Houston Symphony Celebrates with Handel's MESSIAH, 12/21-23
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Carrying on the Houston legacy of holiday seasons past, The Houston Symphony will perform Handel's Messiah on December 21, 22 and 23 at Jones Hall. This Symphony Special performance takes place in Jones Hall, 615 Louisiana St., Houston, Texas. SYMPHONY SPECIAL CONCERTS Matthew Halls has made his mark as one of today's leading young conductors, having made significant debuts in the United States with the Houston Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Detroit Symphony, and in Europe with the Tonkünstler Orchestra, Bach Collegium Stuttgart, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Berlin Radio Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Iceland Symphony, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. In 2011, he was named Artistic Director designate of the Oregon Bach Festival to replace founding director Helmuth Rilling following the 2013 Festival. Halls' eclectically designed orchestral programs span centuries, juxtaposing diverse composers such as Byrd, Britten, Gesualdo and Schoenberg. He also has an avowed passion for the 19th century Germanic and 20th century British repertoires, which he will be exploring in highly-anticipated returns to the Oregon Bach Festival, Colorado Symphony, National Symphony, RTE Dublin and the Bergen Philharmonic in the coming season. Forthcoming North American debuts include the Seattle and Columbus Symphonies, and a two-week engagement with the Minnesota Orchestra. In addition to his symphonic engagements, he's been a guest conductor with Colorado's Central City Opera for three successive summers, directing a premiere of his own edition of Handel's opera Amadigi di Gaula in 2011, Puccini's Madame Butterfly in 2010 and Handel's Rinaldo for his 2009 debut. About Gillian Kieth, soprano A past winner of the prestigious Kathleen Ferrier Award‚ she made her Royal Opera‚ Covent Garden debut as Zerbinetta in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos and has gone on to repeat the role with great success at Ópera de Oviedo and Welsh National Opera. Appearances this season and beyond include Philine in Thomas's Mignon‚ Iphis in Jephtha, Sylvie in Gounod's La Colombe‚ Tytania in A Midsummer Night's Dream‚ Tigrane in Radamisto and the Angel in Handel's La Resurrezione with Ars Lyrica Houston. This season's concert performances include a Ferrier Centenary Concert at the Wigmore Hall‚ Knussen's Symphony No. 2 with the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall‚ St Matthew Passion with Handel and Haydn Society in Boston and King of Egypt with the BBC Philharmonic. She has performed in concert throughout North America and Europe under leading conductors, including Sir John Eliot Gardiner‚ Daniele Gatti‚ Sir Richard Armstrong‚ Peter Schreier‚ Richard Hickox‚ Gianandrea Noseda‚ Harry Christophers and Sir Mark Elder. About Jay Carter, countertenor Carter made his Carnegie Hall debut in Messiah with Musica Sacra/Kent Tritle and recently made his Kennedy Center Debut with The National Symphony under the baton of Matthew Halls in Messiah. Recent appearances include Bach's St. Matthew Passion with the American Bach Soloists, Handel's Messiah with the National Symphony, Handel's Saul with Musica Vocale and the Kansas City Baroque Constortium, Bach's B minor Mass with the Choir of St. Thomas Church New York and the North American premiere of John Tavener's Lament for Jerusalem with the Choral Arts Society of Washington. He has worked with noted conductors including Simon Carrington, Arnold Epley, John Scott, Sir Philip Ledger, Nicholas McGegan and Helmuth Rilling. In the coming season Carter will make his Cleveland Orchestra debut under the baton of Ton Koopman as well as return engagements with The Kingsbury Ensemble, The Houston Symphony, The Choir of St. Thomas Church New York. About Chad Shelton, tenor Engagements with Opera National de Lorraine include Idomeneo, Cherubini's Médée, Carmen, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Eine florentinische Tragödie and Die Zauberflöte. Other career highlights include Ermione, Lysistrata, Little Woman, Glass' Apoamattox, Rigoletto and Lucia di Lammermoor, Romeo in Roméo et Juliette, Die Fledermaus and Fidelio, Blitzstein's Regina. Acclaimed for contemporary works, he created leading roles in Adamo's Lysistrata, Little Women and Catan's Salsipuedes. Equally in demand as a concert soloist, Shelton has joined the Minnesota Orchestra for Mozart's Requiem, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Janacek's The Diary of One Who Disappeared and the title role of Candide. He has performed with the Pacific Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Colorado Music Festival, Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Virginia Symphony Orchestra. About Brian Mulligan, baritone In the 2012-13 season, Mulligan will return to San Francisco Opera as the King's Herald in Lohengrin, Lyric Opera of Chicago as the Father in Hansel and Gretel, a debut with the Canadian Opera Company as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor and the title role of Hamlet with Minnesota Opera. Symphonic highlights include a debut with the Baltimore Symphony in Carmina Burana, Los Angeles Master Chorale in Brahms' Requiem and the West Coast premiere of Lieberson's The World in Flower conducted by Grant Gershon. On the concert stage, recent seasons included a Chicago Symphony debut in the world premiere performances of Songs for Adam, a cycle of meditations on Adam and Eve by composer James Primosch and poet Susan Stewart. Other highlights include Handel's Judas Maccabæus with Mo. Conlon and members of the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra, a debut with the Cleveland Orchestra in Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony; concert versions of Der Kaiser von Atlantis with Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic and The Ravinia Festival, Mendelssohn's Paulus with the Houston Symphony and Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Phoenix Symphony. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Mulligan has also been awarded a Richard Tucker Career Grant, a Sara Tucker Study Grant and the George London Prize. Mulligan holds dual citizenship in the United States and Ireland. About Charles Hausmann As director of graduate choral studies and professor of conducting at the University of Houston's Moores School of Music since 1985, Hausmann supervises the master's and doctoral programs in choral conducting, teaches choral conducting and literature and conducts the Moores School Choral Artists-a graduate chamber choir. An active church musician, he has conducted church choirs in Colorado, Kentucky, New Jersey and Texas. He currently serves as Director of Choral Music at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church in Houston where he led the Houston Symphony and Chorus in a performance of Mendelssohn's St. Paul in 2008. Hausmann frequently appears as a guest conductor, lecturer, clinician and soloist. He led the Chorus on its fourth European tour in 2007, appearing as guest conductor during the Prague Spring Festival. He and the Chorus share a 24-year collaboration with Mexico City's Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería, recently performing Mendelssohn's Elijah with former Associate Conductor, Carlos Miguel Prieto. About the Houston Symphony |
