In Monday’s (9/15) Houston Chronicle, Steven Brown writes, “The Houston Symphony’s audiences didn’t wait for Andrés Orozco-Estrada to conduct a note: A standing ovation greeted the orchestra’s new music director as soon as he stepped onto the Jones Hall stage Saturday for the group’s annual opening-night concert. The Colombian-born conductor made a second big entrance later that night, after more than 500 of the orchestra’s backers gathered for a gala dinner.… Summoned by executive director Mark Hanson, Orozco-Estrada and his wife, Julia Orozco-Estrada, appeared at the top of the grand staircase, then descended, looking happy and a bit bemused, as the Richard Brown Orchestra accompanied them with the festive promenade tune from Modest Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition.’ ‘It felt like being in the movies,’ … Orozco-Estrada said. Saturday was Day 2 of Orozco-Estrada’s inaugural weekend of concerts as the orchestra’s 15th music director. On Friday, 8,000 people had turned out to hear him conduct a free concert at Miller Outdoor Theatre, and still more watched on television. ‘I will never forget these moments,’ he said on Saturday. ‘You have given me such a warm embrace.… I’m full of dreams and big hopes for the Houston Symphony.’ ”
Posted September 19, 2014
