Legendary Violinist Itzhak Perlman Returns To Houston

Back by popular demand, violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman returns to the Houston Symphony for Perlman Plays & Conducts, featuring works by Bach, Mozart and Schumann, 8 p.m. Oct. 18 and 20, and 2:30 p.m. Oct. 21 at Jones Hall.

Perlman, the world-renowned, Grammy award-winning violinist, brings his trademark virtuosity and heartfelt music-making to Bach's exquisite Violin Concerto in A Minor, then steps out of the soloist spotlight to conduct the orchestra in Mozart's intensely emotional Symphony No. 40. One of the last three symphonies composed by Mozart, his Symphony No. 40 stands out as the composer explored stronger, darker emotions than he had in his other works.

The evening concludes with Perlman conducting the Houston Symphony in Robert Schumann's Fourth Symphony. Inspired by Romanticism in literature, this most innovative and influential of Schumann's symphonies is one that great conductors long to take on and is the perfect finale to the concert experience of Perlman as soloist and conductor.

Perlman Plays & Conducts, sponsored by Margaret Alkek Williams and Frost Bank, 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.

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