Dynamic Violin Star Karen Gomyo Returns To Houston

Captivating violin virtuoso Karen Gomyo and guest conductor Fabien Gabel mark their return engagements with the Houston Symphony in a program featuring works by Tchaikovsky and two selections from iconic film scores. Titled Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, the program is at 8 p.m., Oct. 26-27, and 2:30 p.m. Oct. 28.

Gomyo joins Gabel and the Houston Symphony to take on the demanding and challenging concerto that gives this program its name. Once deemed unplayable, Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto has gone on to become a beloved cornerstone of the violin repertoire and is one of the most popular and best-known of violin concertos.

Current Music Director of the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, Gabel opens the program with Bernard Herrmann's Vertigo Suite, from Hitchcock's psychological thriller Vertigo. Evoking Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Hermann's score masterfully paints a musical portrait of the film's protagonist (played by Jimmy Stewart) and his uncontrollable amorous obsession.

Based on Shakespeare's play The Tempest, Gabel continues the second half with Tchaikovsky's symphonic tone poem The Tempest, and concludes with the swash-buckling thrill ride of Korngold's Suite from the classic Errol Flynn action film The Sea Hawk, the second film score featured in the concert.

Prior to each concert, audience members can enjoy an intimate chamber music performance of select movements from Korngold's Piano Quintet in E major, Op. 15.

Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, sponsored by Rand Group, takes 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 2018-19 season, the Houston Symphony celebrates its fifth 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.