HOUSTON (June 19, 2019) – For the 79th consecutive year, the Houston Symphony continues its free summer tradition at Miller Outdoor Theatre on June 28 and 29 at 8:30 p.m. with its ExxonMobil Summer Symphony Nights. Houstonians of all ages and backgrounds can experience the Symphony while enjoying a casual evening full of classical music in a fun, outdoor setting.
Current assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Paolo Bortolameolli and pianist Drew Petersen make their Houston Symphony debuts Friday, June 28 at 8:30 p.m. during the ExxonMobil Summer Symphony Night program Dvořák’s New World.
Opening the evening, 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient Petersen takes center stage in Grieg’s immensely popular piano concerto. Guest conductor Bortolameolli concludes the program with Dvořák’s iconic Symphony No. 9, From the New World, a stirring love letter to America that captures the limitless potential of a budding nation.
The following evening—Saturday, June 29 at 8:30 p.m.—the Houston Symphony returns to Miller Outdoor Theatre under the direction of guest conductor Roderick Cox, who makes his Houston Symphony debut in the program Beethoven 5.
Cox opens the program with Richard Strauss’s Don Juan followed by the Bloch’s Schelomo, Rhapsodie hébraïque featuring the Silver Medal Winner of the 2019 Ima Hogg Competition Coleman Itzkoff. Winner of the Solti Foundation U.S.’s 2018 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, Cox concludes the program with one of the most recognizable pieces in classical music, Beethoven’s groundbreaking and epic Fifth Symphony.
The remaining concert in the ExxonMobil Summer Symphony Nights series is the Houston Symphony’s annual July 4th concert featuring Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and fireworks. Admission is free, but tickets are required for the covered seated area. Tickets are available at the Miller Theatre Box Office the day of the performance between 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Any remaining tickets are released one hour before the performance time. Support for the Houston Symphony at Miller Outdoor Theatre comes from ExxonMobil, the City of Houston through the Miller Theatre Advisory Board, and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Visit milleroutdoortheatre.com and houstonsymphony.org for more information.
DVOŘÁK’S NEW WORLD
Friday, June 28, 8:30 p.m.
Paolo Bortolameolli, conductor
Drew Petersen, piano
Grieg: Piano Concerto
Dvořák: Symphony No. 9, From the New World
BEETHOVEN 5
Saturday, June 29, 8:30 p.m.
Roderick Cox, conductor
Coleman Itzkoff, cello, Silver Medal Winner, 2019 Ima Hogg Competition
R. Strauss: Don Juan
Bloch: Schelomo, Rhapsodie hébraïque
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5
About Paolo Bortolameolli
Chilean conductor Paolo Bortolameolli has gained international attention as one of the most interesting and versatile Latin American conductors of his generation. Currently assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, music director Gustavo Dudamel has praised and promoted Paolo as “knowledgeable, deep in intellect, and a great artist.” In his debut with that orchestra, the Los Angeles Times wrote, “every moment of the action was alive […] a crisp, dynamic performance […] a great career awaits this young conductor.” In addition to his title in Los Angeles, he is also guest conductor-in-residence for Orchestra of the Americas.
In addition to the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, Paolo has recently guest conducted the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar in Venezuela, the Orquesta Clásica Santa Cecilia in Spain, the Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires, the Orquesta Filarmónica de Chile, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile, the Orquesta Sinfónica del Sodre in Uruguay, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería in México, and the Orquesta Joven de Colombia. Having conducted every significant orchestra in his Chilean homeland, he has been awarded three times by the International Association of Art Critics as an orchestral and operatic conductor in Chile.
Passionately committed to new music and new audiences, he has developed innovative projects such as RiteNow, a celebration of the 100th anniversary of The Rite of Spring’s premiere. He also created PONLE PAUSA, a project that seeks to revolutionize music education through short videos and concerts targeting social network users. This year, he was invited as lecturer for a TED Talk in New York.
Paolo received his master of music degree from the Yale School of Music in 2013; a graduate performance diploma from the Peabody Institute in 2015; a piano performance diploma from the Universidad Católica de Chile in 2006; and a conducting diploma from the Universidad de Chile in 2011.
About Drew Petersen
Praised for his commanding and poetic performances of repertoire ranging from Bach to Zaimont, American pianist Drew Petersen received the 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant, the 2017 American Pianists Award, the Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship of the American Pianists Association, and a residency at the University of Indianapolis. Drew has also received prizes from the Leeds International Piano Competition, the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition for Young Pianists, and the New York Frederic Chopin Piano Competition.
Highlights of his 2018–19 season included appearances with orchestras in Indianapolis, New Jersey, Santa Fe, and Milwaukee in addition to his Orange County debut. His first solo recording of American music was released in 2018 on the Steinway label. In the 2017–18 season, he made debuts with the Tucson and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestras, and performed with symphony orchestras in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Drew made solo recital appearances at the Gilmore Keyboard Festival, the University of Indianapolis, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts in Chicago, and the Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists, followed by an eight-city U.S. recital tour. Summer 2018 included chamber concerts within Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival and a recital at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival. Past seasons have included recitals at the Musica e Arte Festival in Tolentino, Italy; Verbier Festival in Verbier, Switzerland; Euro Music Festival in Leipzig, Germany; and American Spring Music Festival of the Czech Republic.
A frequent radio contributor, Drew has performed on the McGraw-Hill Young Artists Showcase, NPR’s From the Top, American Public Radio’s Performance Today and WFMT’s Impromptu. Profiles include The New York Times, New York Magazine, and the documentary just normal by award-winning director Kim A. Snyder. A champion of chamber music, Drew has appeared on French radio’s France Musique while a member of a Verbier Festival piano trio.
Drew graduated cum laude from Harvard at age 19 with a Bachelor of Liberal Arts in social science and did his undergraduate and graduate music studies at The Juilliard School as a recipient of the prestigious Kovner Fellowship. He is currently enrolled in the Artist Diploma program at Juilliard.
About Roderick Cox
Winner of the Solti Foundation U.S.’s 2018 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, Roderick Cox was named the Minnesota Orchestra’s associate conductor in September 2016 for a two-year period following a year in which he served as the ensemble’s assistant conductor. Before arriving in Minnesota, he served for two years as assistant conductor of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and music director of the Alabama Symphony Youth Orchestra.
Roderick was awarded the Robert J. Harth Conducting Prize from the Aspen Music Festival in 2013, which led to national recognition and a return to the Festival as a Fellow. He has also held fellowships with the Chicago Sinfonietta as part of the Project Inclusion program and with the Chautauqua Music Festival, where he was a David Effron Conducting Fellow.
Recent guest conducting highlights include a subscription concert debut with the Minnesota Orchestra and debut concerts with the Cleveland, Seattle, Santa Fe, and BBC Symphony orchestras. He has appeared at the Lanaudière Festival with the Orchestre Mètropolitain de Montreal; the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago; and at the Manhattan School of Music, conducting Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Roderick also conducted a performance sponsored by Google and the Colour of Music Festival for the opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.
In the 2018–19 season, Roderick made his Los Angeles Philharmonic subscription debut with Cameron Carpenter, which led to an immediate invitation to conduct the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) during summer 2019. He also made his opera debut with Houston Grand Opera in performances of Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles as well as symphonic debuts with Sinfonia Varsovia and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. In addition to this performance with the Houston Symphony, further debuts this season include performances with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Brighton Festival, the Peninsula Music Festival, and the Dresden Philharmonic. This summer, Roderick returns to the Cleveland and Minnesota Orchestras.
About Coleman Itzkoff
Hailed by the Alex Ross and The New Yorker for his “flawless technique and keen musicality,” cellist Coleman Itzkoff enjoys a diverse career as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician, and educator. Itzkoff has been a featured Artist-in-Residence on American Public Media’s Performance Today and has soloed with numerous orchestras across the nation. Recently, Coleman gave his acclaimed Walt Disney Hall concerto debut as soloist in Tan Dun’s epic “Heaven, Earth and Mankind”. A passionate proponent of contemporary music, he is a founding member of the interdisciplinary ensemble AMOC, the American Modern Opera Company. Coleman is a sought after chamber musician and has performed with such distinguished artists as Pamela Frank, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Roger Tapping, David Finckel, Johannes Moser, and Peter Frankl. For more information, please visit colemanitzkoff.com.
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 $33.9 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 900 community-based performances each year, reaching hundreds of thousands of people in Greater Houston.
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
###