Join the Texas Music Festival Orchestra June 22 at 8 p.m. as they perform a free concert titled German Masters. More than 100 gifted musicians from around the world are showcased in the concert at The Pavilion this summer, under the direction of Lavard Skou-Larsen. The concert is in conjunction with the Immanuel & Helen Olshan Texas Music Festival and showcases German composers Richard Strauss and Johannes Brahms. Tickets are not required. Gates open at 7 p.m. The event is sponsored in part by Houston Community Newspapers and The Courier.
Celebrate the German culture as the Texas Music Festival Orchestra performs Strauss' "Death and Transfiguration," Op. 24, and Brahms' Symphony No. 3 under the direction of Lavard Skou-Larsen. Strauss' "Death and Transfiguration" is based on his concept that a symphonic work can arise from a single formative poetic idea, in this case a young man, an idealist who is struck down by a terrible illness, his ambition lost and youth destroyed, portrayed by the urgency and vibrancy of the music. Brahms' Symphony No. 3 was written in the summer of 1883, nearly six years after he completed his second symphony. In the interim, Brahms wrote some of his greatest masterpieces. Symphony No. 3 is the shortest of Brahms' four symphonies.
Finalists of the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Young Artist Competition will be announced at the concert. All finalists receive a medal for their efforts, as well as a cash award. The winner of the competition Xiao Wang will perform Sibelius's Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 47.
The University of Houston Moore's School of Music sponsors the Texas Music Festival's intensive four-week program that allows young musicians from all parts of the world to not only perform together, but also compete against each other. Known as the Orchestral Fellows, participants, chosen by competitive live and recorded auditions, are advanced students and young professional musicians who come from throughout the U.S., Europe, Mexico, Asia, Canada, Central and South America. Participants study and rehearse under the guidance of an international faculty of artists, teachers and conductors.
At German Masters, have a picnic in your seat or on the hill. Free lawn chairs also are available for this and other applicable performing arts events. Keep in mind that beverages cannot be brought into The Pavilion. Sitting on the hill? Lawn chairs also are provided free for this event!
