June 6-24 Festival, Only in Houston—80+ Young Musicians from Across the Globe PLUS:
✓ Free Concerts Every Week
✓ New Piano Recital Series with Houston’s Own Mega-Star Amy Yang
✓ Newly-Merged Cynthia Woods Mitchell-Ima Hogg Young Artist Competition—
A Chance to Witness Tomorrow’s Stars Today! (“I heard them when…”)
The Texas Music Festival (TMF) kicks off on June 6 at the University of Houston, with nearly three weeks of not-to-be-missed concerts, LOTS of free music, a competition for young stars-in-the-making, and a recital by internationally acclaimed pianist Amy Yang, who grew up in Houston.
By day, TMF is one of the nation’s premier summer training programs for young orchestral musicians. By night, Houstonians can enjoy more than a dozen concerts showcasing TMF’s young musicians playing alongside a host of today’s most talented performers coming off engagements in New York, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, London, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Tokyo, Sydney, and more. PLUS: Many of the concerts are FREE, and the highest-priced ticket is only $30.
“Presenting classical music’s rising stars along with internationally-renowned conductors, guests, and artist teachers is what makes TMF special, both for its audiences and the young professional-level performers whose lives are changed,” says Alan Austin, TMF’s general and artistic director.
Highlights of the 2023 festival include:
- The brand-new Sharon Ley Lietzow Piano Series, featuring the return of Ukrainian pianist Vadym Kholodenko and the TMF debuts of Houston’s own Amy Yang and African American pianist Awadagin Pratt.
- Introduction of the newly-merged Cynthia Woods Mitchell-Ima Hogg Young Artist Competition, a powerhouse combination that will uncover today’s most talented 12 musicians on their way to stardom.
- Total of 15 Events—including 5 FREE events—the whole family can enjoy!
It is a testament to TMF’s reputation that hundreds of orchestral students aged 18-30 audition to join TMF every year. The 80+ students who made the cut this year hail from nearly 20 U.S. states, Chile, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Taiwan, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. Many are students at prominent music schools, e.g., Oberlin, Eastman, Juilliard, Northwestern, Indiana University, Cleveland Institute of Music, Mannes School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and the New England Conservatory of Music.
In addition to being outstanding musicians, some Fellows (TMF participants) have unique side pursuits/careers, as diverse as racing motorcycles, volunteer-firefighting, crafting and selling instrument parts, being a cartoonist, writing a vegan cookbook, playing in a mariachi band, teaching drum corps, and studying molecular biology.
The Fellows spend three weeks in Houston in daily rehearsals, private lessons, master classes, and concerts. They learn from the festival’s faculty, performers, and conductors, who are at the top of their fields. This rigorous experience helps them hone their craft and open doors for their careers. And with the addition of a new series this year (the Sharon Ley Lietzow Piano Series), students will be exposed to an even more diverse repertoire than in past years. Artists on the brand-new Sharon Ley Lietzow Piano Series (June 6, 13, 20):
Gold medalist of the 2013 Cliburn Competition, pianist Vadym Kholodenko won Texans’ hearts and was immediately appointed FWSO’s first Artist in Partnership for three years. Elsewhere in the U.S., he has given recitals in New York, Washington, Boston, and at the Aspen Music Festival, and he has performed with the orchestras of Philadelphia, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and San Diego, among others. In Europe, he has played with orchestras in London, Glasgow, Bordeaux, Luxembourg, Malmö (Sweden), Oslo, Prague, and Madrid. He has given recitals in Vienna, London, Budapest, Paris, Lucerne, and Warsaw. Farther away, he has given recitals in Beijing, Singapore, and throughout Japan. He has also performed with orchestras in Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, and Sydney, and he recently toured Japan with the Prague RSO. Kholodenko was born in Kiev, Ukraine, and he gave his first concerts at the age of 13 in the U.S., China, Hungary, and Croatia.
Among his generation of concert artists, pianist Awadagin Pratt is acclaimed for his musical insight and intensely involving performances in recital and with symphony orchestras. Born in Pittsburgh, Pratt began studying piano at the age of six. Three years later, having moved to Normal, Illinois with his family, he also began studying violin. At the age of 16, he entered the University of Illinois where he studied piano, violin, and conducting. He subsequently enrolled at the Peabody Conservatory of Music where he became the first student in the school’s history to receive diplomas in three performance areas – piano, violin and conducting. In recognition of this achievement and for his work in the field of classical music, Mr. Pratt received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Johns Hopkins as well as an honorary doctorate from Illinois Wesleyan University after delivering the commencement address in 2012. He also brought classical music to young children everywhere by playing piano solos for Big Bird and friends on Sesame Street.
Solo pianist, chamber musician, and pedagogue Amy Yang recently premiered Richard Danielpour’s “Four Portraits” at the Curtis Institute of Music (where she is Associate Dean of Piano Studies and Artistic Initiatives) and played Schumann’s Piano Concerto with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä at the Kimmel Center. She frequently collaborates with other musicians, including Anne-Marie McDermott, Yefim Bronfman, Paul Neubauer, and the Dover Quartet at Bravo! Vail; Jasper String Quartet in piano quintets by Tania Léon and Joan Tower (and a solo recital) honoring Philadelphia Chamber Music Society’s 35th season; and touring with Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Tito Muñoz, and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Additional collaborations have been with composer Michael Hersch and performers Roberto Díaz, Kim Kashkashian, Tessa Lark, Joseph Silverstein, Guarneri String Quartet, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, A Far Cry, and many others. Featured in an episode with Emmy® Award-winning producer Jim Cotter of PBS’s show Articulate, Ms. Yang grew up in Houston and is an alumnus of Curtis, Juilliard, and Yale.
Conductors of the Festival Orchestra concerts (June 10, 17, 24):
American born and trained, conductor and TMF music director Franz Anton Krager has triumphed at home and abroad with engagements in Copenhagen, Leipzig, Moscow, Guangzhou (China), Sydney, the Hague, Guadalajara, Berlin, London, Chicago, Paris, Singapore, Leipzig, and Honolulu, among others. A champion of young musicians, he co-founded Virtuosi of Houston, he taught and conducted at Interlochen for nearly a decade, and he serves as Artist-in-Residence at The Kinkaid School and Evaluator/Clinician for the Orchestra America National Festival. Maestro Krager is also the Hourani Endowed Professor of Music, Director of Orchestras, and Chair of the Conducting Department at the University of Houston Moores School of Music. Under his guidance, the Moores School Orchestra has risen to prominence: it is heard frequently on National Public Radio and has commercially recorded music by Thomas Fortmann, Percy Grainger, Michael Horvit, Peter Lieuwen, Robert Nelson, and Stephen Shewan on the Divine Art (Métier), Albany, MSR Classics, and Newport labels.
Internationally recognized American conductor Gerard Schwarz serves as Music Director of the All-Star Orchestra, Eastern Music Festival, Palm Beach Symphony, and Mozart Orchestra of New York. He also is Conductor Laureate of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra (after a quarter-century as music director), Conductor Emeritus of the Mostly Mozart Festival, and Distinguished Professor of Music, Conducting, and Orchestral Studies of the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and Music Director of its orchestra. His discography of 350+ albums showcases his collaborations with orchestras in Philadelphia, London, Berlin, Paris, Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York, and many others. An advocate for American music, Maestro Schwarz has commissioned works from 26 American symphony composers. In 2017, Amadeus Press released his book Behind the Baton, and Naxos released The Gerard Schwarz Collection 30-CD box set.
Originally a trumpet player, Maestro Schwarz is also a gifted composer and arranger whose works have been premiered by ensembles across the U.S., Europe, and Korea.
American conductor Andrew Grams has led orchestras in Philadelphia, New York, Washington D.C., Houston, Dallas, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, London, Paris, Barcelona, Sydney, Melbourne, Hong Kong, and The Hague. He recently concluded eight years as music director of Elgin Symphony Orchestra (Chicago). Also an educator, Maestro Grams has worked with orchestras at the Curtis Institute of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, Indiana University, Roosevelt University, the National Orchestral Institute (Maryland), and the Amsterdam Conservatorium. He served three seasons as Assistant Conductor with the preeminent Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Möst and has returned for several engagements. He began studying the violin at age eight, earned a degree in violin performance (Juilliard), played six seasons in the NYC Ballet Orchestra, and has performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and Brooklyn Philharmonic, among others. He also earned a conducting degree (Curtis), after which he was selected for two consecutive summers to study at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen.