MUSIC

The Houston Symphony presents Pictures at an Exhibition, Friday-Saturday, November 26-27 at 8pm, and Sunday, November 28 at 2:30pm. Take a stroll through an orchestral gallery of musical paintings. Let your imagination soar through depictions of mythical creatures, ruins, the famous Tuileries Gardens in Paris and underground catacombs. Finally, find yourself at the Great Gate of Kiev.

Susanna Mälkki (Guest Conductor, pictured) has very quickly become a much sought after artist on the international conducting circuit. Her versatility and broad repertoire have taken her to symphony orchestras, chamber orchestras, contemporary music ensembles and opera houses around the world. She is currently Music Director of the Ensemble intercontemporain, having been Artistic Director of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra until late 2005.

In recent seasons Susanna Mälkki has conducted many prestigious orchestras including Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Münchner Philharmoniker, Boston Symphony Orchestra and the NDR Sinfonieorchester. She has also worked with the Wiener Symphoniker, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.

Susanna Mälkki made her debut with the Ensemble intercontemporain in August 2004 with an all-Birtwistle programme at the Luzern Festival. The concert was the catalyst for her appointment as Music Director in 2006, and in March 2007 she conducted the Ensemble’s 30th anniversary concert with Pierre Boulez and Peter Eötvös.

A former student at the Sibelius Academy, Susanna Mälkki studied with Jorma Panula and Leif Segerstam. Prior to her conducting studies, she had a successful career as a cellist and from 1995 to1998 she was one of the principals of the Göteborgs Symfoniker in Sweden. 

With a singular artistic vision that transcends musical fashions and trends, Stephen Hough (piano) is widely regarded as one of the most important and distinctive pianists of his generation. In recognition of his achievements, he was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2001, joining prominent scientists, writers and others who have made unique contributions to contemporary life.

Stephen Hough has appeared with most of the major European and American orchestras and plays recitals regularly in the major halls and concert series around the world. He is also a guest at festivals such as Salzburg, Mostly Mozart, Aspen, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Blossom, Hollywood Bowl, Edinburgh, Aldeburgh and the BBC Proms, where he has made over 15 concerto appearances. Recent engagements include performances with the New York and London Philharmonics, the London and San Francisco Symphonies, a US tour with the Russian National Orchestra led by Vladimir Jurowski, and a worldwide televised performance with the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle.

In 2009 Hough played recitals in the Royal Festival Hall as well as becoming the first British instrumentalist to give a solo recital on the main stage of Carnegie Hall in nearly 20 years. He also performed all of the works for piano and orchestra of Tchaikovsky over four BBC Proms and will return to the Chicago Symphony in 2010/11 to play the same Tchaikovsky cycle over six concerts. Other engagements include appearances with the orchestras of Pittsburgh, Madrid, Los Angeles, Budapest, Montreal, Houston, Gothenberg, Cleveland and Philadelphia, amongst others.

An exclusive Hyperion recording artist, many of Stephen Hough’s catalogue of over 50 CDs have garnered international prizes, including the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, Diapason d’or, Monde de la musique, several Grammy nominations, and eight Gramophone Magazine Awards, including ‘Record of the Year’ in 1996 and 2003, and the Gramophone ‘Gold Disc’ Award in 2008, which named his complete Saint-Saëns Piano Concertos as the best recording of the past 30 years. His 2005 live recording of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos became the fastest selling recording in Hyperion's history, while his 1987 recording of Hummel concertos is Chandos' best-selling disc to date. His most recent releases are the Complete Works for Piano and Orchestra by Tchaikovsky with the Minnesota Orchestra led by Osmo Vänskä, and a Chopin recital: 'Late Masterpieces'.

Stephen Hough is also an avid writer and composer. In addition to scholarly and critically-acclaimed CD liner notes and articles for music publications, he has written for The Guardian, The Times, and was invited by the Telegraph Media Group in December 2008 to start a cultural blog. Hough has written extensively about theology for the print media and has been interviewed on two special guest-edited episodes of BBC Radio 4’s The Today Programme by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor and Baroness Shirley Williams. Hough’s book, The Bible as Prayer, was published by Continuum and Paulist Press in 2007.

Earlier in 2007, Hough’s cello concerto 'The Loneliest Wilderness' was premiered by Steven Isserlis and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and two choral works - Mass of Innocence and Experience and Missa Mirabilis - were performed at London’s Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral respectively. In January 2009, Hough’s trio, Was mit den Tränen geschieht, commissioned by members of the Berlin Philharmonic, received its world premiere at the Berlin Philharmonie. A string sextet, Requiem Aeternum: after Victoria, was commissioned by the National Gallery for their major autumn 2009 exhibition, The Sacred Made Real: Spanish Painting and Sculpture 1600-1700. Hough has also published numerous compositions with Josef Weinberger Ltd.

A resident of London, Stephen Hough is a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London and holds the International Chair of Piano Studies at his alma mater, the Royal Northern College in Manchester.

Scheduled Program:
Ravel: Le tombeau de Couperin
Grieg: Piano Concerto
Mussorgsky/Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition

Artists:
Susanna Mälkki, conductor
Stephen Hough, piano