HOUSTON (Oct. 6, 2017) – The Houston Symphony is expected to return to Jones Hall. Oct. 20, 21 and 22 with Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony, a program featuring Viennese masterpieces by Haydn, Mozart and Schubert.
Praised for his imagination and fresh insights, conductor Matthew Halls leads the orchestra in this program, which also features dynamic cellist Johannes Moser and his virtuoso technique and innate musicality in Haydn’s graceful Cello Concerto No. 1.
The German-Canadian cellist has performed with the world’s leading orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the BBC Scottish Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and Staatsoper Hannover Orchestra among many others. His recordings have earned him two ECHO Klassik awards and the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik.
Completing the concert is Mozart’s final symphonic masterpiece, his dazzling Symphony No. 41, Jupiter. The concert will take 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. All programs and artists are subject to change.
The Theater District Parking Garage remains closed due to ongoing repairs as a result of Hurricane Harvey. Patrons will be contacted prior to the performances with alternate parking options. Due to the flooding at Jones Hall, the Patron Services Center has been relocated to a temporary space. In-person sales are only available within 90 minutes of a concert’s start time. For more information, visit houstonsymphony.org or call (713) 224-7575.
MOZART’S JUPITER SYMPHONY
Friday, Oct. 20, 2017, at 8 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017, at 8 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 22, 2017, at 2:30 p.m.
Matthew Halls, conductor
Johannes Moser, cello
Schubert: Symphony No 5
Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 1
Mozart: Symphony No. 41, Jupiter
Tickets from $23
About Matthew Halls
The word “versatile” is an apt description for British conductor Matthew Halls. He first came to prominence as a keyboard player and early music conductor, but Halls is now better known for his dynamic and intelligent work with major symphony orchestras and opera companies, and for his probing and vibrant interpretations of music of all periods.
Increasingly in demand by North American symphony orchestras, Halls has performed with the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras; Dallas, Pittsburgh, Houston, Seattle, Indianapolis, and Utah Symphonies; Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; and National Arts Centre Orchestra. His debut with the Toronto Symphony, in which he led Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony “captured much of the energy and excitement that its first audience must have felt at its premiere nearly 200 years ago” (Toronto Star). Having served as Artistic Director of the Oregon Bach Festival for five years, Halls is equally at home conducting baroque and contemporary repertoire.
In 2017-18 Halls’ North American guest appearances include returns to Houston, Toronto and Indianapolis Symphonies, as well as his return to the University of Maryland for a week-long residency. He makes his debut with the St. Louis and Kansas City Symphonies. Halls made his New York debut last season with Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival in a performance with violinist Joshua Bell.
Abroad this season, Halls returns to the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and performs with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and with the Auckland Philharmonia. He also returns to the Iceland Symphony Orchestra for two programs during the 17/18 season, part of a series of five performances traversing all of Beethoven’s piano concerto with Paul Lewis. European appearances include debuts with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Warsaw Philharmonic, and performances with Mozarteum Salzburg, Philharmonie Zuidenderland, and Capriccio Barockorchester.
Halls is represented on disc with Handel’s Parnasso in Festa, winner of the Stanley Sadie Handel Recording Prize, released by Hyperion. On Linn Records, he has recorded a set of four Bach Harpsichord Concertos conducted from the keyboard, which Gramophone welcomed as “joyful and invigorating”, and Bach’s Easter and Ascension oratorios, as well as award-winning discs of Purcell’s Sonatas in Three and Four Parts.
Visit Matthew Halls on the web at www.schwalbeandpartners.com.
About Johannes Moser
Hailed by Gramophone Magazine as “one of the finest among the astonishing gallery of young virtuoso cellists,” German-Canadian cellist Johannes Moser has performed with the world’s leading orchestras and works regularly with conductors of the highest caliber.
In the 2016-17 season, Johannes’ engagements in North America included returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Engagements in Europe included the BBC Scottish Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Staatsoper Hannover Orchestra and Radio Orchestra Berlin RSB, where he will be artist-in-residence in 2018. Season debuts included the National Symphony Orchestra and Laguna Beach Music Festival. Premieres included the world premiere of a new work by Julia Wolfe with the Pacifica Quartet and the KALITZKE Concerto by composer Johannes Kalitzke with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin in January 2017.
Known for his efforts to expand the reach of the classical genre, his passionate focus on new music, and his commitment to reaching out to young audiences, Johannes aims to present classical music in ways with which listeners of all ages can engage and connect. Recent and notable projects include the premiere of Enrico Chapela’s electric cello concerto Magnetar with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and new works with Julia Wolfe and Andrew Norman.
Johannes Moser won the top prize at the 2002 Tchaikovsky competition and was the recipient of the 2014 Brahms prize. His recordings have earned him two ECHO Klassik awards and the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. He is an exclusive Pentatone recording artist and released a Rachmaninov & Prokofiev album with Russian pianist Andrei Korobeinikov in fall 2016.
About the Houston Symphony
During the 2017-18 season, the Houston Symphony celebrates its fourth 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 thousands of people in Greater Houston. For tickets and more information, please visit houstonsymphony.org or call 713-224-7575.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Vanessa Astros: (713) 337-8560, vanessa.astros@houstonsymphony.org