Live from Jones Hall: Mozart & Mazzoli

Kensho Watanabe is fast becoming one of the most exciting and versatile young conductors to come out of the United States. Most recently, Kensho was recognized as a recipient of a Career Assistance Award by the Solti Foundation U.S. He held the position of Assistant Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra from 2016 to 2019 and during this time made his critically acclaimed subscription debut with the Orchestra and pianist, Daniil Trifonov, taking over from his mentor Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He would continue on to conduct four subscription concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2019, in addition to debuts at the Bravo! Vail Festival and numerous concerts at the Mann and Saratoga Performing Arts Centres. Watanabe has previously been an inaugural conducting fellow of the Curtis Institute of Music from 2013 to 2015, under the mentorship of Nézet-Séguin.

Recent highlights have included his debuts with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, London Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Brussels Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.Highlights of the 2020-21 season include further European debuts with the Luxembourg Philharmonic and Belgium National Orchestra at the Bozar in Brussels, plus engagements with the Sarasota Orchestra and Calgary Philharmonic.

Equally at home in both symphonic and operatic repertoire, Mr. Watanabe has led numerous operas with the Curtis Opera Theatre, most recently Puccini’s La Rondine in 2017 and La bohème in 2015. Additionally, he served as assistant conductor to Mr. Nézet-Séguin on a new production of Strauss’s Elektra at Montreal Opera. This season Watanabe will make his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York conducting Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking.

An accomplished violinist, Mr. Watanabe received his Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music and served as a substitute violinist in The Philadelphia Orchestra from 2012 to 2016. Cognizant of the importance of the training and development of young musicians, he has served on the staff of the Greenwood Music Camp since 2007, currently serving as the Orchestra conductor. Mr. Watanabe is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with distinguished conducting pedagogue Otto-Werner Mueller. Additionally he holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Yale College, where he studied molecular, cellular, and developmental biology.

Robin Kesselman was appointed Principal Bass of the Houston Symphony by Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada in 2014. He has performed as Guest Principal Bass with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Israel Philharmonic, travelled internationally with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic, and appeared with the National, Atlanta, and Baltimore Symphonies.

Kesselman frequently performs as a soloist and chamber musician and presents recital programs and masterclasses at various universities across the country. He has appeared as soloist with the Houston Symphony in subscription performances of the Koussevitzky Concerto for Double Bass, and he was featured in Krzysztof Penderecki’s Duo Concertante during the composer’s Carnegie Hall residency in collaboration with the Curtis Institute. Recent festival engagements include leading the bass sections of the Grand Teton, Mainly Mozart, and Arizona Musicfest festival orchestras. He has also served as faculty for the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America, Curtis Institute’s Summerfest, the Richard Davis Bass Conference, and the summer residency of the Filarmónica Joven de Colombia.

Kesselman holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Southern California and an Artist Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music. His primary teachers have included David Allen Moore, Harold Robinson, Edgar Meyer, Paul Ellison, Chris Hanulik, and Virginia Dixon.

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.

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 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.

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.

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 Music Festival.

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, 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.

Ian Mayton, a native of Durham, North Carolina, was appointed fourth horn of the Houston Symphony by Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada in November 2014. Mayton has performed with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the North Carolina Symphony. After completing his Bachelor of Music degree at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Mayton spent a year in the Master of Music program at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music studying with William VerMeulen.