Next Week’s Sneak Peek:
Debuts by Pianist Awadagin Pratt and Conductor Gerard Schwarz
The first weekend of the 2023 Texas Music Festival (TMF) offers TWO amazing experiences: the first Festival Orchestra concert of the season (Sat 6/10), conducted by TMF Music Director Franz Anton Krager, AND the inaugural Cynthia Woods Mitchell-Ima Hogg Young Artist Competition (Sun 6/11), unifying the legacies of two of Houston’s most beloved arts matriarchs.
The competition is free to the public, and all attendees get to vote for the Audience Choice Award, helping jump-start the careers of tomorrow’s classical music stars!
Next week’s highlights: famed pianist Awadagin Pratt makes his TMF debut (Tues 6/13), as does conductor Gerard Schwarz (Sat 6/17), leading the Festival Orchestra in a concert including a special treat: the piece UMOJA (meaning “unity” in Swahili) by Grammy-nominated African American composer Valerie Coleman.
American pianist Awadagin Pratt is acclaimed for his musical insight and intensely involving performances in recital and with symphony orchestras. He was the first student at the Peabody Conservatory of Music to receive diplomas in three areas – piano, violin, and conducting. Mr. Pratt has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the symphonies of Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and Baltimore, among many others. Internationally, he has toured Japan four times and performed in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Israel, Columbia, and South Africa. He also brought classical music to children everywhere by performing piano solos for Big Bird and friends on Sesame Street.
American conductor Gerard Schwarz serves as Music Director of the All-Star Orchestra, Eastern Music Festival, Palm Beach Symphony, Mozart Orchestra of New York, and of the Frost School of Music’s orchestra at the University of Miami, where he serves as Distinguished Professor. He also has honorary posts at the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and Mostly Mozart Festival. His discography of 350+ albums showcases his collaborations with the world’s great orchestras, including Naxos’
30-CD box set, The Gerard Schwarz Collection. An advocate for American music, Maestro Schwarz has commissioned works from 26 American composers. He is also a composer and arranger whose works have been premiered by ensembles across the U.S., Europe, and Korea.
NEXT WEEK (WEEK 2):
TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 7:30PM
Sharon Ley Lietzow Piano Series**
Recital: AWADAGIN PRATT*
Naumberg prizewinner presents a fascinating program, exploring connections among seemingly disparate composers as Phillip Glass, Couperin, Vasks, and Tchaikovsky, ending with Liszt’s monumental Sonata in B Minor.
Program: Glass: Glassworks; Couperin: Les Barricades Mistérieuses; Vasks: Castillo Interior; Hersch: Nocturne for Left Hand; Rachmaninoff: Prélude in D; Chopin: Nocturne in B; Tchaikovsky/Pletnev: “Intermezzo” from The Nutcracker; Liszt: Sonata in B Minor
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 9:30AM FREE
Master Class: AWADAGIN PRATT, featuring Keyboard Academy participants.
THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 7:30PM
Faculty Chamber Music Concert
American/Russian: Faculty artists perform a program featuring American composers and Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet.
SATURDAY, JUNE 17 6:30PM, FREE
Pre-concert music: members of Virtuosi of Houston; Pre-concert lecture: Settling the Score, Dr. Andrew Davis
7:30PM
Festival Orchestra Concert GERARD SCHWARZ*, conductor
Longtime maestro of the Seattle Symphony, Gerard Schwarz, returns to Houston to lead an exciting program of music by 21st-century African-American composer Valerie Coleman, an arrangement of a tonally lush movement from a Webern string quartet, and Prokofiev’s searing Symphony No. 5.
Program: Coleman: UMOJA; Webern/Schwarz: Adagio (Langsamersatz); Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 in B-flat
WEEK 3 (FINAL WEEK):
TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 7:30PM
Sharon Ley Lietzow Piano Series**
Recital: AMY YANG*
Now a faculty member at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, Houston’s own Amy Yang has established an impressive career. She returns home for a program featuring music of Bach, Brahms, Schubert, Schumann, and her father Hua Yang.
Program: Bach: Toccata in D Minor; Yang: Piano Suite No. 2; Brahms: Hungarian Dances; Schubert: Impromptu No. 1; Schumann: Sonata in F Minor, Op. 14
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 9:30AM, FREE
Master Class: AMY YANG, featuring Keyboard Academy participants.
THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 7:30PM
Faculty Chamber Music
Fantastic Journey: Join our world tour, as faculty artists explore offerings from composers around the globe and close the series with Paul Schoenfield’s delightful Café Music.
* Texas Music Festival debut ** New this year
FRIDAY, JUNE 23 11AM, FREE
Keyboard Academy Ensemble Concert
7PM, FREE
Jazz Institute Orchestra Noe Marmolejo, director
Classic to contemporary big-band jazz, played by Houston high school all-stars from the TMF Jazz Institute.
SATURDAY, JUNE 24 12PM, FREE
Keyboard Academy Solo Piano Concert
2PM, Organ Recital Hall, FREE
Keyboard Academy Solo Organ Concert
6:30PM, FREE
Pre-concert music: members of Virtuosi of Houston; Pre-concert lecture: Settling the Score, Dr. Andrew Davis
7:30PM
Festival Orchestra
ANDREW GRAMS*, conductor
with 2023 Cynthia Woods Mitchell/Ima Hogg Young Artist Competition Winner, TBA
One of America’s most exciting young conductors, Andrew Grams, leads a program of virtuoso music for orchestra:
Berlioz’s Corsaire Overture and the iconic Symphony No. 3 by Aaron Copland. The winner of the Mitchell-Hogg Young Artist Competition joins the Festival Orchestra as soloist.
Program: Berlioz: Le Corsaire Overture; Copland: Symphony No. 3
* Texas Music Festival debut ** New this year
Locations: All 2023 events are located within the Moores School of Music on the University of Houston campus, 3333 Cullen Blvd at Elgin, entrance 16, 77204
More information: www.tmf.uh.edu
Tickets: www.uh.edu/artstickets or call box office (713-743-3388)
Season Subscriptions:
Full season pass (all 9 ticketed concerts): $175 ($125 student/senior) Orchestra Series (3 Saturdays): $75 ($55 student/senior)
Piano Series (3 Tuesdays): $50 ($36 student/senior)
Faculty Recital Series (3 Thursdays): $50 ($36 student/senior)
Individual Tickets:
Individual Orchestra Series Ticket: $30 ($18 student/senior) Individual Piano Series Ticket: $20 ($16 student/senior) Individual Faculty Recital Series Ticket: $20 ($16 student/senior)
