Houston Symphony Music Director Juraj Valčuha is recognized for his effortless expressiveness and depth of musicianship. He is known for his sharp baton technique, natural stage presence, and the impressive ease of his interpretations that translate even the most complex scores into immersive experiences.

Before joining the Houston Symphony in June 2022, Valčuha 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. In 2023, he assumed the post of Principal Guest Conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra.

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

Valčuha champions the compositions of living composers and programs 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 Thorvaldsdóttir, 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 La fanciulla del West and Tristan und Isolde at the Bavarian State Opera and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Jenůfa 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 2024–25 Season, Valčuha joined the Semperoper in Dresden with Strauss’s Salome as well as the Paris Opéra Bastille with Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen and the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame. In addition to his concerts with the Houston Symphony, he returned 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.

The 2025–26 season marks his fourth season with the Houston Symphony. His guest engagements will lead him to the San Francisco, Chicago, and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras. In Europe, he will join the Orchestre National de France, the Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin, the Bamberg Symphony, the Santa Cecilia Orchestra in Rome, the Basque National Orchestra, the NDR Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and on tour, and the RAI National Orchestra in Turin. On the opera stage, he will conduct Pelleas et Mélisande at the Geneva Opera as well as Don Carlo and La bohème at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Born in Bratislava, Slovakia, Valčuha 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.

Two-time Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke has been praised for her “agile, glamorous presence” by Opéra Magazine and as a “luminous standout” by the New York Times. Cooke has sung at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, English National Opera, Seattle Opera, Opéra National de Bordeaux, and Gran Teatre del Liceu, among others, and with more than 100 symphony orchestras worldwide, frequently in the works of Mahler. In 2022, Cooke was appointed as Co-Director of the Lehrer Vocal Institute at the Music Academy of the West.

In the 2026–2027 Season, Cooke appears with many of the world’s leading orchestras in a wide-ranging concert season that includes performances of Elgar’s Sea Pictures, Ravel’s Shéhérazade, Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium, a world premiere by Bernard Foccroulle and Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer, Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust, Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. She also appears with Opera Parallèle in the West Coast premiere of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly as Sylvie.

As one of today’s foremost interpreters of Mahler’s music, Cooke performs Das klagende Lied, Symphony No. 8, and Das Lied von der Erde. She joins guitarist Jason Vieaux in Songs of the Americas, in songs from Enrique Granados to Stephen Sondheim.

As a dedicated recitalist, Cooke was presented by Young Concert Artists in her widely acclaimed New York and Washington debuts at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall and the Kennedy Center. She has also appeared in recital at Alice Tully Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the 92^nd Street Y.

Her recordings can be found on the Hyperion, BIS, Chandos, Pentatone, Naxos, Bridge Records, Yarlung, GPR Records, and Sono Luminus labels. Sasha Cooke LIVE is a collection of her performances at the Music@Menlo chamber music festival released on their label.

Sasha Cooke is a graduate of Rice University and The Juilliard School. She also attended the Music Academy of the West, Aspen Music Festival, Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute, Wolf Trap Foundation, Marlboro Music Festival, Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, and Seattle Opera and Central City Opera’s Young Artist Training Programs.