Press Room

Houston Symphony Presents All-Beethoven Concert this Summer at Jones Hall

HOUSTON (July 13, 2018) – American conductor Aram Demirjian makes his Houston Symphony debut for the one-night-only, all-Beethoven program Friday, July 20 at 7:30 p.m., part of the Bank of America Summer Series at Jones Hall lineup.

Demirjian, Music Director of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, leads a program that features some of the most famous works of Beethoven’s middle period. During this stage of his life, Beethoven revolutionized music as he grappled with his own encroaching deafness and the fallout of the Napoleonic wars.

Demirjian will open the program with the overtures to Egmont, Coriolan and Leonore, and conclude with Beethoven’s towering masterpiece, his Symphony No. 5. Each work on the program deals with themes of conflict and heroism; this concert would serve as a perfect introduction to Beethoven for those new to orchestral music.

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. Tickets may also be purchased at the Houston Symphony Patron Services Center in Jones Hall (Monday–Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.). All programs and artists are subject to change.

BEETHOVEN 5
Saturday, July 20, 7:30 p.m.
Aram Demirjian, conductor
Beethoven: Overture to Egmont
Beethoven: Overture to Coriolan
Beethoven: Leonore Overture No. 3
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5

About Aram Demirjian
American-born and of Armenian descent, Aram Demirjian is music director of Knoxville Symphony Orchestra (KSO) and maintains an ongoing relationship with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Aram is leaving his mark on Knoxville with creative programming and energetic community engagement, spurring substantial growth in concert attendance. His 14 weeks with the KSO this season include partnerships with Appalachian Ballet Company, Knoxville Poet Laureate R.B. Morris and PROJECT Trio, plus a world premiere KSO commission by American composer Michael Schachter.

Aram conducted family and education programs for the Philadelphia Orchestra in the 2016-17 season and served as a cover conductor for music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin and principal guest conductor Stéphane Denève. In the 2017-18 season, he debuted with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Sarasota Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería and the New York-based Camerata Notturna; he also returned to the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Omaha Symphony and the New England Conservatory Symphony. He has appeared with the Minnesota Orchestra; the St. Louis and San Antonio Symphonies; the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra; the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. His past performances of Handel’s Messiah with the Kansas City Symphony were noted for their “zeal and fresh perspective” (KC Metropolis).

Aram is committed to exploring unconventional concert formats, including the Kansas City Symphony’s Classics Uncorked and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s KSO UnStaged, which was supported by a Futures Fund Grant from the League of American Orchestras. A noted public speaker, he has been deeply involved in education and community activities, including a partnership with the non-profit Arts in Prison and the Kansas City Symphony, and has created and conducted educational concerts that have annually reached more than 50,000 young people.

He has frequently conducted new music, including at the 2017 Big Ears Festival, the 2014 Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music and the 2013 Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. He has performed alongside Yo-Yo Ma on a Silk Road commission and has collaborated with John Adams. Aram is the recipient of a 2017 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award and holds the 2011 Robert J. Harth Conducting Prize from Aspen Music Festival, where he was a three-time Conducting Fellow in the Aspen Conducting Academy. He has appeared in masterclasses with Bernard Haitink and Kurt Masur. Aram holds a Bachelor of Arts in music and government from Harvard University and a Master of Music in orchestral conducting from the New England Conservatory of Music.

About the Houston Symphony
During the 2018-19 season, the Houston Symphony celebrates its fifth 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.

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 CONTACT:
Mireya Reyna: (713) 337-8557, mireya.reyna@houstonsymphony.org

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