InTune | October 2025

PERFORMANCE CALENDAR

2025-26 se a son

K i n g f o r a D ay : T h e M u s i c o f El v i s

O c t o b e r 3 , 4* & 5

J ea n -Yve s T h i b a u d e t +

T h e T h r e e - C o r n e r e d H a t

O c t o b e r 1 0, 11* & 12

G e r s hw i n & G r i m a u d :

J a z z M e e t s Symp ho ny

O c t o b e r 1 7, 1 8* & 19

Fr o m St a g e t o S c r e e n :

B r o a d way Me e t s H o l l y woo d

O c t o b e r 3 1 , N ove m b e r 1* & 2

Fri g h t f u l l y Fu n ! A H a l l owe e n

C o n c e r t f o r K i d s

N ove m b e r 1

Shall We Dance?

N ove m b e r 8 & 9*

N o s f e r a t u: S i le n t Fil m

S

w i t h L i ve O r g a n

N ov e m b e r 1 6

J o u r n ey t o L i g h t : Va l č u h a

C on du c t s S h o s t a kov i c h 1 0

N ove m b e r 2 1 , 2 2 * & 2 3

Th a nk s g i v i n g We e ken d :

Tcha i kovs k y ’s P i an o

C o n c e r t o N o . 1

N ove m b e r 28 , 2 9* & 3 0

H and e l s M es si a h

D ec e m b e r 5 , 6* & 7

J oy f u l Fa n fa r e s ! H o l i d ay

B r a s s S p ec t ac u l a r

D ec e m b e r 6 & 7

S Vo c t ave: It Feels Like C h r i s t m a s

D ec e m b e r 8

Ve r y M e r r y Po p s

D ec e m b e r 11 , 1 3* & 1 4

O h , W h at Fu n ! A H o l i d ay

C o n c e r t f o r K i d s

D ec e m b e r 1 3

Mariachi Sol De Mexico de José Hernández presents: José Hernández’ Merry-Achi Christmas

Dec e m b e r 15

D ec e m b e r 1 9, 2 0 & 2 1 S Merry Christmas Baby!

D ec e m b e r 1 7

i n C on c e r t

A N at K i n g C o l e N ew Ye a r

J a n u a r y 2 , 3* & 4

See our full year calendar for even more concerts!

*Pe r f o r m a n c e li ve s t r ea m e d

The Houston Symphony relies on generosity from donors like you for more than 2/3 of our annual operating budget

When you donate to the Annual Fund, you empower our orchestra’s Education and Community Engagement programs, which are recognized nationally for their depth, breadth, and creativity.

SCAN HERE TO SUPPORT THESE VITAL INITIATIVES

The Harry and Cora Sue Mach Student Concert Series engaged nearly 42,000 students through 21 concerts—more than double the number of students served by any other major American orchestra through a similar concert series. Join

During the 2024—25 Season, we continued our tradition of creating extraordinary musical experiences that allow every member of our community opportunities to learn, connect, and express themselves through music.

The Symphony’s High School Nights, presented by Oxy, welcomed 1,800 students from 34 schools across 4 concerts.

200,000

We reached nearly Houstonians through free and low-cost concerts and community engagement activities in hospitals, schools, memory care centers, and more!

53 Orchestra Musicians and 9 Community-Embedded Musicians participated in more thany 600 events in schools, hospitals, senior centers, and other community centers.

75 students

served through free, high-quality music education after school in Houston’s Fifth Ward and East End communities. In Harmony supports the unique needs of each community through meaningful partnerships with the DeLUXE Theatre, Segundo Barrio Children’s Chorus (SBCC), and AFA (American Festival of the Arts).

Juraj Valčuha

Music Director

Roy and Lillie Cullen Chair

COMMUNITY-EMBEDDED MUSICIAN

Lindsey Baggett, Violin

LIBRARIANS

Ali Verderber, Associate Librarian

Megan Fisher, Assistant Librarian

STAGE PERSONNEL

Stefan Stout, Stage Manager

José Rios, Assistant Stage Manager

Nicholas DiFonzo, Head Video Engineer

Justin Herriford, Head Audio Engineer

Connor Morrow, Head Stage Technician

Giancarlo Minotti, Audio Production Manager

12 YEARS OF SMOOTHNES S WITH VIBRANT TROPICAL NOTES

COMPOSER AS HERO FESTIVAL PREVIEW

We often think of artists as cultural heroes who must win over an uncomprehending world to realize their extraordinary creations.

For his November concerts with the Houston Symphony, Music Director Juraj Valčuha has chosen a thought-provoking selection of pieces for a Composer as Hero festival. Although the canonical composers featured in these programs were complex, sometimes flawed individuals, they were all deeply human artists who overcame a range of struggles to create some of the classical repertoire’s most compelling masterpieces. Juraj has also invited two heroic soloists, violinist Baiba Skride and pianist Behzod Abduraimov, to bring these works to life. An exciting world premiere completes the festival, giving audiences a front seat to a new chapter of music history.

The first program, Journey to Light: Valčuha Conducts Shostakovich 10, features works which straddle the epic conflict of World War II. Latvian violinist Baiba Skride begins the program with Britten’s Violin Concerto, composed from 1938 to 1939. A conscientious objector and gay man at a time when homosexuality was criminalized in the UK, Benjamin Britten left England in April 1939, about five months before World War II began. His Violin Concerto was completed in the United States and Canada during the early months

of the war. Composed for the Spanish violinist Antonio Brosa, who premiered the concerto in New York in March 1940, this expressive work may also be a response to the recent fascist victory in the Spanish Civil War. The concerto seems to embody the idea of innocence lost; it opens with a lyrical first movement, which, like Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, seems haunted by the drumbeat of a distant war. After a wild, ironical scherzo, the finale is a pathos-laden passacaglia, ending with a trill that hovers ambiguously between minor and major, offering a glimmer of hope at the end of this gripping masterpiece.

Paired with Britten’s Violin Concerto is Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony. Like many artists in the Soviet Union, Dmitri Shostakovich was terrorized during Stalin’s regime. In 1936, Stalin himself signed a damning review of Shostakovich’s opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, leading to the ban of Shostakovich’s works at a time when thousands were being disappeared in Stalin’s purges. After World War II, a new wave of repression began that lasted until Stalin’s death in March 1953, an event marked with extreme displays of public mourning throughout the Soviet Union (perhaps there has been no better illustration of the dangers of hero worship than Stalin’s cult of personality). Shostakovich’s Tenth premiered the following December.

Many have interpreted the symphony as the composer’s response to Stalin’s death. Progressing from a bleak opening to a celebratory yet

uneasy finale, the work contains several musical ciphers, including Shostakovich’s musical signature, D, E-flat, C, B-natural (D, S, C, H according to German note naming conventions, standing for D. SCHostakowitsch as his name is spelled in German). The symphony ends with a bombastic iteration of the D-S-C-H motif, reflecting perhaps not so much the triumph of a conquering hero as that of the tenacious survivor. Throughout his tenure as music director, Juraj has demonstrated an extraordinary ability to interpret such emotionally complex and weighty scores, and this program promises to be a highlight of the season.

The second program, Thanksgiving Weekend: Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, presents an uplifting selection of works befitting the commencement of the holidays. After a world premiere from Slovak composer L’ubica Čekovská, Uzbek pianist Behzod Abduraimov performs Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, a popular work with a famously negative initial reception. Shortly after completing the piece, Tchaikovsky played it for Nikolay Rubinstein (his boss at the Moscow Conservatory) on Christmas Eve 1874. As Tchaikovsky later related, Rubinstein declared “that my concerto was no good [...] that there were only two or three pages that could be kept, and the rest had to be either abandoned or completely redone.”

Tchaikovsky may not have faced a World War or the wrath of Stalin, but it took courage nonetheless to tell Rubinstein that “I will not rework a single note [...] and I

will print it in the very form in which it is now!” Tchaikovsky was right: the concerto was an instant success at its premiere in Boston in October 1875. As often occurs in 19th-century concertos, the soloist assumes the role of a heroic character who displays courage and skill by meeting the work’s virtuoso demands. With his superb technique and musicianship, Abduraimov promises to deliver a thrilling interpretation of this beloved piece.

The festival concludes with Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life), which Richard Strauss completed in 1898 at the age of 34. Although the composer denied that Ein Heldenleben was autobiographical, no one has ever believed him; Strauss, however, seems to have had a self-aware sense of humor in composing the piece, which quotes from his previous works and caricatures hostile music critics in a section titled “The Hero’s Adversaries.” Perhaps the most touching passage is “The Hero’s Companion,” a portrait of the composer’s wife in the form of one of the most difficult violin solos in the orchestral literature. It gives our own virtuoso concertmaster Yoonshin Song the opportunity to shine; indeed, the entire work is a showpiece for a virtuoso orchestra and conductor and offers a happy ending to this festival of musical heroism.

—Calvin Dotsey

Matthias Goerne, baritone

Daniil Trifonov, piano

Wed., October 29, 7:30 PM

Cullen Theater, Wortham Theater Center

All-Schubert program

Titans of the classical world, renowned for their interpretive mastery as both soloists and collaborators. FIRST HOUSTON APPEARANCE! Yulianna Avdeeva, piano

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The Wortham Foundation, Inc.

The Houston Symphony is fortunate to have the generous and longstanding support of The Wortham Foundation, Inc., whose grants play a vital role in maintaining the orchestra’s artistic excellence and organizational strength. The Wortham Foundation, Inc. has been a partner of the Symphony for more than 45 years, and its investment in the Symphony has been invaluable to the organization’s artistic growth.

City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance

The Houston Arts Alliance (HAA) is a local arts and culture non-profit agency dedicated to helping artists and non-profits be bold, productive, and strong. Under the guidance of the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, HAA implements the City of Houston’s vision for arts grantmaking and civic art investments. Additionally, HAA spearheads privately funded initiatives, including disaster preparedness, arts research, and temporary public art projects that invigorate local neighborhoods. HAA generously provides funding to the Houston Symphony, allowing us to improve accessibility of the arts throughout the Houston community.

The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts

The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts is one of the best-known names in Houston philanthropy and has been one of the Symphony’s greatest champions. One of three charitable trusts with independent boards created by the Cullen Foundation in the 1970s, it furthers the philanthropic legacy of Houston legend Hugh Roy Cullen. The Trust has contributed more than $9 million to the Houston Symphony since 1984, supporting almost every aspect of the orchestra’s activity.

The Humphreys Foundation

For more than 30 years, The Humphreys Foundation’s grants have been instrumental in allowing the Symphony to bring high-quality artistic programming to Houston. Under the leadership of President Linda Bertman, the charitable foundation based in Liberty County has underwritten several iconic Symphony concerts, including: operas like Abduction from the Seraglio, Fidelio, Bluebeard’s Castle , and Oedipus Rex; the HD Odyssey trilogy (The Planets , The Earth, The Cosmos) and the 2017–18 Season performance of The Rite of Spring; as well as festivals like the two-week Schumann Festival in 2020, and Carmina burana

The Houston Symphony is grateful to the M.D. Anderson Foundation, a dedicated supporter since the 1970s, for supporting the Symphony’s grand scale musical projects and helping us adapt to pandemic challenges. Founded by Monroe Dunaway Anderson in 1936, the Foundation is renowned for its role in creating the Texas Medical Center and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and supports organizations enhancing the quality of life for Houstonians. The Houston Symphony thanks the Trustees of the Foundation for its decades of support and salutes them for their service to our city.

YOUNG ASSOCIATES LEADERSHIP

Justin Stenberg, Chair

Laurel Flores, Vice Chair

Lindsay Buchanan Fisher, Communications Chair

Liana Schwaitzberg, Membership Chair