HOUSTON (Jan. 3, 2020) – The Houston Symphony opens the second half of the 19–20 season with Grammy Award-winning violinist Augustin Hadelich in the all-Italian program, Paganini + “Pines of Rome” at 8 p.m. Jan. 9 and 11 and 2:30 p.m. Jan. 12. Sunday’s performance also honors Houston-area educators with a special Salute to Educators celebration.
Known for his phenomenal technique and poetic sensitivity, Hadelich takes center stage to perform a work so technically challenging that it leaves audiences gasping: Niccoló Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 1. Guest conductor Jader Bignamini, who makes his Houston Symphony debut, opens the program with one of the most famous classical pieces ever written, the Overture to Rossini’s opera William Tell, which enjoyed a 20th-Century resurgence in popularity thanks to the Lone Ranger.
The second half of the program features two tone poems by Respighi: The Fountains of Rome and The Pines of Rome. The Fountains of Rome depicts four of Rome’s famous fountains at different times of the day, while The Pines of Rome explores Rome’s history by evoking its iconic pine trees in locations throughout the Eternal City, ending with blazing brass in one of the most sonically spectacular finales in classical music.
Annually, the Houston Symphony honors Houston-area music teachers with a special Salute to Educators concert to recognize their efforts towards music education within Houston’s community and schools. This year’s honoree is accomplished violinist, conductor, and music educator Angela Badon from J. Frank Dobie High School in Pasadena ISD. Salute to Educators takes place during the Sunday matinee performance of the Paganini + “Pines of Rome” program. Salute to Educators is sponsored by Spec’s Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods/Spec’s Charitable Foundation, the Houston Symphony’s Principal Corporate Guarantor.
Paganini + “Pines of Rome”, sponsored by Shell Favorite Masters, 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.
PAGANINI + PINES OF ROME
Thursday, Jan. 9, 8 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 11, 8 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 12, 2:30 p.m.
Jader Bignamini, conductor
Augustin Hadelich, violin
Rossini: Overture to William Tell
Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1
Respighi: Fountains of Rome
Respighi: Pines of Rome
About Jader Bignamini
Jader Bignamini is resident conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica la Verdi, following his 2010 appointment as assistant conductor by Riccardo Chailly.
Highlights of the 2019–20 season include debuts here and with the Toronto and Dallas Symphony Orchestras; Minnesota Orchestra; Canadian Opera Company conducting Aida; and Bayerische Staatsoper conducting La traviata. He makes return engagements with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Stadttheater Klagenfurt conducting Eugene Onegin. He tours with soprano Anna Netrebko and tenor Yusif Eyvazov.
Jader’s 2018–19 season included debuts at the Vienna State Opera and Dutch National Opera, conducting Madama Butterfly, and a debut with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra; return engagements with Oper Frankfurt, conducting La forza del destino, and Santa Fe Opera, conducting La bohème; La traviata in Tokyo directed by Sofia Coppola; and return engagements with the Slovenian and Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestras.
Recent engagements include Madama Butterfly at the Metropolitan Opera, Manon Lescaut at the Bolshoi, Turandot at the Teatro Filarmónica, Il trovatore at Rome’s Teatro dell’Opera, the opening concert of the Orchestra Filarmonica del Teatro Comunale di Bologna conducting Carmina Burana; La bohème at the Municipal de São Paulo and La Fenice; L’elisir d’amore in Ancona; Tosca at the Comunale di Bologna; La forza del destino at the Verdi Festival in Parma; La bohème, Cavalleria rusticana, and El amor brujo at Teatro Filarmonico di Verona; Aida at Rome’s Teatro dell’Opera; Madama Butterfly at La Fenice; engagements with Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca, and the MITO Festival conducting Berlioz’s Messe solennelle. In 2013, he assisted Chailly on concerts of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony in Milan. He made his concert debut at La Scala in 2015.
Jader was born in Crema and studied at the Piacenza Music Conservatory.
About Augustin Hadelich
Augustin Hadelich, one of the great violinists of our time, is often referred to by colleagues as a “musician’s musician.” He was named Musical America’s 2018 Instrumentalist of the Year.
He appears with more than 25 North American orchestras in the 2019–20 season, including the symphony orchestras of Houston, Boston, Cleveland, New York, Montréal, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Oregon, Seattle, Toronto, and others. International highlights of the season include performances with London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra in Hamburg, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic, to name a few. He is a frequent guest artist with major orchestras in the Far East, South America, Mexico, New Zealand, and Australia.
Augustin won a 2016 Grammy Award for his recording of Dutilleux’s Violin Concerto, L’Arbre des songes, with the Seattle Symphony under Ludovic Morlot (Seattle Symphony MEDIA). Recently signed to Warner Classics, his first release on the label—Paganini’s 24 Caprices—was released in 2018. His second Warner Classics recording, the Brahms Concerto (with his own cadenza) and the Ligeti Concerto (with cadenza composed by Thomas Adès) followed in 2019. Among other recent discs are live recordings of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole with the London Philharmonic Orchestra on the LPO label.
Born in Italy, the son of German parents, Augustin is now an American citizen. He holds an Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School, where he was a student of Joel Smirnoff. After winning the Gold Medal at the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, concerto and recital appearances on many of the world’s top stages quickly followed, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Chicago’s Symphony Hall, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, and the Concertgebouw. Other distinctions include an Avery Fisher Career Grant (2009); a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in the UK (2011); the inaugural Warner Music Prize (2015); and an honorary doctorate from the UK’s University of Exeter (2017).
Augustin plays the 1723 “Ex-Kiesewetter” Stradivari violin, on loan from Clement and Karen Arrison through the Stradivari Society of Chicago. Visit augustin-hadelich.com to learn more.
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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