Live from Jones Hall: Great Women Composers: Esmail, Price & Smyth

Conductor Yue Bao serves as conducting fellow of the Houston Symphony. In May 2019, she completed a two-year tenure as the Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellow at the Curtis Institute of Music, closely working with Maestro Nézet-Séguin during her studies in Philadelphia. At Curtis, she was active as both a conductor and assistant, working with Michael Tilson Thomas, Osmo Vänskä, Gilbert Varga, Giancarlo Guerrero, and Miguel Harth-Bedoya.

Yue was the Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Conducting Fellow at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in 2019. In 2018, she served as the David Effron Conducting Fellow at the Chautauqua Music Festival, where her concerts with the Festival Orchestra received major accolades from audiences and musicians. Prior to her time at Curtis, in 2015, she served as a conducting fellow at the Eastern Music Festival under Gerard Schwarz.

She has worked extensively in the United States and abroad. She served as an assistant for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under JoAnn Falletta and David Lockington (2015-17), making her conducting debut with Buffalo in 2016. Yue has also assisted Vänskä at the Minnesota Orchestra and Varga at the St. Louis Symphony. Recent appearances include the Shanghai Opera Symphony Orchestra, the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, and the New Symphony Orchestra. Equally at home with both symphonic and operatic repertoire, her credits include Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Bizet’s Carmen, Kurt Weill’s Mahagonny: Ein Songspiel, and Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Medium. She is also active as a pianist, recently playing for a production of Les contes d’Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach at the National Centre for the Performing Arts.

Along with her Artist Diploma from The Curtis Institute of Music, she holds Bachelor of Music degrees in orchestral conducting and collaborative piano from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and a Master of Music degree in orchestral conducting from the Mannes School of Music.

Possessing a voice of uncommon allure, the Grammy® Award-winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor is one of the most compelling performers of her generation. She is internationally acclaimed equally in the pillars of the classical music canon–from Beethoven and Mahler to Brahms and Ravel–as she is in new works of modern masters–from Adams and Dessner to Lieberson and Talbot.

In the 2020–21 season Kelley O’Connor was engaged to perform with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, California Symphony, Houston Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Memphis Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra among many others.

Highlights of last season featured Mozart’s Requiem with Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Lieberson’s Neruda Songs with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Stéphane Denève, a program of Berio and Crumb with the New York Philharmonic, and Korngold’s Abschiedslieder with Donald Runnicles and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. She was engaged for performances with the symphonies of Atlanta, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Saint Louis, San Diego, as well as with the Philadelphia Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, and with the San Francisco Symphony for Michael Tilson Thomas’ final concerts as Music Director.

John Adams wrote the title role of The Gospel According to the Other Mary for Kelley O’Connor and she has performed the work, both in concert and in the Peter Sellars fully staged production, under the batons of John Adams, Gustavo Dudamel, Grant Gershon, Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Simon Rattle, and David Robertson. She has sung the composer’s El Niño with Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra and continues to be the eminent living interpreter of Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs having given this moving set of songs with Christoph Eschenbach and the National Symphony Orchestra, with Bernard Haitink and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with Robert Spano and the Minnesota Orchestra, and with David Zinman and the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich among many others.

Recent performances include Mahler’s Second Symphony with Andrés Orozco-Estrada and the Houston Symphony, the Third Symphony with Donald Runnicles and the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra, and with Andrés Orozco-Estrada and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Eighth Symphony with Andrés Orozco-Estrada and the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich, Des knaben Wunderhorn with Krzysztof Urbański and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and Das Lied von der Erde with Louis Langrée and the Detroit Symphony and with Donald Runnicles and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and Dallas Symphony. She has sung Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder with Matthias Pintscher and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Bernstein’s Songfest for her Boston Symphony Orchestra debut under the baton of Bramwell Tovey, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with David Robertson and the St. Louis Symphony and Ninth Symphony with Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra, and has bowed in performances of Ravel’s Shéhérazade with Gemma New and the San Francisco Symphony as well as with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra, Berio’s Folk Songs with Daniel Harding and the London Symphony Orchestra, and as Erda in Wagner’s Das Rheingold with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Alan Gilbert.

Sought after by many of the most heralded composers of the modern day, Kelley O’Connor has given the world premieres of Joby Talbot’s A Sheen of Dew on Flowers with the Britten Sinfonia at the Victoria & Albert Museum to celebrate the opening of the institution’s new jewellery wing, and Bryce Dessner’s Voy a Dormir with Robert Spano leading the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall with further performances accompanied by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra led by Jaime Martín.

Operatic highlights include the title role of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia presented by Boston Lyric Opera in a new production by Broadway theater director Sarna Lapine conducted by David Angus, Carmen with Los Angeles Opera conducted by James Conlon, Donizetti’s Anna Bolena at the Lyric Opera of Chicago conducted by Patrick Summers and directed by Kevin Newbury, Madama Butterfly in a new production by Lillian Groag at the Boston Lyric Opera and at the Cincinnati Opera under the baton of Ramón Tebar, Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict at Opera Boston, Falstaff with the Santa Fe Opera, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Canadian Opera Company.

Her vivid recital career includes performances in Boston with Thomas Adès in a program of Brahms, Purcell, and Stravinsky, in Chicago offering works of Debussy, Massenet, and Chausson, in Cincinnati with pianist Louis Langrée in programs of Brahms and Ravel, and in Jackson Hole with the music of Brahms and Bernstein in a collaboration with Donald Runnicles.

Miss O’Connor has appeared numerous times with Gustavo Dudamel, including in performances of Bernstein’s “Jeremiah” Symphony on an international tour with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and of Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony with the Simón Bolívar Orchestra. She enjoys a rich musical collaboration with Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra with whom she has sung Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Mass in C, Bernstein’s “Jeremiah” Symphony, staged performances of Falstaff both in Cleveland and at the Lucerne Festival, and Stravinsky’s Requiem Canticles.

Kelley O’Connor has received unanimous international, critical acclaim for her numerous performances as Federico García Lorca in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar. Miss O’Connor created the role for the world premiere at Tanglewood, under the baton of Robert Spano, and subsequently joined Miguel Harth-Bedoya for performances of Golijov’s piece with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. She reprised her “musically seductive, palpably charismatic” (Washington Post) portrayal of Lorca in the world-premiere of the revised edition of Ainadamar at the Santa Fe Opera in a new staging by Peter Sellars, which was also presented at Lincoln Center and the Teatro Real.

For her debut with the Atlanta Symphony in Ainadamar, Kelley O’Connor joined Robert Spano for performances and a Grammy® Award-winning Deutsche Grammophon recording. Her discography also includes Mahler’s Third Symphony with Jaap van Zweden and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Lieberson’s Neruda Songs and Michael Kurth’s Everything Lasts Forever with Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony, Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Flutist Judy Dines is a very active performer in Houston and beyond. Locally, she is a frequent performer in the Greenbriar Consortium, a diverse chamber group made up of Houston Symphony members and other musicians in the Houston area. She was also a member and frequent soloist with the former Houston Chamber Symphony. Other local groups Dines has played with include Mukuru, Aperio and the St. Cecilia Society.

Outside of Houston, Dines is a member of the Ritz Chamber Players, a dynamic chamber ensemble which performs all around the country. She is also a member of the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, which convenes every summer in beautiful Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Several times, most recently in August 2008, she performed at the National Flute Association Convention, a four-day extravaganza which celebrates the flute. In the orchestral world, Dines has performed selected weeks with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra.

Born in Washington, D.C., Dines attended Temple University in Philadelphia and the Peabody Institute in Baltimore before coming to Houston. She joined the Houston Symphony in 1992.

Hailed as “one of today’s superstars of the international brass scene,” William VerMeulen leads a varied musical life of soloist, orchestral principal, chamber musician, master teacher, and music publisher. VerMeulen has been principal horn of the Houston Symphony since 1990 and has performed as a guest principal horn with the Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Prior to joining the Houston Symphony, he was employed with the orchestras of Columbus, Honolulu, and Kansas City.

VerMeulen has been an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and participates as a performer and on faculty with the finest music festivals and chamber music presenters, among which include the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Aspen Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Banff Centre, Da Camera of Houston, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Joshua Bell and Friends, Tanglewood, Sarasota Music Festival, Strings Music Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, New World Symphony, Domaine Forget, Chamber Music Northwest, and the Sun Valley Summer Symphony where he also serves as principal horn.

VerMeulen has performed to critical acclaim on four continents as a soloist and chamber musician and is a popular artist at International Horn Society Symposiums where he was a member of the advisory council. He serves as a board member of the International Horn Competition of America. Along with the dozens of orchestral recordings in his discography are numerous solo and chamber recordings, including the complete Mozart Horn Concerti with Christoph Eschenbach and the Houston Symphony, Texas Horns featuring the Dallas and Houston horn sections, and “The Christmas Horn” which features VerMeulen combined with his students from Rice University, conducted by Dale Clevenger. He has recorded live the Brahms Trio op. 40, Mozart Quintet K. 407, Beethoven Septet, Ravel Tombeau de Couperin for wind quintet, Schubert Octet, Spohr Nonet, Ligeti Bagatelles, and the Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 1. A champion of new music, VerMeulen has had numerous pieces written for him including concerti by esteemed American composers Samuel Adler, Pierre Jalbert, Tony DiLorenzo, and the horn cantata “Canticum Sacrum” by Robert Bradshaw. He recorded the Canto XI by Samuel Adler for a CD called First Chairs. Among his awards and honors, VerMeulen received first prize at the 1980 International Horn Society Soloist Competition and the Shapiro Award for Most Outstanding Brass Player at the Tanglewood Festival.

Regarded as one of the most influential horn teachers of all time, VerMeulen is a professor of horn at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and brass artist-in-residence at the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Glenn Gould School. His students perform in numerous major orchestras throughout the world including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Canadian Brass, Cleveland Orchestra, and the San Francisco, Cincinnati, Montreal, St. Louis, Toronto, Detroit, Dallas, and Houston Symphonies. Over 250 positions of employment have been offered to his students. In 1985, he was invited to the White House to receive a Distinguished Teacher of America Certificate of Excellence from President Reagan and the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars.

VerMeulen received his training from Dale Clevenger at Northwestern University and the Interlochen Arts Academy and is founder and president of VerMeulen Music, L.L.C., which offers music and products for horn players worldwide at www.vermeulenmusic.com

VerMeulen is married to Houston Opera and Ballet violinist Sylvia VerMeulen, and they have two lovely children, Michael and Nicole. In his rare free time, he enjoys having good friends over to share in his passion for fine cooking and wine.

Mark Hughes “knows how to spin out a long line with the eloquence of a gifted singer,” says Derrick Henry of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Hughes developed his abilities at Northwestern University where he studied with the late Vincent Cichowicz of the Chicago Symphony. After graduation, he joined the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as a scholarship student of Adolph Herseth, the legendary Principal Trumpet of the Chicago Symphony.

Hughes then began touring with Richard Morris as the popular organ and trumpet duo, “Toccatas and Flourishes,” performing throughout the United States and Canada. His appointment as Associate Principal Trumpet with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra followed, which he held for 12 years. During his time with the ASO, he appeared as soloist with the orchestra on numerous occasions, performed on dozens of recordings, and was an active studio musician.

Hughes is currently Principal Trumpet of the Houston Symphony, a position he has held since 2006. He has appeared as soloist with the orchestra on several occasions, including the performance of the Shostakovich Concerto no. 1 for Piano and Trumpet with Jon Kimura Parker, a performance heard nationally on American Public Radio’s SymphonyCast. Since his arrival in Houston, Hughes has performed and recorded with the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras and continues to be in demand as a soloist with orchestras and in recital. In addition, he serves on the faculties of the Brevard Music Center and the Texas Music Festival each summer. Hughes lives in Bellaire with his wife, Marilyn, and their two children, Thomas and Caroline.

Richard Harris joined the Houston Symphony as second trumpet in 2018.  Previously, he was a member of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra where he performed for 8 years. In March of 2018, Harris gained the distinction of being the only musician in an American orchestra to have won auditions for each position in one orchestral trumpet section.  He achieved this notable accomplishment during his tenure at the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra where he won nationally held blind auditions for the positions of Second Trumpet (2009), Associate Principal / 3rd Trumpet (2014) and Principal Trumpet (2018). As a soloist, Harris has performed J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto no. 2, Copland’s Quiet City, and Concerti by Vivalidi, Hummel, Haydn, and Neruda. A Yamaha Performing Artist, he has enjoyed performing in orchestras all over the world including the Seoul Philharmonic in South Korea and the Jalisco Philharmonic in Guadalajara, Mexico. He has also performed with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, as well as many others.

An avid educator, Harris has given masterclasses at universities and high schools across the country. He served on the faculty at Winthrop University from 2013–2018 and at UNC Charlotte from 2007–2009.  He also had the privilege of serving as the brass coach for the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra for 7 years. He strives to create a fun and relaxed atmosphere where children are encouraged and motivated to improve their playing. His primary goal is to ensure that their love of music remains an important and positive part of their lives, even beyond the stage. Harris’ students have enjoyed successful auditions for orchestras, wind ensembles, and prestigious programs of study.

In addition to his passion for playing trumpet, Harris is a chess enthusiast.  His volunteer work with inner-city schools in Charlotte allowed him to teach and run chess camps for underprivileged kids. As a master level chess player, he uses this game as a teaching tool to foster a sense of patience, sportsmanship, strategic thinking, and calm under pressure.

Harris has studied with Thomas Booth, Barbara Butler, and many others. His degrees from Texas Tech University and Southern Methodist University (SMU) gave him a strong foundation. While a student at SMU he had the honor of playing two seasons with the National Repertory Orchestra. During his time at SMU he was hailed by the Dallas Observer as “a dream of a principal trumpet player.” Also, while a student at Texas Tech he won the concerto competition. He performed the Haydn Concerto at the Las Vegas Music Festival in 2003 as an invited soloist.

Harris was born in Lander, Wyoming as the youngest of five siblings. Originally, he began his musical studies at age 5 on the cello. At age 8, he discovered his lifelong passion as he also began studying the trumpet. When he was given his first trumpet he felt instantly that it was the instrument he couldn’t put down.

In 2013, he met his wife, Angela, and they have two children between them, Edward and Eva.

Principal Trombonist Allen Barnhill joined the Houston Symphony in 1977 and has appeared with the orchestra as a soloist on numerous occasions. Winner of the Swiss Prize at the 1979 Geneva International Solo Competition, he was also featured in the 2008 world premiere of Cindy McTee’s Solstice for Trombone and Orchestra.

As an ensemble collaborator, Barnhill has appeared in concert and on recordings with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Houston and San Antonio Symphonies, Chicago’s Music of the Baroque, and the Houston Symphony Chamber Players.

Currently Associate Professor of Trombone at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, he has also held faculty positions at The University of Texas, University of Houston, Sam Houston State University, and the University of St. Thomas.

A native of Elizabethtown, North Carolina, Barnhill graduated from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Donald Knaub. He enjoys water skiing, snow skiing, and golf.

David Kirk is Principal Tubist of the Houston Symphony and an Associate Professor at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, holding these positions since 1982.

Kirk enjoys an international reputation for effective teaching of musicianship and the physical aspects of wind playing. He has presented master classes throughout North America and in Japan. Kirk was selected for his teaching and playing positions during his final year of undergraduate studies at the Juilliard School in New York City. While at Juilliard, he studied with Don Harry. Kirk’s other teachers include David Waters, Chester Schmitz, Warren Deck, and Neal Tidwell.

Kirk also appears as a guest performer with ensembles throughout the United States. Locally, he is an active recitalist, chamber music collaborator, and spokesperson for the musical arts. He serves on the faculty of the Texas Music Festival, a summer conservatory held at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music.

Kirk’s orchestral playing is heard on Houston Symphony recordings under conductors Sergiu Comissiona, Newton Wayland, Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Krajewski, Hans Graf, and Andrés Orozco-Estrada. His solo playing is featured on Mark Custom Recordings’ The Music of Leroy Osmon, Volume 1.

Brian Del Signore joined the Houston Symphony as Principal Percussionist in 1986. Prior to his Houston Symphony appointment, he held a one-year position as Principal Percussionist of the Grand Rapids Symphony in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and performed with the Kalamazoo and Lansing Symphony Orchestras while there. Before moving to Michigan, Brian performed in many orchestras in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, including the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Brian Del Signore earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon University in 1981, where he studied with the Pittsburgh Symphony percussionists. In 1984, Del Signore earned a Master of Music from Temple University, where he studied with Alan Abel of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Del Signore began piano lessons at age six and drums at age eleven. His first drum teacher in the late 1960’s was Lou Carto, pop star Bobby Vinton’s drummer and bandleader at that time.

Besides keeping a very busy schedule with Houston Symphony performances, Brian maintains an active education and outreach schedule, where he presents educational percussion programs in elementary schools and percussion clinics in high schools across the Houston area. “Digital Recording Tools for the Performing Musician” is a clinic and master class for college-aged percussionists and musicians which explores the use of recording technology to critique and improve performance ability. Del Signore has presented the clinic and master class at various music schools around the United States including Baylor University, Texas A&M- Commerce, Sam Houston State University, New England Conservatory, Boston Conservatory, Yale University, The Julliard School, Manhattan School of Music, New York University, Curtis Institute of Music, Temple University, Peabody Conservatory, Carnegie Mellon University, Cleveland Institute of Music, The Colburn School in Los Angeles, and San Francisco Conservatory.

Brian Del Signore endorses manufacturers of high-quality percussion instruments and accessories. These companies—Remo Corporation, Sabian Cymbals, Pearl/Adams Percussion, ProMark Sticks, and Black Swamp Percussion—as well as The Houston Symphony League Bay Area support Del Signore’s educational and outreach programs. For more information on these educational programs please visit www.briandelsignore.com.

Brian and his wife Leah have three college aged children, Damian, Dominique and Dione.

Matthew Strauss has been applauded throughout the United States as an energetic percussionist and timpanist with a diverse musical background. In addition to his positions as Associate Principal Timpani and Percussion with the Houston Symphony and Timpanist with the American Symphony Orchestra at the Bard Music Festival, Strauss is currently on faculty at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and Texas Music Festival at the University of Houston.

Prior to his post in Houston, he performed as a member of the percussion section in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra throughout the 2002–03 and 2003–04 seasons. Strauss has also performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Baltimore, Detroit, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and National Symphony Orchestras, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, to name a few. Solo appearances include performances with the Akron Symphony, New Hampshire Music Festival, and Reading Symphony Orchestra, and Delaware Symphony Orchestra. An active chamber musician, Strauss has performed with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Da Camera of Houston, Foundation for Modern Music, Bard Festival Chamber Players, Skaneateles Music Festival, and has participated in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s contemporary chamber series, Music Now, under the batons of Pierre Boulez and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Strauss received his Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance from the Juilliard School and his Master of Music in Performance from Temple University. He is an alumnus of both the Tanglewood and Aspen Music Festivals and has participated in the Spoleto Music Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. Strauss taught percussion performance at the Mason Gross School of Music at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He has presented master classes and clinics at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, The Juilliard School, Aspen Music Festival, Northwestern University, Temple University, New York University, Peabody Conservatory, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Roosevelt University, and DePaul University. Strauss is a performing artist and clinician for the Pearl/Adams Corporation, Zildjian Inc., and Evans Drumheads.

Megan Conley (née Levin) had a musical upbringing in Austin, Texas. She began harp lessons at the age of five. The daughter of musician Danny Levin, she grew up playing music with her father and siblings in the family band. By the time she was 15, she had played on several albums of Austin musicians, including the Grammy Award-winning album ‘Los Super Seven.’

Megan received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Rice University, where she studied with Paula Page. In 2005, she was awarded a Fulbright Grant to study with Isabelle Perrin at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, France. In 2012, Megan won first place in the Ima Hogg Competition and subsequently performed the Ginastera Harp Concerto with the Houston Symphony.

Megan joined the Sarasota Opera Orchestra as Principal Harpist for their 2011 and 2012 seasons. She also served as Principal Harpist of the chamber orchestra CityMusic Cleveland from 2007–2012. As a freelance harpist, Megan has performed with the New York City Ballet, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, The Knights, American Symphony Orchestra, Irish Chamber Orchestra, and the Bang On a Can All-Stars, among others. She also performed for ‘The Fantasticks’ on Broadway.

Megan joined the Houston Symphony as Principal Harpist in January 2015.

Acclaimed as “a wonderfully talented violinist…whose sound and technique go well beyond her years,” violinist, Yoonshin Song was born in South Korea, where she began her musical studies at age 5. Making her solo debut with the Seoul Philharmonic at age 11, she has since built a successful performing career throughout Korea, the United States, and Europe. In April 2019, the Houston Symphony named Yoonshin as its new concertmaster beginning in August 2019. From 2012 to 2019, she was the concertmaster of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, where she has enjoyed close collaborations with inspiring guest artists such as Gil Shaham, Joshua Bell, and Jamie Laredo.

Yoonshin has earned many prestigious prizes throughout her career, including top prize awards in the Lipizer International Violin Competition in Italy; the Lipinski & Wieniawski International Violin Competition in Poland; the Henry Marteau International Violin Competition in Germany; and first prize at the Stradivarius International Competition in the United States. In her native South Korea, Yoonshin has won virtually all of the major violin competitions.

As a soloist, she has performed with many orchestras around the world, including the Houston Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the Utah Symphony, the New Mexico Philharmonic Orchestra,the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, the Paul Constantinescu Philharmonic Orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and the KBS Philharmonic Orchestra. She has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in numerous music festivals, including the Marlboro, Deer Valley, Great Lakes, and Aspen music festivals in the United States; the Miyazaki Chamber Music Festival in Japan; and the Verbier, Lucerne, and Bayreuth festivals in Europe. Her engagements as a soloist throughout next season include concertos by Beethoven, Mozart, Shostakovich, and Bruch.

A native of Moscow, Russia, Sergei Galperin began studying violin at the age of 5 and shortly thereafter gave his first public performance in the Concert Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. Galperin comes from a family of musicians – a choral conductor mother, a recording engineer father, and a younger sister who plays the piano.

After studying at the Moscow Conservatory with professor N. Boyarsky, Galperin received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School, where he was a full-scholarship student in the class of Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang. He later earned Artist Diplomas from Indiana University and Peabody Conservatory in the class of Z. Gilels, N. Shkolnikova, and H. Greenberg.

Galperin made his American solo orchestral debut in May 1982 at the age of 16, playing the Wieniawski Violin Concerto with the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center. He has also performed as a soloist with the Houston Symphony in their Educational and Pops Series, as well as with the Indiana University, Aspen Symphony, and Dallas Festival orchestras.

As a winner of Artist International auditions, Galperin made his New York solo recital debut in March 1988 at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. After winning New York’s National Arts Club Competition in 1987, he was featured in recital on live ABC and PBS news shows. Subsequently he appeared in recital at Alice Tully and Merkin Concert Halls at Lincoln Center. In May 1993, he won an honorable mention award as a finalist of a prestigious Concert Artist Guild competition.

Currently a first violinist of the Houston Symphony, Galperin has also been invited to serve as Concertmaster with the Rochester Philharmonic for the 2004–05 season, as well as with the Adelaide Symphony in Australia. Prior to his current position, Galperin was a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony first violin section from 1999–2002. He has also worked with the Chicago and Baltimore symphony orchestras, as well as the Grant Park, Aspen, and Grand Teton festival orchestras, A. Schneider String Seminar, and Taos Chamber Music Festival. As a member of chamber and symphony orchestras Galperin has toured internationally in Australia, Malaysia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Brazil, Argentina, Israel and Europe.

Sergei Galperin teaches privately and has served as a faculty member at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh in 1999–2003, as well as a Professor of Violin at the University of St. Thomas in Houston in 1998–99 and teaching assistant at the Indiana University School of Music from 1990–1994.

Joan DerHovsepian, viola, became a member of the Houston Symphony in 1999 after serving two seasons as Principal Viola of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina. She is an instructor at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and was a member of the prize-winning Everest String Quartet, which performed throughout the United States and Canada. She performs each summer at the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and at the Peninsula Music Festival in Door County, Wisconsin.

Born in China, Wei Jiang began studying violin with his father at the age of 5 and began studying viola after being admitted to the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Having graduated with the highest honor, he was subsequently offered a teaching position at the conservatory as the youngest member of the music faculty. During his five-year tenure at the Central Conservatory, Jiang was actively involved in performing both solo and chamber music and toured extensively with his string quartet in Asia and Europe. He was also a founding member of the Eclipse Ensemble, a unique performing group that showcases music by contemporary Chinese composers throughout China.

Jiang came to the United States in 1996 to further his musical training at the Oberlin Conservatory and later at the University of Maryland. In 1999, he became a member of the Houston Symphony. Jiang is also a member of the Fidelis String Quartet which performed in recital at Carnegie Hall in 2005 and toured Puerto Rico in 2006. In his spare time, he likes playing tennis and enjoys traveling with his wife Sherry and two young children, Luke and Alice.

Louis-Marie Fardet was appointed cellist with the Houston Symphony in January 2015. Previously, he served as assistant principal cellist for the Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ballet. Prior to moving to Houston, he was a tenured member of L’Opéra de Paris Orchestra for five years. Born in Rochefort, the south-west coast of France, Fardet moved to Paris to pursue his cello studies at the prestigious Paris Conservatory and then came to Houston in 1999 to study with Paul Katz at Rice University.

Fardet has won top prizes at several international competitions, including the Antonio Janigro Cello Competition in Zagreb, Croatia and the Ima Hogg Competition in Houston, and has participated in numerous international music festivals such as the Ravinia Festival, Isaac Stern Chamber Music Workshop at Carnegie Hall, and Chamber Music Encounters in Jerusalem.