• Home
  • popular
  • EVENTS
  • submit-new-event
  • CHARITY GUIDE
  • Children
  • Education
  • Health
  • Veterans
  • Social Services
  • Arts + Culture
  • Animals
  • LGBTQ
  • New Charity
  • TRENDING NEWS
  • News
  • City Life
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Home + Design
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Restaurants + Bars
  • Arts
  • Society
  • Innovation
  • Fashion + Beauty
  • subscribe
  • about
  • series
  • Embracing Your Inner Cowboy
  • Green Living
  • Summer Fun
  • Real Estate Confidential
  • RX In the City
  • State of the Arts
  • Fall For Fashion
  • Cai's Odyssey
  • Comforts of Home
  • Good Eats
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2010
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2
  • Good Eats 2
  • HMNS Pirates
  • The Future of Houston
  • We Heart Hou 2
  • Music Inspires
  • True Grit
  • Hoops City
  • Green Living 2011
  • Cruizin for a Cure
  • Summer Fun 2011
  • Just Beat It
  • Real Estate 2011
  • Shelby on the Seine
  • Rx in the City 2011
  • Entrepreneur Video Series
  • Going Wild Zoo
  • State of the Arts 2011
  • Fall for Fashion 2011
  • Elaine Turner 2011
  • Comforts of Home 2011
  • King Tut
  • Chevy Girls
  • Good Eats 2011
  • Ready to Jingle
  • Houston at 175
  • The Love Month
  • Clifford on The Catwalk Htx
  • Let's Go Rodeo 2012
  • King's Harbor
  • FotoFest 2012
  • City Centre
  • Hidden Houston
  • Green Living 2012
  • Summer Fun 2012
  • Bookmark
  • 1987: The year that changed Houston
  • Best of Everything 2012
  • Real Estate 2012
  • Rx in the City 2012
  • Lost Pines Road Trip Houston
  • London Dreams
  • State of the Arts 2012
  • HTX Fall For Fashion 2012
  • HTX Good Eats 2012
  • HTX Contemporary Arts 2012
  • HCC 2012
  • Dine to Donate
  • Tasting Room
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2012
  • Charming Charlie
  • Asia Society
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2012
  • HTX Mistletoe on the go
  • HTX Sun and Ski
  • HTX Cars in Lifestyle
  • HTX New Beginnings
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013
  • Zadok Sparkle into Spring
  • HTX Let's Go Rodeo 2013
  • HCC Passion for Fashion
  • BCAF 2013
  • HTX Best of 2013
  • HTX City Centre 2013
  • HTX Real Estate 2013
  • HTX France 2013
  • Driving in Style
  • HTX Island Time
  • HTX Super Season 2013
  • HTX Music Scene 2013
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013 2
  • HTX Baker Institute
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2013
  • Mothers Day Gift Guide 2021 Houston
  • Staying Ahead of the Game
  • Wrangler Houston
  • First-time Homebuyers Guide Houston 2021
  • Visit Frisco Houston
  • promoted
  • eventdetail
  • Greystar Novel River Oaks
  • Thirdhome Go Houston
  • Dogfish Head Houston
  • LovBe Houston
  • Claire St Amant podcast Houston
  • The Listing Firm Houston
  • South Padre Houston
  • NextGen Real Estate Houston
  • Pioneer Houston
  • Collaborative for Children
  • Decorum
  • Bold Rock Cider
  • Nasher Houston
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2021
  • CityNorth
  • Urban Office
  • Villa Cotton
  • Luck Springs Houston
  • EightyTwo
  • Rectanglo.com
  • Silver Eagle Karbach
  • Mirador Group
  • Nirmanz
  • Bandera Houston
  • Milan Laser
  • Lafayette Travel
  • Highland Park Village Houston
  • Proximo Spirits
  • Douglas Elliman Harris Benson
  • Original ChopShop
  • Bordeaux Houston
  • Strike Marketing
  • Rice Village Gift Guide 2021
  • Downtown District
  • Broadstone Memorial Park
  • Gift Guide
  • Music Lane
  • Blue Circle Foods
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2022
  • True Rest
  • Lone Star Sports
  • Silver Eagle Hard Soda
  • Modelo recipes
  • Modelo Fighting Spirit
  • Athletic Brewing
  • Rodeo Houston
  • Silver Eagle Bud Light Next
  • Waco CVB
  • EnerGenie
  • HLSR Wine Committee
  • All Hands
  • El Paso
  • Avenida Houston
  • Visit Lubbock Houston
  • JW Marriott San Antonio
  • Silver Eagle Tupps
  • Space Center Houston
  • Central Market Houston
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Travel Texas Houston
  • Alliantgroup
  • Golf Live
  • DC Partners
  • Under the Influencer
  • Blossom Hotel
  • San Marcos Houston
  • Photo Essay: Holiday Gift Guide 2009
  • We Heart Hou
  • Walker House
  • HTX Good Eats 2013
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2013
  • HTX Culture Motive
  • HTX Auto Awards
  • HTX Ski Magic
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2014
  • HTX Texas Traveler
  • HTX Cifford on the Catwalk 2014
  • HTX United Way 2014
  • HTX Up to Speed
  • HTX Rodeo 2014
  • HTX City Centre 2014
  • HTX Dos Equis
  • HTX Tastemakers 2014
  • HTX Reliant
  • HTX Houston Symphony
  • HTX Trailblazers
  • HTX_RealEstateConfidential_2014
  • HTX_IW_Marks_FashionSeries
  • HTX_Green_Street
  • Dating 101
  • HTX_Clifford_on_the_Catwalk_2014
  • FIVE CultureMap 5th Birthday Bash
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2014 TEST
  • HTX Texans
  • Bergner and Johnson
  • HTX Good Eats 2014
  • United Way 2014-15_Single Promoted Articles
  • Holiday Pop Up Shop Houston
  • Where to Eat Houston
  • Copious Row Single Promoted Articles
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2014
  • htx woodford reserve manhattans
  • Zadok Swiss Watches
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2015
  • HTX Charity Challenge 2015
  • United Way Helpline Promoted Article
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Fusion Academy Promoted Article
  • Clifford on the Catwalk Fall 2015
  • United Way Book Power Promoted Article
  • Jameson HTX
  • Primavera 2015
  • Promenade Place
  • Hotel Galvez
  • Tremont House
  • HTX Tastemakers 2015
  • HTX Digital Graffiti/Alys Beach
  • MD Anderson Breast Cancer Promoted Article
  • HTX RealEstateConfidential 2015
  • HTX Vargos on the Lake
  • Omni Hotel HTX
  • Undies for Everyone
  • Reliant Bright Ideas Houston
  • 2015 Houston Stylemaker
  • HTX Renewable You
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • HTX New York Fashion Week spring 2016
  • Kyrie Massage
  • Red Bull Flying Bach
  • Hotze Health and Wellness
  • ReadFest 2015
  • Alzheimer's Promoted Article
  • Formula 1 Giveaway
  • Professional Skin Treatments by NuMe Express

    Inside the music

    Hans Graf's labor of love: Retiring Houston Symphony maestro dares to be bold with epic Wozzeck

    Joel Luks
    Feb 28, 2013 | 11:31 am

    Wozzeck. Gesundheit.

     

    Such is the ongoing quip among young musicians who first encounter the mammoth score by Alban Berg, an opera that's forever imprinted in the history and theory curriculums at most music conservatories, joining the echelon of other Gesamtkunstwerk like Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and Stravinsky's Petrushka.

     

    Although with time and study the music does get under your skin, the opera isn't love at first note for everyone. But it was for retiring Houston Symphony director Hans Graf when he was a teenager. Today he considers the Austrian composer his favorite tunesmith, and that's why, as part of his farewell to Houston audiences, he's chosen to present a concert version of Wozzeck on Friday and Saturday at Jones Hall.

     

    "Berg is the greatest genius of musical construction, and one of the most deeply and genuinely emotional musicians," Graf tells CultureMap, sitting for a one-on-one interview in his dimly lit basement office in the orchestra's resident concert venue.

     

    Surrounded by a collection of wine, recording and listening equipment, a neatly organized modern glass desk and posters of iconic music and theater productions — some of which his daughter, Anna, staged in Paris — this intimate space provides a respite where Graf gathers his thoughts on music, plans rehearsals and parses partitures.

     

     Wozzeck rests atop a small pile of scores.

     

    Graf's obsession with Berg began with the Piano Sonata, Op. 1 of 1910, a piece he describes as heartbreakingly beautiful, which he often performed as a young pianist. He's smitten with the Three Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6 of 1913, the Chamber Concerto of 1925 and the Lyric Suite, written between 1925 and 1926 — the latter two belonging to the Second Viennese School's serial 12-tone approach as devised by Arnold Schoenberg.

     

     

      "Berg is not just expressing a fantastic drama, a drama that takes me in, but it's a story that's really touching."

     
     

    "Wozzeck is Berg's last work before he changed to Schoenberg's system," Graf explains. "Wozzeck's music is free. But freedom, in this case, is a very limited word because he sets rules for himself and stays in his framework.

     

    "Berg is not just expressing a fantastic drama, a drama that takes me in, but it's a story that's really touching."

     

    Alban Berg's Wozzeck is based on German playwright Georg Büchner's Woyzeck. The story follows a married couple, Wozzeck and Marie, through 15 banal scenes during which Wozzeck grows increasingly anxious of Marie's infidelity. He murders her by stabbing her in the neck. He drowns in a pool of water. Their young child is left alone, unconcerned with the loss of his parents.

     

    It's a Disney happily-ever-after type of ending. Right.

     

     Graf's Wozzeck

     

    As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. For Graf, it marshaled a git-r-done attitude.

     

    Graf was 32 years old in 1981 when he was called last minute to fill in and lead his first Wozzeck in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. With less than two weeks before the initial rehearsal prior to a four-performance run at the Teatro Palestrina with an ensemble that wasn't deemed the most clever, though with plenty of good will, Graf says, it was a sink or swim situation that was a turning point for the young conductor.

     

    "When I went there, people in Austria told me I was crazy, that I would never be able to get through the piece," he recalls. "We did it quite well, actually. So what if the first performance didn't sell out?

     

    "Word of mouth sold out the hall the second, third and final performances."

     

    It was a proud moment for Graf, who believes the best way to master a score is to study it along with an orchestra. The ensemble's inability to sight read music well proved an advantage in his quest to grasp the ethos of the composition fully. Ten-hour rehearsal marathons were broken down in two-and-a-half-hour intervals during which he coached the woodwinds, upper strings, lower strings and brass separately. When the singers joined in, it was smooth sailing.

     

    "After each round of rehearsals, we understood the music deeper and deeper," he says. "Soon enough we were all infected by the virus of Wozzeck. It doesn't leave you indifferent; it changes your concept of music and theater."

     

    Wozzeck, the character, was a good man with a good woman, Marie. They are derailed by life to the extreme catastrophe of murder. Graf finds the music so immediately dramatic, down to how individual words in the text are complemented by music. Berg's structure fits theatrics like a glove to deliver what Graf considers the greatest and most beautiful challenge for the orchestra.

     

    Graf compares Wozzeck to La traviata, whose protagonist is mistreated by a stupid, stubborn, narrow bourgeois. It's like La bohème, whose Mimi means well, but life isn't kind to her. Wozzeck isn't like Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier, whose long stretches in the first act can be cut without losing musical and narrative prowess. It isn't like Salome, whose Dance of the Seven Veils was criticized by Alma Mahler for sounding weak and jejune.

     
     

      "The Houston Symphony should take care to not just do the allowed, non-metropolis repertoire. Should we do Wozzeck in New York, no one would ask why. Houston has the right to hear music like this."

     
     

    "In Berg, there's nothing superficial, everything is gold, everything is of high intensity and of relentless challenging beauty," Graf says."You can't skip anything in Wozzeck. It's lean, there's not fat, but it's still juicy."

     

     A farewell message

     

    Otherwise a happy-go-lucky kind of man, Graf admits that programming Wozzeck may seem like he's a tad like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The work concludes with absolutely clueless, hopeless, vulnerable children unaware of the implications of the final scene, and the music ends in a style that can readily loop around to the beginning for yet another cycle, as if the next generation of protagonists are destined to make the same mistakes.

     

    "The message should be positive, though it may sound negative," he says. "The Houston Symphony should take care not to just do the allowed, non-metropolis repertoire. Should we do Wozzeck in New York, no one would ask why. Houston has the right to hear music like this."

     

    Placing the ensemble front and center is an homage to the symphony musicians, Graf says, as the execution of such a complex orchestra score is a feat of Olympic proportions.

     

    "If I am going to be an advocate for one piece, it's Wozzeck, a child of love and labor."

     

    As for the joke, Gesundheit, in German, means good health.

     

    And that's what Graf wants for the future of the Houston Symphony, a befitting auf wiedersehen wish from the city's longest running maestro.

     

    ___

     

     Houston Symphony presents Wozzeck in Concert on Friday and Saturday at Jones Hall. Tickets start at $25 and can be purchased online or by calling 713-224-7575.

     

     Hans Graf conducts a cast that includes Roman Trekel as Wozzeck, Anne Schwanewilms as Marie, Gordon Gietz as Drum Major, Marc Molomot as Captain, Nathan Berg as Doctor, Robert McPherson as Andres, Katherine Ciesinski as Margaret, Calvin Griffin as Apprentice 1, Samuel Schultz as Apprentice 2, Brenton Ryan as Fool, voice students from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University Adult Chorus directed by Grant Loehnig and members of the Houston Grand Opera Children's Chorus directed by Karen Reeves.

    As his farewell to Houston audiences, Hans Graf has chosen to present a concert version of Wozzeck on March 1 and 2 at Jones Hall.

    Houston Symphony, Wozzeck, February 2013, Hans Graf
      
    Photo by © Bruce Bennett
    As his farewell to Houston audiences, Hans Graf has chosen to present a concert version of Wozzeck on March 1 and 2 at Jones Hall.
    unspecified
    news/arts

    Best July Art

    Where to see art in Houston now: 9 fun new exhibits opening in July

    Tarra Gaines
    Jul 9, 2025 | 4:30 pm
    ​Artechouse presents "Blooming Worlds"
    Photo courtesy of Artechouse
    Artechouse presents "Blooming Worlds"

    Art blooms in our world class museums but also on our city streets this July. From exhibitions featuring traditional paintings and sculptures to high tech immersive and interactive shows, we’re weaving art into the best of summertime fun and dreaming up beautiful new artistic creations all over Houston.

    “Town Meeting 1978-2028” at Art League Houston (now through July 20)
    Pioneering Houston-based interdisciplinary artists Nick Vaughan and Jake Margolin continue their decades-long project to create new and sometimes monumental artworks in response to little-known pre-Stonewall queer histories. For this latest exhibition, the duo explore a more recent and influential piece of Houston history, “Town Meeting I,” the pivotal convening of 4,000 LGBTQIA+ Houstonians at the Astro Arena in 1978. For this show at Art League, they’ve used their “wind drawing” technique of stenciling unfixed charcoal powder on paper and blowing it away, leaving a ghost-image. Using archival images of “Town Meeting I” as the bases of their stenciling, the finished “wind drawings” highlight the ephemerality, beauty, and loss of queer histories. In addition to these new works, Vaughan and Margolin hope to inspire, facilitate, and develop programming in 2028 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of “Town Meeting 1.”

    “Fragmentos de un sueño que yo también soñé (Fragments of a Dream I Also Dreamed)" at Art League Houston (now through July 20)
    “Every house is a body, and every individual body is a house full of memories and hopes,” says award-winning Venezuela born, Chicago-based artist, Jeffly Gabriela Molina, of her artistic focus. Molina’s fragmented, layered, and figural compositions explore that idea of home and memories. Delving into memories and stories, these figurative compositions, depicting people and relationships, fluctuate between stories of the present, past, and future. Taken together, the works in “Fragmentos de un sueño” aim to visually capture the feelings of vulnerability, nostalgia, and hope embedded in the experience of many immigrants. Art League notes that Molina’s pieces emphasize optimism over hardship, specifically addressing the longing for a home that no longer exists while striving to create a new one.

    “Every Fiber of Their Bodies” at Art League Houston (now through July 20)
    Working with natural fibers such as linen, paper collage, and hand-spun paper yarn made from calligraphy paper and book pages, textile artist Lin Qiqing weaves stories ofhuman relationships, gender, immigration, and language. As the title hints, the labor-intensive weaving process brings thematic depth to the images of bodies depicted in the pieces. The woven pieces also make connections to the natural world, as when Lin crumples then smooths handmade mulberry paper to resemble human skin, or when she uses handwoven fiber to mimic the body’s movement. Lin process includes research and experimenting with natural materials to explore themes of the internal human struggle for existence and our interactions with the world around us.

    “Annual Juried Exhibition” at Archway Gallery (now through July 31)
    For the 17th year, the artist owned Archway Gallery celebrates Houston artists with its juried exhibition of area artists who are not members of the space. This year’s exhibition is juried by Project Row Houses founder and MacArthur "genius" fellow, Rick Lowe. The acclaimed artist and social activist has selected work from over 35 area artists representing a diversity of medium and styles. Sales from the exhibition will go to Houston’s Brave Little Company, the theater company for Houston’s kids and their gown ups.

    “Foyer Installation: René Magritte” at Menil Collection (now through August 3)
    After a critically acclaimed trip to Australia, some of our favorite Belgian-born Houstonians are back home. Yes, the Magritte paintings have returned to the Menil Collection after taking a star turn in a monumental Magritte retrospective at Sydney’s Art Gallery of New South Wales. Now the Menil is celebrating their return with a special installation in the main building foyer. The Menil Collection owns the largest collection of work by René Magritte outside the artist’s native Belgium, and this display focuses on a core group of paintings from the 1950s and ’60s that truly represent Magritte’s status as a master creator of impossible painted worlds and an icon of the Surrealist movement. The paintings were purchased within a couple years of their making by the museum’s founders, John and Dominique de Menil. They represent and important part of 20th century art history, as the de Menils became Magritte’s biggest champions in the United States, helping to shape the artist’s reception and reputation in the postwar American art world. Stop by to welcome them home and slip into their enigmatic wonder.

    “Blooming Wonders” at Artechouse (now through September)
    The latest immersive exhibition from the Houston venue that brings art, science, and technology home together, Artechouse, lets the flowers blossom. The exhibition contains several dynamic installations, including “Timeless Butterflies,” a 270 degrees projection space that puts visitors in the middle of a butterfly cloud. Audiences journey with a flock of butterflies into an immense garden of flowers. Another immersive piece, “Infinite Blooms” takes audiences on a journey through an endless digital forest of cherry blossoms. The installation, “Akousmaflore et Lux” creates a very different type of garden where plants transform into musical instruments. “Clay Pillar” by Interactive Items / Vadim Mirgorodskii invites visitors to sculpt new forms using clay and a little help from an AI program. Note that “Blooming Wonders” runs simultaneously with the rock ‘n’ roll exhibition, “Amplified” with “Wonders” open during the daytime.

    “Weci | Koninut” at Avenida Houston (now through September 1)
    Houston is a place for big dreams, and this wondrous outdoor exhibition near George R. Brown Convention Center gives us the space to do so. Created by First Nations artists Julie-Christina Picher and Dave Jenniss, this interactive installation weaves together visual arts, Indigenous storytelling and sensory technologies in the form of six immense sculptural dreamcatchers. Each of these dreamcatchers are unique and represent one of the six seasons from the Atikamekw culture, an Indigenous people in Canada. Activated by people passing by, the dreamcatchers come to life with lights, sounds, and story, making the whole installation truly interactive. “Weci | Koninut” creators say that they want the installation to offer a total immersion experience for visitors, to create a moment where nature and dreams converge. Each piece offers a place for the public to slow down, sit, reflect, and yes, dream.

    New Murals in the East End and Midtown (ongoing)
    We could spend days viewing all the new murals painted across town, just in the last few years. But in honor of summer outdoor art viewing, we thought we’d spotlight two noteworthy new additions to our city-wide gallery of murals. As part of his major exhibition last spring at the CAMH, Vincent Valdez worked with San Antonio muralist Rubio and local students to create “Memoria, Memory.” Dedicated to his mother Theresa Santana Valdez (1947–2020), the vivid mural on historic Navigation Boulevard features her favorite bird and flower. Over in Midtown, check out “Stellar Illumination,” the latest installation in the city’s Big Walls Big Dreams mural series. Created by Robin Munro, also known as Dread, the seven stories high “Illumination” depicts a celestial scene of an astronaut gazing at Earth from space.

    “The Weight of Place” at Anya Tish Gallery (July 11-August 23)
    This group exhibition will explore themes of memory and the emotional, psychological, and physical landscapes memories can evoke. The will showcase three contemporary Texas-based female artists: Megan Harrison, Marisol Valencia, and Lillian Warren. While these artists work in different mediums–including large-scale paintings, mixed media works, and elegant porcelain sculptures–they are inspired by personal reflection and nature to create artworks that reflect on the ways we hold onto the past through sensory experience.

    “In Residence: 18th Edition” at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (July 12-June 27, 2026)
    This annual exhibition celebrating the Center’s Artist Residency Program reaches it’s big 18th anniversary. Over the many years, the residency program has supported so many emerging, mid-career, and established artists working in all craft media. The program gives them a space for creative exploration, exchange, and collaboration with other artists, arts professionals, and the public. Now arts and craft lovers will get a chance to see the culmination of that work with this exhibition featuring pieces in fiber, clay, copper, and found objects by 2024-2025 resident artists Prerata Bradley, Stephanie Bursese, Atisha Fordyce, Nela Garzón, Gbenga Komolafe, Gabo Martinez, Preetika Rajgariah, Macon Reed, Jamie Sterling Pitt, Adam Whitney, and Dongyi Wu.

    “My Texas” at Our Texas Cultural Center (July 27-August 22)
    Award winning, Russian-born photographer, Anatoliy Kosterev, chronicles his personal exploration of Texas with photographs he took around the Lone Star State. The photos offer extraordinary views of Texas, from our dynamic cities to dramatic and sometimes lonesome landscapes. Kosterev’s photographic style blends science and technology with an artistic eye. He puts those two perspectives into practice when documenting all facets of life in Texas. Using HDR, drone imaging, macro photography, and traditional camera methods, he captures a diversity of subjects from quiet human moments to vast landscapes to delicate close-ups of insects and flowers.

    \u200bArtechouse presents "Blooming Worlds"
      

    Photo courtesy of Artechouse

    Artechouse presents "Blooming Worlds."

    museumsopeningsvisual-art
    news/arts

    most read posts

    Shaquille O'Neal leaves $1,000 tip at Houston Tex-Mex institution

    Shaq surprises Houston restaurant with $1,000 tip and more top stories

    Self-taught chef slices into Houston with high-quality sushi to go

    Loading...