Above: Principal Double Bass Robin Kesselman works with a student from Medellín, Colombia during a special masterclass. Last week, 35 Houston Symphony musicians journeyed to Medellín, Colombia to help the Orquesta Filarmonica de Medellín celebrate the 31st anniversary of the Teatro Metropolitano José Gutiérrez Gómez with a concert featuring music director Andrés Orozco-Estrada and violinist Hilary Hahn. … Continued
The Houston Symphony just completed its triumphant 2018 European Tour! Get an insider’s view of the tour when Houston Symphony Principal Bass Robin Kesselman shares his experiences below. Hello everyone! I’m writing to bring you along with us on our final three tour stops. First up, the beautiful port city of blustery Hamburg, home to a brand … Continued
The Houston Symphony just completed its triumphant 2018 European Tour! Get an insider’s view of the tour when Houston Symphony principal clarinet Mark Nuccio shares his experiences below. March 14 Our first day in Warsaw, Poland started off with an 11 a.m. rehearsal for two hours. We were preparing for the first tour performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony … Continued
The Houston Symphony’s 2018 European Tour is underway! Get an insider’s view of the tour when Houston Symphony principal oboe Jonathan Fischer shares his experiences below. After celebrating a terrific first concert in Brussels, we had an easy bus trip over to Essen, Germany, passing through a little corner of Holland on our way. Transporting the orchestra along … Continued
The Houston Symphony’s 2018 European Tour is off to a great start! Get an insider’s view of the tour when Houston Symphony horn player Rob Johnson shares his experiences of Brussels and Essen below. During our tour preview concerts, it was hard to think about the fact that we’d be playing these pieces overseas in … Continued
Led by Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada and joined by violin paragon Hilary Hahn, the Houston Symphony takes its talents to Europe March 9–March 19, 2018. One fantastic orchestra will tour eight illustrious cities and eight of the world’s most renowned concert halls and festivals. Klarafestival at BOZAR March 9 • Brussels, Belgium The Houston Symphony’s … Continued
Orchestra musicians love touring. The notion that the orchestra is building bridges, making connections, drawing together a diversity of people through music—while also enjoying ovations, sightseeing, history, and culture—make tours a memorable part of any musician’s career. For a while, every musician is removed from everyday concerns—laundry, dishes, what’s for dinner, traffic—and can really focus … Continued
While in Moscow, our musicians had a little bit of time to explore the city before their performances on Friday and Saturday nights. Below, violist Daniel Strba offers an interesting perspective of how Moscow has progressed since his last visit there, over 20 years ago. Impressions of Contemporary Moscow By: Daniel Strba I was excited … Continued
Here at the Houston Symphony, we are fortunate to have wonderful musicians who are also wonderful writers, willing to share insights from their personal experiences and performers. Below is the third and final blog post submitted by Mark Hughes, Principal Trumpet. It was written shortly after the orchestra finished its second and final performance as … Continued
One of the downsides to touring is the lack of time the musicians have to adjust to different time zones. Anyone who has traveled abroad is familiar with the intense fatigue that is a fact of life during one’s first few days in another part of the world. It was this sleepiness that lead some … Continued
One of the downsides to touring is the lack of time the musicians have to adjust to different time zones. Anyone who has traveled abroad is familiar with the intense fatigue that is a fact of life during one’s first few days in another part of the world. It was this sleepiness that lead some … Continued
Often, when we see a performance by an ensemble from abroad, we think of how far the musicians have traveled to be there, and what that must be like. But sometimes we don’t realize just how big of an undertaking it is to transport an entire orchestra -and their instruments- to another continent. Below, Violinist … Continued
As the saying goes, “there is no rest for the weary!” Hot on the heels of our 11-12 season’s end, we at the Houston Symphony packed our bags and headed over to Moscow. We arrived safely on Wednesday and will have a little time to gather our bearings and familiarize ourselves with our surroundings before … Continued
Julie Thayer, French Horn, Houston Symphony, shares her personal thoughts and photographs from her time in New York. The Houston Symphony recently played Carnegie Hall to open the 2012 Spring for Music Festival. New York City, musically speaking, is like a Saharan Desert watering hole. It draws life and vitality to it with magnetic force … Continued
We’d like to introduce you all to Meredith Williams–the first of our Symphony staffer bloggers! Meredith is still considered a newbie (as many of us are by comparison–you wouldn’t believe how many people have been here 10, 20, even 25+ years!), and is the assistant to our general manager. She’s been the go-to gal for … Continued