Juraj Valčuha Conducts Mahler 3

Houston Symphony 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 translates even the most complex scores into immersive experiences.

Before joining the Houston Symphony in June 2022, Juraj was Music Director of the Teatro di San Carlo, Naples, from 2016 to 2022 and first guest conductor of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. He was Chief Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai from 2009 to 2016.

The 2005–06 Season marked the start of his international career on the podium of the Orchestre National de France followed by remarkable debuts in the United Kingdom with the Philharmonia London, in Germany with the Munich Philharmonic, in the United States with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and in Italy with Puccini’s La bohème in Bologna.

He has since led the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Munich Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Maggio Musicale in Florence, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Rome, Milan’s Filarmonica della Scala, Montréal Symphony, and the NHK and Yomiuri orchestras in Tokyo.

He enjoys regular collaborations with the Minnesota Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and San Francisco Symphony. International touring with the Orchestra Sinfonica della Rai took them to the Musikverein in Vienna and Philharmonie in Berlin, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Zurich, Munich, to the Enesco Festival in Bucharest, and the Abu Dhabi Classics. With the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, he visited Riga, Vilnius, and Tallinn to mark the 100th anniversary of the Baltic nations.

In Europe, he is acclaimed on the podium of the Munich Philharmonic, the NDR Hamburg and Frankfurt Radio orchestras, as well as the Vienna Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de Paris, BBC Symphony and Philharmonia London, and the Swedish Radio Orchestra.

Juraj champions the compositions of living composers and aims to program contemporary pieces in most of his concerts. He has conducted world premieres, including Christopher Rouse’s Supplica with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Steven Mackey’s violin concerto with Leila Josefowicz and the BBC Symphony in Manchester, and Nico Muhly’s Bright Idea with the Houston Symphony. In 2005, he conducted, in the presence of the composer, Steve Reich’s Four Seasons at the Melos-Ethos Festival in Bratislava. Other composers he has supported and continues to follow with interest are Bryce Dessner, Steven Stucky, Andrew Norman, James MacMillan, Luca Francesconi, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Anna Clyne, Julia Wolfe and Jessie Montgomery, among others.

Including his engagements in Houston, the 2023–24 Season took him to the Pittsburgh and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, San Francisco Symphony, and Minnesota Orchestra as well as to the Yomiuri Nippon Orchestra in Tokyo. On the European stage, he performed Fanciulla del West and Tristan and Isolde at the Bavarian State Opera and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Jenufa at the Opera di Roma. He led concerts with the RAI Orchestra, the Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, the Orchestre National de France, the NDR, SWR, and the Bamberg Symphony, among others.

In the 2024–2025 Season Juraj will join the Semperoper in Dresden with Strauss´ Salomé as well as the Paris Opéra Bastille with Janacek´s The Cunning Little Vixen and the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Tchaikovsky´s Pique Dame. In the coming months, in addition to his concerts with the Houston Symphony, he will return to the Munich Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France, the London Philharmonic, the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchester, the San Francisco Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the Yomiuri Nippon Orchestra in Tokyo.

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

Marina Prudenskaya studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and began her career at the Stanislavski Theatre in Moscow. After engagements at Staatstheater Nürnberg, she was a member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (2005–07) and the Staatsoper Stuttgart (2007–13). Since 2013, she has been an ensemble member at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, where she has performed roles such as Herodias (Salome), Venus (Tannhäuser), Composer (Ariadne auf Naxos), Marfa (Khovanshchina), Eboli (Don Carlos), Azucena (Il Trovatore), Ortrud (Lohengrin), Octavian (Rosenkavalier), and Euphrates (Babylon).

She has appeared as a guest at major opera houses worldwide, including Royal Opera House Covent Garden (Azucena, Fricka), Vienna State Opera (Herodias, Mescalina), Teatro Real Madrid, Zurich Opera House (Eboli), Bavarian State Opera (Octavian), Opéra de Paris (Kundry), Grand Théâtre de Genève (Amneris), Washington National Opera, as well as at the Bayreuth Festival (Fricka, Waltraute) and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.

She has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Philippe Jordan, Christian Thielemann, Mariss Jansons, Fabio Luisi, Marek Janowski, Simone Young, Daniel Harding, Hartmut Haenchen, and Plácido Domingo.

As a sought-after concert singer, her highlights include Verdi’s Requiem with the Berlin Philharmonic under Mariss Jansons (Salzburg Easter Festival), Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Philippe Jordan (Vienna Konzerthaus), Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Vladimir Jurowski (Moscow Philharmonic), and Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été and Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with Marek Janowski (Dresden Philharmonic, RSB Berlin). She has also performed at Berlin Philharmonie, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Musikverein Vienna, and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.

Highlights of the 2024–25 season include Fenena (Nabucco) at Staatsoper Berlin, her debut as the Nurse (Die Frau ohne Schatten) at Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Fricka (Die Walküre) at ROH London, as well as concert engagements in Boston, Houston, Leipzig, and Dresden.

The Houston Symphony Chorus is one of Houston’s oldest and most distinguished musical organizations.

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.

Recent reactions to its performances include:

Classical/Chorus: “…beautifully balanced, modulated sound that seamlessly blended with the orchestra.”
—Review of A German Requiem, Houston Chronicle, May 8, 2018

Classical/Chorus: “… the chorus was magnificent.”
—Review of Stabat Mater, Houston Chronicle, September 27, 2018

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.

The Houston Children’s Chorus was founded in 1989 by Director Stephen Roddy. More than 325 children in grades two through eight are enrolled in Chorus activities, including a Music in The Schools program for inner-city schools that cannot afford a music teacher. The Chorus represents the diverse cultures of Houston, and performs at numerous civic events throughout the year. It has been featured with the Houston Symphony, Houston Symphony POPS, Masterworks Chorus, Houston Choral Society, and Rice University Chorale. Along with President George H. W. Bush, the Chorus was featured on Glad Tidings, a recording of the Houston Symphony POPS.

The Houston Children’s Chorus has performed for the U.S. President on 34 occasions and was featured in the national broadcast of the Celebration of the Life of Barbara Bush. Favorite performances include the recording of the Blue Bell Ice Cream commercial, a concert with Celine Dion, the opening ceremonies of the 2004 Super Bowl with Josh Groban, the premiere of a major commissioned work at Carnegie Hall, and most recently, the world premiere of the opera, Can We Know the Sound of Forgiveness by internationally recognized composer, Gabriela Ortiz.