Houston Symphony's Andres Orozco-Estrada to Offer Spanish Dialogue Concert Experience

On November 16 at 7:30pm, join Colombian-born Vienna-trained Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada and the Houston Symphony for a unique concert experience featuring Spanish language commentary and a performance of Beethoven's ever popular and extremely powerful Fifth Symphony. Through this new and innovative concert format, held at Rice University's intimate Stude Concert Hall, Hispanic audiences will have the chance to hear Andrés' insights into the music in their native tongue while having to the opportunity for questions and answers with the maestro following the performance.

Andres will be joined by fellow Colombian conductor Carlos Andrés Botero as co-host for the commentary portion of the program, which precedes a full performance of the attention-grabbing Fifth Symphony. This performance is part of the kick-off weekend of the Houston Symphony's "3 Weeks of Beethoven," which ends November 30, and begins a three-year cycle of all nine Beethoven symphonies.

This Spanish-language program is a preface to the 3-concert "Musically Speaking with Andrés" English commentary series, held at Rice University's Stude Concert Hall throughout this season, and integrates musical insights, examples, and Q&A sessions with performances of specific pieces of repertoire. Andrés' goal with this series is to deepen connections between the audience, the music, and the makers of music, providing insightful context that adds to the richness of the listening experience.

"You don't have to be an expert or already know all about the composers. Just give yourself the opportunity to open your eyes and ears, and see this beautiful universe that is an orchestra," Andrés says.
With this new concert format, Andrés hopes to further open the eyes and ears of new and veteran Symphony goers in order to connect more of Houston's diverse population to the power of live symphonic music in a direct way.

Following this November concert, the upcoming "Musically Speaking with Andrés" performances (featuring English commentary) will take place on January 15, 2015, March 12, 2015, and May 7, 2015. They will highlight Shostakovich's Symphony No. 12, Dvorák's Symphony No. 7, and Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra, respectively.