An Eschenbach & Bruckner Birthday Celebration

This weekend, the Houston Symphony welcomes former Music Director Christoph Eschenbach back to Jones Hall for a special, double birthday celebration. Christoph served as the Houston Symphony’s Music Director from 1988 to 1999, a dynamic tenure that included tours to Europe and Japan as well as numerous recordings, several of which are now regarded as classics. Since then, he has held prestigious posts in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C, Paris, and Berlin and has remained a welcome and frequent guest in Houston. This year marks both Eschenbach’s 85^th birthday and the 200^thanniversary of the birth of Austrian composer Anton Bruckner, making this combination of conductor and repertoire especially timely. In recent years, Bruckner’s deep, mystical music has featured frequently in Christoph’s Houston programs, including a breathtaking interpretation of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8 last season. This year, he also conducts the music of Bruckner in Bamberg, Berlin, and Seville with performances of his First, Third, and Fifth Symphonies respectively. For our concerts, he has chosen Bruckner’s Fourth. Premiered in Vienna in 1881, this popular work draws inspiration from the legendary realm of medieval knights and their adventures. Influenced by the operas of Wagner, Bruckner’s expansive symphonic architecture and innovative chromatic harmonies imbue his works with an epic, mythic quality that continues to entrance listeners, especially when interpreted by such a sympathetic and insightful conductor as Christoph Eschenbach. ©2024 Calvin Dotsey