Hans Graf to Conduct Houston Symphony in Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony Performance, 11/29-12/1

On November 29, 30 and December 1, Conductor Laureate Hans Graf returns to Houston to lead the Symphony in a performance featuring Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony and pianist Ingrid Fliter performing Mozart's achingly beautiful Piano Concerto No. 23, known for the hummable melodies of its "Adagio." Right around the Thanksgiving holiday, concertgoers are encouraged to bring the friends and family they are thankful for to these concerts.

Beethoven wrote to a friend, "no one can love the country as much as I do. For surely woods, trees and rocks produce the echo that man desires to hear." Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony reflects sounds of nature with its musical depiction of the countryside, sweet birdsongs, the first drops of an unexpected storm, violent thunderclaps and the joyous return of the sun.

Distinguished Austrian conductor Hans Graf is one of today's most highly respected musicians. Graf concluded his 12-year tenure as Music Director of the Houston Symphony in May 2013, and he currently holds the title of Conductor Laureate. In addition to this weekend's performances, he will return in April 2013 to conduct the orchestra again during its momentous Centennial Season.

Prior to his appointment in Houston, he was the Music Director of the Calgary Philharmonic for eight seasons and held the same post with the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine for six years.

He also led the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra (1984-1994). Graf's recent and upcoming guest engagements include appearances with the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, the Boston, San Francisco, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Detroit, Dallas, Baltimore, Vancouver, Milwaukee and National symphonies and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, among others.

Graf made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Houston Symphony in January 2006, and they were invited to return twice: in January 2010, for the New York premiere of The Planets - An HD Odyssey and in May 2012 to participate in Carnegie's Spring for Music Festival. In October 2010, Graf led the Houston Symphony on a tour of the UK, and in June 2012, Graf and the Houston Symphony, became the first major American orchestra to appear at the Festival of World Symphony Orchestras in Moscow.

Born near Linz, Hans Graf first studied violin and piano. After receiving diplomas in piano and conducting from the Musikhochschule in Graz, he continued his studies in Italy with Franco Ferrara and Sergui Celibadache and in Russia with Arvid Jansons. Graf has been awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre de la Legion d'Honneur by the French government for championing French music around the world as well as the Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria. He is a Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the University Mozarteum Salzburg.

Argentine pianist Ingrid Fliter has won the admiration and hearts of audiences around the world for her passionate yet thoughtful and sensitive music making played with an effortless technique. Winner of the 2006 Gilmore Artist Award, one of only a handful of pianists and the only woman to have received this honor, Fliter divides her time between North America and Europe.

Fliter made her American orchestral debut with the Atlanta Symphony, just days after the announcement of her Gilmore award. Since then, she has appeared with the Cleveland and Minnesota Orchestras, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco, Toronto, St. Louis, National, Detroit, Atlanta, Dallas, Cincinnati, Vancouver and Seattle symphonies among others, as well as at the Mostly Mozart, Grant Park, Aspen, Ravinia and Blossom festivals. Equally busy as a recitalist, Ms. Fliter has performed in New York at Zankel Hall in Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Museum and the 92nd Street Y, at Chicago's Orchestra Hall and in Boston, San Francisco, Vancouver and Detroit as well as for the Van Cliburn Foundation in Fort Worth.

In Europe and Asia, Fliter has performed with orchestras and in recital in Amsterdam, London, Berlin, Frankfurt, Salzburg, Cologne, and Tokyo and participated in festivals such as La Roque D'Antheron, Prague Autumn and The World Pianist Series in Tokyo. Recent engagements abroad include appearances with the Rotterdam, Israel, Hong Kong, Monte Carlo, Osaka, Helsinki and Royal Liverpool Philharmonics, the BBC Symphony and Philharmonia in London, and the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra; as well as recitals in Paris, Barcelona, Milan, Prague, Tokyo, Sydney and in London at both Wigmore Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Highlights of Fliter's 2013-14 season include re-engagements with the Houston, Milwaukee and Indianapolis Symphonies as well as her debut with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; performing all five Beethoven concertos with the Puerto Rico Symphony in San Juan; return appearances with the city of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Stockholm Philharmonic and the Sydney Symphony as well as debuts with the Royal Flanders and Brussels Philharmonics; and her fourth recital at London's Wigmore Hall.

Born in Buenos Aires in 1973, Fliter began her piano studies in Argentina with Elizabeth Westerkamp. In 1992, she moved to Europe where she continued her studies in Freiburg with VitAly Margulis, in Rome with Carlos Bruno and with Franco Scala and Boris Petrushansky at the Academy "Incontrui col Maestro" in Imola, Italy. Fliter began playing public recitals at the age of 11 and made her professional orchestra debut at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires at the age of 16. Already the winner of several Argentine competitions, she went on to win prizes at the Cantu International Competition and the Ferruccio Busoni Competition in Italy and in 2000 was awarded the silver medal at the Frederic Chopin Competition in Warsaw.

In June 2013, Fliter recorded both Chopin concertos with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Jun Maerkl for Linn Records and in January 2014, she records the complete Chopin Preludes for the same label. Her two all-Chopin recordings for EMI earned her the reputation as one of the pre-eminent interpreters of that composer while her most recent EMI recording is an all-Beethoven CD featuring the Pathetique and Appassionata sonatas. Live recordings of Fliter performing works by Beethoven and Chopin at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam as well as a DVD of a recital at the Miami International Piano Festival are available on the VAI Audio label.