On March 26, 28, and 29, conductor Matthias Pintscher and pianist Cédric Tiberghien team up for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20, an eclectic program of works by Mozart, Debussy, and Webern. In this post, discover Webern’s Im Sommerwind (In the Summer Wind), a lush orchestral tone poem inspired by the glories of the Austrian landscape. … Continued
On March 26, 28, and 29, conductor Matthias Pintscher and pianist Cédric Tiberghien team up for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20, an eclectic program of works by Mozart, Debussy, and Webern. In this post, discover Debussy’s delightful Images for orchestra, a series of musical pictures inspired by England, Spain, and France. Composed between 1906 and 1912, … Continued
On January 30 and February 1 and 2, the Houston Symphony presents Beethoven 7, a program featuring world-renowned pianist Kirill Gerstein in not one, but two virtuoso works by Franz Liszt. In this post, discover how Renaissance art inspired Liszt’s macabre masterwork, Totentanz. Much like Leopold Mozart, Adam Liszt served as his son’s agent and manager … Continued
On January 17, 18, and 19, the Houston Symphony presents Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique,” a program of soulful works by Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, and contemporary Finnish composer Outi Tarkiainen. In this post, discover one of Tarkiainen’s latest works, Midnight Sun Variations, a luminous work inspired by nature and motherhood. Outi Tarkiainen was born in the small town of Rovaniemi, … Continued
On January 9, 11, and 12, the Houston Symphony presents Paganini + “Pines of Rome,” a delightful all-Italian program. In this post, learn how Respighi’s Fountains of Rome gave the composer his “big break” with its imaginative musical depictions of Rome’s iconic fountains. Soon after moving to Rome in 1913, Respighi made the acquaintance of … Continued
On January 9, 11, and 12, the Houston Symphony presents Paganini + “Pines of Rome,” a delightful all-Italian program. In this post, learn how the eternal city inspired Respighi’s most celebrated masterpiece, Pines of Rome. Though Respighi completed Pines of Rome during the summer of 1924, in an interview he explained that the piece had been “conceived, … Continued