Maestro's Notes

We are kicking off the second half of our season with some great masterpieces of the Romantic and American music periods concluding what has been an exciting year! Our third Classics Series concert will begin with a familiar epic work of Johannes Brahms, his Academic Festive Overture. When one uses the title “Overture,” you expect either an opera or symphony to follow. Brahms, actually wrote this … [Read more...] about Maestro’s Notes: The Romantic Spirit of Music

We are excited to be featuring one of our exceptional orchestra members for this concert.    Violist Whitney Bullock has been with SOST for over 10 years. In addition to her extensive freelancing in the Houston area, she also works as the Education and Outreach Director for the Apollo Chamber Players with fellow violinist, Matthew Detrick. The viola has a beautiful, round, resonant … [Read more...] about Maestro’s Notes: A Celebration of Mozart, Rossini and SOST!

The music of Billy Joel and Elton John are classic pop standards   of our generation. While it would be great to bring both superstars to play with our orchestra, we are featuring the music of Jeans ‘n Classics  as a great alternative.  I have performed with this group last year in New Haven, CT and they rocked our concerts to standing ovations.  Jean Meilleur and John … [Read more...] about Maestro’s Notes: The Piano Man meets the Rocket Man

We are opening the season with two celebrated masterpieces in the symphonic repertoire. Philippe Bianconi will be sharing the stage with our Symphony of Southeast Texas on the Concerto No. 5 by Ludwig van Beethoven. Philippe has played with the SOST and in the community on numerous occasions, always leaving the audience thrilled by his performances. This Fifth Piano Concerto of Beethoven was a … [Read more...] about Maestro’s Notes: The Titans of the Classics

People often ask me what does the SOST do during the summer months. There’s really two perspectives: Our musicians, in addition to the upcoming July 4th concert, will perform with other orchestras in Houston and Southeast TX, which keeps them pretty busy. As for me and the staff, this is planning time- we review all of our feedback on concerts, then begin to set programs for future … [Read more...] about Maestro’s Notes: Summer!

We have had an amazing season this year for the Symphony of Southeast Texas. There have been many highlights with the music and the guest artists who have joined us on stage. We are going to conclude our season with a program that we are calling French Pairings. All three pieces on the program are by French composers. We will open the program with the Bacchanale from the opera Samson and Dalila … [Read more...] about Maestro’s Notes: French Pairings

This is such an exciting time for the Symphony of Southeast Texas. We got our 2019 portion of the season off to a rollicking start with our Classics 3 program that featured a breathtaking performance of the Grieg Piano concerto with Claire Huangci lighting up the stage with her musical abilities. Then we followed that up with a reading of Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 2, which had not been played by … [Read more...] about Maestro’s Notes: An Evening with The Texas Tenors

Happy New Year! This first concert of 2019 features two masterpieces of the Romantic era from two different portions of the world: Edvard Grieg from Norway and Russian master Sergiu Rachmaninoff. Grieg’s famous Piano Concerto has special memories for me, during this Anniversary year, as it was one of the works featured on my audition concert over ten years ago! That performance was … [Read more...] about Maestro’s Notes: Passionate Portraits