Opening Weekend: Valčuha Conducts Stravinsky’s Firebird

Conductor/Composer/Producer Anthony J. Maglione is the Director of Choral Studies at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri where he holds the Robert H. McKee Chair of Music. Maglione is a graduate of Westminster Choir College of Rider University, East Carolina University, and the University of California, Los Angeles. Under his direction, William Jewell College choral ensembles performed at regional and national conferences, were twice named Runner Up (2nd Place) for the American Prize in Choral Performance College/University Division, and released two commercial recordings on Centaur and Albany records. Maglione is founder and Artistic Director of the professional choir, Cardinalis, and Director of Music and Choirmaster at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Kansas City. In addition to his responsibilities in Kansas City, he serves on the summer faculty of Westminster Choir College.

An active composer, Maglione’s choral works are growing in popularity and are published on James Jordan’s “Evoking Sound” choral series through GIA Publications as well as “The Amanda Quist Signature Choral Series” on Gentry Publications. His music has appeared at state-, regional-, and national-level conventions, on TV, in video games, and has been recorded on Albany Records, Centaur Records, GIA Choral Works, and Gothic Records. In 2016, he was awarded the William Jewell College Spencer Family Sabbatical, a year-long fully funded sabbatical to compose a large-scale cantata, The Wedding of Solomon, which premiered at the 2018 American Guild of Organists National Convention. The Miami University Men’s Glee Club premiered Maglione’s On Life the at the 2019 National ACDA Conference. In early 2020, Verdigris Ensemble premiered his extended dramatic work Dust Bowl as part of the AT&T Performing Arts Center’s Elevator Project in Dallas, Texas. Dust Bowl was recently revised and performed again at the Wyly Theatre in Dallas through a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts and several other organizations. Maglione is currently serving as Composer-In-Residence with Te Deum, a professional choir based in Kansas City and looks forward to additional premieres in 2025.

As a producer, Maglione lends his ears to recording projects around the country and recently received national attention through his production work with Sam Brukhman and Verdigris Ensemble on Betty’s Notebook by composer Nicholas Reeves. This ground-breaking programmable art music is the first of its kind and the first to be sold using block chain technology.

As a tenor, Maglione has appeared with Artefact Ensemble, Kansas City Baroque Consortium, Kantorei KC, The Same Stream, The St. Tikhon Choir, Sunflower Baroque, Spire Chamber Ensemble, and made his debut with Portland-based Capella Romana on the 2021–2022 season.

A sought-after clinician and frequent guest conductor, Maglione regularly teaches workshops and has conducted All-State and honor choirs in California, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.

Dr. Betsy Cook Weber is the Madison Endowed Professor of Music Emeritus and former director of choral studies at the University of Houston Moores School of Music. She is also Director Emeritus of the Houston Symphony Chorus, where she prepared programs for some of the world’s leading orchestral conductors including Juraj Valčuha, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Jane Glover, and Nicholas McGegan, among many others. Before coming to the University of Houston, Betsy taught vocal music, K-12, in the public schools. She is currently active internationally as a conductor, clinician, adjudicator, and lecturer. Choirs under her direction, including the University of Houston Concert Chorale, have been featured at multiple state and national conventions, including the American Choral Directors Association national conventions in Miami in 2007 and Minneapolis in 2017, and the NCCO convention as featured choir in 2017.

Internationally, under her leadership, Concert Chorale won top prizes at prestigious competitions in Wales, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, and Austria.In the summer of 2013, Betsy became the 13^th person and first woman to receive the Texas Choral Directors Association’s coveted Texas Choirmaster Award. She serves as editor of the Betsy Cook Weber Choral Series with Alliance Music Publishing. Betsy has prepared singers for early music orchestras Ars Lyrica and Mercury Houston and is also routinely called upon to prepare singers for touring shows, including Josh Groban, NBC’s Clash of the Choirs, Telemundo’s Latin Grammys, Star Wars in Concert, Andreas Bocelli, Eric Whitacre, and The Eagles. Betsy is grateful for the education she has received. She holds degrees from the University of North Texas, Westminster Choir College (Princeton, NJ), and the University of Houston.

The Houston Symphony Chorus is the official choral unit of the Houston Symphony and consists of highly skilled and talented volunteer singers. Over the years, members of this historic ensemble have learned and performed the world’s great choral orchestral masterworks under the batons of Juraj Valčuha, Andrés Orozco Estrada, Hans Graf, Christoph Eschenbach, Robert Shaw, and Helmuth Rilling, among many others.

In addition, the Chorus enjoys participating in the Houston Symphony’s popular programming under the batons of conductors such as Steven Reineke and Michael Krajewski. Recently, the ensemble sang the closing subscription concerts with the Prague Symphony Orchestra in the Czech Republic. Singers are selected for specific programs for which they have indicated interest. A singer might choose to perform in all 45 concerts, as was the case in a recent season, or might elect to participate in a single series. The Houston Symphony Chorus holds auditions by appointment and welcomes inquiries from interested singers.

The Houston Chamber Choir is a Grammy-winning professional ensemble whose mission is to share choral music performed at the highest level. Proud to be a part of Houston's vibrant arts scene, the Chamber Choir looks forward to collaborations with some of the city's finest groups during its 30^th anniversary season featuring everything from an exciting world premiere to traditional crowd favorites. Led by Founder and Artistic Director Robert Simpson and Artistic Director Designate Betsy Cook Weber, the Houston Chamber Choir has been described by The Tallis Scholars founder Peter Phillips as “one of this country’s leading ensembles." The Choir comprises 24 professional singers, most of whom have studied at the top music schools and conservatories in the United States. These musicians are selected through rigorous auditions from the finest singers in our region and are compensated for all rehearsals and performances. The Chamber Choir’s travels have taken it on tour in this country and abroad. Its first national exposure came in 1999, four years after its founding, when it was invited to perform at the national convention of the American Choral Directors Association in Chicago’s famed Orchestra Hall. The Chamber Choir has received similar invitations from Chorus America, The American Guild of Organists,

The Association of Anglican Musicians, the Association of Lutheran Musicians, the Texas Choral Directors Association, and the Organization of American Kodály Educators. It will tour Latvia, Estonia, and Sweden in 2025 in celebration of its 30^th anniversary. The Chamber Choir is proud to offer a wide breadth of recorded albums. Highlights include Ravishingly Russian, a collection of 19^th- and 20^th-century Russian secular choral music; the world premiere recording of Psalmi ad Vesperasby 17^th-century Italian composer Giovanni Paolo Colonna; and the Grammy-winning Duruflé, Complete Choral Works. Winner of Best Choral Performance at the 62^nd Annual Grammy Awards and winner of Chorus America's 2018 Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence, the Houston Chamber Choir has established itself as one of the premier professional choirs in the United States, serving Houston through concerts and educational initiatives that enlighten, entertain, and educate people of all ages.

Award-winning Jamaican-American violist Jordan Bak has achieved international acclaim as a trailblazing artist, praised for his radiant stage presence, dynamic interpretations, and fearless power. The recipient of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Alexandra Jupin Award and a former Young Classical Artist Trust’s (YCAT) Robey Artist, Bak was also a prizewinner in the Sphinx, Lionel Tertis, and Concert Artists Guild Competitions.

For the 2025–26 season, Bak will join the world-renowned Takács Quartet on a tour of rarely  performed Mozart viola quintets, in addition to making his concerto debuts with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Houston Symphony Orchestra. Bak will also give the world premiere of composer Michael Frazier’s new viola concerto, Los quetzales, commissioned by Eastman School of Music, The Sphinx Organization, and American Composers Orchestra.

Bak’s enthusiastically received sophomore album, Cantabile: Anthems for Viola (Delphian Records), has garnered significant international attention, featuring works by Arnold Bax, Benjamin Britten, and Ralph Vaughan Williams, paired with contemporary compositions by Jonathan Harvey, Bright Sheng, and Augusta Read Thomas. Bak is a proud advocate of new music.

Bak has appeared as soloist with such orchestras as London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sarasota Orchestra, London Mozart Players, New York Classical Players, Juilliard Orchestra, and Brandon Hill Chamber Orchestra, among others. As a recitalist and chamber musician, he has been heard at some of the world’s greatest performance venues. Bak has been a presence at numerous chamber music festivals such as Marlboro Music Festival, Tippet Rise, Chamber Music Northwest, and Newport Classical.

Passionate about education, Bak currently serves as Assistant Professor of Viola at University of North Carolina School of the Arts and as an Ambassador for UK Music Masters in London.

Only the third violist to earn the Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School, Jordan Bak holds a Bachelor of Music degree from New England Conservatory and a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School where he was awarded the prestigious Kovner Fellowship. His principal teachers were Dimitri Murrath, Hsin-Yun Huang, and Samuel Rhodes.

Jordan Bak plays on two violas both made by Jon van Kouwenhoven. He is married to violist Rubina Bak.

Angel Blue has emerged in recent seasons as one of the most influential sopranos before the public today. The two-time Grammy Award winner, 2020 Beverly Sills Award recipient, and the 2022 Richard Tucker Award winner is celebrated worldwide for her honeyed soprano and affecting deliveries of many of the most beloved roles in the operatic repertory, such as the title roles in Aida and Tosca, Violetta in La Traviata, Bess in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Mimì in La bohème, and Destiny/Loneliness/Greta in Terrence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones.

Her 25–26 season starts with her performances as Bess in Houston Grand Opera’s anticipated new production of Porgy and Bess, celebrating the anniversary of the house’s first production of the piece. Angel also returns to the Opéra national de Paris to sing the title role in Tosca, and to the Metropolitan Opera to sing both Mimì in La bohème and Liu in Turandot.

On the concert stage, she performs Florent Schmidt’s Psalm 47 with the Houston Symphony, the Christmas in Vienna concert at the Konzerthaus Vienna, and concerts at the Grafenegg Festival and Annapolis Symphony. She also performs recitals with pianist Bryan Wagorn at Reykjavik Arts Festival, Spivey Hall, and Four Arts Palm Beach.

Angel kicked off her 24–25 season with the hugely popular Last Night of the Proms, and then returned to her home stage at the Metropolitan Opera, where she spent a major portion of her season. In the fall, she played Margarita Xirgu in Osvaldo Golijov’s first opera, Ainadamar, and in two separate stints over the winter and spring, she made her long-anticipated debut as Aida, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. She joined Nézet-Séguin and the Rotterdam Philharmonic on tour in the Netherlands, Germany, and France. Angel also made a company debut as Mimì in the Bayerische Staatsoper’s production of La bohème. She appeared twice at Carnegie Hall, first in recital with the legendary pianist Lang Lang, and again with the Met Opera Orchestra and Nézet-Séguin. Concert engagements included a solo recital at the Los Angeles Opera and Aida in concert at the Baltimore Symphony.

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.