Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker + Gil Shaham

Gil Shaham is one of the foremost violinists of our time; his flawless technique combined with his inimitable warmth and generosity of spirit has solidified his renown as an American master. The Grammy Award-winner, also named Musical America’s “Instrumentalist of the Year,” is sought after throughout the world for concerto appearances with leading orchestras and conductors, and regularly gives recitals and appears with ensembles on the world’s great concert stages and at the most prestigious festivals.

Highlights of recent years include the acclaimed recording and performances of J.S. Bach’s complete sonatas and partitas for solo violin. In the coming seasons in addition to championing these solo works he will join his long time duo partner pianist, Akira Eguchi in recitals throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.

Appearances with orchestra regularly include the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, and San Francisco Symphony as well as multi-year residencies with the Orchestras of Montreal, Stuttgart and Singapore. With orchestra, Mr. Shaham continues his exploration of “Violin Concertos of the 1930s,” including the works of Barber, Bartok, Berg, Korngold, Prokofiev, among many others.

Mr. Shaham has more than two dozen concerto and solo CDs to his name, earning multiple Grammys, a Grand Prix du Disque, Diapason d’Or, and Gramophone Editor’s Choice. Many of these recordings appear on Canary Classics, the label he founded in 2004. His CDs include 1930s Violin Concertos, Virtuoso Violin Works, Elgar’s Violin Concerto, Hebrew Melodies, The Butterfly Lovers and many more. His most recent recording in the series 1930s Violin Concertos Vol. 2, including Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto and Bartok’s Violin Concerto No. 2, was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Mr. Shaham was born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, in 1971. He moved with his parents to Israel, where he began violin studies with Samuel Bernstein of the Rubin Academy of Music at the age of 7, receiving annual scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. In 1981, he made debuts with the Jerusalem Symphony and the Israel Philharmonic, and the following year, took the first prize in Israel’s Claremont Competition. He then became a scholarship student at Juilliard, and also studied at Columbia University.

Gil Shaham was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1990, and in 2008 he received the coveted Avery Fisher Prize. In 2012, he was named “Instrumentalist of the Year” by Musical America. He plays the 1699 “Countess Polignac” Stradivarius, and lives in New York City with his wife, violinist Adele Anthony, and their three children.

Robin Kesselman was appointed Principal Bass of the Houston Symphony Orchestra 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 the top universities across the country. He has already appeared twice as soloist with the Houston Symphony, in subscription performances of the Koussevitzky Concerto for Double Bass and Missy Mazzoli’s bass concerto Dark with Excessive Bright. Previous season highlights include Krzysztof Penderecki’s Duo Concertante during the composer’s Carnegie Hall residency in collaboration with the Curtis Institute and Bottesini’s Concerto No. 2 with the Houston Civic Symphony. Recent festival engagements include leading the bass sections of the Grand Teton, Mainly Mozart, and Arizona Musicfest festival orchestras. He has also serves as faculty for the National Youth Orchestra – USA, Curtis Institute’s Summerfest, the Richard Davis Bass Conference, and the summer residency of the Youth Philharmonic of 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.

Gina Gaston originally joined KTRK-TV, ABC13 in Fall 1992 to co-anchor the newly expanded, and later top-rated 13 Eyewitness News at 6 a.m. She continued as an anchor/reporter until 1999 when she moved to MSNBC in New York. She returned to ABC13 in June 2001 to again serve as a reporter and co-anchor, but this time for the Eyewitness News at 6 p.m. and Eyewitness News at 10 p.m.

An integral part of ABC13’s major community event coverage, Gina has co-anchored the Chevron Houston Marathon, Freedom Over Texas, Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo Parade and Share Your Holidays Food Drive. Her long-time support of the Houston Symphony includes her Emmy award-winning documentaries and news stories profiling Andrės Orozco-Estrada’s eight-year journey as the Houston Symphony’s Music Director. She has been acknowledged for her vast community service efforts, being named a “Woman on the Move,” “Woman of Distinction,” and Houston Chronicle “Best Dressed Hall of Fame.” The city named December 4, 2019, Gina Gaston Day in the City of Houston.

Major news stories Gina has covered include the Haitian Earthquake, O.J. Simpson trial in Los Angeles, Elian Gonzales’s departure to Cuba, the Haitian Earthquake, numerous presidential elections (including the 2000 Florida ballot recounts), and the Houston Rockets World Championships (where she met her husband, former Houston Rockets basketball star, Mario Elie).

Before joining 13 Eyewitness News in 1992, she worked as an anchor/reporter at WTSP-TV in Tampa, Florida, and as an anchor/reporter at WHTM-TV in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and KLTV in Tyler, Texas.

Gina is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and was honored by the Associated Press Broadcasters for News Reporting.

She is a graduate of the University of Southern California and is a native of Santa Barbara. Gina and Mario are the proud parents of triplets…two sons and a daughter.

The Houston Symphony Chorus is one of Houston’s oldest and most distinguished musical organizations. Founded in 1946 as the Houston Chorale, it became the Houston Symphony Chorale in 1968, and the Houston Symphony Chorus in 1986.  The Chorus has enjoyed the leadership of seven directors, Alfred Urbach (1946–1986), A. Clyde Roller (1967–1968), Wayne Bedford (1968 – 1969), Don Strong (1969–1977), Virginia Babikian (1977–1986), and Charles Hausmann (1986–2014).  Because of Dr. Hausmann’s extraordinarily long service, he was named Director Emeritus upon his retirement.  Current director, Betsy Cook Weber, was appointed in the fall of 2014.

Over the years, the Chorus has sung with dozens of the world’s most notable conductors, including Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Steven Reineke, Michael Krajewski, Robert Shaw, André Previn, Leopold Stokowski, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir John Barbirolli, Ferenc Fricsay, Lawrence Foster, and Hans Graf, to name only a very few.

In addition to performances in Jones Hall, the Symphony’s home venue, the Chorus has also delighted audiences in various concert halls throughout the United States, Europe, and Mexico.

The Chorus consists entirely of volunteer singers who have considerable musical skill, vocal talent, and choral experience. They audition for placement each year.  The Chorus performance schedule is possibly the busiest in the country, consisting of up to fourteen different sets of repertoire for a total of 45 concerts.