From Escuchame (Catán) to Enigma (Elgar), Exhilarating Repertoire Reigns at Texas Music Festival June 10-July 1

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1 Release at will Alan Austin General Franz Anton Krager Music Director and Chief Conductor Media Contact: Susan Farb Morris, (713) (C) Maestros Andrés Franco and Brett Mitchell to Make TMF Debuts From Escuchame (Catán) to Enigma (Elgar), Exhilarating Repertoire Reigns at 2017 Texas Music Festival June 10-July 1 HOUSTON April 18, This summer, expect to be engaged, enraptured and invigorated when classical music s rising stars perform major classical and contemporary works by luminaries including Daniel Catán, Chausson, Elgar, Mussorgsky, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Shostakovich and Strauss at the 28th Annual Immanuel and Helen Olshan Texas Music Festival (TMF). The TMF Cool & Classical Orchestra Series, staged on four consecutive Saturday nights June 10 through July 1, will showcase the crème de la crème of pre-professional musicians here to study and perform with world-class conductors, soloists and faculty artists at the University of Houston (UH) Moores Opera House and the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. We re truly mixing it up this year with some contemporary works, two of which are Houston premieres: György Ligeti: Concert Romanesc and Daniel Catán: Mariposa de Obsidiana. We re also excited to present Esa-Pekka Salonen: L.A. Variations, first performed 20 years ago with Salonen conducting the LA Philharmonic two TMF conductor debuts, Maestros Andrés Franco (Week 2) and Brett Mitchell (Week 3). The Catán work features soprano Cynthia Clayton, our festival chorus and orchestra for Opening Night, said Alan Austin, TMF General and Artistic Director. Other season highlights: Guest solo appearance by Lucie Robert, the violin virtuoso and pedagogue whose concert will celebrate her milestone 20 th anniversary on the TMF Faculty. Also, the return of Maestro Daniel Hege, whose 2014 TMF concert recording on the HDTT Blue Ray Audio label was touted in a Music Web International review. TMF, a one-month international music residency, brings 95 fellows from top tier music schools and conservatories worldwide to Houston. It has become Houston s largest classical

2 TMF Page 2 music presenter in the month of June with nearly 30 performances, many free or at a nominal cost. The Festival is made possible by a gift from the Immanuel and Helen B. Olshan Foundation and support from the UH Moores School of Music, a part of the Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts. Most concerts are indoors on the UH Main Campus (Moores Opera House and Dudley Recital Hall). Parking is free. The 2017 TMF Orchestra Series will open Saturday, June 10 (TMF Week 1) with an incredible splash of sonic brilliance under the baton of TMF Music Director & Chief Conductor Franz Anton Krager, notes Austin. The program will offer two pieces circa 1937, thus celebrating 80 years: Percy Grainger/arr. Merlin Patterson: Lincolnshire Posy and Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, a classic mid-century Russian symphony. The former is a 16- minute long composition with adaptations from folk songs Grainger collected on a trip to Lincolnshire, England. It is considered Grainger s masterpiece and one of the great works originally written for concert band, here transcribed for full orchestra. The evening s centerpiece will feature Clayton singing Catán s Mariposa de obsidiana (Obsidian Butterfly, an Aztec Goddess) and Escuchame ( Listen to Me ) from Florencia en el Amazonas (Florencia in the Amazon). Florencia is a prima donna who hopes to recapture the great love of her life while on a mystical voyage through the Amazon rainforest. The opera, co-commissioned by Houston Grand Opera, premiered here in 1996 and was the first Spanish-language opera to be commissioned by major U.S. opera houses. Orchestral Colors is the theme for TMF Week 2, Saturday, June 17, featuring Andrés Franco, Music Director, Tulsa Signature Symphony and Assistant Conductor, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, on the podium and Lucie Robert, an international recitalist, chamber musician, recording artist and professor, performing Ernest Chausson: Poéme and Maurice Ravel: Tzigane for violin and orchestra. Robert will reprise two pieces she played at TMF two decades ago for her TMF 20 th anniversary concert. Lucie has been an integral figure in TMF s evolution. We re thrilled to showcase her with the TMF Orchestra and several of her protégés, said Austin. A prized violin professor for 25 years at the Manhattan School of Music and Mannes College of Music in New York City, Robert has trained countless symphony and chamber musicians. Also on the bill will be the Houston premiere of Gyorgi Ligeti: Concert Romanesc, homage to festive gypsy music and the Modeste Mussorgsky/arr. Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition showpiece.

3 TMF Page 3 TMF Week 3, Friday, June 23 (Woodlands Pavilion) and Saturday, June 24 (Moores Opera House), entitled Orchestral Variations, marks the TMF debut appearance of Colorado Symphony Music Director Brett Mitchell, known to Houston music lovers having conducted more than 100 Houston Symphony performances as its assistant conductor from and music director of the UH Moores Opera House from The dual June 23 and 24 concerts will spotlight the student winner of the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Young Artist Competition as soloist (work TBA), along with L.A. Variations and Edward Elgar: Variations on an original theme, Enigma, an accessible, soaring, romantic and show off piece. For the TMF Week 4 Grand Finale, the Festival will welcome back an audience and orchestra favorite, Maestro Daniel Hege, Music Director of the Wichita Symphony and Guest Conductor of the Tulsa Symphony. The Saturday, July 1 program will be brimming with Orchestral Dances -- Sergei Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances; Maurice Ravel: La valse; and Richard Strauss: Suite from Der Rosenkavalier for lush, orchestral waltzes to close the season. TMF is a rigorous training ground for serious music fellows to learn and perform 13 major classical works over four weeks with four different conductors. Our demanding schedule is on par with a professional symphony orchestra s, says Austin, violinist and TMF alum. Our number of applicants continues to rise because conservatory students desire the depth and scope of our repertoire. They have to stretch themselves here, but they relish the opportunity. Over 300 hundred applicants from across the U.S. and 13 foreign countries applied for the prestigious TMF Orchestral Institute, representing nearly 100 institutions including such noted music schools as The Juilliard School, Cleveland Institute of Music, Eastman School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, The Oberlin Conservatory of Music, The Peabody Institute, Rice University Shepherd School of Music and UH Moores School. The 95 fellows who comprise the Festival Orchestra are chosen by highly competitive live and recorded auditions held in January and February each year. All receive a full fellowship to underwrite their time in Houston. The Festival offers the chance to win a guest soloist role through the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Young Artist Competition, open to all TMF Orchestra fellows, with the final judging a free public event Sunday, June 11, 2 p.m. at UH Dudley Recital Hall. The 2017 winner will perform with the Festival Orchestra at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands Friday

4 TMF Page 4 June 23, 8 p.m. and at the Moores Opera House Saturday, June 24 at 7:30 p.m. The first prize also carries an international invitation to appear as a soloist with the Akademisches Orchester in Leipzig, Germany at the prestigious Gewandhaus. TMF also trains another 70 young and pre-professional musicians through its summer institutes for voice (Le Chiavi: The Keys to Bel Canto), flute (The Informed Flutist), and high school jazz. Pre-concert activities for each TMF Orchestra Series performance include performances by members of Virtuosi of Houston and Settling the Score, a lecture series by noted music theorist Dr. Andrew Davis, Dean of the UH Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts. TMF also showcases the talents of its faculty artists on four faculty chamber music concerts as part of its PERSPECTIVES Series Tuesdays, 7:30 p.m., June 6, 13, 20, 27 at UH Dudley Recital Hall. This year s programs will feature works such as Loeffler: Rhapsodies for Oboe, Viola, and Piano; a wind serenade by Richard Strauss, as well as a transcription of Don Quixote for sextet; and a premiere by Houston composer Rob Smith of a new work for trombone, clarinet, and piano. More details will be available on the TMF web site. The Texas Music Festival is considered on par with such renowned festivals as Aspen or Tanglewood Music Festivals. Its founders, the late Immanuel and Helen Olshan, were two Houstonians who loved attending summer music gatherings in Colorado and New England. Saturday Orchestra Series performances are reserved seating and parking is free. A variety of Series Packages and individual tickets may be purchased online at and through the UH College of the Arts Box Office Orchestra Series single tickets are $25; $15 for students and seniors. Tickets to PERSPECTIVES concerts are $20 general admission and $10 for seniors/students. The TMF Season Pass is $135 for general admission and $75 for seniors/students (includes four Orchestra Series Concerts at Moores Opera House and four PERSPECTIVES (with a fifth bonus concert) at Dudley Recital Hall. The UH Moores Opera House is on the UH Main Campus, I-45 at Cullen Boulevard, Entrance #16. # # # Faculty, guest artist and conductor biographies and photos may be found at

5 Locations: MOH-Moores Opera House, Moores School of Music DRH Dudley Recital Hall, Fine Arts Building MSM 160 Choral Recital Hall, Moores School of Music Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, The Woodlands, TX Information: Tickets: Full season packages (13 concerts), Orchestra Series only packages (4 Saturdays), PERSPECTIVES Series only packages (4 Tuesdays, plus bonus Thursday, June 16) available online and through box office. Senior/students packages available, too. Individual Orchestra Series Tickets: $25 gen., $15 student/senior Individual PERSPECTIVES Series Tickets: $20, $15 student/senior Box Office: Festival Contact: Alan Austin, Gen. and Artistic Director, ph , # # # For Media Information, please contact Susan Farb Morris, , susan@farbulous.com