Beneficiaries CTCC Recognition and Charity Gala Houston Symphony Partnership Program in Music The Houston Symphony is pleased to partner with the Colombia Texas Chamber of Commerce to assist low-income and underserved youth in Colombia with mentorship in music by Carlos Andrés Botero, Musical Ambassador/Assistant Conductor for the Houston Symphony. Funds raised by the Colombia Texas Chamber of Commerce in support of this partnership will supplement Carlos work and efforts in Colombia over the course of the Symphony s current 2016-17 Season. Carlos Andrés Botero Biography: An active instrumentalist and chamber musician, Carlos Andrés Botero strives to change young musicians lives through music. Originally from Medellin, Colombia, he has made significant contributions to the development and coaching of the next generation of orchestral musicians in his home country. He serves as orchestra consultant, music education lecturer, guest conductor and string clinician for the Batuta Foundation, Guillermo Uribe Holguín Symphony Orchestra, the IMDE Youth Orchestra and the Pontifical Xavierian University in Colombia. As assistant conductor of the Colombian Youth Philharmonic, he led the group on its first international tour in Colombia and Brazil, sharing the podium with Orozco-Estrada. Carlos joined the Symphony in the 2014-15 season to serve as co-host of the Musically Speaking with Andrés series in its inaugural year. In this role, Carlos worked closely with Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada in the preparation of repertoire and commentary delivered from the stage in this informative and engaging concert experience. Also, he serves as cover conductor for all classical subscription programs, and he leads the Symphony s Prelude pre-concert talks before each classical performance. Mission Statement: The Houston Symphony inspires and engages a large and diverse audience in Greater Houston and beyond through exceptional orchestral and non-orchestral performances, concert series, educational programs and community outreach activities that enhance Houston s quality of life, cultural vitality and national reputation. Daniel Rojas Mora Foundation Daniel Rojas Mora Foundation is a non-profit organization which will fund higher education of hundreds of students from different regions of Colombia to become professionals and he lp numerous families get out of poverty. We contribute to reduce poverty and promote entrepreneurship development in Colombia, by funding college studies of brilliant students that lack the financial resources to pay for their higher education. We do so under a sustainable financial model which allows us to eventually recover the invested funds and hence re-invest them in new students, generating a high social impact virtuous cycle in a short period of time. Our objective is to help students that have already successfully finished their initial career semesters avoiding having to abandon their studies, and their dreams to become professionals, due to lack of financial resources to pay their tuition on their final semesters. Institución Educativa Islas del Rosario The archipelago of our Lady of the Rosary in the Colombian Caribbean, has a single educational institution, which has graduated its first high school group only until 2012. Over the years, this school has improved its infrastructure and has been supported by programs such as "Computers to educate". The institution serves 240 students in two daily sessions: morning corresponds to high school and middle school students and the afternoon to elementary students. 4 years ago it opened a night
day so that young people and adults to conclude his studies, but was closed duo to very low attendance rates. The population at the archipelago is poor and in situation of misery, but year after year has increased the percentages of schooling. Their results shed a trend positive to it reduction of the illiteracy and the increase in the participation of the population in the processes of formal educational training and also technical training to help them prepare for the workforce. In the islands, the dropout rate since 2011 has been reduced to about 3.4% with the implementation of various strategies such as home visits in cases of desertion and covering the cost of school cafeteria and transportation for 150 students. Also the institution is making big efforts to meet the real needs of students, for example, providing and education to prepare them for a context that generates job opportunities, which in the case of the islands are tourism and environmental sciences and services. The institution also works in educating the parents, who tend to see their children as an additional workforce and stimulate dropping out school for a job, restricting their chances of future personal and professional growth. Welcome Remarks Texas Secretary of State, Carlos H. Cascos As his first appointment as governor, Greg Abbott nominated Carlos H. Cascos to serve as Texas Secretary of State. He is the 110th Texas Secretary of State. Committee. Not new to public service, Secretary Cascos was elected as Cameron County Judge in 2006 and was re-elected in 2010 and again in 2014. Previously, Secretary Cascos served on the Texas Public Safety Commission and as a Cameron County Commissioner from 1991 through 2002. As county judge, Secretary Cascos served in a number of statewide roles including chairman of the Texas Border Security Council, Vice-chair of the Panama Canal Stakeholder Workgroup, and Vice-chair of the state s Freight Advising Honorees Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Music Director - Houston Symphony Houston Symphony Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada began his tenure in the 2014 15 season. He immediately established a dynamic presence on the podium and a deep bond with the musicians of the orchestra. Andrés carefully curates his programs to feature engaging combinations of classical masterworks paired with the music of today, significant artistic collaborations with composers and guest artists, and innovative use of multimedia and visual effects, all in order to make meaningful connections with the audience. In the 2016 17 season, Andrés will continue to engage with audiences both with casual commentary from the stage and discussions with guests in Behind the Scenes with Andrés videos. On the recording front, Andrés and the Symphony will
release the third disc in their critically acclaimed Dvořák Symphony series. Additional projects with Dutch recording label Pentatone are recordings of the Music of the Americas, which will include Gershwin s An American in Paris and Revueltas Sensemayá; Rachmaninoff s complete orchestral piano works with Denis Kozhukhin; and Haydn s The Creation. Born in Medellín, Colombia, Andrés began his musical studies on the violin and started conducting at age 15. At 19, he entered the Vienna Music Academy, where he studied with Uroš Lajovic (pupil of the legendary Hans Swarowsky), and completed his degree with distinction conducting the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Musikverein. Andrés burst on the international scene with two substitutions with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra: the first, his debut in 2010, standing in for Esa-Pekka Salonen, and then in 2012, substituting for Riccardo Muti at the Musikverein. Orozco- Estrada now regularly appears with many of the world s leading orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, and Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestras, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Santa Cecilia Orchestra in Rome and the Orchestre National de France. Recent debuts have included the Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic. In the summer of 2014, he also made his debut at Glyndebourne Festival Opera conducting Don Giovanni, which immediately led to an invitation to conduct La Traviata in 2017. The 2016 17 season includes debuts with the San Francisco Symphony, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition to his post in Houston, Andrés is chief conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Annise D. Parker, Former Mayor - City of Houston Mayor Parker is an American politician who was Mayor of Houston, Texas from 2010 until 2016. She also served as an at-large member of the Houston City Council from 1998 to 2003 and city controller from 2004 to 2010. Parker was Houston's second female mayor (after Kathy Whitmire), and one of the first openly gay mayors of a major U.S. city, with Houston being the most populous U.S. city to elect an openly gay mayor. Following the voterapproval of Proposition 2 on November 3, 2015, which extended the terms of the Mayor, City Controller, and City Councilmember's to two four-year terms, Parker became the last Houston Mayor to be limited to serving three twoyear terms. Johnny Minervini, President - 7 Seas Energy Johnny Is native of Colombia with a master degree in International shipping and logistics from the University of Plymouth in the UK. He is the President of 7 Seas Energy and former shareholder, Co - Director and Executive Vice-president of Coremar Group in Colombia, an asset base trusts, which today is a leading provider of oil & gas turnkey logistics in the country. Mr. Minervini has well over 15 years of experience in maritime transport, port operations and marine offshore support related services. Mr. Minervini is also known for his entrepreneurial spirit which has taken his group over the boundaries of Colombia to serve in diversified offshore markets throughout Latin America.
Program 6:30 pm Cocktail Reception & Silent Auction 7:35 pm Dinner Seating 8:00 pm Opening & Salutation Juan F. Arjona - President, The Colombia Texas Chamber of Commerce Claudia Rojas - Executive Director, The Colombia Texas Chamber of Commerce Welcome Remarks Carlos H. Cascos - Texas Secretary of State Presentation of Awards: Andrés Orozco-Estrada Annise D. Parker Johnny Minervini Beneficiaries Recognition: Houston Symphony Society Fundación Daniel Rojas Mora Institución Educativa Islas del Rosario Dance to Latin music