THE RITE OF SPRING 3D Makes Debut In American Concert Hall

The Houston Symphony and Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada are teaming up with media artist, director and composer Klaus Obermaier and Ars Electronica Futurelab for an innovative and visual performance of The Rite of Spring May 18-19 at 8 p.m. and May 20 at 2:30 p.m. Renowned pianist Emanuel Ax is also featured in this last classical subscription concert of the 2017-18 season.

Created by Obermaier, the Rite of Spring 3D is an ambitious 21st-century staging of the infamous ballet that uses real-time technology to turn the movements of a solo dancer into virtual objects. With the help of stereoscopic cameras and 3D glasses, audiences will be immersed in a highly-visual concert experience that combines dance and digital art while matching the power and impact of this highly-controversial work.

Dance, music and 3D technology

Several stereoscopic cameras - which simulate human binocular vision - will capture the onstage movements of acclaimed contemporary dancer Yuka Oishi as she responds to Stravinsky's wild music onstage, feeding into a complex computer system. This system will in turn generate and project 3D animations onto a giant screen suspended above the orchestra.

The orchestra's sounds - captured through microphones that are clipped to players' instruments - are integrated in the interactive process and relayed into the computer system, helping to influence the form, movement and complexity of the 3D projections of the virtual space and those of the dancer, using the human body and movements of Oishi as a connection between reality and virtuality.

The Rite of Spring 3D is preceded by world-renowned pianist Emmanuel Ax who will open the concert with a lively chamber music performance of Mozart's delicate Quintet for Piano and Winds featuring Houston Symphony Principal Musicians Jonathan Fischer (oboe), Mark Nuccio (clarinet), Rian Craypo (bassoon), Bill VerMeulen (horn), as well as guest concertmaster Nikki Chooi. The concert concludes with Ax performing Mozart's refined Piano Concerto No. 27, his final work in the genre.

The concert will take place at Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, 615 Louisiana Street, in Houston's Theater District. For tickets and information, please call (713) 224-7575 or visit www.houstonsymphony.org. Tickets may also be purchased at the Houston Symphony Patron Services Center in Jones Hall (Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.). All programs and artists are subject to change.

About the Houston Symphony

During the 2017-18 season, the Houston Symphony celebrates its fourth season with Music Director Andrés Orozco- Estrada and continues its second century as one of America's leading orchestras with a full complement of concert, community, education, touring and recording activities. The Houston Symphony, one of the oldest performing arts organizations in Texas, held its inaugural performance at The Majestic Theater in downtown Houston June 21, 1913. Today, with an annual operating budget of $33.9 million, the full-time ensemble of 88 professional musicians presents nearly 170 concerts annually, making it the largest performing arts organization in Houston. Additionally, musicians of the orchestra and the Symphony's four Community-Embedded Musicians offer over 900 community-based performances each year, reaching thousands of people in Greater Houston.

The Grammy Award-winning Houston Symphony has recorded under various prestigious labels, including Naxos, Koch International Classics, Telarc, RCA Red Seal, Virgin Classics and, most recently, Dutch recording label Pentatone. In 2017, the Houston Symphony was awarded an ECHO Klassik award for the live recording of Alban Berg's Wozzeck under the direction of former Music Director Hans Graf. The orchestra earned its first Grammy nomination and Grammy Award at the 60th annual ceremony for the same recording in the Best Opera Recording category.

For tickets and more information, please visit www.houstonsymphony.org or call 713-224-7575.

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