InTune | June 2023

InTUNE

Miller Outdoor Theatre: Dvořák’s “New World”

Miller Outdoor Theatre: Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4

welcome to the houston symphony

Dear Music Lovers,

Welcome to the Houston Symphony’s Truist Summer Symphony Nights at Miller Outdoor Theatre. This year, Miller celebrates its 100 th anniversary. The Houston Symphony has been performing here since August 21, 1940. On that night, then-Music Director Ernst Hoffmann led 45 members of the Houston Symphony—all that would fit on the Miller stage at the time—in a program of popular classics, including the waltz Wine, Women, and Song by Johann Strauss Jr.; the “Dance of the Hours” from La Gioconda; Wagner’s Tannhäuser Overture; and Sibelius’s Finlandia

That first concert had been a gamble, a $600 wager, to be exact—the cost of the musicians and production for a night at Miller all those years ago. Hubert Roussel had written a column about this new venture in the Houston Post ; and N.D. Naman, a financier and long-standing supporter of classical music in the city, offered a check for $1,000 to cover the costs, as well as anything unexpected that might come up.

The gamble was a smashing success. More than 15,000 people showed up, and a summer tradition was born. That audience also donated an additional $800 to support the venture. Then, as now, the concerts were free, supported in large part by philanthropy.

This summer, we have some incredible concerts planned. Our four classical programs feature some of the cornerstones of the repertoire—symphonies and concertos by Tchaikovsky, Dvořák, Gershwin, and Bruch—conducted by a group of exciting young conductors, all making their Symphony debuts, and played by soloists from around the world and from your own Houston Symphony. And, after a three-year, pandemic-induced hiatus, we’re back for our StarSpangled Celebration on the Fourth of July!

I want to thank Truist for returning as sponsor of Summer Symphony Nights this year. And if you’d like to follow the inspiring example of that Miller audience from the Symphony’s first performance, I invite you to text “MUSIC” to 41444 and make a donation to support your Houston Symphony. Our free community engagement and education programming—of which our Miller series is a crown jewel—serves more than 200,000 Houstonians each year. Thank you for being here, and for helping to make what we do possible.

All my best,

Executive Director/CEO

Margaret Alkek Williams Chair

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone™ in Concert

July 14, 15 & 22

Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert

July 28 & 29

Blockbuster Broadway with Norm Lewis

September 22 & 23

Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe

September 29 & 30

Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe

October 1

Lang Lang

October 6

Seong-Jin Cho Plays Ravel

October 7 & 8

Barber’s Violin Concerto + Duke Ellington

October 13, 14 & 15

GO NOW!

A Tribute to The Moody Blues

October 27, 28 & 29

Halloween Spooktacular for Kids

October 28

Valčuha Conducts Rachmaninoff

November 10, 11 & 12

Valčuha Conducts Ravel’s La valse

November 17, 18 & 19

“I Will Survive”—Diva Legends

November 24, 25 & 26

Andrés Returns

December 1, 2 & 3

Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas

December 9 & 10

Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker

December 12

Handel’s Messiah

December 15, 16 & 17

Very Merry POPS

December 20, 21, 22 & 23

Holly Jolly Holiday

December 23

Swingin’ Sinatra:

A New Year’s Celebration

January 5, 6 & 7

Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony + Yoonshin Song

January 12, 13 & 14

Takemitsu + Brahms’s Requiem

January 19, 20 & 21

Víkingur Ólafsson Plays Bach

January 28

Jazz, Love & Gershwin: A Century of Rhapsody in Blue

February 2, 3 & 4

Get Up and Dance!

February 3

Perlman Conducts Tchaikovsky 5

February 8, 10 & 11

Eschenbach Conducts Bruckner 8

February 24 & 25

At Last! A Tribute to Etta James

March 1, 2 & 3

Valčuha Conducts Mahler 6

March 15, 16 & 17

Mozart + Beethoven’s Eroica

March 22, 23 & 24

Romeo and Juliet +

Dvořák’s Cello Concerto

March 29 & 30

21st Century Broadway

April 5, 6 & 7

I’m a Superhero!

April 6

Carmina burana

April 26, 27 & 28

Pines of Rome +

Grieg’s Piano Concerto

May 2, 4 & 5

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets™ in Concert

May 10 & 11

Itzhak Perlman: In the Fiddler’s House

May 12

The Music of Star Wars

May 17, 18 & 19

Adams’s El Niño

May 25 & 26

An Alpine Symphony

June 1 & 2

Salome in Concert

June 7 & 9

Classical Series

Bank of America POPS Series

S Summer & Specials

PNC Family Series

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713.224.7575

THANK YOU to our sponsors

SEASON SPONSORS

SERIES SPONSORS

Juraj valČuha

Music Director Juraj Valčuha is recognized for his effortless expressiveness and depth of musicianship. With sharp baton technique and natural stage presence, the impressive ease of his interpretations translate even the most complex scores into immersive experiences. His profound understanding of composer and score, taste, and naturally elegant style make him one of the most sought-after conductors of his generation.

Since 2016, Valcuha has been first guest conductor of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. From 2016–2022, he was music director of the Teatro di San Carlo, Naples. He was chief conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI from 2009 to 2016.

The 2005–06 Season marked the start of his international career with exciting concerts 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, and in the United States with the Pittsburgh Symphony. His Italian debut took place at Teatro Comunale in Bologna with a sensational production of La bohème.

He has since led the Berlin Philharmonic, Dresden Staatskapelle, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra,

Frankfurt Radio Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Vienna Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, BBC Symphony, Philharmonia London, Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Maggio Musicale in Florence, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Milan’s Filarmonica della Scala, Montréal Symphony, and NHK and Yomiuri orchestras in Tokyo. His active career in the United States has taken him to the orchestras of Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, St. Louis, and Utah. He enjoys regular collaborations with orchestras in Houston, Minnesota, New York, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco.

International touring with the Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI took them to the Musikverein in Vienna and the Philharmonie in Berlin, as well as Cologne, Düsseldorf, Zurich, Basel, and Munich, and to the Enesco Festival in Bucharest and the Abu Dhabi Classics. He has also toured with the Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin to Riga, Vilnius, and Tallinn to mark the 100 th anniversary of the Baltic nations.

Music Director Roy and Lillie Cullen Chair

Valčuha champions the compositions of living composers and aims to program contemporary pieces in most of his concerts. He has conducted world premieres, including Christopher Rouses’s Supplica with the Pittsburgh Symphony, 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 Sections at the Melos-Ethos Festival in Bratislava. Other composers he has supported and continues to follow with interest are Bryce Dessner, Andrew Norman, Luca Francesconi, James MacMillan, and Steven Stucky, among others.

On the opera stage, he has conducted Madama Butterfly, Elisir d‘amore, and Marriage of Figaro at the Bavarian State Opera Munich; Elektra and Turandot

at the Deutsche Oper Berlin; Faust and The Love for Three Oranges in Florence; Jenůfa, Peter Grimes, Salome, Tristan und Isolde, and Ariadne auf Naxos in Bologna; Peter Grimes in Venice; and Elektra, Carmen, Bluebeard’s Castle, Die Walküre, The Girl of the Golden West, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Katja Kabanova, and Pique Dame in Naples.

Juraj Valčuha was awarded the Premio Abbiati 2018 from Italian Music critics in the Best Conductor category.

His engagements in the 2022–23 Season took him to the Houston, Pittsburgh and San Francisco orchestras, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and the Orchestre National de France. He conducted Verdi’s Don Carlo at Teatro San Carlo in Naples, and La bohème and Tristan und Isolde at the Bavarian State Opera Munich.

Born in Bratislava, Slovakia, Juraj studied composition and conducting in his birth place, then at the Conservatory in St. Petersburg (with Ilya Musin), and finally, at the Conservatoire Supérieur de la Musique in Paris.

jurajvalcuha.com

ORCHESTRA ROSTER

Juraj Valčuha

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

Amy Semes

Annie Kuan-Yu Chen

Mihaela Frusina

Jing Zheng

Martha Chapman*

Tianjie Lu

Anastasia Ehrlich

Tina Zhang

Boson Mo

Teresa Wang+

Samuel Park+

VIOLA

Joan DerHovsepian, Principal

Wei Jiang, Acting Associate Principal

Sheldon Person

Fay Shapiro

Keoni Bolding

Samuel Pedersen

Meredith Harris+

CELLO

Brinton Averil Smith, Principal

Janice H. and Thomas D. Barrow Chair

Christopher French

Associate Principal

Anthony Kitai

Louis-Marie Fardet

Jeffrey Butler

Maki Kubota

Xiao Wong

Charles Seo

Jeremy Kreutz

COMMUNITY-EMBEDDED

MUSICIANS

David Connor, double bass

Rainel Joubert, violin

ASSOCIATE LIBRARIAN

Luke Bryson

ASSISTANT LIBRARIAN

Hae-a Lee

Steven Reineke, Principal POPS Conductor

Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Conductor Laureate

Allen Hightower, Director

Houston Symphony Chorus

DOUBLE BASS

Robin Kesselman, Principal

Timothy Dilenschneider, Associate Principal

Mark Shapiro

Eric Larson

Andrew Pedersen

Burke Shaw

Donald Howey

FLUTE

Aralee Dorough, Principal General

Maurice Hirsch Chair

Matthew Roitstein* Associate Principal

Judy Dines

Acting Associate Principal

Mark Teplitsky+

Kathryn Ladner

PICCOLO

Kathryn Ladner

OBOE

Jonathan Fischer, Principal

Lucy Binyon Stude Chair

Anne Leek, Associate Principal

Colin Gatwood

Adam Dinitz

ENGLISH HORN

Adam Dinitz

CLARINET

Mark Nuccio, Principal

Bobbie Nau Chair

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

Isaac Schultz, Associate Principal

Elise Wagner

Adam Trussell

STAGE PERSONNEL

Stefan Stout, Stage Manager

José Rios, Assistant Stage Manager

Nicholas DiFonzo and Justin Herriford, Stage Technicians

Giancarlo Minotti, Recording Assistant

CONTRABASSOON

Adam Trussell

HORN

William VerMeulen, Principal

Mr. and Mrs. Alexander K. McLanahan

Endowed Chair

Robert Johnson, Associate Principal

Nathan Cloeter, Assistant Principal

Brian Thomas

Brian Mangrum

Ian Mayton

TRUMPET

Mark Hughes, Principal

George P. and Cynthia Woods

Mitchell Chair

John Parker, Associate Principal

Robert Walp, Assistant Principal

Richard Harris

TROMBONE

Bradley White, Acting Principal

Ryan Rongone+

Phillip Freeman

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

Scott Holshouser, Principal

LIBRARIAN

Jeanne Case, Principal

*on leave + contracted substitute

SOCIETY BOARD OF TRUSTEES

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Barbara J. Burger President

Janet F. Clark Chair

John Rydman Immediate Past President

Mike S. Stude Chairman Emeritus

Jonathan Ayre Chair, Finance

Brad W. Corson Chair, Governance & Leadership

Manuel Delgado Chair, Marketing & Communications

Evan B. Glick Chair, Popular Programming

Lidiya Gold Chair, Development

Sippi Khurana Chair, Education

Mary Lynn Marks Chair, Volunteers & Special Events

Robert Orr Chair, Strategic Planning

Ed Schneider Chair, Community Partnerships

John Rydman Chair, Artistic & Orchestra Affairs

Jesse B. Tutor Chair, Audit

Steven P. Mach ^ Immediate Past Chairman

Paul Morico General Counsel

Barbara McCelvey Secretary

Bobby Tudor^ At-Large Member

Mary Fusillo^ President, Houston Symphony League

James H. Lee^ President, Houston Symphony Endowment

Juraj Valčuha^ Music Director, Roy and Lillie Cullen Chair

Joan DerHovsepian^ Musician Representative

John Mangum^ Executive Director/CEO

Margaret Alkek Williams Chair

Mark Hughes^ Musician Representative

Adam Trussell^ Musician Representative

Mark Nuccio^ Musician Representative

Sherry Rodriguez^ Assistant Secretary ^Ex-Officio

GOVERNING DIRECTORS

Jonathan Ayre

Gary Beauchamp

Eric Brueggeman

Bill Bullock

Barbara J. Burger

Janet F. Clark

Lidiya Gold

Claudio Gutiérrez

William D. Hunt

Rick Jaramillo

Sippi Khurana, M.D.

Carey Kirkpatrick

Kenny Kurtzman

Cindy Levit

Isabel Stude Lummis

Cora Sue Mach **

Rodney Margolis**

Jay Marks **

Mary Lynn Marks

Elissa Martin

Barbara McCelvey

Paul R. Morico

Robert Orr

Chris Powers

John Rydman**

Anthony Speier

William J. Toomey II

Bobby Tudor **

Betty Tutor **

Jesse B. Tutor **

Gretchen Watkins

Robert Weiner

Margaret Alkek Williams **

EX-OFFICIO

Mary Fusillo

Brad W. Corson

Manuel Delgado

Joan DerHovsepian

Evan B. Glick

Mark Hughes

James H. Lee

Steven P. Mach

John Mangum

Mark Nuccio

Sherry Rodriguez

Ed Schneider

Adam Trussell

Juraj Valčuha

TRUSTEES

David J. Beck

James M. Bell Jr.

Carrie Brandsberg-Dahl

Nancy Shelton Bratic

Terry Ann Brown**

Lindsay Buchanan

Ralph Burch

Dougal Cameron

John T. Cater**

Robert Chanon

Michael H. Clark

Virginia Clark

Evan D. Collins, M.D., MBA

Brad W. Corson

Andrew Davis, Ph.D.

Denise Davis

Manuel Delgado

Tracy Dieterich

Connie Dyer

Joan Duff

Jeffrey B. Firestone

Eugene A. Fong

Aggie L. Foster

Julia Anderson Frankel

Ronald G. Franklin

Carolyn Gaidos

Evan B. Glick

Gary L. Hollingsworth

Brian James

I. Ray Kirk, M.D.

David Krieger

Ulyesse J. LeGrange**

Matthew Loden

Steven P. Mach

Michael Mann, M.D.

Jack Matzer

Jackie Wolens Mazow

Alexander K. McLanahan**

Marilyn Miles

Aprill Nelson

PAST PRESIDENTS OF THE HOUSTON SYMPHONY SOCIETY

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.

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

FOUNDATION FOR JONES HALL REPRESENTATIVES

Tammy Tran Nguyen

Leslie Nossaman

Edward Osterberg Jr.

Zeljko Pavlovic

Gloria G. Pryzant

Miwa Sakashita

Ed Schneider

Andrew Schwaitzberg

Helen Shaffer**

Robert B. Sloan, D.D., Theol.

Jim R. Smith

Miles O. Smith**

Quentin Smith

Mike S. Stude **

Ishwaria Subbiah, M.D.

Shirley W. Toomim

Margaret Waisman, M.D.

Fredric A. Weber

Vicki West

Steven J. Williams

David J. Wuthrich

Ellen A. Yarrell

EX-OFFICIO

John Steven Cisneros, Ed.D

Juan Zane Crawford

Kirby Lodholz

Frank F. Wilson IV

**Lifetime Trustee

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

Janet F. Clark

John Rydman

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

Maureen Higdon

Fran Fawcett Peterson

Leslie Siller

Cheryl Byington

Dougal A. Cameron

Janet F. Clark

Barbara McCelvey

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

SENIOR MANAGEMENT GROUP

John Mangum, Executive Director/CEO, Margaret Alkek Williams Chair

Elizabeth S. Condic, Chief Financial Officer

Vicky Dominguez, Chief Operating Officer

Nancy Giles, Chief Development Officer

Gwen Watkins, Chief Marketing and External Relations Officer

DEVELOPMENT

Lauren Buchanan, Development Communications Manager

Alex Canales, Development Ticket Concierge

Timothy Dillow, Senior Director, Development

Amanda T. Dinitz, Senior Major Gifts Officer

Zitlaly Jimenez, Annual Fund Manager

Karyn Mason, Development Officer

Hadia Mawlawi, Senior Associate, Endowment and Planned Giving

Meghan Miller, Special Events Associate

Emilie Moellmer, Development Associate, Gifts & Records

Chelsea Murray, Senior Development Associate, Administration

Tim Richey, Director, Individual Giving

Sherry Rodriguez, Corporate Relations Manager & Board Liaison

Katie Salvatore, Development Officer

Christine Ann Stevens, Senior Director, Development

Lena Streetman, Manager, Research and Development Operations

Stacey Swift, Director, Special Events

Sarah Thompson, Institutional Giving Associate

Christina Trunzo, Director, Foundation Relations

Alexa Ustaszewski, Major Gifts Officer

FINANCE | ADMINISTRATION | IT | HR

Henry Cantu, Finance Accountant

Kimberly Cegielski, Staff Accountant

Tiffany Gentry, Junior System Administrator

Richard Jackson, Database Administrator

Joel James, Director of Human Resources

Tanya Lovetro, Director of Budgeting and Financial Reporting

Morgana Rickard, Controller

Gabriela Rivera, Senior Accountant

Pam Romo, Office Manager/HR Coordinator

Lee Whatley, Senior Director, IT and Analytics

MARKETING | EXTERNAL RELATIONS

Education and Community Engagement

Olivia Allred, Education and Community Engagement Coordinator

Jarrett Bastow, Education Manager

Pam Blaine, Chief of Education and Community Engagement

Allison Conlan, Director, Community Engagement Marketing and Communications

Mark Bailes, Marketing Revenue Manager

Olivia Cantrell, Marketing and External Relations Coordinator

Heather Fails, Manager, Ticketing Database

Kathryn Judd, Director, Marketing

Yoo-Ell Lee, Junior Graphic Designer

Fiona Legesse-Sinha, Graphic Design Manager

Ciara Macaulay, Creative Director

Mariah Martinez, Email Marketing Coordinator

Eric Skelly, Senior Director, Communications Patron Services

Freddie Piegsa, Patron Experience Coordinator

Ashlan Walker, Manager, Patron Services

Jenny Zuniga, Director, Patron Services

OPERATIONS | ARTISTIC

Stephanie Alla, Associate Director of Artistic Planning

Lila Atchison, Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager

Becky Brown, Director, Operations

Luke Bryson, Associate Librarian

Suré Eloff, Chorus Manager

Michael Gorman, Orchestra Personnel Manager

Nick Kempe, Artistic Operations Assistant

Lauren Moore, Associate Director of Digital Concert Production

José Rios, Assistant Stage Manager

Brad Sayles, Senior Recording Engineer

Claudia Schmitz, Artist Liaison and Assistant to the Music Director

Stefan Stout, Stage Manager

Meredith Williams, Associate Director, Operations

Rebecca Zabinski, Director, Artistic Planning

Most Iconic Residences

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Leasing office: 713.777.7000

June 6-24, 2023 at the Moores School of Music

Sharon Ley Lietzow Piano Series

Tuesdays, 7:30 pm, Dudley Recital Hall

• June 6 Vadym Kholodenko Recital

• June 13 Awadagin Pratt Recital

• June 20 Amy Yang Recital

Faculty Chamber Music Series

Thursdays, 7:30 pm, Dudley Recital Hall

• June 8, 15, 22

Festival Orchestra Series

Saturdays, 7:30 pm, Moores Opera House

• June 10 Franz Anton Krager, conductor Vadym Kholodenko, piano soloist

• June 17 Gerard Schwarz, conductor

• June 24 Andrew Grams, conductor Mitchell–Hogg Competition Winner, soloist

Cynthia Woods Mitchell–Ima Hogg

Young Artist Competition Final Round

• Sunday, June 11, 2 pm, Dudley Recital Hall

Featured Program

MILLER OUTDOOR THEATRE: DVOŘÁK’S

“NEW WORLD”

0:06 WALKER – Lyric for Strings

0:24 BRUCH – Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Opus 26

Prelude: Allegro moderato—

II. Adagio

III. Finale: Allegro energico

INTERMISSION

0:40 DVOŘÁK – Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Opus 95 (From the New World)

I. Adagio—Allegro molto

II. Largo

III. Scherzo: Molto vivace

IV. Allegro con fuoco

*Houston Symphony debut

Presented By:

About the Music

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

Program Insight

City of Houston through the Miller Theatre Advisory Board Guarantor

The Houston Symphony's Miller Outdoor Theatre concerts are endowed by The Brown Foundation, Inc. in memory of Stewart and Hanni Orton

The Houston Symphony's sound shell ceiling is made possible through the generosity of the Beauchamp Foundation and the Fondren Foundation

This evening, we welcome German conductor Erina Yashima to the podium at Miller Outdoor Theatre for a program of soulful violin music and two American masterpieces. Winner of the first prize and audience choice awards at the 24th Annual Sphinx Competition, violinist Amaryn Olmeda makes her Houston Symphony debut with the Violin Concerto No. 1 of Max Bruch, a work which fully reflects Bruch’s belief that “Melody is the soul of music.” Although Dvořák was a Czech composer, he served as director of the innovative and racially integrated National Conservatory of Music in New York City from 1892 to 1895. During his time in America, he was profoundly impressed by the music of Black Americans, presciently declaring that it would give rise to the future of American music. This influence is readily apparent in his Symphony No. 9, From the New World, a work that would inspire generations of American composers. Years later, Black American composer and pianist George Walker would help prove Dvořák right. Composed in 1947, his masterful Lyric for Strings has become one of the most frequently performed pieces by an American composer.

Program Notes

WALKER

Lyric for Strings (1946)

It would seem that George Walker was destined to become a composer: his middle name, “Theophilus,” is the Greek version of the Latin “Amadeus,” one of Mozart’s middle names. Walker was born in Washington, D.C. in 1922, son to a physician father who had immigrated from the West Indies and a musically inclined mother who oversaw his first piano lessons at age five. Like his namesake, Walker proved an extraordinarily gifted child, graduating high school at 14 and completing undergraduate conservatory studies with highest honors at Oberlin by 18.

Friday, June 23

Miller Outdoor Theatre 8:30 p.m.

Program Notes

WALKER Lyric for Strings (1946)

He continued his musical education at the Curtis Institute, studying piano with Rudolph Serkin and composition with Rosario Scalero, who had, years earlier, also instructed Samuel Barber. After Curtis, Walker pursued a career as a soloist, performing with Eugene Ormandy and orchestras in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and throughout Europe. After 1954, he pursued further studies, including a doctorate from Eastman and time at the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau where he studied with Nadia Boulanger, teacher of Aaron Copland. Walker would go on to serve on the faculty of several universities and continue his career as a trailblazing composer and piano soloist, ultimately becoming the first black composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1996.

Composed in 1946, his Lyric for Strings dates from the beginning of his career. Like Barber’s Adagio for Strings, it was originally the second movement of a string quartet. Indeed, Barber’s quartet possibly served as a model for Walker’s: both works are in minor keys, consist of three movements, and feature a meditative slow movement. Beyond these superficial similarities, however, the works are strikingly different. Walker’s Lyric contains greater thematic variety and richer harmonies than Barber’s comparatively austere Adagio. Both pieces in any case show that their composers had thoroughly absorbed the lessons of their common teacher, Rosario Scalero. A composer whose own music adhered to a strictly Brahmsian style well into the 20th century, the exacting Scalero instilled in his students a mastery of traditional harmony, counterpoint, and form that can be readily appreciated in the music of both Barber and Walker.

Whatever the piece’s musical influences may be, Walker’s immediate inspiration was much more personal. In his memoirs, Walker describes how during his time at Oberlin “I called my father one afternoon to ask him how things were there. I was shocked to learn from him that my grandmother had just died. I took the train to Washington, D.C., the next day in order to attend her funeral.” Soon after completing the quartet, Walker arranged the slow movement for larger forces in response to a performance opportunity, initially calling the arrangement “Lament for String Orchestra.” For a second performance at the American Music Festival in Washington, D.C., he changed the title to the Barberesque “Adagio for String Orchestra,” but remained dissatisfied. “Finding that title too prosaic and unoriginal, I decided that for subsequent performances, Lyric for Strings more aptly described the character of the work. It was dedicated to my recently deceased grandmother, Malvina King.” —Calvin Dotsey

Program Notes

BRUCH

Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Opus 26 (1868)

At 26, the up-and-coming composer Max Bruch decided to embark on an ambitious new project: a violin concerto. He would labor over it for several years while serving as music director at Coblenz. He later recalled, “It [was] a damned difficult thing to do; between 1864 and 1868 I rewrote my concerto at least half a dozen times […]” Bruch would consult several violinists while composing the work, including the great virtuoso Joseph Joachim, who provided Bruch with valuable constructive criticism of the work during its genesis. After premiering the definitive version in January 1868, Joachim would remain one of the concerto’s most steadfast champions. Before long, it became one of the most popular violin concertos in the repertoire.

With its Romantic aesthetic, it exemplifies Bruch’s famous dictum that “melody is the soul of music.” The concerto begins with a brief introduction in which a low timpani roll leads to a sighing “motto” theme in the woodwinds. The soloist responds with a melancholy phrase that sounds as if it were improvised. Soon, the tempo quickens as the cellos and basses play an impetuous pizzicato figure, introducing the impassioned main theme of the movement. A lyrical second theme and virtuoso developments follow, leading to a powerful orchestral passage marked “con fuoco”—“with fire.” The motto theme returns, engaging in a dialogue with the soloist.

A warm, passionate declaration of the motto theme fades away seamlessly into the slow second movement, which begins as the soloist spins a string of tender melodies. This beautifully intimate movement offers respite and comfort after the storm and stress of the first, and prepares for the high spirits of the last. After a rustling introduction, the soloist begins the finale with a fresh, invigorating theme. The orchestra then takes it up, leading to a broad, singing second theme. Amid thrilling virtuoso passagework for the soloist, the two themes are developed and reprised, racing to a spirited, uplifting coda. —Calvin

Dotsey

Greeted by the recently installed Statue of Liberty, Antonín Dvořák sailed into gilded-age New York on September 27, 1892, ready to assume his duties as director of the National Conservatory of Music. Officially incorporated in 1891, the institution was the brainchild of visionary philanthropist Jeannette Thurber, who had successfully tempted the world-renowned Czech composer away from his beloved Bohemia. By the end of the 19th century, the United States had become a formidable economic powerhouse, but many Americans now wished to compete with the centuries-old artistic traditions of Europe. Thurber hoped Dvořák would compose new classical works in a distinctly American style, providing guidance to the next generation of American composers. In many ways, Dvořák was ideally suited for this task. He had made his reputation by taking the genres at the center of the Austro-German classical tradition—symphonies and string quartets—and making them Czech, helping to invent a new style influenced by Slavic folk music traditions. Though he was ardently attached to his homeland, Dvořák also had long been fascinated by the United States. He had devoured Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha, an epic poem inspired by the

DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Opus 95 (From the New World) (1893)

Program Notes

DVOŘÁK

Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Opus 95 (From the New World) (1893)

stories of the Ojibwa Indians, and he had deep sympathies for American democracy.

As soon as Dvořák arrived, he was barraged by music critics, colleagues, and others eager to provide him with examples of American music. Perhaps the most important influence, however, came from a Black student at the conservatory: Harry Burleigh. Burleigh became a frequent guest at Dvořák’s East 17th Street apartment, where he sang songs learned from his mother and grandfather, one of the few enslaved people who had been able to buy his own freedom before the Civil War. “[Dvořák] was in his shirtsleeves, with all his kids round him,” Burleigh later recalled. “I’d accompany myself at the piano. Dvořák especially liked ‘Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen’ and ‘Go Down Moses.’” The sound of traditional African-American spirituals permeates many of the melodies of the Symphony, most notably the main theme of second movement.

Fired by the manifold sights and sounds he experienced in New York, Dvořák began composing a symphony in January 1893 and completed it by May. The premiere with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall on December 16, 1893, proved one of the great successes of Dvořák’s career. The symphony itself is a sweeping epic, progressing from the drama of the first movement to the tranquility of the second, the wild dance of the third, and the gripping conclusion of the finale. Throughout the symphony, ideas from previous movements recur in later ones, often dramatically juxtaposed to suggest conflict. Most notably, many of the symphony’s main themes reappear in the finale; Dvořák weaves them together like a masterful storyteller tying diverse narrative strands together at the end of a novel. For many, the symphony is a powerful expression of the dynamism, aspirations, and contradictions of turn-ofthe-century America. —Calvin

Dotsey

Program Bios

Erina Yashima, conductor

Conductor Erina Yashima is the first kapellmeister at the Komische Oper Berlin. Previously, she was the assistant conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra between 2019 and 2022. She has performed throughout the world with acclaimed ensembles and orchestras.

Recent highlights include debuts with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hanover, Orchestra della Toscana, Arena di Verona, Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, Albany Symphony, Eugene Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Niederrheinische Sinfoniker, as well as returns to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and Philadelphia Orchestra. Erina conducted a new production of Così fan tutte in her debut with the Washington National Opera, and has led a production of Rusalka at the Theater Krefeld und Mönchengladbach. Her final debut of the 2021–22 Season was at the Ravello Festival, conducting the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini.

The 2022–23 Season saw her debut with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, NDR

Elbphilharmonie Orchester, WDR Funkhausorchester, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, and the Charlotte Symphony. At the Komische Oper Berlin, Erina conducted a variety of productions and programs, including Die Zauberflöte, Rusalka, Così fan tutte, Hamlet, a subscription concert, and the 75 Years KOB Anniversary Gala. She also conducted two productions of Don Giovanni, one at the Teatro del Giglio in Lucca and Teatro Goldoni in Livorno, and the other at the Ravenna Festival, Teatro Galli in Rimini, and Teatro Verdi in Salerno.

Sinfonietta, Folsom Lake Symphony, Springfield Symphony, and Grand Rapids Symphony. Amaryn will be featured in recitals at Classical KDFC SKY Concerts with pianist Lara Downes, Music at Gretna, and the Willamette University Distinguished Artist Series.

Amaryn made her Carnegie Hall solo debut on the Sphinx Virtuosi tour at age 14; at 13, she was named the initial member of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Opus 3 Artist’s Artist Apprentice Program.

Highlights of previous seasons include debuts with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, and other leading orchestras as well as with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra at its New Year’s Concert Series, earning a nomination for the San Francisco Classical Voice Audience Choice Awards.

Amaryn Olmeda, violin

Winner of the first prize and audience choice award at the 24th Annual Sphinx Competition, violinist Amaryn Olmeda is a rising star sought after for her bold and expressive performances as a soloist and collaborator. Violinist. com says of her, “[…] her commanding stage presence, infallible technique, and interpretive ability already rival that of international concert stage veterans.”

Highlights of the 2023-24 Season include return invitations as soloist with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and Oakland Symphony and debut solo appearances with the Houston Symphony, Chicago

Other career highlights include selection as an NPR From the Top fellow and a featured solo performance with the Sacramento Philharmonic and VITA Academy in the video production, The Extraordinary Life of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de SaintGeorges. In 2022, Amaryn performed for the San Francisco Conservatory Gala with pianist Yuja Wang. She received the National Arts Club’s Herman and Mary Neuman Music Award and was named a Young Artist Soloist by the Seattle Symphony. She received first prize in the Auburn Symphony Young Artists and Music in the Mountains Young Musicians competitions, among others.

In 2023, Amaryn made her recording debut as soloist of Carlos Simon’s Between Worlds

Program Bios

on Sphinx Virtuosi’s inaugural recording (Deutsche Grammophon).

Born in Melbourne, Australia, in 2008, Amaryn currently studies at the New England Conservatory of Music and previously at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She performs on a violin made by J.B. Vuillaume in 1864. 

Featured Program

MILLER OUTDOOR THEATRE: Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4

*Lidiya

0:24 RIMSKY-KORSAKOV – Suite from The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh

I. Prelude—Adoration of Solitude

II. Wedding Procession—Invasion of the Tartars

III. Massacre at Kerzhentz

IV. The Death of the Maiden Fevroniya— Pilgrimage to the Invisible City

0:14 PRICE – Ethiopia's Shadow in America

I. Adagio—Allegretto: The Arrival

II. Andante: His Resignation and Faith

III. Allegro: His Adaptation

INTERMISSION

0:44 TCHAIKOVSKY – Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Opus 36

I. Andante sostenuto—Moderato con anima

II. Andantino in modo di canzona

III. Scherzo: Pizzicato ostinato

IV. Finale: Allegro con fuoco

*Houston Symphony debut

About the Music

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

Program Insight

The Houston Symphony's Miller Outdoor Theatre concerts are endowed by The Brown Foundation, Inc. in memory of Stewart and Hanni Orton

The Houston Symphony's sound shell ceiling is made possible through the generosity of the Beauchamp Foundation and the Fondren Foundation

This evening, we welcome Russian-American conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya to Miller Outdoor Theatre for her Houston Symphony debut. Named Chicagoan of the Year by the Chicago Tribune in 2020 for her innovative programming at the Chicago Opera Theater during the pandemic, Lidiya presents a program of Russian and American composers united by their interest in musical storytelling. RimskyKorsakov’s Suite from The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh displays the unsurpassed command of orchestral colors for which its composer is famous. The suite outlines the plot of his penultimate opera, which tells a mythical story based on Russian legends. The first female Black composer to receive recognition from major orchestras, Florence Price was an important figure in the Chicago Black Renaissance of the 1930s and ’40s. Her tone poem Ethiopia’s Shadow in America addresses the weighty subject of Black history in the United States, combining European classical techniques with the distinctive sound of Black American spirituals. In a private letter, Tchaikovsky explained that his Fourth Symphony had a secret program, or source of inspiration, that he would never share publicly. For many listeners, this powerful work reflects Tchaikovsky’s experience as a gay man in 19th-century Russia.

Program Notes

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV

Suite from The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh (1907)

Outside Russia, Rimsky-Korsakov is best known for a handful of colorful orchestral works he composed in 1887 and 1888: Scheherezade, the Russian Easter Festival Overture, and the Capriccio Espagnol. Within Russia, however, he is celebrated as a composer of more than a dozen

City of Houston through the Miller Theatre Advisory Board Guarantor

Program Notes

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV

Suite from The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh (1907)

operas. Premiered in St. Petersburg in 1907, Kitezh (the full title of which is properly The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya) was Rimsky-Korsakov’s second to last opera, and possibly his greatest. The plot of the opera combines two Russian legends: that of Saint Fevroniya, a faith-healer who became a princess in the early 13th century, and that of Kitezh, a city that miraculously vanished when besieged by an invading army.

Prepared by composer Maximilian Steinberg (Rimsky-Korsakov’s son-in-law), the suite is divided into four movements that follow the outline of the opera’s plot. The first movement, “Prelude—Adoration of Solitude,” comes from the opera’s opening, in which we are introduced to Fevroniya, a pious and holy young woman at one with nature. This is a tone-painting of the forest in which she lives: out of misty tremolo violins emerge bird calls in the woodwinds and a singing melody in the violins. In Act I, Fevroniya meets and falls in love with a handsome stranger who turns out to be the Prince of Kitezh.

Act II takes place in the town of Lesser Kitezh. The second movement of the suite, “Wedding Procession—Invasion of the Tartars,” begins with the music that accompanies Fevroniya’s entrance into the city and the celebrations surrounding her impending nuptials to the prince. RimskyKorsakov evokes the distinctive, multilayered sound of Russian church bells and uses pizzicato violins to imitate balalaikas. The strings then take up a wedding song originally sung by the chorus. In the background, the ominous motifs of the invading Tartars creep into the song, until the festivities are dispelled by their attack.

This music is then fused with the third movement of the suite, which comes from the opera’s Act III entr’acte. This wild music depicts the battle of Kerzhenets, in which the prince and his army fight the Tartars. The prince is slain, and the Tartars destroy his army. Meanwhile, Fevroniya is captured and fears for the people of Greater Kitezh, where the Tartars will strike next. She prays the city will be hidden from the enemy army and saved. Miraculously, the city becomes shrouded in a golden mist and vanishes: only its reflection can still be seen in the waters of the lake surrounding it. Terrified, the Tartars retreat and Fevroniya escapes. The fourth movement of the suite, “The Death of the Maiden Fevroniya—Pilgrimage to the Invisible City,” is taken from Act IV. Alone in the forest, Fevroniya is visited by the mystical bird Alkonost, who tells her she is dying. Unafraid, Fevronia embraces death, and the prince appears to lead her to the invisible city of Kitezh. There, the two are married. The suite ends with the sound of their wedding bells. —Calvin

Dotsey

PRICE

Ethiopia's Shadow in America (1932)

Born Florence Beatrice Smith in 1887 in Little Rock, Arkansas, Florence Price grew up as the daughter of dentist James H. Smith. Her mother, Florence Irene, was musically inclined and gave young Florence her first piano instruction. At age 16, Price was admitted to the New England

Program Notes

Ethiopia's Shadow in America (1932)

Conservatory of Music, where she studied organ performance and piano pedagogy. At the same time, she also studied composition privately with George Whitefield Chadwick, one of the era’s most distinguished American composers. After graduating, she pursued several teaching positions, ultimately running the music department of Atlanta’s Clark College. In 1912, she returned to Little Rock when she married the lawyer Thomas J. Price and started a family. An outbreak of racist violence spurred the Prices to move to Chicago in 1927, joining the Great Migration of Black Americans during this era. There, Price would become an important figure in the Chicago Black Renaissance, an artistic and cultural efflorescence over the following decades.

Composed in 1932, Ethiopia in America’s Shadow is an evocative tone poem that tackles a weighty subject: the history of people of African descent in America. In the score, Price divides the work into three parts, writing “Ethiopia in America’s Shadow is intended to portray: I. The Arrival of the Negro in America when first brought here as a slave –(Introduction and Allegretto); II. His Resignation and Faith – (Andante); III. His Adaptation – (Allegro) – a fusion of his native and acquired impulses.”

As Price indicates in her remarks, the first part consists of two distinct musical sections: a slow, mournful introduction followed by a faster, more vigorous passage marked by the entrance of percussion instruments, including the woodblock, snare drum, and later the xylophone. The second part, “His Resignation and Faith,” begins with a soulful violin solo, which is soon answered by a solo cello. This interlude concludes with unaccompanied solos from the clarinet and oboe before the tempo quickens for the final section. Beginning with a rhythmic theme in D major, this section would appear to be leading to an optimistic conclusion; in the end, however, the sorrowful music of the opening returns, perhaps poetically suggesting the ongoing struggles of the Black American community.

Ethiopia's Shadow in America played a role in one of the pivotal moments in Price’s career: her remarkable success in the 1932 Wanamaker Competition, which awarded cash prizes to outstanding Black composers. Price entered many works, and won first prize in two categories: symphonic and solo piano composition. Although her Symphony in E minor won the symphonic prize, Ethiopia's Shadow in America received an honorable mention as well. The symphony made history the following year when conductor Frederick Stock and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra gave its premiere performance, making Price the first female Black American composer to have a work performed by one of the world’s top orchestras. Ethiopia's Shadow in America, in contrast, would not receive its premiere until 2015.

—Calvin Dotsey

TCHAIKOVSKY

Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Opus 36 ( 1877–78)

The Fourth Symphony is a signature piece among Tchaikovsky’s seven orchestral essays in symphonic form, as well as the work in which he established his maturity in dealing with that medium. Its salient characteristics are a superheated emotional character and a lean,

Program Notes

TCHAIKOVSKY

Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Opus 36 ( 1877–78)

intense orchestral texture. Together, these traits remind the listener of the basic sound of several other masterworks in which Tchaikovsky set an indelible seal upon a particular musical form during the mid–1870s: the B-flat minor Piano Concerto (1874–75), the ballet Swan Lake (1875–76), and the opera Eugene Onegin (1877–78), which was composed during the same time period as the Fourth Symphony.

Placed in the context of these other works, this passionate symphony can be considered more an indication of the white heat at which Tchaikovsky’s inner creative urge burned during these years than an artistic reaction to external circumstances: his flight from a failed marriage, his personal recognition of his homosexuality, and his acceptance of the sheltering patronage of the wealthy widow, Nadezhda von Meck.

There are several noteworthy attributes in the form and orchestration of the Fourth Symphony. The opening trumpet fanfare—the so-called “fate” motive Tchaikovsky referred to in letters he wrote to Mme von Meck about the symphony—recurs as a kind of structural pillar marking off major sections of the first movement. Startling statements of the motive separate the exposition setting forth its themes, the development section in which they are fragmented, the restatement of the themes in the recapitulation, and the coda at the end of the movement. The “fate” motive also makes a dramatic reappearance in the coda of the fourth movement.

Tchaikovsky’s symphonies are liberally strewn with waltzes and marches, testifying to his fascination with dance music even when he was not writing ballet scores. Following the symphony’s slow introduction, the two main themes in the opening movement are waltzes—first a nervous, moody, minor-mode waltz with a twisting thematic profile, then a lilting waltz for strings and woodwinds that emerges from it. Turning to march rhythms, oboe, cello, violin, and bassoon alternately move in a solemn procession through the slow movement. The measured tread of this music harks back to the slow movement of Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony, whose clear formal design and crystalline orchestral colors served as a model for the young Tchaikovsky when he began his struggle to master symphonic form.

The brilliant set of marches that make up the third-movement Scherzo stands as the most striking piece of orchestral music Tchaikovsky ever composed. Plucked strings, bright woodwinds and shining brass enter the parade one after another, their tone colors standing in razor-sharp contrast to each other. Finally, Tchaikovsky combines the march tunes and the separate colors in an exhilarating coda. The fourth movement is no less exhilarating, consisting of a thrilling set of Russian dances that alternate with each other throughout the movement.

—Carl R. Cunningham

Program Bio

Lidiya Yankovskaya, conductor

Lidiya Yankovskaya is a fiercely committed advocate for Slavic masterpieces, operatic rarities, and contemporary works on the leading edge of classical music. She has conducted more than 40 world premieres, including 17 operas, and her strength as a visionary collaborator has guided new perspectives on staged and symphonic repertoire from Carmen and Queen of Spades to Price and Prokofiev.

Since her appointment as Elizabeth Morse and Genius Music Director of Chicago Opera Theater in 2017, Lidiya has led the Chicago premieres of Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick, Rachmaninoff’s Aleko, Joby Talbot’s Everest, Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta, and Adamo’s Becoming Santa Claus, as well as the world premiere of Dan Shore’s Freedom Ride. Her daring performances before and amid the pandemic earned recognition from the Chicago Tribune, which praised her as “the very model of how to survive adversity, and also how to thrive in it,” while naming her 2020 Chicagoan of the Year.

In the 2022–23 Season, Lidiya made a series of major orchestral debuts, including performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic,

New York Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Sacramento Philharmonic, Knoxville Symphony, and Richmond Symphony. She also debuted at Santa Fe Opera in a new production of Dvořák’s Rusalka, at Staatsoper Hamburg with Eugene Onegin, and at English National Opera, conducting a new staged production of Górecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. She led the long-awaited world premieres of Edward Tulane at Minnesota Opera and The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing at Chicago Opera Theater, where she also conducted the Chicago premiere of Szymanowski’s Król Roger.

Lidiya has recently conducted Carmen at Houston Grand Opera, Don Giovanni at Seattle Opera, Pia de’ Tolomei at Spoleto Festival USA, Der Freischütz at Wolf Trap Opera, and Taking Up Serpents at Washington National Opera and the Glimmerglass Festival. On the concert stage, recent engagements include Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Omaha Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and Julia Wolfe’s Anthracite Fields with Bang on a Can All-Stars and The Choir of Trinity Wall Street at Carnegie Hall. 

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Ms. Tama Lundquist

Alison and Ara Malkhassian

Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Matiuk

Ms. Kathy McCraigh

Ms. and Mr. Carol McDermott

John & Dorothy McDonald

Mr. & Mrs. William B. McNamara

Mr. Stephen Mendoza

Dr. and Mrs. Jack Moore

Rita and Paul Morico

Aprill Nelson

Bobbie Newman

Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey B. Newton

Jenni and Todd Olges

Katherine & Jonathan Palmer

Kusum and K. Cody Patel

Mr. and Mrs. Raul Pavon

Michael P. and Shirley Pearson

Mr. Robert J. Pilegge

Dr. and Mrs. Taj Popatia

Mr. & Mrs. Christopher Powers

Tim and Katherine Pownell

Cris & Elisa Pye

Kathryn and Richard Rabinow

Dr. and Mrs. George H. Ransford

Vicky & Michael Richker

Jill and Allyn Risley

Mr. & Mrs. George A. Rizzo Jr.

Dr. Douglas and Alicia Rodenberger

Linda & Jerry Rubenstein

Susan D. Sarofim

Garry and Margaret Schoonover

Susan and Ed Septimus

Laura & Mike Shannon

Donna and Tim Shen

Mr. & Mrs. Steven Sherman

Mr. and Mrs. Lance Smith

Mr. and Mrs. Quentin Smith

Sam & Linda Snyder

Richard & Mary Spies

Elizabeth and Alan Stein

Mr. & Mrs. Hans Strohmer

Stephanie and Bill Swingle

Susan L. Thompson

Carol and Eric Timmreck

Nanako & Dale Tingleaf

Pamalah* and Stephen Tipps

Dr. Brad and Mrs. Frances

Urquhart

Mr. and Mrs. David Vannauker

Nancy B. Willerson**

Ms. Barbara E. Williams

Doug Williams and Janice Robertson

Loretta & Lawrence Williams

Ms. Tara Wilson

Woodell Family Foundation

Mrs. Lorraine Wulfe

Erla & Harry Zuber

Anonymous (7)

$2,500+

Pat and John Anderson

Mr. Tom Anderson

Ms. Julia Andrieni

Rick Ankrom

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen J. Banks

Dr. and Mrs. Edward Baumgartner

Drs. Henry & Louise Bethea

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Bickel

Mr. and Mrs. Gerald W. Bodzy

George Boerger

Mr. Russell Boone

Mr. Matt Brams and Mrs. Alice Mao

Joe Brazzatti

Jane and Ron Brownlee

Justice Brett and Erin Busby

Mr. David N. Bush

Cheryl & Sam* Byington

Greta Carlson

Margot & John Cater

Drs. David A. Cech and Mary R. Schwartz

Mr. Steve Carroll & Ms. Rachel Dolbier

Dr. and Dr. Stephen Chen

Darleen & Jack Christiansen

Mr. Per Staunstrup Christiansen

Lynn Coe

Consurgo Sunshine

Ms. Jeanette Coon and Thomas Collins

Ms. Sandra Cooper

Mr. and Mrs. James L. Cross

Mr. and Mrs. John Dabbar

Mrs. Myriam Degreve

Mr. and Mrs. Manuel Delgado

Joseph and Rebecca Demeter

Mrs. Edward N. Earle

David and Carolyn Edgar

Mr. John Egbert and Ms. Kathy Beck

Mr. William P. Elbel and Ms. Mary J. Schroeder

Aubrey* & Sylvia Farb

Mrs. Christina Fontenot

Mr. and Mrs. David French

Ms. Leslie Gassner

David George Ph.D.

Wendy Germani

Kathy & Albrecht Goethe

Ms. Lidiya Gold

Susan and Kevin Golden

Marcos Gonzalez

Mr. & Mrs. Herb Goodman

Amy Goodpasture

Julianne & David Gorte

Mr. William Gray and Mrs. Clare Fontenot-Gray

Cortney Guebara

Eric and Angelea Halen

Mr. and Mrs. Charles R. Hall

Dr. & Mrs. Carlos R. Hamilton

Jr.

Mr. & Mrs. Houston Haymon

Barbara and Christopher Hekel

Richard and Arianda Hicks

Mr. and Mrs. John Homier

Mr. and Mrs. R. O. Hunton

C. Birk Hutchens

Mariya Idenova

Mr. Daniel Irion

Mady & Ken Kades

Anna Kaplan

Kathryn L. Ketelsen

Jane & Kevin Kremer

Connie Kwan-Wong

Stephanie and Richard Langenstein

Ms. Debra Laws

Dr. Hilary Beaver & Dr. Andrew Lee

Music Director Fund

Mrs. Evelyn Leightman

Mrs. Raquel Lewis

Mr. William W. Lindley

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen A. Lubanko

Mr. & Mrs. Peter MacGregor

Ms. Tina Maddox

Ms. Marquardsen

Mr. and Mrs. Wallis Marsh

David and Heidi Massin

Mary Ann & David McKeithan

Ms. Kristen Meneilly

Stephen & Marilyn Miles

Larry and Lyn Miller

Mr. David Ming

Ginni and Richard Mithoff

Mr. & Mrs. Thomas L. Molloy

Denise Monteleone

Richard & Juliet Moynihan

Jo Ann and Marvin Mueller

Mr. & Mrs. Richard Murphy

Mr. & Mrs. Robert E. Nelson

Ms. Barbara Nussmann

Macky Osorio

Rochelle & Sheldon Oster

Nancy Parra

George and Elizabeth Passela

Linda Tarpley Peterson

Dr. and Mr. Vanitha Pothuri

Roland and Linda Pringle

Mrs. Dana Puddy

Mr. and Mrs. Florante Quiocho

Clinton and Leigh Rappole

Dr. Michael and Janet Rasmussen

Mr. and Mrs. David Reeves

Mr. & Mrs. J.B. Reimer

Mrs. Diane Roederer

Mrs. Adelina Romero

Mr. & Mrs. John Ryder

Mr. Robert T. Sakowitz

Harold H. Sandstead, M.D.

Gina & Saib Saour

Lawrence P. Schanzmeyer

Mr. Tony W. Schlicht

Dr. Mark A. Schusterman

Mr. and Mrs. Steven Schwarzbach

Mr. and Mrs. Dilanka Seimon

Ms. Becky V. Shaw

Arthur E. and Ellen Shelton

Carlos Sierra

Leslie Siller**

Hinda Simon

Ms. Diana Skerl

David Smith and Elizabeth A. Fagan

Mr. and Mrs. David Smith

Georgiana Stanley

Jeaneen and Tim Stastny

Mr. and Mrs. Keith Stevenson

Mr. William W. Stubbs

Dr. and Mrs. Van W. Teeters

Emily H. & David K. Terry

Juliana and Stephen Tew

Jean and Doug Thomas

Courtney & Bill Toomey

Sal and Denise Torrisi

Patricia Van Allan

Dean Walker

H. Richard Walton

Nancy Ames and Danny Ward

Alton and Carolyn Warren

Dr. and Mrs. Richard T. Weiss

Dr. Robert Wilkins and Dr. Mary Ann ReynoldsWilkins

Mr. Frank Wilson

Mr. and Mrs. Steve Yatauro

Mrs. Linda Yelin

Robert and Michele Yekovich Anonymous (3)

The Houston Symphony has entered a new era with the introduction of internationally acclaimed conductor, Juraj Valčuha, as its Music Director. Valčuha’s visionary leadership will continue to elevate the orchestra’s level of artistry on the Jones Hall stage, its international reputation, and its relevance to the Houston community.

The purpose of the Music Director Fund is to provide leadership support to Maestro Juraj Valčuha and his artistic endeavors as Music Director. The Symphony extends our special thanks to Board President John Rydman, along with his wife, Lindy, and Spec’s Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods, for kicking off the campaign with the first gift to the fund. To join the Music Director Fund, supporters make a leadership gift of $100,000 above and beyond their annual giving.

To participate in this important effort, please contact Christine Ann Stevens, Senior Director, Development at christine.stevens@houstonsymphony.org or 713.337.8521.

Margaret Alkek Williams

Robin Angly & Miles Smith

Janice Barrow*

Gary and Marian Beauchamp/The Beauchamp Foundation

Barbara J. Burger

Albert & Anne Chao

Jane and Robert* Cizik

Janet F. Clark

Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts

Dr. Sippi and Mr. Ajay Khurana

Barbara and Pat McCelvey

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

Mike Stude

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 LEADERSHIP

Kirby Lodholz, Chair

Carrie Brandsberg-Dahl, Vice Chair

YOUNG ASSOCIATE PREMIUM $2,500+

Christopher P. Armstrong and Laura Schaffer

Ann and Jonathan Ayre

Lauren and Mark Bahorich

Tim Ong and Michael Baugh

Emily Bivona and Ryan Manser

Carrie and Sverre Brandsberg-Dahl#

Eric D. Brueggeman

Lindsay Buchanan#

Haydée del Calvo and Esteban Montero

Ryan Cantrell

Denise and Brandon Davis

Vicky Dominguez

Andria Elkins

Carolyn and Patrick Gaidos

Claudio J. Gutiérrez

Elaine and Jeff Hiller#

Carey Kirkpatrick

YOUNG ASSOCIATE $1,500+

Amber Ali

Fiona Anklesaria

Luisa Banos and Vladi Gorelik

Amanda Beatriz

Adair and Kevin Brueggeman

David Chaluh

Lincoln Chen

Megan and John Degenstein

Chante Westmoreland Dillard and Joseph Dillard

Laurel Flores#

Florence Francis

Kallie Gallagher

Patrick B. Garvey

Amy Goodpasture

Rebecca and Andrew Gould

Nicholas Gruy

Lori Harrington and Parashar Saikia

Ashley and John Horstman

C. Birk Hutchens

Mariya Idenova

Jonathan T. Jan

Anna Kaplan

Kirby and David Lodholz#

Marisa and Tandy Lofland

For more information, please contact Katie Salvatore, Development Officer, at katie.salvatore@houstonsymphony.org or 713.337.8544.

Laurel Flores, Communications Chair

Jeff Hiller, Membership Chair

Allegra Lilly and Robin Kesselman#

Joel Luks

Elissa and Jarrod Martin

Kelser McMiller#

Gwen and Jay McMurrey

Emily and Joseph MorrelPorter Hedges LLP

Stephanie Weber and Paul Muri

Aprill Nelson#

Maxine Olefsky and Justin Kenney

Kusum and K. Cody Patel#

Liana and Andrew Schwaitzberg#

Aerin and Quentin Smith#

Justin Stenberg#

Ishwaria and Vivek Subbiah

Kristin and Leonard Wood

Owen Zhang

Miriam Meriwani

Shane A. Miller

David Moyer

Trevor Myers

Lee Bar-Eli and Cliff Nash

Lauren Paine

Blake Plaster

Clarice Jacobson and Brian Rosenzweig

Chicovia Scott

Carlos Sierra

Leonardo Soto

Bryce Swinford

Elise Wagner#

Alexander Webb

Marquis Wincher

# Steering Committee

Jones Hall – 615 Louisiana Street houstonsymphony.org

Corporate, Foundation & Government Partners

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

CORPORATE PARTNERS (as of May 31, 2023)

Principal Corporate Guarantor ($250,000 and above)

Spec’s Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods / Spec’s Charitable Foundation**

Grand Guarantor ($150,000 and above)

ConocoPhillips**

Guarantor ($100,000 and above)

Bank of America

Boston Consulting Group*

Frost Bank

Underwriter ($50,000 and above)

Amerapex Baker Botts L.L.P.*

Cameron Management*

Chevron**

CKP Group*

Engie**

Houston Christian University

Sponsor ($25,000 and above)

EOG Resources

The Events Company*

H-E-B/H-E-B Tournament of Champions**

Partner ($15,000 and above)

City Kitchen*

Faberge

Gorman’s Uniform Service

Supporter ($10,000 and above)

Accordant Advisors*

Houston First Corporation*

Marine Foods Express, Ltd.**

Mark Kamin & Associates

New Timmy Chan

Benefactor ($5,000 and above)

Beck Redden LLP

Russell Reynolds Associates, Inc.

Patron (Gifts below $5,000)

Amazon Avatar Innovations

Baker Hughes

BeDESIGN*

Christian Dior

KTRK ABC-13*

Houston Methodist* Kalsi Engineering Oliver Wyman*

Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo**

Kinder Morgan Foundation** Kirkland & Ellis

The Lancaster Hotel*

Nexus Health Systems Oxy**

Neiman Marcus*

One Market Square Garage* Rand Group, LLC* Silver Eagle Distributors Houston, LLC

Jackson & Company* Lockton Companies of Houston

Corporation

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, L.L.P.

Quantum Energy Partners Sire Spirits

University of St. Thomas* Wortham Insurance & Risk Management

Gulf Coast Distillers * KPMG US Foundation, Inc.

Mercantil ONEOK, Inc.

Quantum Bass Center*

For information on becoming a corporate partner, please contact Timothy Dillow, Senior Director, Development at timothy.dillow@houstonsymphony.org or 713.337.8538.

PaperCity* Shell USA, Inc.**

PNC**

Rémy Martin

Sewell

Silver Eagle Beverages*

Truist

United Airlines*

Univision Houston & Amor

06.5FM

Vinson & Elkins LLP

USI Southwest

Beth Wolff Realtors Zenfilm*

SEI, Global Institutional Group

Smith, Graham & Company

Stewart Title Company

TAM International, Inc.

* Includes in-kind support

**Education and Community Engagement Support

Corporate, Foundation & Government Partners

FOUNDATIONS & GOVERNMENT AGENCIES (as of May 31, 2023)

Diamond Guarantor ($1,000,000 and above)

The Brown Foundation, Inc. Houston Symphony Endowment**

Premier Guarantor ($500,000 and above)

The Alkek and Williams Foundation

Grand Guarantor ($150,000 and above)

City of Houston through the Miller Theatre Advisory Board**

The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts

Guarantor ($100,000 and above)

The Jerry C. Dearing Family Foundation

Underwriter ($50,000 and above)

Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation

Beauchamp Foundation

The Elkins Foundation

Sponsor ($25,000 and above)

The Melbern G. & Susanne M. Glasscock Foundation**

Partner ($15,000 and above)

Ruth & Ted Bauer Family Foundation**

William E. & Natoma Pyle Harvey Charitable Foundation**

The Hood-Barrow Foundation

Supporter ($10,000 and above)

Edward H. Andrews

The Carleen & Alde Fridge Foundation

George & Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation

Benefactor ($5,000 and above)

Leon Jaworski Foundation

Patron (Gifts below $5,000)

The Lubrizol Foundation

The Scurlock Foundation

Houston Symphony League

The Wortham Foundation, Inc.

City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance

The Cullen Foundation

The Hearst Foundation** The Humphreys Foundation MD Anderson Foundation National Endowment for the Arts

The Houston Arts Combined Endowment Fund

The Fondren Foundation Houston Symphony Chorus Endowment LTR Lewis Cloverdale Foundation

William S. & Lora Jean Kilroy Foundation

The Vivian L. Smith Foundation**

The Schissler Foundation Sterling-Turner Foundation The Vaughn Foundation

The C. Howard Pieper Foundation

Texas Commission on the Arts**

John P. McGovern Foundation**

The Powell Foundation**

The William Stamps Farish Fund

Petrello Family Foundation

The Pierce Runnells Foundation Strake Foundation**

The Radoff Family Foundation

Keith & Mattie Stevenson Foundation

For information about becoming a foundation or government partner, please contact Christina Trunzo, Director, Foundation Relations, at christina.trunzo@houstonsymphony.org or 713.337.8530.

**Education and Community Engagement Support

Houston Symphony Endowment

The Houston Symphony Endowment is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of the Houston Symphony Society. Your contributions to the Endowment ensure the financial sustainability of your orchestra now and for generations to come.

A named endowed fund is a wonderful way to honor a loved one or to celebrate you and your family’s passion for the Houston Symphony. Named funds may be permanently established within the Houston Symphony Endowment with a minimum contribution of $250,000. Your fund can be designated for general purposes or specific interests.

One of the most impactful funds you can create is an Endowed Orchestra Chair. Opportunities to endow an Orchestral Chair begin at $1,000,000. Endowing a chair provides the Houston Symphony with funds to attract, retain, and support musicians of the highest caliber.

For more information about how you may support the Houston Symphony Endowment through a bequest or with a gift during your lifetime, please contact Hadia Mawlawi, Senior Associate, Endowment and Planned Giving, at hadia.mawlawi@houstonsymphony.org or 713.337.8532.

TRUSTEES

James H. Lee, President

David Krieger

ENDOWMENT FUNDS $250,000+

Janice H. and Thomas D. Barrow Chair Brinton Averil Smith, Principal Cello

The Brown Foundation Guest Pianist Fund

The Brown Foundation Miller Outdoor Theatre Fund in memory of Hanni and Stewart Orton, Legacy Society Co-Founders

Margarett and Alice Brown Fund for Education

Janet F. Clark Fund

Roy and Lillie Cullen Chair

Juraj Valčuha, Music Director

The Cullen Foundation Maestro’s Fund

The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts Fund for Creative Initiatives

The Margaret and James Elkins Foundation Fund

The Virginia Lee Elverson Trust Fund

Fondren Foundation Chair

Qi Ming, Assistant Concertmaster

William Randolph Hearst Endowed Fund for Education Programs

William Dee Hunt

Lynn Mathre

Jerome Simon

Scott Wise

The General and 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

General Maurice Hirsch Chair

Aralee Dorough, Principal Flute

Houston Symphony Chorus Fund

Joan and Marvin Kaplan Fund

Ellen E. Kelley Chair

Eric Halen, Co-Concertmaster

Max Levine Chair

Yoonshin Song, Concertmaster

Mary R. Lewis Fund for Piano Performance

M.D. Anderson Foundation Fund

Mary Lynn and Steve Marks Fund

Barbara and Pat McCelvey Fund

Mr. and Mrs. Alexander K. McLanahan Endowed Chair

William VerMeulen, Principal Horn

Monroe L. Mendelsohn Jr. Fund

George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Summer Concerts Fund

Bobbie Nau Chair

Mark Nuccio, Principal Clarinet

C. Howard Pieper Foundation Fund

Walter W. Sapp Fund, Legacy Society Co-Founder

Fayez Sarofim Guest Violinist Fund through the Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts

The Schissler Foundation Fund

Spec’s Charitable Foundation Salute to Educators Concert Fund

The Micijah S. Stude Special Production Fund

Bobby and Phoebe Tudor Fund

Mr. and Mrs. Jesse B. Tutor Endowed Fund

Margaret Alkek Williams Chair

John Mangum, Executive Director/CEO

The Wortham Foundation Classical Series Fund in memory of Gus S. and Lyndall F. Wortham

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.

For more information, please contact Hadia Mawlawi, Senior Associate, Endowment and Planned Giving, at hadia.mawlawi@houstonsymphony.org or 713.337.8532.

CRESCENDO CIRCLE $100,000+ (as of May 31, 2023)

Dr. and Mrs. George J. Abdo

Priscilla R. Angly

Jonathan and Ann Ayre

Myra W. Barber

Janice Barrow*

Jim Barton

James Bell

Joe Anne Berwick*

Joan H. Bitar, MD

James and S. Dale Brannon

Walter and Nancy Bratic

Joe Brazzatti

Terry Ann Brown

Mary Kathryn Campion and Stephen Liston

Drs. Dennis and Susan Carlyle

Janet F. Clark

Virginia A. Clark

Mr. William E. Colburn

Elizabeth DeWitts

Farida Abjani

Dr. Antonio Arana*

Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey B. Aron

George* and Betty Bashen

Dorothy B. Black*

Kerry Levine Bollmann

Ermy Borlenghi Bonfield

Zu Broadwater

Dr. Joan K. Bruchas* and Mr. H. Philip Cowdin*

Mr. Christopher and Mrs. Erin Brunner

Eugene R. Bruns

Cheryl and Sam* Byington

Sylvia J. Carroll

Dr. Robert N. Chanon

William J. Clayton and Margaret A. Hughes

Mr. and Mrs. Byron Cooley

The Honorable* and Mrs. William Crassas

Dr. Lida S. Dahm

Leslie Barry Davidson

Susan Feickert

Ginny Garrett

Mr. and Mrs. Harry H. Gendel

Michael B. George

Mauro H. Gimenez and Connie A. Coulomb

Bill Grieves*

Mr. Robert M. Griswold

Randolph Lee Groninger

Andria N. Elkins

Jean and Jack* Ellis

The Aubrey* and Sylvia Farb Family

Helen Hudspeth Flores*

Eugene Fong

Mrs. Aggie L. Foster

Stephen and Mariglyn Glenn

Evan B. Glick

Jo A. and Billie Jo Graves

Mario Gudmundsson

Claudio J. Gutiérrez

Deborah Happ and Richard Rost

Marilyn and Bob Hermance

Dr. Charles and Tammie Johnson

Dr. Rita Justice

Mr. and Mrs. U. J. LeGrange

Joella and Steven P. Mach

Martha and. Alexander Matiuk

Mr. and Mrs. Jerry L. Hamaker

Gloria L. Herman*

Timothy Hogan and Elaine Anthony

Dr. Gary L. Hollingsworth

Dr. Edward J. and Mrs. Patti* Hurwitz

Dr. Kenneth Hyde

Brian and Catherine James

Barbara and Raymond Kalmans

Dr. James E. and Betty W. Key

Dr. and Mrs. I. Ray Kirk

Mrs. Frances E. Leland

Samuel J. Levine

Mrs. Lucy Lewis

Sandra Magers

David Ray Malone and David J. Sloat

Mr. and Mrs. Rodney H. Margolis

Jay and Shirley* Marks

James G. Matthews

Mary Ann and David McKeithan

Dr. Tracey Samuels and Mr. Robert McNamara

Mr. and Mrs. D. Bradley McWilliams

Catherine Jane Merchant*

Michelle and Jack Matzer

Dr. and Mrs. Malcolm L. Mazow

Bill and Karinne McCullough

Muffy and Mike McLanahan

Dr. Georgette M. Michko

Dr. Robert M. Mihalo*

Mr. and Mrs. Marvin H. Mueller

Drs. John and Dorothy Oehler

Gloria G. Pryzant

Constance E. Roy

Donna Scott

Charles and Andrea Seay

Mr. and Mrs. James A. Shaffer

Michael J. Shawiak

Jule* and Albert* Smith

Louis* and Mary Kay Snyder

Ronald Mikita* & Rex Spikes

Marilyn Ross Miles and Stephen Warren Miles Foundation

Sidney and Ione Moran

Janet Moynihan*

Richard and Juliet Moynihan

Gretchen Ann Myers

Patience Myers

John N. Neighbors* in memory of Jean Marie Neighbors

Mr.* and Mrs. Richard C. Nelson

Bobbie Newman

John and Leslie Niemand

Leslie Nossaman

Dave G. Nussmann*

John Onstott

Macky Osorio

Edward C. Osterberg Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. Edmund and Megan Pantuliano

Christine and Red Pastorek

Peter* and Nina Peropoulos

Linda Tarpley Peterson

Sara M. Peterson

Jenny and Tadjin* Popatia

Geraldine Smith Priest

Dana Puddy

Patrick T. Quinn

Lila Rauch

Ed and Janet Rinehart

David and Helen Stacy

Frank Shroeder Stanford in memory of Dr. Walter O. Stanford

Mike and Anita* Stude

Mr. and Mrs. Jesse B. Tutor

Elba L. Villarreal

Margaret Waisman, M.D. and Steven S. Callahan, Ph.D.

Mr. and Mrs. Fredric A. Weber

Robert G. Weiner & Toni Blankmann

Vicki West in honor of Hans Graf

Susan Gail Wood

Jo Dee Wright

Ellen A. Yarrell

Anonymous (2)

Mr. Floyd W. Robinson

Walter Ross

Dr. and Mrs. Kazuo Shimada

Lisa and Jerry Simon

Tad and Suzanne Smith

Sherry Snyder

Marie Speziale

Emily H. and David K. Terry

Stephen G. Tipps

Steve Tostengard*, in memory of Ardyce Tostengard

Jana Vander Lee

Bill and Agnete Vaughan

Dean B. Walker

Stephen and Kristine Wallace

Geoffrey Westergaard

Nancy B. Willerson

Jennifer R. Wittman

Lorraine and Ed* Wulfe

David and Tara Wuthrich

Katherine and Mark Yzaguirre

Anonymous (8)

Musician Sponsorships

Donors at the Sponsorship Circle level and above are provided the opportunity to be recognized as sponsoring a Houston Symphony Musician.

For more information, please contact Alexa Ustaszewski, Major Gifts Officer, at alexa.ustaszewski@houstonsymphony.org or 713.337.8534.

(As of May 31, 2023)

Dr. Angela Apollo

Scott Holshouser, Principal Keyboard

Dr. Saúl and Ursula Balagura

Charles Seo, Cello

Janice Barrow*

Sophia Silivos, First Violin

Gary and Marian Beauchamp/ The Beauchamp Foundation

Martha Chapman, Second Violin

Nancy and Walter Bratic

Christopher Neal, First Violin

Mr. Gordon J. Brodfuehrer

Maki Kubota, Cello

Mr. Robert Bunch and Ms. Lilia Khakimova

Alexander Potiomkin, Bass Clarinet and Clarinet

Ralph Burch

Robin Kesselman, Principal Double Bass

Barbara J. Burger

Andrew Pedersen, Double Bass

Mary Kathryn Campion, PhD

Rodica Gonzalez, First Violin

Drs. Dennis and Susan Carlyle

Louis-Marie Fardet, Cello

Jane Cizik

Qi Ming, Assistant Concertmaster

Janet F. Clark

MuChen Hsieh, Principal Second Violin

Michael H. Clark and Sallie Morian

Assistant Principal Viola

Virginia A. Clark

Christian Harvey, Shepherd

School-Houston

Symphony Brown Foundation CommunityEmbedded Fellow

Roger and Debby Cutler

Tong Yan, First Violin

Mike and Debra Dishberger

Phillip Freeman, Bass Tombone

Joan and Bob Duff

Robert Johnson, Associate Principal Horn

Steve and Mary Gangelhoff

Judy Dines, Flute

Stephen and Mariglyn Glenn

Christian Schubert, Clarinet

Evan B. Glick

Fay Shapiro, Viola

Suzan and Julius Glickman

Thomas LeGrand, Associate Principal Clarinet and E-flat Clarinet

Mr. and Mrs. Fred L. Gorman

Christopher French, Associate Principal Cello

Mark and Ragna Henrichs

Donald Howey, Double Bass

Gary L. Hollingsworth and Kenneth J. Hyde

Robert Walp, Assistant Principal Trumpet

Mrs. James E. Hooks

Burke Shaw, Double Bass

Drs. M.S. and Marie-Luise

Kalsi

Eric Halen, Co-Concertmaster

Joan Kaplan

Mark Nuccio, Principal Clarinet

Dr. Sippi and Mr. Ajay Khurana

David Connor, Double Bass –Community-Embedded Musician

Dr. and Mrs. I. Ray Kirk

John C. Parker, Associate Principal Trumpet

Cindy E. Levit

Adam Trussell, Bassoon and Contrabassoon

Rochelle* and Max Levit

Sergei Galperin, First Violin

Cora Sue and Harry* Mach

Joan DerHovsepian, Principal Viola

Joella and Steven P. Mach

Eric Larson, Double Bass

Mrs. Carolyn and Dr. Michael Mann

Ian Mayton, Horn

Cindy Mao and Michael Ma

Si-Yang Lao, First Violin

Mr. and Mrs. Rodney H.

Margolis

Eric Halen, Co-Concertmaster

Mr. and Mrs. J. Stephen Marks

Brian Del Signore, Principal Percussion

Mr. Jay Marks

Sergei Galperin, First Violin

Michelle and Jack Matzer

Kurt Johnson, First Violin

Barbara and Pat McCelvey

Adam Dinitz, English Horn

Muffy and Mike McLanahan

William VerMeulen, Principal Horn

Dr. Eric McLaughlin and Mr. Eliodoro Castillo

Jonathan Fischer, Principal Oboe

Martha and Marvin McMurrey

Rodica Gonzalez, First Violin

Rita and Paul Morico

Elise Wagner, Bassoon

Scott and Judy Nyquist

Sheldon Person, Viola

Dr. Susan Osterberg and Mr. Edward C. Osterberg Jr.

MiHee Chung, First Violin

Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan E.

Parker

Jeffrey Butler, Cello

Mr. David Peavy and Mr. Stephen McCauley

Jeremy Kreutz, Cello

Gloria and Joe Pryzant

Matthew Strauss, Percussion

Allan and Jean Quiat

Richard Harris, Trumpet

Laurie A. Rachford

Timothy Dilenschneider, Associate Principal Double Bass

Ron and Demi Rand

Annie Chen, Second Violin

Ed & Janet Rinehart

Amy Semes, Associate Principal Violin

Mrs. Sybil F. Roos

Mark Hughes, Principal

Trumpet

Mr. Glen A. Rosenbaum

Aralee Dorough, Principal Flute

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

Anthony Kitai, Cello

Kathy and Ed Segner

Kathryn Ladner, Flute & Piccolo

Mr. and Mrs. James A. Shaffer

Eric Halen, Co-Concertmaster

Margaret and Joel Shannon

Rainel Joubert, Violin–Community-Embedded Musician

Tad and Suzanne Smith

Marina Brubaker, First Violin

Alana R. Spiwak and Sam L. Stolbun

Wei Jiang, Acting Associate Principal Viola

Mike Stude

Brinton Averil Smith, Principal Cello

Bobby and Phoebe Tudor

Bradley White, Acting Principal Trombone

Mr. & Mrs. Jesse B. Tutor

Joan DerHovsepian, Principal Viola

Judith Vincent

Matthew Roitstein, Associate Principal Flute

Margaret Waisman, M.D. and Steven S. Callahan, Ph.D. Mark Griffith, Percussion

Stephen and Kristine Wallace

Rian Craypo, Principal Bassoon

Mr. & Mrs. Fredric A. Weber

Allegra Lilly, Harp

Robert G. Weiner and Toni Blankman

Anastasia Ehrlich, Second Violin

Vicki West

Rodica Gonzalez, First Violin

Steven and Nancy Williams

MiHee Chung, First Violin

Jeanie Kilroy Wilson and Wallace S. Wilson

Xiao Wong, Cello

Nina and Michael Zilkha

Kurt Johnson, First Violin