HOUSTON (Sept. 6, 2019) – The Houston Symphony opens its 106th season at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 14, 2019, with an all-Russian Opening Night program featuring legendary piano virtuoso Yefim Bronfman for a one-night-only performance of Rachmaninoff’s monumental Piano Concerto No. 3 at Jones Hall.
Led by renowned, Grammy Award-winning conductor Leonard Slatkin, the glamorous evening begins with Mikhail Glinka’s Kamarinskaya, an orchestral work based entirely on Russian folk music and dance, and Alexander Borodin’s lyrical and emotional Nocturne (the musical source for the song “And This Is My Beloved” from the hit Broadway musical Kismet). Then, the Russian extravaganza continues as Slatkin leads the orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s colorful and lively Capriccio Italien, inspired by the composer’s time and experience in Italy.
When speaking of legendary pianist Bronfman, The New Criterion boldly declared: “there is not a better pianist in the world.” Known for his interpretations of Rachmaninoff’s works, Bronfman closes out the evening with Rachmaninoff’s extremely challenging Piano Concerto No. 3, which showcases the pianist’s staggering virtuosity.
Opening Night: Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3, sponsored by ConocoPhillips and chaired by Barbara Burger and co-chairs Kusum and K. Cody Patel, takes place at the Houston Symphony Sept. 15 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.
OPENING NIGHT:
RACHMANINOFF PIANO CONCERTO NO. 3
Saturday, Sept. 14, 7:30 p.m.
Leonard Slatkin, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
Glinka: Kamarinskaya (Fantasy on Two Russian Folk Songs)
Borodin: Nocturne
Tchaikovsky: Capriccio Italien
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3
About Leonard Slatkin
Internationally acclaimed conductor Leonard Slatkin is music director laureate of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) and directeur musical honoraire of the Orchestre National de Lyon (ONL). He maintains a rigorous schedule of guest conducting throughout the world and is active as a composer, author, and educator.
In the 2019-20 Season, he will celebrate his 75th birthday year with several of the orchestras he has led over the course of his 50-year career, including the St. Louis Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, DSO, and ONL. Other highlights include return engagements with the Houston Symphony, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo; debuts with the KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, NDR Radiophilharmonie in Hannover, and Würth Philharmonic in Künzelsau, Germany; and three weeks in Spain conducting orchestras in Castile-León, Bilbao, and the Balearic Islands.
Leonard has received six Grammy awards and 33 nominations. His recent Naxos recordings include works by Saint-Saëns, Ravel, and Berlioz (with the ONL) and music by Copland, Rachmaninoff, Borzova, McTee, and John Williams (with the DSO). In addition, he has recorded the complete Brahms, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky symphonies with the DSO (available online as digital downloads).
A recipient of the prestigious National Medal of Arts, he also holds the rank of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor. He has received Austria’s Decoration of Honour in Silver, the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton Award, and the 2013 ASCAP Deems Taylor Special Recognition Award for his debut book, Conducting Business: Unveiling the Mystery Behind the Maestro. His second book, Leading Tones: Reflections on Music, Musicians, and the Music Industry, was published by Amadeus Press in 2017.
Leonard Slatkin has conducted virtually all the world’s leading orchestras. As music director, he has held posts in New Orleans; St. Louis; Washington, DC; London (with the BBCSO); Detroit; and Lyon, France. He has also served as principal guest conductor in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Cleveland.
Visit leonardslatkin.com.
About Yefim Brofman
Internationally recognized as one of today’s most acclaimed and admired pianists, Yefim Bronfman stands among a handful of artists regularly sought by festivals, orchestras, conductors, and recital series. His commanding technique, power, and exceptional lyrical gifts are consistently acknowledged by the press and audiences alike.
In celebration of the 80th birthday of Maestro Yuri Temirkanov, Yefim’s 2018–19 season began with a European tour with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. It was followed by a Scandinavian tour with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and concerts in Europe during the season with the Orchestre National de France, London Philharmonic Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Berlin Philharmonic, and with the Vienna Philharmonic on tour. In the United States, he returned to orchestras in Houston, Cleveland, New York, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Cincinnati, San Francisco, and Dallas, and appeared in recital in New York (Carnegie Hall), Berkeley, Stanford, Aspen, Madrid, Geneva, Cologne, Leipzig, Munich, Berlin, Naples, Rome, and on tour in the spring with mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená.
He has given numerous solo recitals in the leading halls of North America, Europe, and the Far East, including acclaimed debuts at Carnegie Hall in 1989 and Avery Fisher Hall in 1993. In 1991, he gave a series of joint recitals with Isaac Stern in Russia, marking Yefim’s first public performances there since his emigration to Israel at age 15. That same year, he was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, one of the highest honors given to American instrumentalists. In 2010, he was honored as the recipient of the Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance from Northwestern University Bienen School of Music.
Born in Tashkent in the Soviet Union, Yefim immigrated to Israel with his family in 1973, where he studied with pianist Arie Vardi, head of the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University. In the United States, he studied at The Juilliard School, the Marlboro School of Music, and the Curtis Institute of Music under Rudolf Firkušný, Leon Fleisher, and Rudolf Serkin. He is a 2015 recipient of an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music.
Yefim Bronfman became an American citizen in July 1989.
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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