HOUSTON (May 22, 2024) – Juraj Valčuha brings his second season as Houston Symphony Music Director to a powerful close, with his final mini-festival of the season celebrating the great 20th-century composer Richard Strauss with works from the three main facets of his composition: symphony, lieder, and opera. June 1 and 2, 2024, the contemplative lyricism of his Symphonic Interlude: Träumerei am Kamin (Dreaming by the Fireside) from the opera Intermezzo, and the thrilling sonorities of his Ein Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony) bookend his sublime Vier Letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs), featuring internationally lauded American soprano Rachel Willis- Sørensen. Strauss’s infrequently-performed Alpine Symphony requires a symphonic force of 117 musicians onstage, of which sixteen of them play the instrument perhaps most closely associated with Richard Strauss: the French horn.
The season finale June 7 and 9, 2024 is headlined by world-renowned dramatic soprano Jennifer Holloway and a star-studded cast joining Valčuha and the orchestra for Salome: the biggest concert production in Houston Symphony history, including stunning scenic projections, stylized costumes, theatrical lighting, and custom-built design and staging elements to immerse and transport audiences inside the world of Richard Strauss’s intense psychodrama.
Setting Oscar Wilde’s scandalous play to an at-times lilting, at-times volcanic score, Strauss created a masterpiece of musical theater. Joining Holloway in this semi-staged concert performance are tenor John Daszak as Herod, mezzo-soprano Linda Watson as Herodias, baritone Mark S. Doss as Jokanaan (John the Baptist), and tenor Issachah Savage as Narraboth.
Here is Creative Director Adam Larsen talking about putting the Salome production together with set mockups as well as scenes from last year’s production of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex: https://youtu.be/vC3Hpx05Jjs
Salome is a complicated opera both musically and psychologically, presenting many thematic challenges for modern audiences, including depictions of violence and sexual violence, inherent racism, and anti-Semitism. To thoughtfully address these sensitive topics and their depiction in Salome in the context of musical art, the Houston Symphony is inviting three scholars and the production’s creative director to join a panel discussion June 7 at 6 p.m. at Jones Hall, open to all Salome ticketholders. The panelists are Moderator Dr. Jason Oby, Acting Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences at Texas Southern University and professional opera singer; Dr. Kathryn Caton, Lecturer of Musicology at the University of Houston; Dr. Alison Maggart, Assistant Professor of Instruction in Musicology at the University of Texas at Austin; and Salome Creative Director Adam Larsen.
June 8, 2024 at Jones Hall, Texas Music Festival Music Director and Chief Conductor Franz Anton Krager conducts the Texas Music Festival Orchestra in its Jones Hall Debut, as well as 2013 Cliburn Competition gold medalist Vadym Kholodenko, in a performance of Strauss’s youthfully dazzling Burleske for Piano and Orchestra. Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite (1919) completes this program from the critically acclaimed Texas Music Festival Orchestra.
All of these Strauss Festival performances take place at Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, 615 Louisiana Street, in Houston’s Theater District. For tickets and information about all of these performances as well as the June 2 livestream of An Alpine Symphony, please call or text 713.224.7575 or visit houstonsymphony.org. Tickets may also be purchased at the Houston Symphony Patron Services Center in Jones Hall (Monday–Saturday, 12–6 p.m.). All programs and artists are subject to change.
STRAUSS FESTIVAL
An Alpine Symphony
June 1, 2 (livestream), 2024
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Juraj Valčuha, conductor
Rachel Willis Sørensen, soprano
R. Strauss: Symphonic Interlude: Träumerei am Kamin from Intermezzo
R. Strauss: Four Last Songs
R. Strauss: An Alpine Symphony
Salome In Concert
June 7, 9, 2024
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Juraj Valčuha, conductor
Jennifer Holloway, soprano (Salome)
John Daszak, tenor (Herodes)
Linda Watson, mezzo-soprano (Herodias)
Mark S. Doss, baritone (Jochanaan)
Issachah Savage, tenor (Narraboth)
Adam Larsen, creative director
Jim French, lighting designer
Erin Earle Fleming, assistant lighting designer
Molly Irelan, costume designer
James Maloof, scenic designer
R. Strauss: Salome
Strauss Soirée and Stravinsky’s Firebird (presented by Texas Music Festival)
June 8, 2024
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Franz Anton Krager, conductor
Vadym Kholodenko, piano
R. Strauss: Burleske in D Minor for Piano and Orchestra
Stravinsky: Firebird Suite
About Juraj Valčuha
Conductor 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. His profound understanding of composer and score, taste, and naturally elegant style make him one of the most sought-after conductors of his generation.
Beginning in September 2022, Valčuha assumed the post of Houston Symphony Music Director. He was Music Director of the Teatro di San Carlo, Naples from 2016 lto 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 with exciting concerts on the podium of the Orchestre National de France followed by remarkable debuts in the U.K. 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, hr 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 U.S. 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 to Abu Dhabi Classics. He has also toured with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin to Riga, Vilnius, and Tallinn to mark the 100th anniversary of the Baltic nations.
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 and Steven Mackey’s violin concerto with Leila Josefowicz and the BBC Symphony in Manchester. 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 Bayerische Staatsoper Munich; Faust and The Love for Three Oranges in Florence; Jenufa, Peter Grimes, and Salome in Bologna; La Bohème 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 Napoli.In January 2020, he conducted an opera production of Tristan and Isolde at Teatro Comunale in Bologna, at the end of which the complete lockdown was introduced in most European countries. However, he was privileged during the pandemic year to conduct many livestreamed performances with Teatro San Carlo (Tosca with Anna Netrebko and Cavalleria Rusticana with Elina Garanca and Jonas Kaufmann), RAI Orchestra in Turin, Orchestre National de France, Konzerthaus Berlin, and NDR Orchestra Hamburg. In the U.S. he was one of the few conductors to travel from Europe and make music with the Dallas, Houston, Minnesota, and Pittsburgh orchestras.
Juraj Valčuha was awarded the Premio Abbiati 2018 from Italian Music critics in the category Best Conductor.
Born in Bratislava, Slovakia, he 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.
About Rachel Willis-Sørensen
American soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen is known for her diverse repertoire ranging from Mozart to Wagner. A regular guest at the leading opera houses around the world, Le Monde enthused, “…the American soprano has without a doubt one of the most impressive voices in the opera world. The timbre, of marmoreal beauty, is striking, the projection telluric…” In 2021, Rachel signed a multi-record deal with Sony Classical. Her debut album was released in April 2022, and her second CD, Strauss: Vier Letzte Lieder, came out in March 2023.
Rachel opened the 2023-24 Season with a return to the Grand Théâtre de Genève to perform the role of Elisabeth (Don Carlos), which she debuted in Chicago last year. This season founds her performing two roles in two Verdi operas at the Wiener Staatsoper; her first engagement in Vienna included a return to the role of Desdemona (Otello) followed by Elena (I Vespri Siciliani). Also in the winter, she made her first role debut of the season, as Antonia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) at Opéra national de Paris, also marking her house debut. She performed the role of Elsa (Lohengrin) and Desdemona (Otello) at the Bayerische Staatsoper, and made her Hong Kong debut in Ariadne auf Naxos as part of the 52nd Hong Kong Arts Festival with the Bayerische Staatsoper. In the spring, she returned to LA Opera as Violetta in La Traviata. She then makes a return to Santa Fe Opera to perform the role of the Marschallin in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. On the concert stage, she performed Mahler’s 8th Symphony at the Bayerische Staatsoper, and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at the Wiener Konzerthaus, as well as a debut recital at Carnegie Hall in April. Rachel performs R. Strauss’s Four Last Songs with Houston Symphony as part of its Strauss Festival under the baton of Maestro Juraj Valčuha.
She holds both bachelor and master of music degrees from Brigham Young University and is an alumna of the Houston Grand Opera Studio. An active presence on social media, she can be found on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok @rachewillissorensen and on X under @RWSing.
About Jennifer Holloway
In recent years, American soprano Jennifer Holloway has established herself internationally as one of the leading sopranos in the dramatic repertoire.
In the new season, she returns to the Bavarian State Opera as Senta (Der fliegende Holländer). At the Hamburg State Opera, she makes her role debuts as Fidelio-Leonore and as Ellen Orford (Peter Grimes). Under Kirill Petrenko, she sings Chrysothemis (Elektra) in Bergen and later at Oper Leipzig. Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège has invited her to perform Wagner’s Wesendoncklieder.
Highlights of recent seasons include Salome at the Vienna and Berlin State Operas and the Deutsche Oper Berlin; Chrysothemis, Tannhäuser-Elisabeth, and her role debut as Senta at the Hamburg State Opera; Cassandre (Les Troyens) at the Munich Opera Festival; Sieglinde (Die Walküre) in concert with the Orchestre de Paris under Jaap van Zweden and at the Vienna Konzerthaus under Joana Mallwitz; the title role of César Franck’s Hulda in Paris; Grete in a new production of Schreker’s Der ferne Klang at Oper Frankfurt; her role debut as Elsa in Lohengrin at Oper Leipzig; the Komponist (Ariadne auf Naxos) at Teatro Colon Buenos Aires; Cassandre and Salome at Semperoper Dresden; her debut as Sieglinde at Staatsoper Hamburg; and Salome in Bilbao and Atlanta.
Jennifer began her career as a mezzo-soprano at houses such as Teatro Real Madrid, Los Angeles Opera, Glyndebourne Festival, Maggio Musicale in Florence, Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse, and Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.
About Mark S. Doss
Grammy Award winner Mark S. Doss’s most recent engagements include the lead roles in Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice with Boston Lyric, Leoš Janáček’s From the House of the Dead with Rome Opera, and Germont in Welsh National Opera’s La Traviata. This past season also saw him at Lincoln Center’s Geffen Hall with New York Philharmonic players in a program entitled, Here I Stand: Paul Robeson’s 125th Birthday Celebration. Over the past two seasons, he has sung the bass-baritone part in Beethoven’s 9th with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, and the Teatro La Fenice in the Piazza San Marco, Venice, Italy. Other engagements include Creon and the Messenger in Opera Company of Philadelphia’s Oedipus Rex, Balstrode in Peter Grimes with La Fenice, Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana at London’s Royal Opera, Nicholas Lens’s Shell Shock with the Philharmonie of Paris, and Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca and the title role in Verdi’s Rigoletto with Welsh National Opera.
Beginning his career on the roster of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Mark’s illustrious career has taken him to the most prestigious opera houses in the world, including numerous roles at La Scala, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, the Teatro Regio in Turin, and La Monnaie in Brussels. Additionally, he has had important debuts with the Vienna Staatsoper (Amonasro in Aida), the Berlin Staatsoper, Madrid’s Teatro Real, and the Theatro of Sao Paulo in Brazil (Jochanaan in Salome), and the New National Opera in Tokyo (the Hoffmann Villains).
This season will see him in performances of Jochanaan in Salome with the Houston Symphony, and he will open the 2024-25 Season featured in a project to celebrate the contributions of Paul Robeson and commemorating the 75th anniversary of the horrific events surrounding his 1949 concert in Peekskill and the Town of Cortlandt. Following that, Mark returns to La Monnaie to sing the Original Cast revival of The Time of Our Singing. A Grammy Award winner for his participation in Handel’s Semele (Best Opera Recording), he also is a recipient of the National Institute for Music Theatre’s George London Opera Prize, and Planet Africa’s Entertainment Award.
About John Daszak
Admired for his vocal versatility and dramatic power, British tenor John Daszak enjoys a vibrant international opera career and regular collaborations with many key conductors and directors.
In recent seasons, the role of Herod in Strauss’s Salome has become central to John’s repertoire following an acclaimed debut in the role at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden conducted by Henrik Nánási and new productions at the Salzburg and Aix Festivals under Franz Welser-Möst and Ingo Metzmacher respectively. He continues to be closely associated with many works, including Wozzeck, Boris Godunov, Elektra, Il prigioniero, and Kat’a Kabanova.
Other operatic successes include appearances as Grishka Kuter’na in The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh at Dutch National Opera, as Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg at the Bayerische Staatsoper, and as Alviano Salvago in Die Gezeichneten at Opernhaus Zürich. Strongly associated with the music of Benjamin Britten, John made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Captain Vere (Billy Budd), sang Peter Grimes at Teatro alla Scala, and starred as Gustav von Aschenbach (Death in Venice) at the Teatro Real. He made house debuts at the Bayreuther Festspiele as Loge (Das Rheingold), at Staatsoper Unter den Linden as Tambour-Major (Wozzeck), and at Moscow’s historic Bolshoi Theatre as Sergei (Katarina Ismailova).
Highlights this season include Skuratov (From the House of the Dead) at Ruhr Triennale under Dennis Russel Davies, performances of Salome at both Staatsoper Hamburg conducted by Kent Nagano and at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma under Marc Albrecht, and a return to Bayreuther Festspiele as Loge.
A popular concert performer with a repertoire ranging from Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass through to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and from Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 to Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, John has worked with many esteemed conductors and orchestras, including Donald Runnicles and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Thomas Hengelbrock and the NDR Elbphilharmonie.
Featuring on several operatic DVD releases, John Daszak’s discography includes The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh from Dutch National Opera (Opus Arte), Death in Venice from the Teatro Real (Naxos), and Salome from the Salzburg Festival (Unitel).
About Linda Watson
Linda Watson, an American dramatic soprano made her career based in Germany where she began as a mezzo-soprano at the Theater Aachen in 1992. She has performed worldwide, including at the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Bayreuth Festival. She focused on dramatic roles by Wagner, Strauss, and Turandot. She was awarded the title Kammersängerin in Germany in 2004 and in Austria in 2020.
Early in her career, Linda performed Wagnerian roles such as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde and Venus in Tannhäuser. She became a member of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in 1997. The same year, she first appeared as Venus at the Vienna State Opera, and a year later as Kundry in Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival. From 2000 to 2005, she portrayed Ortrud in Lohengrin at Bayreuth.
From 2006 to 2010, she sang all three Brünnhilde roles in Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival, and she performed these roles in the new production at the Vienna State Opera, earning a solo Grammy nomination. She subsequently appeared as Brünnhilde at many of the world’s great opera houses, including at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, even in a nine-hour compilation of all the Ring in one day. She added more dramatic roles to her repertoire, including Isolde, Elektra, and both the Dyer’s Wife and the Nurse in Die Frau ohne Schatten. The credibility of her portrayals and her vocal bravura led to engagements worldwide. She has worked with the world’s leading conductors.
In 2013 and 2014, Linda returned to the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein to perform as Isolde, Marschallin, Elektra, Ariadne, and Brünnhilde. At the Vienna State Opera, she was appointed Kammersängerin in January 2020. At La Scala in Milan, she could be seen and heard in the 2020-21 and 2022-23 Seasons as Herodias in Salome. In June 2023, she sang the Amme in the San Francisco premiere of Hockney’s Frau Ohne Schatten under Donald Runnicles.
Linda Watson is a professor of voice at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna and performs master classes worldwide.
About Issachah Savage
Dramatic tenor Issachah Savage has appeared with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, The Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, and the Melbourne Symphony. He has worked with some of today’s foremost conductors, including Yannick Nézet-Seguin, Gustavo Dudamel, Riccardo Muti, Fabio Luisi, James Conlon, Gianandrea Noseda, Marin Alsop, Jaap van Zweden, Robert Spano, and Susanna Mälkki.
Operatic highlights include appearances with The Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, LA Opera, Seattle Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Opéra National de Bordeaux, Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, and the Salzburg Festival. He has sung much of the great dramatic tenor repertoire, including the title roles in Tannhäuser, Otello, and Rienzi; Siegmund in Die Walküre; Radamès in Aida; Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos; Manrico in Il Trovatore; and Narraboth in Salome.
This season, in addition to this debut with the Houston Symphony for Salome (Narraboth), Issachah will make a highly anticipated role debut as Der Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten at Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse. On the concert stage, he returns to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for Mendelssohn’s Elijah conducted by James Conlon and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for a program of selections from Great American Songbook with Karen Slack and conducted by Fabio Luisi. He will also return to Los Angeles for a recital at UCLA.
Issachah is the winner of the Seattle International Wagner Competition earning the main prize, audience favorite prize, orchestra favorite prize, and a special honor by Speight Jenkins. He has received several prestigious awards, recognition, and career grants from institutions such as Wagner Societies of New York, Washington, D. C., and Northern California; Licia Albanese International Puccini Foundation; Olga Forrai Foundation; Gerda Lissner Foundation; Jensen Vocal Competition; Opera Index; and Giulio Gari Foundation.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from Morgan State University and a master’s degree in opera voice performance from The Catholic University of America.
About the Houston Symphony
Under Music Director Juraj Valčuha, the Houston Symphony continues its second century inspiring and engaging a large and diverse audience in Houston and beyond through exceptional musical performances, and creating enduring impact in the Houston community. One of the oldest performing arts organizations in Texas, the Symphony held its inaugural performance at The Majestic Theater in downtown Houston on June 21, 1913. Today, with an operating budget of $37.8 million, the full-time ensemble of professional musicians presents more than 130 concerts annually, making it the largest performing arts organization in Houston. Traditionally, musicians of the orchestra and the Symphony’s three Community-Embedded Musicians also offer over 1,000 community-based performances each year at various schools, community centers, hospitals, and churches, annually reaching more than 200,000 people in Greater Houston.
After suspending concert activities in March 2020, the Symphony successfully completed a full 2020–21 season with in-person audiences and weekly livestreams of each performance, making it one of the only orchestras in the world to do so. The Houston Symphony remains committed to livestreaming its 2023–24 Season to a broad audience in over forty-five countries and all 50 states, one of few American orchestras dedicated to transmitting live performances to a sizeable audience outside its home city through this technology. The Grammy Award-winning Houston Symphony has recorded under various prestigious labels, including Koch International Classics, Naxos, RCA Red Seal, Telarc, Virgin Classics, and, most recently, Dutch recording label Pentatone. In 2017, the Houston Symphony was awarded an ECHO Klassik award for the live recording of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck under the direction of former Music Director Hans Graf. The orchestra earned its first Grammy nomination and Grammy Award at the 60th annual ceremony for the same recording in the Best Opera Recording category. The Symphony’s most recent recordings include a Pentatone release in January 2022 of its world premiere performances of Jimmy López Bellido’s Aurora and Ad Astra, and a Naxos release in July 2023 of its world premiere performance of Jennifer Higdon’s Duo Duel.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Eric Skelly: 713.337.8560, eric.skelly@houstonsymphony.org
Madison Mann: 832.930.4065 x120, madison@theckpgroup.com