Honoring and celebrating the legacy of Andrés Orozco-Estrada’s eight-year tenure in his last season as Music Director, the Houston Symphony has announced full programming for the March 2022 two-week festival “Andrés Fest: A Symphonic Celebration.” Paying tribute to what Orozco-Estrada has brought to the Houston Symphony and to the city of Houston, the festival’s performances feature repertoire associated with the conductor’s time with the organization, Houston Symphony commissions including two world premieres, and solo performances by Symphony musicians.
“This festival captures all of the excitement and superlative artistry that have characterized Andrés’ time as Music Director of the Houston Symphony,” said Executive Director, CEO, and holder of the Margaret Alkek Williams Chair John Mangum. “We wanted to dedicate two weeks to performances that sum up Andrés’ achievements during his transformative eight-year tenure, and to celebrate his incredible relationships with our Symphony musicians. It’s a wonderful way to salute someone who’s brought so much to our organization and to our city’s cultural life.”
Highlights of the festival include the world premiere commission Bruce Broughton’s Horn Concerto, underwritten by The Martine and Dan Drackett Family Foundation, with Principal Horn William VerMeulen, and the Texas premiere of Wynton Marsalis’s Tuba Concerto, a Symphony co-commission, featuring Principal Tuba Dave Kirk (who attended Juilliard with Marsalis when both were 18 years old), both on March 26 and 27. Broughton is the Academy-Award-nominated American composer whose works include the scores to such major motion pictures as Silverado, Tombstone, and The Rescuers Down Under, and Marsalis is the Pulitzer and multi-Grammy-winning trumpeter, composer and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center who holds the distinction of being the only artist to win classical and jazz Grammys in the same year.
The festival also marks the world premiere of Kyle Rivera’s theme and variations on George Bridgetower’s Henry: A Ballad on March 18 and 19. Kyle Rivera is a Houston-based composer whose Houston Symphony debut came in 2019’s ground-breaking Resilient Sounds concert celebrating the inspiring, diverse stories of Houston’s refugee communities. Henry: A Ballad is one of the few surviving works by 18th-century Afro-European composer George Bridgetower, a celebrated violinist of his time with close ties to Europe’s royalty and Ludwig van Beethoven.
The festival spotlights Symphony musicians–a hallmark of Orozco-Estrada’s programming–including Principal Keyboard Scott Holshouser alongside piano superstar Emanuel Ax in Saint-Saëns’s beloved Carnival of the Animals (March 18, 19, and 20); Principal Second Violin MuChen Hsieh and Acting Principal Viola Joan DerHovsepian in Bruch’s Concertino in E minor for Violin, Viola, and Orchestra (March 19 and 20) ; Principal Clarinet Mark Nuccio in Bernstein’s Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs (March 18 and 20) and Artie Shaw’s Clarinet Concerto (March 18 and 20); Principal Trumpet Mark Hughes featured in Jolivet’s Concertino (March 18 and 19); and the aforementioned concertos featuring Dave Kirk and William VerMeulen (March 26 and 27). And the entire orchestra is featured in works that have played a pivotal role in Orozco-Estrada’s music directorship, such as Bernstein’s Overture to Candide (March 20), and Gershwin’s An American in Paris (March 26 and 27), both of which are featured on the Pentatone 2018 release Music of the Americas with Orozco-Estrada leading the Houston Symphony.
Andrés Fest: A Symphonic Celebration is part of the Shell Favorite Masters Series and the Rand Group Great Performers Series. Additionally, the festival is generously supported by Spec’s Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods/ Spec’s Charitable Foundation, Houston Methodist, United Airlines, Tenenbaum, the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance, the Houston Symphony Endowment, Gary and Marian Beauchamp/The Beauchamp Foundation, Rochelle and Max Levit, and the Houston Symphony Young Associates Council. Livestream of Houston Symphony concerts is made possible by Barbara J. Burger and supported by the Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation.
For tickets and more information please call 713-224-7575 or visit houstonsymphony.org/andres-fest-a-symphonic-celebration. Tickets to individual concerts and a limited number of all-access passes to all of the events of Andrés Fest: A Symphonic Celebration are available. Everyone in the audience is required to wear a mask while in Jones Hall. For a comprehensive schedule of safety measures, visit houstonsymphony.org/safety. Socially distanced seats are available in some portions of the auditorium. Livestreaming of select performances are available via a private link to ticket holders for $20. All programs and artists are subject to change.
ANDRÉS FEST
Friday, March 18, 2022
Andrés Orozco-Estrada, conductor
Mark Nuccio, clarinet
Mark Hughes, trumpet
Emanuel Ax, piano
Scott Holshouser, piano
Bridgetower/Kyle Rivera: Henry: A Ballad**
Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals
Bernstein: Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs
Shaw: Clarinet Concerto
Jolivet: Concertino for Trumpet
Shostakovich: Suite for Variety Orchestra, No. 1
Saturday, March 19, 2022*
Andrés Orozco-Estrada, conductor
Emanuel Ax, piano
Scott Holshouser, piano
MuChen Hsieh, violin
Joan DerHovsepian, viola
Mark Hughes, trumpet
Bridgetower/Kyle Rivera: Henry: A Ballad**
Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals
Bruch: Concertino in E minor for Violin and Viola, Op. 88
Jolivet: Concertino for Trumpet
Shostakovich: Suite for Variety Orchestra, No. 1
Sunday, March 20, 2022*
Andrés Orozco-Estrada, conductor
Emanuel Ax, piano
Scott Holshouser, piano
Mark Nuccio, clarinet
MuChen Hsieh, violin
Joan DerHovsepian, viola
Bernstein: On the Town: Three Dance Episodes
Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals
Bernstein: Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs
Shaw: Clarinet Concerto
Bruch: Concertino in E minor for Violin and Viola, Op. 88
Bernstein: West Side Story: Symphonic Dances IV. Mambo
Saturday, March 26, 2022 & Sunday, March 27, 2022*
Andrés Orozco-Estrada, conductor
William Ver Meulen, horn
David Kirk, Tuba
Gershwin: An American in Paris
Bruce Broughton: Horn Concerto**
Wynton Marsalis: Concerto for Tubist and Orchestra***
Ravel: Bólero
*livestreamed
**Houston Symphony commission, world premiere
***Houston Symphony co-commission
