Profile: Thomas Dausgaard

Thomas Dausgaard
(photo by Per Morten Abrahamsen)

This Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, our Houston Symphony will perform with a leading candidate for the position of its next music director: Thomas Dausgaard.

On the program will be Beethoven's Leonore Overture No. 3, Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 with Stephen Hough at the piano, and Nielsen Symphony No. 4, subtitled The Inextinguishable.

Follow the links for some exemplar performances.

I'm a huge fan of the Nielsen, and Leonore 3 is always a good way to get going with a bang. Liszt makes about three war horse concerti in a row, but they are war horses for a reason.

So get out there, buy some tickets, and listen for yourself.

Looking at the list of contenders before the season, Thomas Dausgaard is one that I would have rated as highly probable to be able to fill the role of music director. But as I've said before, its a very curious business trying to hire an alchemist.

So after the jump, let's take a look at some of what can be known before the music is heard.

Profile: Alexander Shelley

Alexander Shelley

Next on the podium of your Houston Symphony is Alexander Shelley, who will conduct Bartok Violin Concerto No. 2 (with Augustin Hadelich as soloist) and Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5.

***UPDATE*** Mr. Hadelich had his travel plans disrupted by Sandy the Snowicane. Our own concertmaster, Frank Huang, has swooped in to save the day. Instead of Bartok, it will be an all Tchaikovsky evening with Huang performing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto.

(Follow the links to view some exemplar performance).

So, for two weeks in a row, the soloist with our orchestra come from the orchestra itself. Bravo.

Now, on to the conductor.

Alexander Shelley, a good looking young chap from Great Britain, is one of a new type of artist that seems much more prevalent since I disconnected from classical music a couple of decades ago.

After the jump, a warning about me and my biases. With any luck, a little objective background too on the training and experience that Mr. Shelley brings to the task at hand this week.

Profile: Andrés Orozco-Estrada

Andrés Orozco-Estrada

This week brings another contender to our Houston Symphony for a series of four performances to include Strauss' First Horn Concerto with principal hornist William Vermeulen and Berlioz's Symphony Fantastique.

That contender is Andrés Orozco-Estrada. I don't mind saying I'm a little excited, and its not just because I have a thing for Vienna and its musicians. 

My excitement is not quite the Chris Matthews thrill up my leg. Unlike Matthews, I'm not looking for a messiah. But there are lots of traces in this contender's background that give me reason to hope that he's the real deal. And if he is the real deal, he ought to be topping the short list. 

After the jump, some pros, some cons and some examples of why Orozco-Estrada's conducting that make me sit up and take notice.