On October 18, 20 and 21, legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman returns to the Houston Symphony to perform Bach’s exquisite Violin Concerto in A minor as part of our Perlman Plays and Conducts program. In this post, learn how this gem of the violin repertoire was preserved for posterity thanks to one special coffeehouse. The earliest … Continued
On September 21, 22 & 23, the Houston Symphony performs Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9 as part of its Bronfman Plays Prokofiev program led by Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada. Learn more about this fascinating work in the post below. Like Prokofiev’s First Symphony, Shostakovich’s Ninth was written in a fateful year: 1945. It also subverted the … Continued
On September 21, 22 and 23, 2018, world renowned piano virtuoso Yefim Bronfman returns to Houston to perform Prokofiev’s spellbinding Piano Concerto No. 2 with Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada and the Houston Symphony. Discover the dark backstory behind this fascinating masterpiece. Prokofiev composed his second piano concerto at the age of 21 while on winter … Continued
Though he would live several decades more, Charles Ives stopped composing entirely by 1927. Many have speculated as to why, but the ultimate reason for his silence remains a mystery. His last symphony was thus one of his final works. Begun around 1910, Ives labored over it for many years, refining and altering the score … Continued
Piano virtuoso Yuja Wang plays solo works by Rachmaninoff and Ravel’s extraordinary Concerto for the Left Hand at the Opening Night Concert of the Houston Symphony’s 105th Season on Saturday, September 8 at Jones Hall. In this post, discover this fascinating masterpiece, which miraculously creates the sound of two hands while using only one. Less … Continued
Is it possible for a work of art to become too famous for its own good? Like Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa or Shakespeare’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy, Beethoven’s Fifth is a work that has been so often reproduced, excerpted and remixed that it has become as easy to ignore a as … Continued