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InTUNE The Houston Symphony Magazine

Mr. Symphonic: Shaggy with the Houston Symphony

January 11, 2026

ORCHESTRA ROSTER Steven Reineke, Principal POPS Conductor

Juraj Valčuha

Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Conductor Laureate

Music Director Roy and Lillie Cullen Chair

Anthony J. Maglione, Director, Houston Symphony Chorus Gonzalo Farias, Associate Conductor

FIRST VIOLIN Yoonshin Song, Concertmaster Max Levine Chair Vacant, Associate Concertmaster Ellen E. Kelley Chair Boson Mo, Assistant Concertmaster Qi Ming, Assistant Concertmaster Fondren Foundation Chair Marina Brubaker* Tong Yan Rodica Gonzalez* Ferenc Illenyi Si-Yang Lao Christopher Neal Sergei Galperin James Gikas+ Tianxu Liu+ Samuel Park+ Timothy Peters+ Arutyun Piloyan+ Teresa Wang+

DOUBLE BASS Robin Kesselman, Principal Timothy Dilenschneider, Associate Principal Andrew Pedersen, Assistant Principal Eric Larson Logan May Burke Shaw Donald Howey Avery Weeks

HORN William VerMeulen, Principal Mr. and Mrs. Alexander K. McLanahan Endowed Chair Robert Johnson, Associate Principal Nathan Cloeter, Assistant Principal/Utility Ian Mayton Barbara J. Burger Chair Brian Mangrum Spencer Bay+

FLUTE Vacant, Principal Matthew Roitstein, Acting Principal Judy Dines Kathryn Ladner Douglas DeVries*

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

PICCOLO Kathryn Ladner

SECOND VIOLIN Vacant, Principal Vacant, Associate Principal Amy Semes Annie Kuan-Yu Chen Mihaela Frusina Jing Zheng Tianjie Liu* Anastasia Iglesias Tina Zhang Yankı Karataş Hannah Duncan Alexandros Sakarellos Zubaida Azezi+ Hanna Hrybkova+

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

TROMBONE Nick Platoff, Principal Bradley White, Associate Principal Phillip Freeman

VIOLA Joan DerHovsepian, Principal Wei Jiang, Acting Associate Principal Samuel Pedersen, Assistant Principal Paul Aguilar Sheldon Person Fay Shapiro Keoni Bolding Jimmy Cunningham Meredith Harris+ Suzanne LeFevre+ CELLO Brinton Averil Smith, Principal Janice H. and Thomas D. Barrow Chair Christopher French, Associate Principal Jane and Robert Cizik Chair Anthony Kitai Louis-Marie Fardet Jeffrey Butler Maki Kubota Xiao Wong Charles Seo Jeremy Kreutz COMMUNITY-EMBEDDED MUSICIAN Lindsey Baggett, Violin LIBRARIANS Ali Verderber, Associate Librarian Megan Fisher, Assistant Librarian

ENGLISH HORN Adam Dinitz Barbara and Pat McCelvey Chair CLARINET Mark Nuccio, Principal Bobbie Nau Chair Vacant, Associate Principal Christian Schubert Alexander Potiomkin Ben Freimuth+ E-FLAT CLARINET Vacant Ben Freimuth+ BASS CLARINET Alexander Potiomkin BASSOON Rian Craypo, Principal Isaac 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 Allegra Lilly, Principal KEYBOARD Vacant, Principal LIBRARIAN Luke Bryson, Principal

CONTRABASSOON Adam Trussell

*on leave + contracted substitute

STAGE PERSONNEL Stefan Stout, Stage Manager José Rios, Assistant Stage Manager Nicholas DiFonzo, Head Video Engineer Justin Herriford, Head Audio Engineer Connor Morrow, Head Stage Technician Giancarlo Minotti, Audio Production Manager

PERFORMANCE CALENDAR 2025-26 season

Mr. Symphonic: Shaggy with the Houston Symphony January 11

Disney s Fantasia in Concert April 3 & 4

Arturo Sandoval: Journey to Freedom January 17 & 18*

Marin Alsop Conducts Brahms 2 January 23, 24* & 25

When Instruments Roamed the Earth February 7

Icon: The Voices That Changed Music April 24, 25* & 26

Symphonie espagnole + Symphonie fantastique February 13, 14* & 15

Abracadabra! A Magical Musical Adventure April 25

Chamber Music Series: Musician Spotlight February 15

Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet February 20, 21* & 22

Mozart + Elgar’s Enigma Variations March 13, 14* & 15

Chanticleer: Our American Journey April 28

Disney & Pixar’s Toy Story in Concert May 2 & 3

The Planets + Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto May 15, 16* & 17

Chamber Music Series: Springtime in Italy: Tchaikovsky & More March 15

Chamber Music Series: Ethereal Transformations May 17

Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony + Timpani World Premiere March 20, 21* & 22

Valčuha Conducts Mahler 9 May 22, 23* & 24

Grieg’s Peer Gynt March 27, 28* & 29

Lights! Camera! Music! 100 Years of Epic Film Scores May 29, 30* & 31

Lang Lang in Recital April 1

Bank of America POPS Series

Joshua Bell Returns: The Elements in Concert May 7, 9* & 10

Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde February 28 & March 1

Classical Series

April 17 Adams Conducts Adams & Appalachian Spring April 18 & 19*

Piano Man: The Music of Billy Joel February 6, 7* & 8

John Malkovich in The Music Critic April 14

PNC Family Series

Summer & Specials

Chamber Series

*Performance livestreamed

Juraj valČuha Music Director Roy and Lillie Cullen Chair

Houston Symphony Music Director Juraj Valčuha is recognized for his effortless expressiveness and depth of musicianship. He is known for his sharp baton technique, natural stage presence, and the impressive ease of his interpretations that translate even the most complex scores into immersive experiences. Before joining the Houston Symphony in June 2022, Valčuha was Music Director of the Teatro di San Carlo, Naples, from 2016 to 2022 and first guest conductor of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. He was Chief Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI from 2009 to 2016. In 2023, he assumed the post of Principal Guest Conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. The 2005–06 Season marked the start of his international career on the podium of the Orchestre National de France followed by remarkable debuts in the United Kingdom with the Philharmonia London, in Germany with the Munich Philharmonic, in the United States with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and in Italy with Puccini’s La bohème in Bologna. He has since led the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Munich Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw, Rotterdam Philharmonic,

Orchestre de Paris, Maggio Musicale in Florence, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Rome, Milan’s Filarmonica della Scala, Montréal Symphony, and the NHK and Yomiuri orchestras in Tokyo. He enjoys regular collaborations with the Pittsburgh and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, the San Francisco Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. International touring with the Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI took them to the Musikverein in Vienna, Philharmonie in Berlin, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Zurich, and Munich; to the Enesco Festival in Bucharest; and to the Abu Dhabi Classics. With the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, he visited Riga, Vilnius, and Tallinn to mark the 100th anniversary of the Baltic nations. Valčuha champions the compositions of living composers and aspires to program contemporary pieces in most of his concerts. He has conducted world premieres, including Christopher Rouse’s Supplica with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Steven Mackey’s violin concerto with Leila Josefowicz and the BBC Symphony in Manchester, and Nico Muhly’s Bright Idea with the Houston Symphony. In 2005, he conducted, in the presence of the composer, Steve Reich’s Four Seasons at the MelosEthos Festival in Bratislava. Other composers

he has supported and continues to follow with interest are Bryce Dessner, Steven Stucky, Andrew Norman, James MacMillan, Luca Francesconi, Anna Thorvaldsdóttir, Anna Clyne, Julia Wolfe, and Jessie Montgomery, among others. Including his engagements in Houston, the 2023–24 Season took him to the Pittsburgh and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, San Francisco Symphony, and Minnesota Orchestra as well as to the Yomiuri Nippon Orchestra in Tokyo. On the European stage, he performed La fanciulla del West and Tristan und Isolde at the Bavarian State Opera and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Jenůfa at the Opera di Roma. He led concerts with the RAI Orchestra, the Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, the Orchestre National de France, the NDR, SWR, and the Bamberg Symphony, among others. In the 2024–25 Season, Valčuha joined the Semperoper in Dresden with Strauss’s Salome as well as the Paris Opéra Bastille with Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen and the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame. In addition to his concerts with the Houston Symphony, he returned to the Munich Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France, the London Philharmonic, the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchester, the San Francisco Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the Yomiuri Nippon Orchestra in Tokyo.

The 2025–26 Season marks his fourth season with the Houston Symphony. His guest engagements will lead him to the San Francisco, Chicago, and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras. In Europe, he will join the Orchestre National de France, the Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin, the Bamberg Symphony, the Santa Cecilia Orchestra in Rome, the Basque National Orchestra, the NDR Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and on tour, and the RAI National Orchestra in Turin. On the opera stage, he will conduct Pelleas et Mélisande at the Geneva Opera as well as Don Carlo and La bohème at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Born in Bratislava, Slovakia, Valčuha studied composition and conducting in his birthplace, then at the conservatory in St. Petersburg (with Ilya Musin), and finally, at the Conservatoire Supérieur de la Musique in Paris.

2025–26 SEASON

SOCIETY BOARD OF TRUSTEES OFFICERS Barbara J. Burger President John Rydman** Board Chair Chair, Artistic & Orchestra Affairs

Barbara McCelvey President-Elect Chair, Development Mike S. Stude** Chair Emeritus

Paul Morico General Counsel Jonathan Ayre Secretary Chair, Finance

Gary Ginstling^ Executive Director/CEO Margaret Alkek Williams Chair

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Brad W. Corson Chair, Governance & Leadership

Mary Lynn Marks Chair, Volunteers & Special Events

Carey Kirkpatrick Chair, Marketing & Communications Evan B. Glick Chair, Popular Programming Sippi Khurana, M.D. Chair, Education & Community Engagement

Bobby Tudor^** At-Large Member

Joan DerHovsepian^ Musician Representative

Robert Orr Chair, Strategic Planning

Leslie Nossaman^ President, Houston Symphony League

Mark Hughes^ Musician Representative

Jesse B. Tutor** Chair, Audit

James H. Lee^ President, Houston Symphony Endowment

Janet F. Clark^ Immediate Past Chair Steven P. Mach^ At-Large Member

Juraj Valčuha^ Music Director Roy and Lillie Cullen Chair

Jeremy Kreutz^ Musician Representative Mark Nuccio^ Musician Representative

GOVERNING DIRECTORS Gary Beauchamp Eric Brueggeman MK Campion John Cassidy, M.D. Khoa Dao Lidiya Gold

Claudio Gutiérrez Rick Jaramillo David J. M. Key Cindy Levit Isabel Stude Lummis Cora Sue Mach**

Rodney Margolis** Elissa Martin Chris Powers Brittany Sakowitz Ed Schneider Justin Stenberg

William J. Toomey II Betty Tutor** Robert Weiner Margaret Alkek Williams**

TRUSTEES Christopher Armstrong David Balderston David J. Beck Carrie Brandsberg-Dahl Nancy Shelton Bratic Terry Ann Brown** Ralph Burch John T. Cater** Robert Chanon Heaven Chee Michael H. Clark Virginia Clark Aoife Cunningham Andrew Davis, Ph.D. Denise Davis Tracy Dieterich Joan Duff Connie Dyer Kelli Cohen Fein

Jeffrey B. Firestone Lindsay Buchanan Fisher Eugene A. Fong Aggie L. Foster Julia Anderson Frankel Carolyn Gaidos Andrew Gould Lori Harrington Pablo Hernandez SchmidtTophoff Jeff Hiller Grace Ho Gary L. Hollingsworth John W. Hutchinson Brian James Dawn James Matthew Kades I. Ray Kirk, M.D. David Krieger

Matthew Loden Michael Mann, M.D. Nancy Martin Jack Matzer Jackie Wolens Mazow Aprill Nelson Tim Ong Edward Osterberg Jr. Gloria G. Pryzant Miwa Sakashita Ted Sarosdy Andrew Schwaitzberg Helen Shaffer** Becky Shaw Robert B. Sloan, D.D., Theol. Jim R. Smith Miles O. Smith** Quentin Smith Tad Smith

Anthony Speier Tina Raham Stewart Nanako Tingleaf Margaret Waisman, M.D. Gretchen Watkins Fredric A. Weber Vicki West Steven J. Williams David J. Wuthrich Ellen A. Yarrell Robert Yekovich

FOUNDATION FOR JONES HALL REPRESENTATIVES Janet F. Clark Barbara McCelvey

As of October 10, 2025

EX-OFFICIO Alejandro Gallardo Reverend Ray Mackey, III Frank F. Wilson IV

Fredric Weber

^Ex-Officio **Lifetime Trustee

LEADERSHIP GROUP Gary Ginstling, Executive Director/CEO Margaret Alkek Williams Chair Elizabeth S. Condic, Chief Financial Officer Vicky Dominguez, Chief Operating Officer Jennifer Renner, Chief Development Officer Mayenne Minuit, Executive Assistant DEVELOPMENT Leanna Aldis, Manager, Foundation Relations Sarah Bhalla, Board Relations Associate Lauren Buchanan, Development Communications Manager Alex Canales, Manager, Donor Services Jessie De Arman, Development Associate, Gifts, Records, & Research Timothy Dillow, Senior Director, Individual Giving Amanda T. Dinitz, Director, Principal Gifts & Endowment Vivian Gonzalez, Annual Giving Officer Kamra Kilmer, Manager, Corporate Relations Karyn Mason, Institutional Giving Officer Hadia Mawlawi, Endowment & Planned Giving Officer Meghan Miller, Development Associate, Special Events Emilie Moellmer, Membership Manager Megan Mottu, Annual Giving Officer Gavin Reed, Major Gifts Officer Tim Richey, Major Gifts Officer Katie Salvatore, Director, Annual Giving & Membership Lena Streetman, Director, Development Operations Stacey Swift, Director, Special Events Sarah Thompson, Donor Events Manager Christina Trunzo, Director, Institutional Giving EDUCATION | COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Olivia Allred, Education Manager Allis on Conlan, Senior Director, Education & Community Engagement Austin Hinkle, Education & Community Engagement Coordinator Jazmine Olwalia, Community Engagement Manager Sheridan Richard, DeLUXE K!ds In Harmony Site Manager Community-Embedded Musicians (CEM): Lindsey Baggett, Lead CEM Lucinda Chiu, CEM Teaching Artist David Connor, Senior CEM Teaching Artist Rainel Joubert, Senior CEM Teaching Artist Bensen Kwan, CEM Education Specialist Brittany Leavitt, CEM Teaching Artist Bianca Lozano, CEM Teaching Artist Alexis Mitrushi, CEM Teaching Artist Adrian Ponce, CEM Teaching Artist Lauren Ross, CEM Teaching Artist Jaya Varma, CEM Teaching Artist

FINANCE | ADMINISTRATION | IT | HR José Arriaga, Systems Engineer Henry Cantu, Finance Accountant Kimberly Cegielski, Staff Accountant Heather Fails, Database Administrator Joel James, Director of Human Resources Tanya Lovetro, Director of Budgeting & Financial Reporting Freddie Piegsa, Help Desk Technician Morgana Rickard, Controller Gabriela Rivera, Senior Accountant Pam Romo, Office Manager/HR Coordinator Lee Whatley, Senior Director, IT & Analytics MARKETING | COMMUNICATIONS Bryan Ayllon, UX & Conversion Specialist Rachel Cheng, Marketing & External Relations Assistant Bella Cutaia, Manager, Patron Services Ruben Gandara, Patron Services Representative Kathryn Judd, Director, Marketing Priya Kurup, Senior Associate, Group Sales Caroline Lawson, Patron Services Representative Lien Le, Patron Experience Coordinator Yoo-Ell Lee, Graphics & Media Designer Ciara Macaulay, Creative Director Ashley Martinez, Patron Services Coordinator Mariah Martinez, Email Marketing Coordinator Casey Pearce, Graphic Design Manager Aracely Quevedo, Patron Services Representative Eric Skelly, Senior Director, Communications Christian Sosa, Web Experience Director Lily Townsend, Patron Services Representative Alexa Ustaszewski, Manager, Revenue and Audience Insights Sophie Volpe, Digital Content Specialist Jenny Zuniga, Director, Patron Services OPERATIONS | ARTISTIC Stephanie Alla, Associate Director of Artistic Planning Becky Brown, Associate Director of Orchestra Personnel Juan Pablo Brand, Artistic Assistant Ryan Diefenderfer, Concert Operations Assistant Megan Fisher, Assistant Librarian Michael Gorman, Director of Orchestra Personnel Julia Hall, Assistant Director, Houston Symphony Chorus Parker Hart, Concert Operations Manager Adrian Hernandez, Concert Media Production Manager Hazel Landers, Chorus Library Intern Giancarlo Minotti, Audio Production Manager José Rios, Assistant Stage Manager Jennifer Romig, Interim Chorus Librarian Brad Sayles, Senior Recording Engineer Stefan Stout, Stage Manager Nathan Trinkl, Artistic Assistant & Assistant to the Music Director Ali Verderber, Associate Librarian Meredith Williams, Director of Concert Operations Rebecca Zabinski, Senior Director of Artistic Planning

Featured Program

Mr. Symphonic:

Shaggy with the Houston Symphony Steven Reineke, conductor Shaggy, vocalist Program will be announced from the stage

About the Music

Sunday, January 11

Jones Hall

6:30 p.m.

Reineke is a frequent guest conductor and can be seen on the podium with the Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit Symphony Orchestras.

National Symphony Orchestra and William Shatner’s So Fragile, So Blue with The National Symphony Orchestra.

Program Bio

Steven Reineke, conductor Meredith & Ben Marshall, sponsor

Steven Reineke is one of North America’s leading conductors of popular music and is in his second decade as Music Director of The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. He is the Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Principal POPS Conductor of the Houston and Toronto Symphony Orchestras.