Pianist Garrick Ohlsson Returns to the Houston Symphony with Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3

The Houston Symphony brings back two stellar guest performers: legendary pianist Garrick Ohlsson and world-renowned conductor Edo de Waart. Both mark their returns to the Jones Hall stage in the program Ohlsson Plays Beethoven at 8 p.m. Nov. 29 - Dec. 1, and 2:30 p.m. Dec. 2.

Ohlsson joins de Waart and the Houston Symphony to bring his technical prowess to Beethoven's sweeping Piano Concerto No. 3. Composed as a showcase for his own staggering talents and the new technical improvements made to the piano in his time, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 runs the gamut from the athletic, stormy opening, to the tender, lyrical second movement, to the fun-filled rondo that closes the work. Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 requires a true virtuoso to give the work its due, and in Ohlsson it's getting one.

Leading Ohlsson and the Houston Symphony in this concert is the revered international conductor de Waart, who currently holds the title of music director of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. He also leads the Houston Symphony in Sir Edward Elgar's heartfelt Symphony No. 1, a work that immerses listeners in a vast and deeply personal world of intimacy and intense emotions.

Prior to each concert, audience members can enjoy an intimate chamber music performance of Beethoven's String Quartet No. 4 in C minor, Op. 18 No. 4, Movements 1 and 4.

Ohlsson Plays Beethoven sponsored by 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.

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.

Photo by Dario Acosta