theme initiates a developmental section which spirals out of control, traditionally interpreted as a drunken, orgiastic carnival. The episode collapses, leading to an eerie passage traditionally associated with a cemetery scene from the play. Brief quotations of the earlier love themes suggest memories of the women Don Juan seduced—alternatively, some of those women do indeed appear to confront Don Juan at the end of the play. Don Juan promises to divide the residue of his estate among them when he dies. Sure enough, Don Pedro, whose father was killed by Don Juan in a duel, appears seeking vengeance.

The return of the lust theme seems to correspond with Don Juan’s duel with Don Pedro. As skilled in the arts of war as in those of seduction, Don Juan easily bests him. The heroic horn theme of Don Juan’s resolve to eternally seek after new women then returns with intense longing. The lust theme consumes it, building to a sudden pause. Almost on a whim, Don Juan, bored with life and the endless cycle of seduction, casts aside his rapier and Don Pedro kills him. Dying, Don 40 | Houston Symphony

Juan declares: “All my desires and hopes are in suspended animation; perhaps a lightning bolt, from the heights that I contemned, mortally struck my amorous powers, and suddenly my world became deserted and benighted. And yet, perhaps not—the fuel is consumed and the hearth has become cold and dark.”

The Instruments: 3 flutes (1 doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, and strings

Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks), Opus 28 The legend of Till Eulenspiegel, a medieval German trickster, is supposedly based on a real person who lived during the 14th century. If there was a real Eulenspiegel, he would no doubt be pleased by the extraordinary tales he inspired; in story after story, the irreverent fool exposes the pompous hypocrisy of the Holy Roman Empire’s authority figures. After completing Till Eulenspiegel in May 1895, Strauss sanctioned a programmatic explanation of the piece based on notes he had scribbled into his manuscript. Interestingly, Strauss frequently diverges from literary sources with his own plot twists; his version of the legend focuses on the conflict between ascetic, repressive authorities and the merry, libidinous spirit of freedom that would expose their illegitimacy.

The piece begins with a gentle introduction—a musical “once upon a time”—which leads to the first motif associated with our hero: a short, repeated figure introduced by a solo horn that builds to a series of expectant pauses. At last, Till appears with a second distinctive motif, this time presented by a mischievous solo clarinet. In the following development, Till is presumably looking for trouble. He soon finds it. The music becomes quiet, and we hear Till’s theme fragmented in the lower strings, as if he is walking on tiptoe. A sudden cymbal crash is accompanied by a note from Strauss: “Hop! On horseback straight through the market women,” whose shrieks are vividly depicted with flutter-tongue trumpets.

After making a mess of things, Till escapes by virtue of magic boots that allow him to leap seven leagues away.

After hiding in “a mouse hole,” he disguises himself as a priest “oozing of unction and morality” with a dignified theme for violas, but his mischievous character peeks through with his characteristic clarinet motif. He delivers a blasphemous sermon with a violin solo, but muted brass express his creeping fears that he might get into serious trouble. Next, he exchanges “sweet courtesies with beautiful girls” (delicate violin and woodwind solos) and falls for one of them (“he has got it really badly,” Strauss notes). The

All-Strauss Thanksgiving | Program Notes

music becomes more passionate as he attempts to woo her, but she gently rebuffs his advances. “A delicate jilt is still a jilt,” however, and Till is furious; “He vows he will take revenge on all mankind.”

Next, he meets the pedagogues—grim school masters depicted by bassoons and bass clarinet. Till stumps them by questioning their ludicrous doctrines and dogmas, to which they attempt tangled, contrapuntal responses. After posing “a couple of atrocious theses to these philistines, he leaves them to their fate,” turning back to them from a distance with a “big grimace”—or perhaps some other rude gesture—a long dissonance for full orchestra.

Till escapes, whistling a jaunty tune; he quickly falls silent, however, and a still, ominous passage ensues. Has Till perhaps gone too far? Casting aside any doubts, his signature horn motif reappears as he plans an escapade even grander than the rest. Strauss chose not to specify the precise nature of this adventure, but the intoxicating musical orgy grows

wilder and wilder, climaxing with a devil-may care rendition of the priest-disguise music.

Suddenly, a snare drum ends the merriment, and overbearing brass announce that a party has come to arrest Till— presumably for blasphemy. At first Till continues to joke, but then the motif of his fears returns as he realizes there is no escape. Till is hanged, graphically depicted with a strangled clarinet (perhaps Strauss’s most significant deviation from the traditional legend, in which Till always escapes). The tone poem ends with an epilogue; the “once upon a time” narrator’s voice that began the piece returns, as if summing up the moral of the story. Till’s mischievous motifs have the last word, however, suggesting his spirit of rebellion is ultimately irrepressible. —Calvin Dotsey The Instruments: 3 flutes, piccolo, 3 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, E-flat clarinet, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 8 horns, 6 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, and strings

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CONNECTING THE COMMUNITY HOUSTON SYMPHONY SCHOOL RESIDENCIES The Houston Symphony’s innovative school residencies foster a deep connection to classical music for Houstonarea schools located in nine school districts. Unlike wideranging programs like the Robbins Foundation Student Concert Series, school residencies serve a smaller number of schools, but with a larger number of ongoing activities, from workshops to coaching to concerts. The 2019–20 Season is a landmark year for the Symphony’s residencies, which will, for the first time, serve students at all three main categories of primary schools—elementary, middle, and high schools.

Research shows that music education correlates with academic achievement and prepares students for future success. Residencies draw on the resources of one of America’s finest orchestras to fill a need for enhanced music education in Houston schools.

While all residencies include visits by Houston Symphony musicians, each residency is designed to meet each school’s individual needs. For example, the residency at Houston ISD’s Lewis Elementary School, currently in its second year, is helping the school to build a full-fledged, sustainable string program. Thanks to a phenomenal fundraising effort by the Houston Symphony League, last year the Symphony purchased violins for all participating students. The Houston Symphony’s goal is to apply the lessons learned at Lewis to launching similar programs elsewhere.

The Symphony’s first Middle School Residencies emphasize not just student interaction, but also professional development for music teachers. This season, the Symphony is working with Ortiz and Rucker Middle Schools in HISD and T.H. McDonald Junior High in Katy ISD. For High School Residencies, sponsored by Occidental Petroleum, Symphony education staff works with orchestra and band directors to customize the program for each ensemble’s unique needs. Participating high schools for the 2019–20 school year are Chavez (HISD), Crosby (Crosby ISD), Cypress Creek (Cy-Fair ISD), Dobie (Pasadena ISD), Klein (Klein ISD), Morton Ranch (Katy ISD), The Woodlands (Conroe ISD), and Waltrip (HISD). Students at all levels also attend Houston Symphony concerts and open rehearsals.

Additional residencies include a Social-Emotional Learning initiative at HISD’s Rucker Elementary, and a partnership with the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. In total, these programs serve 14 campuses in the current school year.

Thanks to sponsors like BBVA and Occidental Petroleum, the residency program has greatly expanded in the last three years, and now serves more than 2,000 students every school year.

Founded in 1920 and headquartered in Houston, Occidental Petroleum is one of the largest U.S. oil and gas exploration and production companies, with more than 33,000 employees and contractors globally, including approximately 12,000 in Texas.

42 | Houston Symphony

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The Houston Symphony gratefully acknowledges those who support our artistic, educational, and community engagement programs through their generosity to our Annual Fund and our Special Events.

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Young Associates COUNCIL The Houston Symphony’s Young Associates Council (YAC) is a philanthropic membership group for young professionals, music aficionados, and performing arts supporters interested in exploring symphonic music within Houston’s flourishing artistic landscape. YAC members are afforded exclusive opportunities to participate in musically focused events that take place not only in Jones Hall, but also in the city’s most sought-after venues, private homes, and friendly neighborhood hangouts. From behind-the-scenes interactions with the musicians of the Houston Symphony to jaw-dropping private performances by world-class virtuosos, the Houston Symphony’s Young Associates Council offers incomparable insight and accessibility to the music and musicians that are shaping the next era of orchestral music.

Young Associate Premium Farida Abjani Ann & Jonathan Ayre Mr. James M. Bell & Ms. Kimberly Lacher Eric Brueggeman Tatiana Chavanelle

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



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For more information, please contact: Tyler Murphy, Development Officer, Major Giving Groups, 713.337.8536.

InTUNE — November 2019 | 45

Corporate, Foundation, & Government PARTNERS The Houston Symphony is proud to recognize the leadership support of our corporate, foundation, and government partners that allow the orchestra to reach new heights in musical performance, education, and community engagement, for Greater Houston and the Gulf Coast Region.

For more information on becoming a corporate foundation or government partner, please contact Mary Beth Mosley, Director, Institutional Giving and Stewardship, at marybeth.mosley@houstonsymphony.org or 713.337.8521.

CORPORATE PARTNERS Principal Corporate Guarantor  $250,000 and above *Spec’s Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods / Spec’s Charitable Foundation Grand Guarantor  $150,000 and above BBVA ConocoPhillips *Houston Public Media— News 88.7 FM; Channel 8 PBS *KTRK ABC-13 Phillips 66 *Oliver Wyman Guarantor  $100,000 and above Bank of America BB&T *Houston Methodist Kalsi Engineering *PaperCity Shell Oil Company *Tenenbaum Jewelers *United Airlines Underwriter  $50,000 and above *Baker Botts L.L.P. *Cameron Management Chevron ENGIE *The Events Company Exxon Mobil Corporation Frost Bank

(as of October 1, 2019)

Houston Baptist University Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Kirkland & Ellis *The Lancaster Hotel Occidental Petroleum Palmetto Partners Ltd./The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation *Rand Group, LLC Vinson & Elkins LLP Sponsor  $25,000 and above *Bright Star EOG Resources H-E-B/H-E-B Tournament of Champions IberiaBank *Jackson and Company Marine Foods Express, Ltd. *Neiman Marcus *One Market Square Garage Sidley Austin LLP SPIR STAR, Ltd. *Steinway & Sons The University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center Wells Fargo

CORPORATE MATCHING GIFTS Aetna Foundation, Inc. Akzo Nobel Inc. Albemarle Corporation Allstate Insurance Company American International Group (AIG) Ameriprise Financial, Inc. Aon Foundation Bank of America BBVA BHP Billiton BP/Matching Fund Programs Caterpillar Matching Gifts Program Chevron Matching Gifts Program CITGO Petroleum Corporation ConocoPhillips Company Dominion Energy Foundation Matching Gift Program

46 | Houston Symphony

Partner  $15,000 and above Anadarko Petroleum Corporation *City Kitchen Fifth Third Bank *Glazier’s Distributors Gorman’s Uniform Service Heart of Fashion Independent Bank Laredo Construction, Inc. Locke Lord LLP Lockton Companies of Houston USI Southwest Supporter  $10,000 and above *Abraham’s Oriental Rugs CenterPoint Energy Emerson Greenberg Traurig, LLP *Houston First Corporation Macy’s Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas) Nordstrom *Silver Eagle Distributors Triten Corporation White & Case LLP *Zenfilm

Benefactor  $5,000 and above Barclay’s Wealth and Investment Management Beck Redden LLP Louis Vuitton Randalls Russell Reynolds Associates, Inc. *University of St. Thomas Wortham Insurance and Risk Management Patron  Gifts below $5,000 Amazon Baker Hughes Bering’s Beth Wolff Realtors Burberry Dolce & Gabbana USA, Inc. Kinder Morgan Foundation Mercantil ONEOK, Inc. *Quantum Bass Center SEI, Global Institutional Group Smith, Graham & Company Stewart Title Company TAM International, Inc. * Includes in-kind support

(as of October 1, 2019)

Eli Lilly and Company Emerson Electric Company, Inc. ExxonMobil Matching Gift Program Fannie Mae Corporation FMC Corporation Freeport-McMorRan Copper & Gold Inc. General Electric General Mills, Inc. Goldman Sachs Halliburton Company Hewlett Packard IAC Interactive IBM Corporation ING Financial Services Intermec Johnson & Johnson JPMorgan Chase & Co.

LyondellBasell Industries Macy's, Inc. (Macy's and Bloomingdale's) Merrill Lynch Microsoft Corporation Motiva Enterprises, LLC Murphy Oil Corporation NACCO Industries Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. Northern Trust Occidental Petroleum Phillips 66 Plains All American Pipeline PNC Bank PricewaterhouseCoopers Prudential Financial Inc. Regions Shell Oil Company Southwestern Energy

Spectra Energy SPX Corporation Texas Instruments The Boeing Company Matching Program The Coca-Cola Company Thomson Reuters TransCanada Pipelines Limited Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling Inc. Travelers Companies, Inc. UBS Union Pacific Walt Disney Company Westlake Chemical Williams Companies, Inc.

FOUNDATIONS & GOVERNMENT AGENCIES Diamond Guarantor  $1,000,000 and above The Brown Foundation, Inc. Houston Symphony Endowment Houston Symphony League The Wortham Foundation, Inc.

Houston Endowment MD Anderson Foundation Texas Commission on the Arts

Premier Guarantor  $500,000 and above City of Houston and Theater District Improvement, Inc. The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation The C. Howard Pieper Foundation Grand Guarantor  $150,000 and above City of Houston through the Miller Theatre Advisory Board The Cullen Foundation The Jerry C. Dearing Family Foundation The Hearst Foundations

IN-KIND DONORS A Fare Extraordinaire Alexander’s Fine Portrait Design Alpha-Lee Enterprises, Inc. Aspire Executive Coaching, LLC Bergner & Johnson Design Bering’s BKD, LLP Boat Ranch Burberry Cognetic Complete Eats Corinthian Houston Culinaire Carl R. Cunningham DLG Research & Marketing Solutions Elaine Turner Designs Elegant Events by Michael Elliot Marketing Group

Guarantor  $100,000 and above The Elkins Foundation The Humphreys Foundation Underwriter  $50,000 and above The Fondren Foundation Houston Symphony Chorus Endowment League of American Orchestras’ Futures Fund LTR Lewis Cloverdale Foundation John P. McGovern Foundation The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation / Palmetto Partners Ltd. The Powell Foundation The Robbins Foundation

(as of October 1, 2019)

Sponsor  $25,000 and above Beauchamp Foundation National Endowment for the Arts The William Stamps Farish Fund Partner  $15,000 and above Edward H. Andrews Foundation Ruth & Ted Bauer Family Foundation The Melbern G. & Susanne M. Glasscock Foundation The Hood-Barrow Foundation Barbara Bush Literacy Foundation Houston Symphony League Bay Area The Schissler Foundation The Vivian L. Smith Foundation The Vaughn Foundation

Supporter  $10,000 and above The Carleen & Alde Fridge Foundation William E. & Natoma Pyle Harvey Charitable Foundation Petrello Family Foundation Radoff Family Foundation Anonymous Benefactor  $5,000 and above Leon Jaworski Foundation The Scurlock Foundation Keith & Mattie Stevenson Foundation Strake Foundation Patron  Gifts below $5,000 The WC Handy Foundation The Lubrizol Foundation

(as of October 1, 2019) Elsie Smith Design Festari Forja Designs Foster Quan LLP Gucci Hermann Park Conservancy Hilton Americas – Houston Hotel Granduca Hotel Icon Hotel ZaZa Memorial City Houston Astros Houston Grand Opera Houston Texans InterContinental Hotel Houston Jim Benton of Houston, LLC JOHANNUS Organs of Texas John L. Worthan & Son, L.P. John Wright/Textprint JW Marriott Houston Downtown

Karbach Brewing Co. Kuhl-Linscomb LG Entertainers Limb Design Martha Turner Properties Meera Buck & Associates Michael’s Cookie Jar Minuteman Press – Post Oak Momentum Jaguar Music & Arts New Leaf Publishing, Inc. Nos Caves Vin The Parson Family in memory of Dorothy Anne Parson Prime Systems Pro/Sound Randalls Food Markets Rice University Richard Brown Orchestra

Saint Arnold’s Brewery Saks Fifth Avenue Shecky’s Media, Inc. Singapore Airlines Staging Solutions Stewart Title Tony’s Tootsies Valobra Jewelry & Antiques Versace Village Greenway VISION Yahama

InTUNE — November 2019 | 47

Houston Symphony ENDOWMENT The Houston Symphony Endowment is a separate non-profit organization that invests contributions to earn income for the benefit of the Houston Symphony Society.

TRUSTEES

William J. Toomey II, President Gene Dewhurst

James Lee Lynn Mathre

Jerry Simon Scott Wise

An endowed fund can be permanently established within the Houston Symphony Society through a direct contribution or via a planned gift such as a bequest. The fund can be designated for general purposes or specific interests.

For more information, please contact: Steven Covington, Director of Endowment and Planned Giving, at steven.covington@houstonsymphony.org or 713.337.8532.

ENDOWMENT FUNDS $100,000 + Accenture (Andersen Consulting) Fund AIG American General Fund M.D. Anderson Foundation Fund Mr. & Mrs. Philip Bahr Fund Janice H. & Thomas D. Barrow Fund Ronald C. Borschow Fund The Brown Foundation Guest Pianist Fund The Brown Foundation’s Miller Outdoor Theatre Fund in memory of Hanni & Stewart Orton Margarett & Alice Brown Endowment Fund for Education Lawrence E. Carlton, M.D. Endowment Fund for Youth Programs Jane & Robert Cizik Fund The Janet Clark Fund Cooper Industries, Inc. Fund The Cullen Foundation Maestro’s Fund The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts Fund for Creative Initiatives DuPont Corporation Fund Elkins Charitable Trust Agency Fund The Margaret & James A. Elkins Foundation Fund Virginia Lee Elverson Trust Fund William Stamps Farish Fund Dr. Kelli Cohen Fein & Martin J. Fein Fund Richard P. Garmany Fund for the Houston Symphony League Concerto Competition Jo A. & Billie Jo Graves Fund George & Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation Fund The William Randolph Hearst Endowed Fund for Education Programs General & Mrs. Maurice Hirsch Memorial Concert Fund in memory of Theresa Meyer and Jules Hirsch, beloved parents of General Maurice Hirsch, and Rosetta Hirsch Weil and Josie Hirsch Bloch, beloved sisters of General Maurice Hirsch Houston Arts Combined Endowment Fund The Houston Symphony Chorus Endowment Fund Mr. & Mrs. Marvin Kaplan Fund

Ann Kennedy & Geoffrey Walker Fund Rochelle & Max Levit Fund Mary R. Lewis Fund for Piano Performance Mach Family Audience Development Fund Mr. & Mrs. Rodney H. Margolis Fund Mr. & Mrs. J. Stephen Marks Fund/ The Marks Charitable Foundation Marian & Speros Martel Foundation Fund Speros P. Martel Fund Barbara & Pat McCelvey Fund The Menil Foundation Fund Monroe Mendelsohn Jr. Estate George P. & Cynthia Woods Mitchell Summer Concerts Fund Sue A. Morrison & Children Fund National Endowment for the Arts Fund Stewart Orton Fund Papadopoulos Fund C. Howard Pieper Foundation Nancy & Robert Peiser Fund Fayez Sarofim Guest Violinist Fund through The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts Selma S. Neumann Fund Spec’s Charitable Foundation Salute to Educators Concert Fund The Micajah S. Stude Special Production Fund Estate of Mr. Walter W. Sapp Fund The Schissler Foundation Fund Mr. & Mrs. William T. Slick Jr. Fund Dorothy Barton Thomas Fund Bobby & Phoebe Tudor Fund Mr. & Mrs. Jesse B. Tutor Fund Dede & Connie Weil Fund The Wortham Foundation Classical Series Fund endowed in memory of Gus S. & Lyndall F. Wortham The Wortham Foundation Fund

Visit our website at houstonsymphony.org/endowment for a complete listing of Endowment Funds.

48 | Houston Symphony

Legacy SOCIETY The Legacy Society honors those who have included the Houston Symphony Endowment in their long-term estate plans through a bequest in a will, life-income gifts, or other deferred-giving arrangements.

CRESCENDO CIRCLE $100,000 + Dr. & Mrs. George J. Abdo Priscilla R. Angly Janice Barrow James Barton James Bell Joe Brazzatti Terry Ann Brown Drs. Dennis & Susan Carlyle Janet F. Clark Mr. William E. Colburn Darrin Davis & Mario Gudmundsson Harrison R.T. Davis Andria N. Elkins Jean & Jack* Ellis

The Aubrey & Sylvia Farb Family Eugene Fong Mrs. Aggie L. Foster Michael B. George Stephen & Mariglyn Glenn Evan B. Glick Jo A. & Billie Jo Graves Bill Grieves Jacquelyn Harrison & Thomas Damgaard Dr. Rita Justice Mr. & Mrs. U. J. LeGrange Ms. Nancey G. Lobb Joella & Steven P. Mach

Bill & Karinne McCullough Mr. & Mrs. Alexander K. McLanahan Dr. & Mrs.* Robert M. Mihalo Sue A. Morrison & children in memory of Walter J. Morrison Mr. & Mrs. Marvin H. Mueller Drs. John & Dorothy Oehler Gloria G. Pryzant Donna Scott Charles & Andrea Seay Michael J. Shawiak Jule* & Albert Smith Mr. & Mrs. Louis J. Snyder Mr. Rex Spikes

Mike & Anita* Stude Mr. & Mrs. Jesse B. Tutor Elba L. Villarreal Margaret Waisman, M.D. & Steven S. Callahan, Ph.D. Mr. & Mrs. Fredric A. Weber Robert G. Weiner Vicki West in honor of Hans Graf Susan Gail Wood Jo Dee Wright Ellen A. Yarrell Anonymous (2)

Farida Abjani Mr. & Mrs. Jeffrey B. Aron Myra W. Barber Daniel B. Barnum George* & Betty Bashen Dr. Joan Hacken Bitar Dorothy B. Black Kerry Levine Bollmann Ermy Borlenghi Bonfield James & S. Dale Brannon Zu Broadwater Joan K. Bruchas & H. Philip Cowdin* Mr. Christopher & Mrs. Erin Brunner Eugene R. Bruns Cheryl & Sam Byington Sylvia J. Carroll Dr. Robert N. Chanon William J. Clayton & Margaret A. Hughes Mr. & Mrs. Byron Cooley The Honorable & Mrs. William Crassas Dr. Lida S. Dahm Leslie Barry Davidson Judge & Mrs.* Harold DeMoss Jr. Susan Feickert Ginny Garrett Mr. & Mrs. Harry H. Gendel Mauro H. Gimenez & Connie A. Coulomb Mr. Robert M. Griswold Randolph Lee Groninger

Claudio J. Gutierrez Mr. & Mrs. Jerry L. Hamaker Mrs. Gloria Herman Marilyn & Robert M. Hermance Timothy Hogan & Elaine Anthony Dr. Gary L. Hollingsworth Dr. Edward J. & Mrs. Patti Hurwitz Dr. Kenneth Hyde Brian & Catherine James Barbara & Raymond Kalmans Dr. & Mrs. Ira Kaufman, M.D. John S. W. Kellett Ann Kennedy & Geoffrey Walker Dr. James E. & Betty W. Key Dr. & Mrs. I. Ray Kirk Mrs. Frances E. Leland Samuel J. Levine Mrs. Lucy Lewis E. W. Long Jr. Sandra Magers David Ray Malone & David J. Sloat Mr. & Mrs. Rodney H. Margolis Jay & Shirley* Marks James G. Matthews Mr. & Mrs. John H. Matzer III Dr. & Mrs. Malcolm L. Mazow Mary Ann & David McKeithan Dr. Tracey Samuels & Mr. Robert McNamara Mr. & Mrs. D. Bradley McWilliams Catherine Jane Merchant

Dr. Georgette M. Michko Marilyn Ross Miles & Stephen Warren Miles Foundation Katherine Taylor Mize Ione Moran Sidney Moran Richard & Juliet Moynihan Gretchen Ann Myers Patience Myers Mr. John N. Neighbors, in memory of Jean Marie Neighbors Mr. & Mrs. Richard C. Nelson Bobbie Newman John & Leslie Niemand Leslie Nossaman Dave G. Nussmann John Onstott Macky Osorio Edward C. Osterberg Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Edmund & Megan Pantuliano Imogen “Immy” Papadopoulos Christine & Red Pastorek Peter & Nina Peropoulos Sara M. Peterson Darla Powell Phillips Geraldine Smith Priest Dana Puddy Patrick T. Quinn Lila Rauch Ed & Janet Rinehart

Mr. Floyd W. Robinson Evie Ronald Walter Ross Mr. & Mrs. James A. Shaffer Dr. & Mrs. Kazuo Shimada Lisa & Jerry Simon Tad & Suzanne Smith Sherry Snyder Marie Speziale Emily H. & David K. Terry Stephen G. Tipps Steve Tostengard, in memory of Ardyce Tostengard Jana Vander Lee Bill & Agnete Vaughan Dean B. Walker Stephen & Kristine Wallace David M. Wax* & Elaine Arden Cali Geoffrey Westergaard Nancy B. Willerson Jennifer R. Wittman Lorraine & Ed* Wulfe David & Tara Wuthrich Katherine & Mark Yzaguirre Edith & Robert Zinn Anonymous (6)

In MEMORIAM

*Deceased

We honor the memory of those who in life included the Houston Symphony Endowment in their estate plans. Their thoughtfulness and generosity will continue to inspire and enrich lives for generations to come.

Mr. Thomas D. Barrow George Bashen Paul M. Basinski W. P. Beard William Carson Biggs Ronald C. Borschow Mrs. H. Raymond Brannon Anthony Brigandi Lawrence E. Carlton, M.D. Mrs. Albert V. Caselli Lee Allen Clark William J. & Patricia S. Cunningham Fredell Lack Eichhorn Jack Ellis Mrs. Robin A. Elverson Frank R. Eyler Dr. & Mrs. Larry L. Fedder Helen Bess Fariss Foster

Christine E. George Lila-Gene George Mr. & Mrs. Keith E. Gott John Wesley Graham Dorothy H. Grieves Mrs. Marcella Levine Harris Gen. & Mrs. Maurice Hirsch Miss Ima Hogg Burke & Octavia Holman David L. Hyde Dr. Blair Justice Mr. Max Levine Dr. Mary R. Lewis Mrs. L. F. McCollum Betty & Gene McDavid Mr. & Mrs. Charles E. McKerley Doretha Melvin Monroe L. Mendelsohn Jr.

Mr. Ronald Mikita Robert Austin Moody Mrs. Janet Moynihan Arthur Newman Constantine S. Nicandros Hanni Orton Stewart Orton, Legacy Society co-founder Dr. Michael Papadopoulos Robert A. Peiser Miss Louise Pearl Perkins Mary Anne H. Phillips Mr. Howard Pieper Clive Runnells, in memory of Nancy Morgan Runnells Ugo di Portanova Mr. Charles K. Sanders

Walter W. Sapp, Legacy Society co-founder J. Fred & Alma Laws Lunsford Schultz Ms. Jean R. Sides Lola Sinclair Blanche Stastny John K. & Fanny W. Stone Richard H. Stork Dorothy Barton Thomas Dr. Carlos Vallbona Mr. Harry C. Wiess Mrs. Edward Wilkerson Daisy S. Wong / JCorp Ed Wulfe Anonymous (1)

InTUNE — November 2019 | 49

Education & Community Engagement DONORS The Houston Symphony acknowledges those individuals, corporations, and foundations that support our education and community engagement initiatives. Each year, these activities impact the lives of more than 97,000 children and students and provide access to our world-class orchestra for more than 150,000 Houstonians free of charge.

Principal Guarantor $250,000+



John & Lindy Rydman / Spec’s Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods / Spec’s Charitable Foundation

Guarantor

$100,000+



BBVA The Jerry C. Dearing Family Foundation City of Houston through the Miller Theatre Advisory Board The Hearst Foundations, Inc. Houston Symphony Endowment Mr. John N. Neighbors

Underwriter



$50,000+

The Elkins Foundation ENGIE Exxon Mobil Corporation League of American Orchestras’ Futures Fund Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo The John P. McGovern Foundation The Robert & Janice McNair Foundation The Powell Foundation Mr. & Mrs. William K. Robbins Jr./ The Robbins Foundation Shell Oil Company

Sponsor



$25,000+

Chevron Houston Symphony Hispanic Leadership Council Wells Fargo

Partner



$15,000+

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation Ruth and Ted Bauer Family Foundation Barbara Bush Literacy Foundation The Melbern G. and Susanne M. Glasscock Foundation H-E-B Tournament of Champions Houston Symphony League Houston Symphony League Bay Area Macy’s Occidental Petroleum Vivian L. Smith Foundation Mr. Jay Steinfeld & Mrs. Barbara Winthrop Ellen A. Yarrell in memory of

50 | Houston Symphony

Virginia S. Anderson and in honor of Cora Sue Mach

Support for Symphony Scouts

Supporter

Cora Sue & Harry Mach in honor of Roger Daily’s 13 years of service as Director of the Houston Symphony’s Education and Community Programs



$10,000+

CenterPoint Energy George & Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas) William E. & Natoma Pyle Harvey Charitable Trust Nancy & Robert* Peiser Nordstrom

Donor



$1,000+

Lilly & Thurmon Andress Diane & Harry Gendel Kinder Morgan Foundation Cora Sue & Harry Mach Karinne & Bill McCullough Tricia & Mark Rauch Hazel French Robertson Education & Community Residency Strake Foundation Texas Commission on the Arts

Support by Endowed Funds Education and Community programs are also supported by the following endowed funds, which are a part of the Houston Symphony Endowment: Margarett & Alice Brown Endowment Fund for Education Spec’s Charitable Foundation Salute to Educators Concert Fund The Brown Foundation’s Miller Outdoor Theatre Fund in honor of Hanni & Stewart Orton The William Randolph Hearst Endowed Fund for Education Programs Lawrence E. Carlton, M.D. Endowment Fund for Youth Programs Richard P. Garmany Fund for Houston Symphony League Concerto Competition Houston Symphony Ima Hogg Competition Endowed Fund Selma S. Neumann Fund

Support for the CommunityEmbedded Musicians Initiative The Community-Embedded Musicians Initiative is supported in part by a generous grant from the American Orchestras’ Futures Fund, a program of the League of American Orchestras made possible by funding from the Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation.

The Houston Symphony residency at Lewis Elementary is presented in part

by BBVA and the BBVA Foundation. We are also thankful to HISD and these lead supporters of the CommunityEmbedded Musician program: Robert and Janice McNair Foundation National Endowment for the Arts Spec’s Wines, Spirits and Finer Foods / Spec’s Charitable Foundation Mr. Jay Steinfeld & Mrs. Barbara Winthrop H-E-B Tournament of Champions

MUSICIAN SPONSORSHIPS Donors at the Conductor’s Circle Silver Baton level and above are provided the opportunity to be recognized as sponsoring a Houston Symphony Musician. For more information, please contact Tyler Murphy, Development Officer, Major Giving Groups, at tyler.murphy@houstonsymphony.org or 713.337.8536.

Janice Barrow Sophia Silivos, First Violin

Drs. M.S. & Marie-Luise Kalsi Eric Halen, Co-Concertmaster

Susan & Edward Osterberg MiHee Chung, First Violin

Gary & Marian Beauchamp Martha Chapman, Second Violin

The Joan & Marvin Kaplan Foundation Mark Nuccio, Principal Clarinet

Mr. & Mrs. Jonathan E. Parker Nancy Goodearl, Horn

Nancy & Walter Bratic Christopher Neal, First Violin

Dr. & Mrs. I. Ray Kirk Linda Goldstein, Viola

Mr. Gordon J. Brodfuehrer Maki Kubota, Cello Ralph Burch Robin Kesselman, Principal Double Bass Barbara J. Burger Andrew Pedersen, Double Bass Dr. M.K. Campion Rodica Gonzalez, First Violin Drs. Dennis & Susan Carlyle Louis-Marie Fardet, Cello

Mr. & Mrs. U. J. LeGrange Thomas LeGrand, Associate Principal Clarinet Rochelle & Max Levit Sergei Galperin, First Violin Cora Sue & Harry Mach Joan DerHovsepian, Associate Principal Viola Joella & Steven P. Mach Eric Larson, Double Bass

Nancy & Robert* Peiser Jonathan Fischer, Principal Oboe Dave & Alie Pruner Matthew Strauss, Percussion Gloria & Joe Pryzant Matthew Strauss, Percussion Ron & Demi Rand Annie Chen, Second Violin Lila Rauch Christopher French, Associate Principal Cello

Mrs. Carolyn & Dr. Michael Mann Ian Mayton, Horn

Sybil F. Roos Mark Hughes, Principal Trumpet

Mr. & Mrs. Rodney H. Margolis Eric Halen, Co-Concertmaster

Mr. Glen A. Rosenbaum Aralee Dorough, Principal Flute

Janet F. Clark MuChen Hsieh, Principal Second Violin

Mr. & Mrs. J. Stephen Marks Brian Del Signore, Principal Percussion

Linda & Jerry Rubenstein Brian Del Signore, Principal Percussion

Mr. Michael H. Clark & Ms. Sallie Morian George Pascal, Assistant Principal Viola

Jay & Shirley* Marks Sergei Galperin, First Violin

John & Lindy Rydman / Spec’s Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods Anthony Kitai, Cello

Jane & Robert Cizik Qi Ming, Assistant Concertmaster

Roger & Debby Cutler Tong Yan, First Violin Leslie Barry Davidson & W. Robins Brice Colin Gatwood, Oboe Scott Ensell & Family Donald Howey, Double Bass Kelli Cohen Fein & Martin Fein Ferenc Illenyi, First Violin Mr. & Mrs. Russell M. Frankel Aralee Dorough, Principal Flute Stephen & Mariglyn Glenn Christian Schubert, Clarinet Evan B. Glick Tong Yan, First Violin Mr. & Mrs. Fred L. Gorman Christopher French, Associate Principal Cello Dr. Gary L. Hollingsworth & Dr. Kenneth J. Hyde Robert Walp, Assistant Principal Trumpet

Michelle & Jack Matzer Kurt Johnson, First Violin Dr. & Mrs. Malcolm L. Mazow Rodica Gonzalez, First Violin Barbara & Pat McCelvey Adam Dinitz, English Horn Mr. & Mrs. Alexander K. McLanahan William VerMeulen, Principal Horn Martha & Marvin McMurrey Rodica Gonzalez, First Violin Dr. Robert M. Mihalo Brian Thomas, Horn Rita & Paul Morico Elise Wagner, Bassoon Mr. & Mrs. Robert E. Nelson Mihaela Frusina, Second Violin Bobbie Newman Rodica Gonzalez, First Violin Scott & Judy Nyquist Sheldon Person, Viola

Mr. & Mrs. James A. Shaffer Eric Halen, Co-Concertmaster

Ms. Judith Vincent Matthew Roitstein, Associate Principal Flute Margaret Waisman, M.D. & Steven S. Callahan, Ph.D. Mark Griffith, Percussion Stephen & Kristine Wallace Allen Barnhill, Principal Trombone Mr. & Mrs. Fredric A. Weber Megan Conley, Principal Harp Robert G. Weiner & Toni Blankman Anastasia Sukhopara, Second Violin Vicki West Rodica Gonzalez, First Violin Steven & Nancy Williams MiHee Chung, First Violin Jeanie Kilroy Wilson & Wallace S. Wilson Xiao Wong, Cello Mr. & Mrs. C. Clifford Wright Jr. Jarita Ng, Viola Lorraine & Ed* Wulfe Dave Kirk, Principal Tuba Nina & Michael Zilkha Kurt Johnson, First Violin *deceased

Laura & Michael Shannon Rian Craypo, Principal Bassoon Tad & Suzanne Smith Marina Brubaker, First Violin Alana R. Spiwak & Sam L. Stolbun Wei Jiang, Viola Mr. & Mrs. Robert R. Springob, Laredo Construction, Inc. Mihaela Frusina, Second Violin Mike Stude Brinton Averil Smith, Principal Cello Susan H. Thompson George Pascal, Associate Principal Viola Bobby & Phoebe Tudor Bradley White, Associate Principal Trombone Mr. & Mrs. Jesse B. Tutor Daniel Strba, Viola

InTUNE — November 2019 | 51

Meet Tina Zhang, second violin Tina Zhang has been a violinist with the Houston Symphony since 2011.

Prior to joining the orchestra, she received her bachelor’s degree in both music and mathematics at Bard College where she studied with Weigang Li. She completed her master’s degree at Rice University with Cho-Liang Lin. After starting the violin at age 6 with Keqiang Li in Montreal, Tina placed second in the national round of the Canadian Music Competition at age 11 and made her solo debut a year later with the FACE Symphony Orchestra. She went on to place first in the Canadian Music Competition, the New World Philharmonic Orchestra Competition, and the Montreal Classical Music Festival; she placed third in the HAMS Competition of Chicago.

Tina is an active chamber musician and has participated in festivals such as the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival in Maine; the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan; the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado; the Kent Blossom Music Festival in Ohio; the Académie Domaine Forget in Quebec; and the National Academy Orchestra of Canada in Hamilton, Ontario.

In her spare time, Tina enjoys teaching violin, playing board games, and spending time with her husband and 1-year-old daughter.

How did you choose your instrument?

When I was 5, I used to see a violinist sometimes playing at the subway station on my way to kindergarten. Whenever we saw him, my mother and I would stop and watch him, and that would be the highlight of my day. She later took me to see the ballet Sleeping Beauty, and we were seated so high up we could barely see the dancers, but the music—especially those concertmaster solos—made me fall in love with the sound of the violin.

Would you like to share a memorable moment or highlight from your career?

Playing music from E.T. under John Williams himself. He’s one of my favorite composers. It was the last piece of an already amazing concert. The orchestration is incredible. I love that beginning with the woodwinds, and then that incredible moment when the violins come in with a soaring, singing line that has so much momentum because the percussive accompaniment is still going on beneath it.

It’s such a hopeful and magical piece.

What would you be if you were not a professional musician?

Probably a preschool/elementary teacher of some sort. I enjoy teaching violin to kids, but I guess if I couldn’t teach violin, I’d still enjoy being around kids and seeing the world from their eyes.

What are your hobbies and interests outside of music?

Playing with my daughter and taking a gazillion videos probably takes up the most time outside of my work hours. I also try to be involved at my church. Aside from that, my husband and I are currently playing a collaborative RPG board game called Gloomhaven with another couple over a glass (or two) of wine; and yes, it is possibly even nerdier than it sounds.

Top: My professional headshot Second: My grandmother, mom, myself, and my daughter, Hannah Third: The family at Disneyland this year Fourth: Our awesome second violin section after Principal MuChen Hsieh’s solo at Miller Outdoor Theatre this past June Bottom: My baby shower thrown by my Houston Symphony family

52 | Houston Symphony

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