Location: Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Artistic personnel at member orchestras are invited to join the Houston Symphony for a closed dress rehearsal of Salome.
Location: Discovery Green (Steps from the Marriott Marquis Lobby)
For more information, visit https://www.mercuryhouston.org/2324-baroque-to-boleros. League Conference delegates are invited to attend for free. Visit https://www.mercuryhouston.org/leagueregistration to reserve your tickets.
About This Concert
Come as you are for a special hour-long program welcoming you to Houston! Mercury Chamber Orchestra presents centuries of music from across Latin America featuring fun Baroque dances to fiery boleros sung by mezzo-soprano Cecilia Duarte. Join fellow delegates and the Houston community in Discovery Green, a beautiful oasis to explore, discover, and connect in the heart of downtown Houston.
Tex-Mex food and beverage selections available during the concert.
Artists
Members of Mercury Chamber Orchestra
Antoine Plante, Artistic Director
Cecilia Duarte, Mezzo-Soprano
Location: Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Denney Theatre
About This Concert
From Tuesday, June 4 to Friday, June 7, EarShot Readings will be held in conjunction with the Conference featuring ROCO at the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, culminating in a performance of these works on Thursday morning, June 6 from 9:30am to 12:30pm EarShot composers will work with mentor composers Valerie Coleman, Jennifer Higdon, and Nina Shekhar, as well as conductor Mei-Ann Chen, Artistic Partner to ROCO.
One work chosen by the orchestra will be performed as part of a public concert given by ROCO on Friday, June 7 at 11:00am , and live streamed for free on ROCO.org, YouTube, and Facebook.
Program
Autumn Maria Reed Mental Health Suite: The Persistent Past & The Fearful Future
Naama Perel-Tzadok Agricultural Pictures
Patricia Leonard John Adams Theme – Overture from My Dearest Friend
Stella G. Gitelman Willoughby Stories of Sorrow and Strength: A Suite in Two Movements
Location: Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Round trip transportation will be provided from the Marriott Marquis Houston.
Speaker(s): Gabriela Lena Frank, Composer-in-Residence, The Philadelphia Orchestra; Lee Koonce, Former President and Artistic Director, Gateways Music Festival; John Mangum, Executive Director/CEO, Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, Houston Symphony; Juraj Valčuha, Music Director, Roy and Lillie Cullen Chair, Houston Symphony; Michael Webster, Artistic Director, Houston Youth Symphony; and Simon Woods, President and CEO, League of American Orchestras
The Opening Session will showcase the Houston Youth Symphony conducted by Artistic Director Michael Webster performing Grammy winner Jessie Montgomery's Soul Force and Silvestre Revueltas's Sensemayá.
We’ll also hear a keynote address from Gabriela Lena Frank, winner of a Latin Grammy and nominee for Grammys as both composer and pianist. She is currently serving as Composer-in-Residence with The Philadelphia Orchestra and is a former Composer-in-Residence with the Houston Symphony.
Another highlight of the opening will be the presentation of the Gold Baton Award, the League’s highest honor, to Lee Koonce. Lee has served as President and Artistic Director of Gateways Music Festival, Executive Director of Ballet Hispanico in New York City, Executive Director of Third Street Music School Settlement, and Director of Community Relations for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Akustiks, HGA Architects, and Schuler Shook have generously co-sponsored the Opening Session at the League's Conference.
Location: Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Denney Theatre
This concert is included in your Conference registration as a performance elective. Just bring your badge and you will be admitted for free. https://roco.org/performances/in-concert-magnetic/
Participants are encouraged to bring their iPads/tablets to download and access scores during the performance.
About This Concert
Join us for a showcase led by ROCO Artistic Partner and conductor Mei-Ann Chen. Comprising several of ROCO’s previously commissioned world premieres and passion project works alongside works by Errolyn Wallen, Gabriela Lena Frank, and the premiere of a work by one of the finalists of ROCO and American Composers Orchestra’s EarShot Call for Scores by early career female composers, this concert highlights ROCO’s commitment to women composers and expanding the classical canon.
Program
Heather Schmidt Solitaire
Leanna Primiani Neither men nor money validate my worth
Reena Esmail Teen Murti
Jennifer Higdon Dance Card V. Machina Rockus
Errolyn Wallen Photography I. Vivace
Gabriela Lena Frank Elegia Andina
Plus the winner of Earshot Call for Scores from female composers
Concert sponsored by the Carol Franc Buck Foundation, and part of the Albert and Margaret Alkek Foundation In Concert Series.
This session has generously been sponsored by BMI.
Additional support provided by a generous grant from The Aaron Copland Fund for Music.
Join Opus 3 Artists at Discovery Green as they present a lunchtime concert by pianists Nick Luby and Susan Zhang from the stage of The Concert Truck. Sandwiches will be available for purchase from The Lake House.
The Concert Truck is a mobile music venue that strengthens communities by redefining the concert experience and making live music accessible to all. It engages diverse communities and audiences nationwide with thoughtful, timely programming, and works with arts organizations of all sizes to build a critical presence in their communities.
Impassioned by their love for music and belief in its emotional power, pianists Nick Luby and Susan Zhang converted a 16-foot box truck into a fully functioning mobile concert hall, complete with lights, sound system, and piano. Since then, The Concert Truck has toured across the country, presenting concerts in city streets, music and arts festivals, schools, neighborhoods, parks… anywhere you can think to park a truck. Recent performances of The Concert Truck have been presented in conjunction with the Dallas Symphony, the North Carolina Symphony, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Virginia Arts Festival.
This presentation has generously been sponsored by Opus 3 Artists.
Location: Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Transportation will be provided.
Moderator: Dr. Jason Oby, Professor of Music, Texas Southern University
Panelists: Dr. Kathryn Caton, Lecturer of Musicology, Moores School of Music, University of Houston; Adam Larsen, Creative Director, Hum-Bar; and Dr. Alison Maggart, Assistant Professor of Instruction in Musicology, Butler School of Music, The University of Texas at Austin
Join a panel discussion to explore the musical history of Richard Strauss' Salome.
Location: Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Round trip transportation will be provided from the Marriott Marquis Houston.
Concert tickets can be added on to your Conference registration until May 13, 2024. After that date, please purchase directly from the Houston Symphony.
About This Concert
At the Conference concert on Friday evening, June 7, a scandalous play by Oscar Wilde meets the explosive musical originality and visceral story-telling of Richard Strauss. The result is one of the most shocking and thrilling works in the operatic repertoire.
Experience it firsthand with Music Director Juraj Valčuha and the Houston Symphony.
The Conference Tune-Up Party will follow.
Read an in-depth analysis of Richard Strauss’ Salome by Alex Ross in The New Yorker.
Artists
Juraj Valčuha, Conductor
Jennifer Holloway, Soprano (Salome)
John Daszak, Tenor (Herodes)
Linda Watson, Mezzo-Soprano (Herodias)
Mark S. Doss, Baritone (Jochanaan)
Issachah Savage, Tenor (Narraboth)
Adam Larsen, Creative Director
Location: Lynn Wyatt Square (600 Louisiana St.)
Transportation will be provided.
Following the Houston Symphony’s performance, be sure to join us for the Tune-Up Party, which will take place at the stunning Lynn Wyatt Square (600 Louisiana St.) in Houston’s Theater District right across the street from Jones Hall. Enjoy live DJ performances and food trucks offering a taste of Houston's diverse cuisine. Round trip transportation will be provided from the Marriott Marquis Houston. All Conference registrants are invited — just bring your badge and enjoy this vibrant night!
Speaker(s): Amy Chung, Executive Director, Houston Youth Symphony; Jackson Guillén, Coda Program Director, Houston Youth Symphony; Anni Hochhalter, Executive Director, WindSync; Kara LaMoure, Bassoonist and Artistic Director, WindSync; and Nicky Sohn, Composer
Now in its eighth year of collaboration, Houston Youth Symphony (HYS) partners with the professional wind quintet, WindSync, in a yearly school residency and performance with the HYS Coda Program, Houston’s first after-school El Sistema-inspired program. This session will discuss how this mutually beneficial partnership was formed and identify the core elements of the wind quintet residency that enhances the musical learning of young string players by performing culturally relevant repertoire. A commissioning element offers the opportunity to feature young diverse composers while presenting repertoire that addresses various needs of the musicians, including cultural relevance.
Participants will learn to think flexibly about mixing instrumentation and performance levels in working with young string players. The session will include hearing from various partners and youth Coda Program musicians, with a performance of a commissioned work by Nicky Sohn.
This session has been generously sponsored by MKI Artists.
Speaker(s): Dr. Ahmad Sarmast, Founder and Director, Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM)
The Conference will conclude with a luncheon featuring Resilient Sounds, a Houston Symphony project—in partnership with Rice University, University of Houston, and Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston—celebrating the determination and hope of Houston’s refugee communities.
We’ll also hear from Dr. Ahmad Naser Sarmast, Founding Director of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM), which fled Taliban-occupied Kabul for Lisbon, where the entire school community was not only granted asylum but also invited to resettle and rebuild.
No additional cost. The Closing Luncheon is included in your Conference registration!
The Closing Luncheon has been generously co-sponsored by Threshold Acoustics and YPTC (Your Part Time Controller).
Location: Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Conference attendees can get in for free with their badge (general admission tickets for the public are also available for $25); no advanced reservation needed. It will be performed without intermission.
Program
Richard Strauss Burleske in D Minor for Piano and Orchestra
Igor Stravinsky The Firebird Suite (1919 version)
Artists
Franz Anton Krager, Music Director and Chief Conductor
Vadym Kholodenko, Piano, Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts Distinguished Artist
