ABOUT THE MUSIC
MOZART, STR AVINSKY & REVUELTAS
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ABOUT THE CONDUCTOR
YUE BAO
TING TSUNG AND WEI FONG CHAO FOUNDATION CONDUCTING FELLOW
Yue Bao, appointed last year to the newly created position of Conducting Fellow, serves as cover conductor for classical programs, and conducts student concerts, and other specials projects.
ABOUT THE MUSIC
R E V U E LTA S OCHO POR RADIO
P A R T I C I P AT I N G M U S I C I A N S
ALEXANDER POTIOMKIN BASS CLARINET AND CLARINET
RIAN CRAYPO PRINCIPAL BASSOON
MATTHEW STRAUSS SOPHIA SILIVOS ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL FIRST VIOLIN TIMPANI AND PERCUSSION
CHRISTOPHER FRENCH ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL CELLO
MARK HUGHES PRINCIPAL TRUMPET
ANNIE KUAN-YU CHEN SECOND VIOLIN
TIMOTHY DILENSCHNEIDER ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL DOUBLE BASS
ABOUT THE MUSIC
R E V U E LTA S OCHO POR RADIO
SILVESTRE REVUELTAS
COMPOSER (1899–1940) • Ocho Por Radio, which translates to “Eight on Radio,” was written in 1933 to be played over the radio. The instrumentation includes two violins, cello, bass, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, and percussion, and all parts are colorfully soloistic. The trumpet and strings help to convey mariachi influences throughout the work. • Silvestre Revueltas (1899–1940) was born in Santiago Papsquiaro, Mexico. As an Expressionist composer, Revueltas sought to expand authentic, Mexican-based classical music by infusing contemporary sounds that one might hear on the streets. His compositional style is similar to that of Igor Stravinsky in his use of folk-inspired melodies saturated in dissonance and rhythmic vitality. • It is often said Revueltas’s mother loved the arts and dreamed of having a child who would be a poet, musician, and painter. Her dream came true, but with a slight variation. Instead of having just one multi-talented child, she had three sons, each of whom specialized in one of the three art forms: Silvestre, the musician; José, the writer; and Fermín, the painter.
ABOUT THE MUSIC
S T R AV I N S K Y OCTET FOR WIND INSTRUMENTS
P A R T I C I P AT I N G M U S I C I A N S
ARALEE DOROUGH PRINCIPAL FLUTE
THOMAS LeGRAND ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL CLARINET AND E-FLAT CLARINET
RIAN CRAYPO PRINCIPAL BASSOON
ELISE WAGNER BASSOON
JOHN PARKER ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL TRUMPET
ROBERT WALP ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL TRUMPET
BRADLEY WHITE ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL TROMBONE
PHILLIP FREEMAN BASS TROMBONE
ABOUT THE MUSIC
S T R AV I N S K Y OCTET FOR WIND INSTRUMENTS
IGOR STRAVINSKY
COMPOSER (1882–1971) • The Octet for Winds marks Igor Stravinsky’s first use of Neoclassicism, the incorporation of classical ideals of balance, order, and clarity reminiscent of 18th-century music. Notice similarities between Stravinsky’s Octet and Mozart’s Serenade No. 12 in C minor, also on this concert’s program! • One could draw parallels between the musical forms of the first and second movements to the forms in a symphony by composers like Joseph Haydn. In the third movement, the clean staccato lines were inspired by the clarity and economy of J.S. Bach’s Two-Part Inventions for keyboard. • Stravinsky himself conducted the premiere at the Paris Opera House in 1923, and the audience did not respond well to his new style. Although the public and critics initially had no appetite for Neoclassicism in modern music, Stravinsky persisted with this style in his later works and influenced composers all over the world to write in this aesthetic trend. • Stravinsky (1882–1971) was no stranger to public criticism. In fact, the 1913 premiere of his ballet Rite of Spring caused a riot from the audience who was angered by its neo-primitive style, characterized by driving, intense rhythms.
ABOUT THE MUSIC
M OZ A R T SERENADE NO. 12 IN C MINOR, K.388 (NACHTMUSIK)
P A R T I C I P AT I N G M U S I C I A N S
JONATHAN FISCHER PRINCIPAL OBOE
COLIN GATWOOD OBOE
THOMAS LeGRAND ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL CLARINET AND E-FLAT CLARINET
ALEXANDER POTIOMKIN BASS CLARINET AND CLARINET
RIAN CRAYPO PRINCIPAL BASSOON
ELISE WAGNER BASSOON
NANCY GOODEARL HORN
BRIAN THOMAS HORN
ABOUT THE MUSIC
M OZ A R T SERENADE NO. 12 IN C MINOR, K.388 (NACHTMUSIK)
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
COMPOSER (1756–1791) • A serenade in Mozart’s time was a piece written to be performed outdoors in the evening and was usually characterized by having a cheerful, light mood. The Serenade in C minor is Mozart’s only serenade written in a minor key, so it has a much more brooding, somber feel than his other serenades. • Mozart wrote his first serenade at the age of 13. Orchestral serenades were extremely popular in his native Salzburg, where they were regularly used at weddings and parties. • However, after his move to Vienna, where he was employed by the emperor at the time of writing this piece, Mozart only occasionally wrote compositions of this type. • Mozart was so fond of this piece that he reused it in two of his later works: He transcribed it for string quintet in 1787, and he borrowed the main melody of the second movement for his opera Così fan tutte in 1790. • Although Mozart only lived to be 35 years old, he composed over 600 works. His compositions were catalogued in the 19th century by Ludwig von Köchel, and they are now always distinguished by the K. numbering from this catalogue in the title (as in Serenade No. 12 in C minor, K.388).
MUSICIAN BIOS YUE BAO
TING TSUNG AND WEI FONG CHAO FOUNDATION CONDUCTING FELLOW Conductor Yue Bao serves as conducting fellow of the Houston Symphony. In May 2019, she completed a two-year tenure as the Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellow at the Curtis Institute of Music, closely working with Maestro Nézet-Séguin during her studies in Philadelphia. At Curtis, she was active as both a conductor and assistant, working with Michael Tilson Thomas, Osmo Vänskä, Gilbert Varga, Giancarlo Guerrero, and Miguel HarthBedoya. Yue was the Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Conducting Fellow at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in 2019. In 2018, she served as the David Effron Conducting Fellow at the Chautauqua Music Festival, where her concerts with the Festival Orchestra received major accolades from audiences and musicians. Prior to her time at Curtis, in 2015, she served as a conducting fellow at the Eastern Music Festival under Gerard Schwarz. She has worked extensively in the United States and abroad. She served as an assistant for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under JoAnn Falletta and David Lockington (2015–17), making her conducting debut with Buffalo in 2016. Yue has also assisted Vänskä at the Minnesota Orchestra and Varga at the St. Louis Symphony. Recent appearances include the Shanghai Opera Symphony Orchestra, the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, and the New Symphony Orchestra. Equally at home with both symphonic and operatic repertoire, her credits include Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Bizet’s Carmen, Kurt Weill’s Mahagonny: Ein Songspiel, and Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Medium. She is also active as a pianist, recently playing for a production of Les contes d’Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach at the National Centre for the Performing Arts. Along with her Artist Diploma from The Curtis Institute of Music, she holds Bachelor of Music degrees in orchestral conducting and collaborative piano from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and a Master of Music degree in orchestral conducting from the Mannes School of Music.
MUSICIAN BIOS SOPHIA SILIVOS FIRST VIOLIN
Sophia Silivos, violin, has been a member of the Houston Symphony since 1992. Silivos began her career as first violinist of the Dakota quartet and then was named principal second violinist of the New Mexico Symphony. She has performed as soloist with the Houston Symphony and served as Associate Concertmaster for the 2005–06 season. An ardent proponent of chamber music, Silivos has appeared with ensembles throughout the United States and has performed live for public radio stations in Chicago, Houston, and Minneapolis. Here in Texas, she appears regularly with the Greenbriar Consortium and the Foundation for Modern Music; she is a featured violinist for the St. Cecilia concert series. She has served on the faculties of the University of Houston and Augustana college, teaches privately, and gives master classes. In the summer of 2007, Silivos was an invited participant in a three-week tour of China, giving master classes and performing recitals and solos with orchestra.
ANNIE KUAN-YU CHEN SECOND VIOLIN
A native of Taiwan, Annie Kuan-Yu Chen began her musical studies at age 6 on piano and at age 8 on violin. At age 14, she moved to the United States to continue her music education at the Walnut Hill School for the Arts and the New England Conservatory Preparatory Program in Boston. Chen has been a participant of numerous summer music festivals including the Heifetz International Music Institute, the Music Academy of the West, where she was a winner of the 2011 concerto competition, and the Tanglewood Music Center. She has toured with the Youth Orchestra of the Americas and was a regular member of Discovery Ensemble, a Boston-based chamber orchestra that provides outreach concerts to inner-city schools with no music programs. She has also been featured as a soloist with the Dorchester Symphony Orchestra. Chen holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory in Boston and a master’s degree from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, where she held the Shepherd School Distinguished Fellowship in Violin. Her principal teachers have included Lynn Chang, James Buswell, and Kathleen Winkler.
MUSICIAN BIOS CHRISTOPHER FRENCH
ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL CELLO Christopher French is the associate principal cellist of the Houston Symphony. Before joining the orchestra in 1986, he held titled positions in both the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra and the Honolulu Symphony. French is the seventh of a full octave of musical siblings. He enjoys performing with the Bad Boys of Cello, the alter ego of the Houston Symphony cello section. The Bad Boys have played in homeless shelters and elementary schools in an effort to eliminate the classist misconceptions about classical music. French is a graduate of North Park University in Chicago, where he won the Performance Award. In addition to three concerto performances with the Houston Symphony, he has appeared on the Chamber Players series, and with Da Camera of Houston and the Greenbriar Consortium. He participates in the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego, Music in the Mountains in Durango, Colorado, and the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. French teaches orchestral repertoire at Rice University.
TIMOTHY DILENSCHNEIDER ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL DOUBLE BASS
Timothy Dilenschneider was appointed associate principal double bass of the Houston Symphony in January of 2019. Prior to joining the Houston Symphony, Dilenschneider was a member of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under the baton of music director Marin Alsop. During the summers, he is the double bass faculty for the Blackburn Music Academy in California and an active performer in prestigious music festivals including Festival Napa Valley, Arizona Music Fest, and Classical Tahoe where he is the recipient of an endowed chair. He is an alumnus of the New World Symphony and a 2014 graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music. An avid lover of travel, Dilenschneider’s orchestral performances have taken him around the world. He has been invited to participate in international tours across Europe, Asia, and Africa with distinguished orchestras such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, and the Florida Orchestra. He has performed in some of the world’s most notable halls including Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw, Musikverein, Suntory Hall, Theatre des Champs-Élysées, National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, and most recently Royal Albert Hall in London for the 2018 BBC Proms. In addition to his orchestral work, Dilenschneider has performed in numerous recitals and chamber music programs including the Candlelight Chamber Series in Baltimore, Napa Valley Chamber Festival in California, and Marin Alsop’s
MUSICIAN BIOS New Music Festival. In 2018 he was invited on a chamber orchestra tour with musicians from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra to Marrakech, Morocco to perform in the desert of Agafay. Dilenschneider is on faculty for the Blackburn Music Academy and his passion for music education has led him to work with students at the Peabody Institute of Music, Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestra, and Philadelphia Youth Orchestra. He has been featured in magazines such as the ISB Bass World and Next Level Bassist. He is also recorded on the Grammy Award winning CD “East Coast 2×4”. Dilenschneider began playing the double bass at age 8 and studied with “Time for Three” bassist Ranaan Meyer, prior to his studies with Harold Robinson and Edgar Meyer at the Curtis Institute of Music.
ARALEE DOROUGH
PRINCIPAL FLUTE GENERAL MAURICE HIRSCH CHAIR Aralee Dorough began her tenure with the Houston Symphony as second flute in 1985, becoming the orchestra’s principal flutist in 1991. Dorough teaches orchestral repertoire at the Texas Music Festival and the FestivalInstitute at Round Top and is an affiliate artist on the faculty of the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston. She first appeared as a soloist with the Houston Symphony performing Mozart’s Concerto in C Major for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra with internationally-renowned harpist, Marisa Robles, and led by then-Music Director Christoph Eschenbach, for the 1992–93 season Opening Night gala concert. Dorough also performed Mozart’s Concerto in G Major with Eschenbach and the Houston Symphony in 1993 for a triple CD set released by IMP Records in 1994, and again in concert in 2004 under former Music Director Hans Graf. Her latest performance of the popular D major flute concerto completed her personal “Mozart cycle.” Dorough gave the world premiere of Bright Sheng’s concerto, Flute Moon in 1999, which was commissioned by the Houston Symphony and broadcasted live on PBS. In 2003, she gave the U.S. premiere of a Salvador Brotons’s concerto, which Brotons himself conducted for the National Flute Association Convention. In 2006, Dorough and Houston Symphony colleagues presented the premiere of a chamber work by composer Gabriela Frank on a collaborative program between the Houston Symphony and the Da Camara Society. Other solo appearances with the Symphony have included Quantz’s Concerto in G major with conductor Nicholas McGegan and Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 with conductor Joshua Rifkin and violinist Eric Halen. An avid chamber player and contemporary music performer, Dorough has played with the Houston Symphony Chamber Players, whose recording of Schoenberg’s Quintet for Winds on the Koch label has been met with critical acclaim. She has also performed with the Da Camera Society of Houston, The Foundation for Modern Music, Musiqa, the Festival-Institute at Round Top, and Chicago’s Ravinia Festival in collaboration with Christoph Eschenbach at the piano. Dorough can
MUSICIAN BIOS be heard on over 20 Houston Symphony recordings and performances aired on PBS and American Public Media’s Performance Today, and she has worked with a distinguished roster of conductors and guest artists including Eric Leinsdorf, Michael Tilson Thomas, Leonard Slatkin, and Yo-Yo Ma. She also collaborated with her father, jazz artist and Schoolhouse Rock composer Bob Dorough, on The Houston Branch CD project in 2005, available at cdbaby. com. The album features Dorough along with her husband, father, and three of Houston’s top jazz musicians performing standard tunes and her father’s originals, including one of her own compositions. Because of her father, Dorough has been peripherally involved with jazz and studio work throughout her career, including a speaking part on “My Hero Zero” for ABC TV’s Schoolhouse Rock at age nine. Dorough received her undergraduate degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1983, where she studied with master teacher Robert Willoughby and met her future husband, Houston Symphony oboist Colin Gatwood. She continued her studies as a graduate student at the Yale School of Music where she worked with renowned teacher, the late Thomas Nyfenger. Along with their son, Corin, Dorough and her husband enjoy traveling, most recently on the Houston Symphony’s The Planets–An HD Odyssey tour to the UK. They also participated in the Walled City Music Festival in Derry, Ireland.
JONATHAN FISCHER
PRINCIPAL OBOE LUCY BINYON STUDE CHAIR Jonathan Fischer joined the Houston Symphony as principal oboe in September 2012 and was invited to join the faculty of the University of Houston in September 2014. Prior to his appointment with the Houston Symphony, Fischer served as associate principal oboe with the San Francisco Symphony for nine seasons. He has also held positions with The Cleveland Orchestra, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Grant Park Orchestra, Santa Fe Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Savannah Symphony, and the New World Symphony. Fischer has performed as a guest principal with many of the nation’s leading orchestras including the Boston, Chicago, and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the St. Louis and Atlanta Symphonies, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He has performed as a soloist with the Houston Symphony, Grant Park Symphony, New World Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony. Fischer currently teaches at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music and Texas Music Festival. He has taught and performed at the Aspen Music Festival and the Oberlin Conservatory. He has given masterclasses at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, the San Francisco Conservatory, Rice University, and University of Michigan, and has been a coach at the New World Symphony. He holds a degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Richard Woodhams. A native of South Carolina, Fischer now enjoys living in the Heights with his dog, a Louisiana Catahoula mix.
MUSICIAN BIOS COLIN GATWOOD OBOE
Colin Gatwood was born in Cleveland, Ohio but grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where his father was principal oboist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and his mother, a violinist, was a freelance musician and teacher. He began his musical studies on the piano at age 5, but by the time he was nine, he had begun taking oboe lessons from his father. Gatwood is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio. His first orchestra job was with the Pittsburgh Symphony, playing second oboe for four years. From there, he went on to join the Guadalajara Symphony Orchestra in Mexico, and in 1991, he won the position of second oboe with the Houston Symphony.
THOMAS LeGRAND
ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL CLARINET AND E-FLAT CLARINET
Thomas LeGrand is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Before coming to Houston, he was a member of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and taught at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He joined the Houston Symphony in 1986 as associate principal clarinet and has appeared as soloist with the orchestra on several occasions. An active chamber performer, LeGrand is a member of the Greenbriar Consortium and has performed with the Da Camera Society, Texas Music Festival, and the Linton Series. He is an associate professor of clarinet at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. LeGrand spends his summers at the Grand Teton Music Festival, where he and his wife, Carol, an elementary music teacher, find time to pursue their interests in distance running, hiking, and camping.
MUSICIAN BIOS ALEXANDER POTIOMKIN
BASS CLARINET AND CLARINET TASSIE & CONSTANTINE S. NICANDROS CHAIR Alexander Potiomkin joined the Houston Symphony as Bass Clarinet/Utility in October 2012. A native of Ukraine, he moved with his family to Israel in 1991, where he attended the Rubin Jerusalem Academy of Music, while appearing as a regular substitute clarinetist with Israel Philharmonic. He came to Houston in 1995 to study at Rice University, where he earned his Master of Music Degree in 1997. He has appeared as substitute Principal Clarinet of the Alabama Symphony on their Carnegie Hall tour in spring 2012. He has also performed as guest principal clarinet with the Kansas City Symphony and as a soloist with the Tel Aviv Symphony and the Brooklyn Philharmonic. He has participated in the Mozart, Bellingham, Blossom, and Tanglewood music festivals. Equally committed to teaching, he maintains a large, private studio. His main teachers include David Peck and David Weber, with additional studies with Michael Wayne and Mark Nuccio on clarinet and Chester Rowell and Ben Freimuth on Bass Clarinet.
RIAN CRAYPO
PRINCIPAL BASSOON Principal bassoonist Rian Craypo has been with the Houston Symphony since 2007. Born in Virginia, she moved to Texas at 10 months of age and grew up east of Austin in a small intentional community. After studying at the University of Texas at Austin with Kristin Wolfe Jensen, she attended Rice University, where she received her master’s degree under former Houston Symphony Principal Bassoon Benjamin Kamins. In 2001, she was awarded a Federation of German/American Clubs Scholarship, which led to a year of study and performances in Germany and was a finalist in the Gillet-Fox International Bassoon Competition in both 2004 and 2006. Rian serves on the board of MOTHS (Musicians of the Houston Symphony) which presents Houston Symphony musicians several times a year in intimate and engaging chamber settings. Rian is also the author of a book about bassoon reed making, published in 2017. She and her husband Sean have three children.
MUSICIAN BIOS ELISE WAGNER BASSOON
Music Festival.
Elise Wagner has been a member of the Houston Symphony bassoon section since September 2008. She also performs with the Strings Music Festival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. She has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Wheeling Symphony, Sarasota Opera Orchestra, and Lake Tahoe Music Festival. She was also awarded fellowships to the Tanglewood Music Center and the Aspen
When performing outside of the orchestra, Wagner is an advocate for modern music and a chamber musician. Wagner was part of the world premiere of “Who am I?”, a composition commissioned by the Foundation for Modern Music in March 2013. Following the premiere performance in Houston, she also performed the work at La Mama Theater in New York City in February 2014. As an active chamber musician, Wagner performs regularly with the Greenbriar Consortium and the St. Cecelia Chamber Music Series. In addition to her performance schedule, Wagner is a faculty member at the University of Houston, the Texas Music Festival, and the American Festival for the Arts. When not playing bassoon, she can be found biking, running, on the golf course, or making reeds. A native of Monroe, Wisconsin, Wagner earned her master’s degree at Carnegie Mellon University where she studied with Nancy Goeres, principal bassoon of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. She earned her bachelor’s degree at Temple University under the instruction of Daniel Matsukawa, principal bassoon of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
NANCY GOODEARL HORN
Nancy Goodearl, a member of the Houston Symphony since 1981, received a Bachelor of Music in Performance from the Eastman School of Music, and a Master of Music in Performance from Northwestern University. Since 1987, she has been a member of the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. She has performed with many orchestras, including the Houston Ballet Orchestra, the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony, and the Sun Valley Summer Symphony in Idaho. Goodearl has performed extensively in recitals and chamber music ensembles throughout the Houston area, including brass and woodwind quintets from the Houston Symphony and faculty brass and woodwind quintets from the University of Houston. She also performs with the Monarch Brass Ensemble, a large brass ensemble of women from around the country affiliated with the International Women’s Brass Conference. In addition to performing, she enjoys coaching high school horn sections and teaching privately. She is a former faculty member of the University of Houston Moores School of Music, the Texas Music Festival, and the American Festival of the Arts.
MUSICIAN BIOS BRIAN THOMAS HORN
Second horn of the Houston Symphony since 1995, Brian Thomas is a native of Minneapolis and was influenced by his musical family and the rich artistic environment of his hometown. Both of his parents were cellists, and his father played with the Minnesota Orchestra for 50 seasons before his recent retirement. Brian took up the horn at an early age and was guided by mentor Dave Kamminga to Northwestern University, where he studied with Chicago Symphony hornists Norman Schweikert and Dale Clevenger. He proceeded on to positions in the orchestras of Louisville, Columbus, and Syracuse before assuming his current position in Houston. Thomas has performed with the orchestras of Minnesota, Cincinnati, and San Diego and played for many years in both the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder and the Skaneateles Festival in upstate New York. He has been second horn in the prestigious Sun Valley Summer Symphony since 1999 and is a frequent guest artist at Rice’s Shepherd School of Music. Thomas was recently an artist-in-residence at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. He has also performed with the Scottish band The Rogues and recorded a CD and a live DVD with the group. Brian is an avid road cyclist, enjoys the artistic and technical aspects of high-end audiophile equipment, and nourishes his soul with Celtic music. He shares his home in the suburbs of Houston with his lovely wife, Victoria, and six grateful rescue cats.
MARK HUGHES
PRINCIPAL TRUMPET GEORGE P. AND CYNTHIA WOODS MITCHELL CHAIR Mark Hughes “knows how to spin out a long line with the eloquence of a gifted singer,” says Derrick Henry of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Hughes developed his abilities at Northwestern University where he studied with the late Vincent Cichowicz of the Chicago Symphony. After graduation, he joined the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as a scholarship student of Adolph Herseth, the legendary Principal Trumpet of the Chicago Symphony. Hughes then began touring with Richard Morris as the popular organ and trumpet duo, “Toccatas and Flourishes,” performing throughout the United States and Canada. His appointment as Associate Principal Trumpet with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra followed, which he held for 12 years. During his time with the ASO, he appeared as soloist with the orchestra on numerous occasions, performed on dozens of recordings, and was an active studio musician. Hughes is currently Principal Trumpet of the Houston Symphony, a position he has held since 2006. He has appeared as soloist with the orchestra on several occasions, including the performance of the Shostakovich Concerto no. 1 for Piano and Trumpet with Jon Kimura Parker, a performance heard nationally on American Public Radio’s SymphonyCast. Since his arrival in Houston, Hughes has performed and recorded with the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras and continues to be in demand as a soloist with orchestras and in recital. In addition, he serves on the faculties of the Brevard Music Center and the Texas Music Festival each summer. Hughes lives in Bellaire with his wife, Marilyn, and their two children, Thomas and Caroline.
MUSICIAN BIOS
JOHN PARKER
ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL TRUMPET John Parker, a native of High Point, North Carolina, joined the Houston Symphony in May of 2016 as Associate Principal Trumpet. Previously, he was Principal Trumpet with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, a position he attained after his undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). While at UNC, Parker was a recipient of the Kenan Music Scholarship and also the Frank Comfort Education Scholarship. Parker has also performed as Principal Trumpet of the Charleston Symphony, the Roanoke Symphony, and the Greensboro Symphony. He attended the Aspen Music Festival and School on a full fellowship in both 2012 and 2013 and has also performed twice as a soloist at the National Trumpet Competition.
ROBERT WALP
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL TRUMPET Robert Walp joined the Houston Symphony as Assistant Principal Trumpet in 1983. Originally from Pasadena, California, Walp studied with Walter Laursen (Principal Trumpet, Pasadena Symphony) and Thomas Stevens (Principal Trumpet, Los Angeles Philharmonic) before moving to Chicago to study with Vincent Cichowicz at Northwestern University. As a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Walp studied with Adolph Herseth and Arnold Jacobs of the Chicago Symphony. After graduating from Northwestern University in 1982, Walp worked with Albert Calvayrac in France, and Timofei Dokschitzer (Solo Trumpet, Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra) in Moscow. Well known for his success in teaching young people, Walp substituted for Vincent Cichowicz at Northwestern University, leading master classes, teaching, and giving a recital at his alma mater. Walp also served on the faculty of Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music for five years. His students are some of the most soughtafter musicians by major conservatories and schools of music. An active chamber musician and recitalist, Walp has performed with the Carmel Bach Festival in California, Rheingau Musikfestival in Germany, Albi Festival in France, and Gidon Kremer’s Laurie Festival in Köln and St. Petersburg, Russia. His solo appearances include numerous recitals throughout the United States and Europe, and concerti performances with the Houston Symphony. The Houston Brass Band appointed Walp as its first Music Director in 2006. He has led the band through an unprecedented period of improvement, tackling increasingly more challenging works and engaging the band with the community. In January 2015, Walp joined the faculty of the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston. Walp is a Yamaha Performing Artist.
MUSICIAN BIOS
BRADLEY WHITE
ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL TROMBONE Bradley White, trombone, joined the Houston Symphony in the fall of 2001 as Associate Principal and Second Trombone. He is a native Houstonian and earned his Bachelor of Music in Trombone Performance from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in 1993. He went on to study at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City where he received a Master of Music in 1997. White has performed with Ambient Brass, the Houston Ballet and Grand Opera Orchestras, and the San Antonio and Hawaii Symphonies.
PHILLIP FREEMAN BASS TROMBONE
Phillip Freeman joined the Houston Symphony in 2007 after six seasons with the Sarasota Opera. He has performed with the orchestras of Minnesota, Dallas, Montréal, Sarasota, and San Antonio. A graduate of the University of Houston, he received his bachelor’s degree in composition. Formerly on faculty at the Shepherd School of Music and the Moores School of Music, Freeman now sees a limited number of students privately and teaches at the Texas Music Festival each summer.
MUSICIAN BIOS
MATTHEW STRAUSS
ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL TIMPANI AND PERCUSSION Matthew Strauss has been applauded throughout the United States as an energetic percussionist and timpanist with a diverse musical background. In addition to his positions as Associate Principal Timpani and Percussion with the Houston Symphony and Timpanist with the American Symphony Orchestra at the Bard Music Festival, Strauss is currently on faculty at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and Texas Music Festival at the University of Houston. Prior to his post in Houston, he performed as a member of the percussion section in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra throughout the 2002–03 and 2003–04 seasons. Strauss has also performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Baltimore, Detroit, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and National Symphony Orchestras, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, to name a few. Solo appearances include performances with the Akron Symphony, New Hampshire Music Festival, and Reading Symphony Orchestra, and Delaware Symphony Orchestra. An active chamber musician, Strauss has performed with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Da Camera of Houston, Foundation for Modern Music, Bard Festival Chamber Players, Skaneateles Music Festival, and has participated in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s contemporary chamber series, Music Now, under the batons of Pierre Boulez and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Strauss received his Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance from the Juilliard School and his Master of Music in Performance from Temple University. He is an alumnus of both the Tanglewood and Aspen Music Festivals and has participated in the Spoleto Music Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. Strauss taught percussion performance at the Mason Gross School of Music at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He has presented master classes and clinics at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, The Juilliard School, Aspen Music Festival, Northwestern University, Temple University, New York University, Peabody Conservatory, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Roosevelt University, and DePaul University. Strauss is a performing artist and clinician for the Pearl/Adams Corporation, Zildjian Inc., and Evans Drumheads.