HOUSTON (Sept. 26, 2019) – Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada, an all-star cast of vocalists, the Houston Symphony, and the Houston Symphony Chorus unite on stage for two thrilling choral masterpieces in Mendelssohn and Mahler at 8 p.m., Oct. 4 and 5, and 2:30 p.m., Oct. 6 in Jones Hall.
Orozco-Estrada opens the program with Mahler’s early masterpiece, the oratorio Das klagende Lied (The Song of Lamentation). Returning opera stars Sasha Cooke (mezzo-soprano) and Toby Spence (tenor) join soprano Melody Moore in her Houston Symphony debut as vocal soloists. They join the Houston Symphony Chorus under the direction of director Betsy Cook Weber in performing Mahler’s large-scale setting of a chilling ghost story, the composer’s own version of a tale from the Brothers Grimm.
In the concert’s second half, Cooke (mezzo-soprano) and Spence (tenor) are joined by debuting vocal soloists Günter Haumer (baritone) and Scott Conner (bass). They join Orozco-Estrada, the orchestra, and chorus in Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht (The First Walpurgis Night). Continuing the evening’s supernatural theme, Mendelssohn’s cantata colorfully depicts the Druids of the Harz Mountains in medieval Germany as they practice their pagan rituals.
Mendelssohn and Mahler, part of the Frost Bank Gold Classics series with additional support from the General and Mrs. Maurice Hirsch Memorial Concert Fund, takes place at Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, 615 Louisiana Street, in Houston’s Theater District. For tickets and information, please call 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.
MENDELSSOHN AND MAHLER
Friday, Oct. 4, 8 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 5, 2019, 8 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 6, 2:30 p.m.
Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Music Director
Melody Moore, soprano
Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano
Toby Spence, tenor
Günter Haumer, baritone
Scott Conner, bass
Mahler: Das klagende Lied
Mendelssohn: Die erste Walpurgisnacht
About Andrés Orozco-Estrada
Energy, elegance and spirit—these are the qualities that distinguish Andrés Orozco-Estrada as a musician. Since the 2014–15 season, he has been music director of the Houston Symphony and principal conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. Beginning in the 2020–21 season, he will be chief conductor of the Vienna Symphony.
Andrés conducts many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Orchestre National de France, and American orchestras in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Chicago. He has also directed successful concerts and opera performances at the Glyndebourne and Salzburg festivals.
Highlights of the 2019–20 season include performances with the Vienna Philharmonic at the BBC Proms and the Lucerne Festival, as well as tours to China, South Korea, and Japan. In the spring, Andrés Orozco-Estrada conducts his debut concert with the New York Philharmonic and returns as a guest to the rostrum of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. In May 2020, the Dutch National Opera Amsterdam premieres a new production of Carmen under his direction. With the Houston Symphony, he presents a new two-week Schumann Festival in February featuring the composer’s symphonies, concertos, choral works, and chamber music. The same month, he conducts three concerts at the Wiener Musikverein, leading the Vienna Symphony as principal conductor designate.
Andrés is particularly committed to new concert formats in which spoken commentary and visual elements complement the music as he rediscovers known repertoire together with the audience—be it a Spotlight concert with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra or a Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra family concert.
His CD releases at Pentatone have attracted critical praise. His Dvořák cycle with the Houston Symphony was praised by Pizzicato as a “vital Dvořák with warm colors.” With the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, recordings of Stravinsky’s Firebird and The Rite of Spring were hailed as “beguiling” by Gramophone, and the same publication recently described him as “a fine Straussian” in a review of their recent recording of the Alpine Symphony from his Richard Strauss cycle. In addition, his interpretations of all the Brahms and Mendelssohn symphonies are available on recordings.
Born in Medellín, Colombia, Andrés began his musical education with the violin. He received his first conducting lessons at 15 and began study in Vienna in 1997, where he was accepted at the prestigious University of Music and Performing Arts in the conducting class of Uroš Lajovic, a student of the legendary Hans Swarowsky. Andrés has since lived in Vienna.
About Melody Moore
Soprano Melody Moore enjoys a thriving career on the world’s leading stages, prompting Opera News to label her “a revelation,” and of her recent sold-out appearance at Carnegie Hall to rave, “As I left the auditorium, I could only think: more of Moore, please.” The current season marks the release of her first solo album entitled An American Song Album with pianist Bradley Moore on Pentatone Records.
In the 2019–20 season, Melody makes her role and house debut as the Foreign Princess in Rusalka at Cincinnati Opera. She revisits her acclaimed portrayal of Senta in Die fliegende Holländer in a return to the Teatro Municipal de Santiago and joins the roster of the Metropolitan Opera, covering the role in a new production. Concert highlights include her debut here in Mahler’s Das klagende Lied under the baton of Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada and a solo recital at Lawrence University.
In the 2018–19 season, Melody returned to Houston Grand Opera to reprise the roles of Senta in the season opening production of Die fliegende Holländer led by Music Director Patrick Summers and Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni in a new production by Kasper Holten. She also returned to Los Angeles Opera for a role debut as Gertrude in Hänsel and Gretel under the baton of Music Director James Conlon. On the concert stage, she debuted with the Dresdner Philharmonie in the roles of Giorgetta in Puccini’s Il tabarro and Santuzza in Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana, both of which were recorded for commercial release by Pentatone Records. Melody also sang Senta with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Music Director Edo de Waart, debuted Delius’ A Mass of Life at the Grant Park Music Festival, and sang the title role in Salome in Daegu, South Korea. Other recording projects included Minnie in La Fanciulla del West in Cluj, Romania, and the title role in Madama Butterfly in Lisbon, both recorded for commercial release by Pentatone Records.
A graduate of the University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music, Melody Moore is a former Adler Fellow of San Francisco Opera and a participant of the Merola Opera Program.
About Sasha Cooke
During the 2019–20 season, two-time Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke returns to the San Francisco Opera to reprise the title role in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel and Laurene Jobs in Mason Bates’ The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. On the concert stage, she reunites with Jaap van Zweden and the New York Philharmonic for concerts of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection at David Geffen Hall, Barbican Centre, and The Royal Concertgebouw. She also sings Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with Myung-whun Chung at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under Robert Spano in Atlanta and at Carnegie Hall, Ravel’s Shéhérazade with Radio Filharmonisch Orkest under conductor James Gaffigan, Rilke Songs with composer and conductor Michael Tilson Thomas with The Cleveland Orchestra, as well as a concert version of Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Riccardo Muti.
After a decade of collaborating with the San Francisco Symphony, she undertakes an artist-in-residency that encompasses concerts with the orchestra, educational events, and a solo recital in Davies Hall. Additional recitals include Sasha’s return to London’s Wigmore Hall with pianist Malcolm Martineau, New York’s 92nd Street Y and Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater with pianist Julius Drake, and a solo recital for Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival with pianist Pei-Yao Wang. She also sings the world premiere of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s Violins of Hope with violinist Daniel Hope for Music at Kohl Mansion in California.
Sasha has sung at the Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera, Opéra National de Bordeaux, and Gran Teatre del Liceu, among others, and with more than 60 symphony orchestras worldwide under leading conductors Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Gustavo Dudamel, Franz Welser-Möst, Sir Andrew Davis, Bernard Haitink, James Levine, Edo de Waart, and more. Her recordings can be found on Hyperion, BIS, Chandos, and more. Sasha studied at Rice University, The Juilliard School, and the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.
About Toby Spence
An honors graduate and choral scholar from New College, Oxford, Toby Spence pursued Opera Studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He was the winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society 2011 Singer award.
In concert Toby has sung with some of the most renowned orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He has appeared as a guest soloist at the Salzburg Easter Festival and the Edinburgh International Festival. He has worked with an impressive array of conductors such as Christoph von Dohnányi, Sir Simon Rattle, Michael Tilson Thomas, Sir Antonio Pappano, Valery Gergiev, Colin Davis, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Gustavo Dudamel, Edward Gardner, Roger Norrington, and Sir Charles Mackerras.
A prolific recitalist, Toby has given numerous solo recitals for BBC Radio 3 and at London’s Wigmore Hall and has appeared at LSO St Luke’s, Opéra de Lille, Northern Ireland Opera’s Festival of Voice, Janáček Brno International Music Festival, and Aldeburgh Festival. He has made numerous recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, BMG, Philips, Collins, Linn Records, Hyperion, and EMI.
Highlights of the 2019–20 season include Pylades Iphigénie with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the title role of Lazarus at the Kammerakademie Potsdam, Florestan in Fidelio at the Stavanger Concert Hall and Garsington Opera, and Janáček’s Osud at the National Theatre Brno. On the concert platform, Toby performs these Houston Symphony concerts, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 at Atlanta Symphony Hall, Das Lied von der Erde at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, The Dream of Gerontius with the Slovak Philharmonic, and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis at the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic. In 2020, he performs Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings at the Prague Rudolfinum, the Auditorium de l’Orchestre National de Lyon, and the Ishikawa Ongakudō concert hall, as well as Haydn’s Creation at the Barbican.
About Günter Haumer
The up-and-coming Austrian baritone Günter Haumer has sung for conductors Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Christian Thielemann, Fabio Luisi, Gustavo Dudamel, Jesús López-Cobos, Ivor Bolton, Sylvain Cambreling, and Philippe Herreweghe, among others, at venues such as the Musikverein and Konzerthaus (Vienna), the Cité de la Musique (Paris), the Kulturpalast (Dresden), the Auditorio Nacional de Música (Madrid), the National Philharmonic (Warsaw), and the Salzburg Festival.
Günter has been a member of the Ensemble of the Volksoper in Vienna since 2012. He has performed the title role in Don Giovanni, Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Giorgio Germont in La traviata, Ping in Turandot, Danilo in The Merry Widow, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus, and the tile roles in Zar und Zimmermann and Gasparone in Europe and South America. He is most well-known for his performances of contemporary repertoire. Günter has worked with stage directors such as Rolando Villazón, Deborah Warner, Otto Schenk, Christiane Lutz, and Christoph Schlingensief.
As a lieder singer, Günter is recognized as one of the best performers of the genre, often accompanied by Roger Vignoles, Julius Drake, and James Baillieu. He has been featured in several CD and DVD recordings and is often broadcast on TV and radio, including a Christmas in Vienna special seen in more than 40 countries.
In addition to his busy performing schedule, Günter Haumer teaches singing at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.
About Scott Conner
A Kansas native, young bass Scott Conner has been lauded by critics and audiences as a major talent on the rise.
Scott’s 2019–20 season begins with Opera Philadelphia, where he performs the role of the King in The Love for Three Oranges. He then returns to the Metropolitan Opera to sing the Police Commissioner in Der Rosenkavalier and cover Colline in La bohème. He also returns to Santa Fe Opera to sing Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia.
Last season, Scott returned to the Metropolitan Opera, singing Pinellino in Gianni Schicchi and covering Bello in La fanciulla del West. He made his house debut with San Diego Opera singing Escamillo in Carmen, and with Opéra de Dijon as Jupiter/Vulcano in La finta pazza. During the 2017–18 season, he sang Nerbulone in Eliogabalo with Dutch National Opera, Sparafucile in Rigoletto with both Semperoper Dresden and Portland Opera, and Angelotti in Tosca for his debut with Palm Beach Opera. He joined Lyric Opera of Chicago to cover Mephistopheles in Faust and returned to Santa Fe Opera to sing Mustafà in L’italiana in Algeri.
Previous seasons took Scott to Opéra National de Paris to sing Nerbulone in Eliogabalo, to Royal Opera House Covent Garden for the Police Commissioner in Der Rosenkavalier, and to San Francisco Opera to perform Colline in La bohème and Angelotti in Tosca. With Zürich Opera, he performed Don Profondo in Il viaggio a Reims; with Bayerische Staatsoper, he sang Tom in Verdi’s Un ballo in Maschera; with Dutch National Opera, he sang Bernardino in Benvenuto Cellini; and with Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, he sang Theseus in Robert Carsen’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Scott received a 2012 Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, and the 1st Prize Award in both the 2012 Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition and the 2012 Loren L. Zachary National Vocal Competition for Young Opera Singers.
About the Houston Symphony
During the 2019–20 season, the Houston Symphony celebrates its sixth season with Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada and continues its second century as one of America’s leading orchestras with a full complement of concert, community, education, touring, and recording activities. The Houston Symphony, one of the oldest performing arts organizations in Texas, held its inaugural performance at The Majestic Theater in downtown Houston June 21, 1913. Today, with an annual operating budget of $35.2 million, the full-time ensemble of 88 professional musicians presents nearly 170 concerts annually, making it the largest performing arts organization in Houston. Additionally, musicians of the orchestra and the Symphony’s four Community-Embedded Musicians offer over 1,000 community-based performances each year at various schools, community centers, hospitals, and churches reaching nearly 200,000 people in Greater Houston annually.
The Grammy Award-winning Houston Symphony has recorded under various prestigious labels, including Naxos, Koch International Classics, Telarc, RCA Red Seal, 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.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Eric Skelly: 713.337.8560, eric.skelly@houstonsymphony.org
Mireya Reyna: 713.337.8557, mireya.reyna@houstonsymphony.org
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