Acclaimed Soprano Yulia Van Doren Accompanies Andrés Orozco-Estrada and the Houston Symphony

Whether it's your first or hundredth time to hear Mozart's Requiem, this dramatic composition, featured in the famed 1984 movie, Amadeus, never fails to evoke strong emotions. On November 20, 22 and 23, the Houston Symphony and Houston Symphony Chorus will perform this masterwork, which also marks the second installment of Music Director Andrés Orozco Estrada's 3 Weeks of Beethoven.

Soprano Yulia Van Doren will open with Beethoven's Overture to Coriolan, followed by the fierce Overture to Egmont. The Cleveland Plain Dealer calls Van Doren "...An artist possessed of a clear, mellifluous instrument and the rare ability to convey the literal and emotional core of each musical sentence." The Houston Symphony Chorus will sing throughout the vivid Requiem, culminating in the iconic Third Movement, Lacrimosa dies illa.

As the myth of what actually happened at the end of 1791 collides with reality, the intense composition will conclude with a "Requiem" you won't soon forget.

Audience members interested in learning more about the background of the music are invited to attend the free Prelude pre-concert discussion led by fine arts professor Ira J. Black, 45-minutes prior to the start of the concert.

Performances are: Thursday, November 20, 2014, 8:00pm, Saturday, November 22, 2014, 8:00pm, Sunday, November 23, 2014, 2:30pm.

Mozart: Requiem Tickets: from $25
Jones Hall615 Louisiana St. Houston, TX 77002
Andrés Orozco-Estrada, born in Colombia and trained in Vienna, is one of the most sought after conductors of his generation. He begins his tenure as the Houston Symphony's 15th Music Director in September 2014.
In addition to his appointment in Houston, Andrés will take up the position of chief conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra during the 2014-15 season and will become principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra beginning in the 2015-16 season. Since the 2009-10 season, he has held the post of music director of the Tonkünstler Orchestra Niederösterreich, one of the most important institutions of traditional Austrian music culture, which holds subscription series at the Vienna Musikverein and is orchestra-in-residence at the Grafenegg Festival. He will conclude his tenure with the Tonkünstler Orchestra in summer 2015. From 2009 through 2013, Andrés was also principal conductor at the Basque National Orchestra in San Sebastián, Spain.

As a guest conductor, he regularly works with the world's most prominent orchestras, including the Vienna, Munich, London, Rotterdam, Royal Stockholm and La Scala Philharmonic Orchestras; Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra; Mahler Chamber Orchestra; London, City of Birmingham and Gothenburg Symphony Orchestras; the Santa Cecilia Orchestra in Rome; Radio Symphony Orchestra of Hamburg; the Orchestre National de France; Verbier Festival Orchestra; and the St. Louis and Oregon Symphonies.

Following his debut with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in 2010, Andrés was hailed "a brilliant stand-in" for Esa-Pekka Salonen and celebrated as an "eminent talent" by Austria's Wiener Zeitung and Die Presse. In November 2012, Andrés stepped in once again with just one rehearsal's notice to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic in the Musikverein for Riccardo Muti and was praised as a "stand-in worth his weight in gold" and "an inspired master of communication" by the Viennese daily newspapers Kurier and Der Standard. In the 2015-16 season, he will make his official debut with the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra on its subscription season. Born in 1977 in Medellín (Colombia), Andrés began his musical studies on the violin and had his first conducting lessons at age 15. In 1997, he moved to Vienna where he joined the conducting class of Uroš Lajovic, a pupil of the legendary Hans Swarowsky, at the renowned Vienna Music Academy and completed his degree with distinction by conducting the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Vienna Musikverein. The emphasis of his artistic work lies in the Romantic repertoire and Viennese classics. At the same time, Andrés shows a keen interest in contemporary music and regularly performs premieres of Austrian composers as well as compositions of Spanish and South American origin. He currently lives in Vienna.

About Yulia Van DorenRecognized by Opera Magazine as "a star-to-be" following her Lincoln Center debut, Russian-American soprano Yulia Van Doren maintains an extensive international performance schedule. After 2013 debuts with the Toronto, Nashville, Baltimore, Milwaukee and Albany Symphonies, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and two trips to the Netherlands for performances with the Radio Kamer Filharmonie, Ms. Van Doren continues her very busy performance schedule in 2014. Upcoming engagements include appearances with Music of the Baroque, Boston Baroque, the Columbus, Indianapolis and San Francisco Symphonies, and Washington D.C.'s Folger Consort. Ms. Van Doren's well-received artistic collaborations with Mark Morris also continue with a production of Handel's Acis and Galatea for New York City's Mostly Mozart Festival, conducted by Nicholas McGegan.

The only singer awarded a top prize in all four US Bach vocal competitions, she has been presented as a soloist by almost all of the North American early music festivals and orchestras. Her recordings include two Grammy-nominated opera recordings with the Boston Early Music Festival, and the world-premiere recording of Shostakovich's Orango, recorded with the LA Philharmonic and released by Deutsche Grammophon. Yulia is an Astral Artist, a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow, and a Beebe Grant recipient.

About Elizabeth DeShongIn the summer of 2012, Elizabeth DeShong sang the title role of Rossini's La Cenerentola, at the Glyndebourne Festival. Of that performance The Guardian wrote: . . "this is, quite simply, one of the great operatic performances. It is dominated by DeShong, whose voice combines a contralto opulence with blazing top notes and some of the most staggering coloratura you will ever hear . . . "
Ms. DeShong's operatic and orchestral engagements during the 2014/15 season will take her to the Canadian Opera Company for performances as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, the Orchestra of St. Luke's for Mendelssohn's Die erste Walpurgisnacht in Carnegie Hall, the Wiener Staatsoper for Angelina in La Cenerentola, and the Los Angeles Opera where she will perform Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. In addition, Ms. DeShong will sing Elgar's The Kingdom with the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, the Mozart Requiem with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and the role of Hermia in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Festival Aix en Provence.

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