Transforming Today's World Magazine - JAN 2014 Special Edition Vol 5 Issue 3 | Page 20

Houston Symphony Centennial: Celebrating
100 Years of Great Music!

G

reat music creates excitement; and there is a lot of
excitement around Houston Symphony this year! The
Symphony is currently celebrating their Centennial Season
and last January announced that brilliant Andrés OrozcoEstrada would be their new Music Director. OroscoEstrada is an incredibly talented Colombian conductor who received his
training in Vienna and brings a world of talent and sophistication to this
renowned and highly respected symphony.100 years of music has resulted
in a musical treasure that is one of Houston’s most valued gems. The
Symphony’s 2013-2014 season defies the imagination and will surely
produce the sound of thousands of bravos echoing through the magnificent
Wortham Center. This highly diverse and technically profound symphony
will host the World Premiere of La Triste Historia. Oscar winning
composer John Williams conducts his popular film music, to be joined
by Cellist Yo-Yo Ma performing the Cello Concerto Williams wrote
especially for the great Cellist. The Symphony will produce 4 Concerts by
Music Director Designate Andrés Orozco-Estrada. Orozco-Estrada will

perform the Houston Symphony’s popular past commissions, The Planets;
An HD Odyssey and The Earth; An HD Odyssey (formerly Orbit) which
combines popular symphonic pieces with high definition film that features
NASA images from various space explorations. The Symphony will host
many other popular classical artists including Emanuel Ax, John Adams
(conducting his own music) James Gaffigan, Yefim Bronfman and many,
many more. But where would classical music be without Pop Music?! The
Houston Symphony proudly presents an amazing array of some of the best
Pop artists in the world! Audiences will be wowed by Pop artists Megan
Hilty from Smash, Sean Saves the World, and Chris Botti. Now if that
wasn’t enough, The Pops Finale will be hosted by super-star Sigourney
Weaver! Houston Symphony is the classical super-star of Texas and is
throwing a 100 year Centennial celebration that will set the stage for
another 100 years of phenomenal music. TTW salutes one of the finest
symphonies in the world and passionately celebrates with the great city of
Houston as they usher in another 100 years of greatness! Bravo Houston
Symphony- Bravo!

HOUSTON SYMPHONY NAMES ANDRÉS OROZCO-ESTRADA
AS NEW MUSIC DIRECTOR
announcement event streamed live over the
internet.
Mayor Parker said, “The City of Houston is
thrilled to welcome Andrés as Music Director of
our world-class Houston Symphony. Houston is a
city filled with dynamic, talented, hard-working,
and optimistic people. I congratulate the Houston
Symphony for finding a Music Director who
shares those traits and whose personal story fits
right into our widely diverse and international
community.”

Houston Symphony President Robert A. Peiser
and Executive Director and CEO Mark C.
Hanson proudly announce that the Houston
Symphony has selected Colombian-born, Viennatrained conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada as its
next Music Director. Orozco-Estrada, who will
occupy the Roy and Lillie Cullen Chair, will serve
as Music Director Designate during the 2013-14
season and will begin a five-year contract in the
2014-15 season. Orozco-Estrada’s appointment
was formally announced on the Jones Hall stage
in front of several hundred people, including the
orchestra, staff, board, local media and Houston’s
Mayor, the Honorable Annise D. Parker as the

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Orozco-Estrada, 35, was born in Medellin,
Colombia, and began his musical studies in violin.
He first conducted at age 15 when he was asked to
lead his youth orchestra, and at 19 years old and
speaking only Spanish, Orozco-Estrada traveled
alone to Vienna in further pursuit of his studies
of the art form. He entered the renowned Vienna
Music Academy where he studied with Uroš
Lajovic, pupil of the legendary Hans Swarowsky
(student of Felix Weingartner, Richard Strauss,
Schoenberg and Webern). He completed his
degree with distinction, conducting the Vienna
Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Vienna
Musikverein. Currently, Orozco-Estrada is the
Music Director of the Tonkünstler Orchestra,
which also performs at the Vienna Musikverein,
and served as Principal Conductor of the Basque
National Orchestra (Orquesta Sinfónica de
Euskadi) in San Sebastián, Spain, a position that
he relinquished in May 2013. Orozco-Estrada is
a dynamic young conductor, intensely musical,

technically consummate, and detailed in his
preparation and rehearsals. In concert, he radiates
on the podium and has a special talent for sharing
his admiration of music with his audience.
With a South American heritage and European
training steeped in the Viennese tradition,
Orozco-Estrada is particularly noted for his
performances of classical and Romantic Central
European symphonic repertoires. He is also
passionate about innovative concert formats and
the performance of contemporary music, choral
works, and opera. Off the podium, he is sincere,
warm and approachable. A natural communicator,
Orozco-Estrada is fluent in Spanish, German
and English, and is the Houston Symphony’s
first Hispanic music director. Orozco-Estrada
made his debut with the Vienna Philharmonic in
the Musikverein in 2010, replacing Esa-Pekka
Salonen, and in 2012 he returned t