• 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

    Sound Advice

    A dad's hope: Legendary violinist and son unite for special Father's Day weekend at Texas Music Fest

    Joel Luks
    Jun 14, 2014 | 6:01 am

    Words of wisdom or tough love?

    "I, Leon Spierer, will be the first one who will take you out of this orchestra if things don't work," one caring father said.

    Carlos Spierer will never forget these stern words of advice spoken by his father. Leon Spierer, then the first concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic under the baton of Herbert Von Karajan, counseled his youngest son about what will be expected of him as a substitute violinist in the famed ensemble.

    It was one of a handful of moments in this father-son relationship when Leon could impart some knowledge to Carlos. Leon says that Carlos, in his younger years, was temperamental. Carlos amicably agrees. But then again, any occasion in which a father tries to teach his son somehow turns problematic.

    It's the nature of complicated familial relationships — particularly with two people united by a passionate métier but separated by a generation.

    But by now Carlos was much older and wiser — and heeded his father's guidance. What Leon meant is that he didn't want any trouble. Leon wanted Carlos to be prepared. And so Carlos played for his father, learning the distinctive style of one of the best orchestras in the world.

    This interchange may have happened a few decades ago. But the father-and-son duo — who's in Houston to perform with the Texas Music Festival Orchestra on Saturday (Carlos on the podium and Leon as concertmaster) with a program that includes Lorin Maazel's The Ring Without Words arrangement of Wagner's epic operatic masterpiece — relives this moment with the nostalgia of a remarkable family who's seen the best and worst of the human condition.

    "Carlos was the little boy in between the music, in between the music stands, in between the musicians. He was captivated by music."

    A family's musical journey

    Leon's Polish father and Russian mother found themselves in Berlin, where Leon was born after World War I. One of his maternal uncles had emigrated to Berlin in the 1920s to pursue studies in violin; the uncle later made a respectable living as the founder of a ballroom orchestra. In the 1930s, Leon's family moved to Luxembourg and then to Argentina, where Leon earned a degree in economics from a Buenos Aires university while studying with Ljerko Spiller, a famous Croatian-Argentine violinist.

    Leon later received a British Council scholarship to study in London, after which he landed concertmaster positions in Nuremberg, Bremen and Stockholm. Leon's three children were born in Sweden.

    Endearingly, Leon refers to his three children as opus one, opus two and opus three.

    "I call them my opus productions," Leon quips. "I like to say that my wife, together, we did very good symphonies."

    Leon's dream, and perhaps the hope of every parent, was for at least one of his children to follow in his footsteps without obligation. While all three children were given the opportunity to explore music, Leon immediately recognized that Carlos would be the one to carry on his tuneful legacy. Leon's daughter, Gabriella, became a short film producer in New York. The eldest son, Roberto, is a plastic and hand surgeon in Berlin.

    "Carlos was the little boy in between the music, in between the music stands, in between the musicians," Leon recalls. "He would be near the orchestra during concerts, at intermission, during rehearsals. He was captivated by music."

    Like father, like son

    It wasn't until he was a teenager that Carlos came to understand the significance of his father's position. It was natural for Carlos to see his father sitting in the front desk, to see his father be the last instrumentalist to walk on stage, to see his father be the one who tuned the orchestra and helm the violin section.

    Leon was dad, not the bearer of a position that's exceptionally difficult to get and even more exceptionally difficult to keep.

    "I grew up listening to my father's violin. I grew up with his way of playing. I grew up with my father's sound."

    "I remember hearing my father more than seeing him," Carlos says about growing up in a musical family. "He was, in a positive sense, a workaholic. Whenever he was at home, he was practicing. With the many students that came through our home, I heard many sonatas and concerti, and I heard my father work on all the orchestral material.

    "I grew up listening to my father's violin. I grew up with his way of playing. I grew up with my father's sound."

    Carlos continued his music education with celebrated American violinist Fredell Lack at the University of Houston. He then returned to Germany to study conducting with Klauspeter Seibel at the Conservatory for Music in Hamburg. Throughout his successful career he has held posts with the Kiel Opera, Gävle Symphony Orchestra in Sweden, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería in Mexico City and the Giessen Theatre. His recording of works by Swedish composer Oscar Byström earned BBC Music Magazine's 1998 CD of the Year award.

    Sound advice

    Leon's demanding occupation and prestigious post — he served as the Berlin Philharmonic first concertmaster from 1963 to 1993 — didn't leave much time for parenting. His wife, who he describes as very musical, very artistic and quite temperamental, took care of educating the children. She died very young. Carlos was 21 years old when his mother passed.

    "I can only say that I don't know if I've been enough of a father," Leon says.

    But their relationship strengthened after their loss. Leon taught Carlos to listen carefully to other musicians. Because of his father, Carlos' scores are teeming with descriptive markings that free him from the written page to allow the spontaneity of music-making to take flight.

    "Am I proud? What's proud? I am happy. I am very happy. Isn't that more important?"

    "My father taught me to be prepared, to show emotions and to be fast," Carlos says. "That means you can make as many mistakes as you need to as you are learning, but to never ever make the same mistake twice. If a conductor asks you to do something, don't argue. If it doesn't work immediately, work on it."

    In recent years, they've been able to perform more and more together, an activity that has brought them even closer to one another. While sitting side by side in the Moores Opera House taking a walk down memory lane, it's apparent that their bond extends beyond their vocation.

    "Am I proud? What's proud?" Leon says tenderly. "I am happy. I am very happy. Isn't that more important?"

    If Leon has one piece of advice as Carlos moves on to the next stage in his career, that is to keep going, to keep on doing just what he's doing — but with a simple request.

    "You're doing a very fine job," Leon says to Carlos. "You are the conductor, so I must do what you want. But won't you let me play my solo a little slower?"

    Seems like a fair appeal, especially as this Texas Music Festival concert falls on Father's Day weekend.

    ___

    The Texas Music Festival presents "Wagner and Mitchell Competition Winner" on Saturday, 7:30 p.m., at the University of Houston's Moores Opera House. The evening begins at 6:30 p.m. with pre-concert entertainment followed by a pre-concert lecture from 6:40 to 7:10 p.m. The performance starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students and seniors, and $8 for groups of 10 or more. Tickets may be purchased online or by calling 713-743-3313.

    Carlos Spierer, left, and Leon Spierer behind the scenes during a performance in Japan, October 2013.

    Carlos Spierer and Leon Spierer
      
    Photo courtesy of Carlos Spierer
    Carlos Spierer, left, and Leon Spierer behind the scenes during a performance in Japan, October 2013.
    unspecified
    news/arts

    most read posts

    4 fresh new restaurants now open in suburban Houston

    Houston's most pretty-in-pink restaurant quietly closes in Upper Kirby

    New Houston pizzeria serves up slices and vintage vibes in the East End

    international acclaim

    Houston's iconic Rothko Chapel receives new grant to restore Beryl damage

    Jef Rouner
    May 12, 2025 | 10:30 am
    Rothko Chapel exterior
    Courtesy of the Rothko Chapel
    undefined

    Houston's beloved Rothko Chapel is one step closer to recovery after Hurricane Beryl in 2024. A substantial new grant from Bank of America will fund the restoration of Mark Rothko pieces damaged by the storm.

    “This grant comes at a pivotal moment – not only for the Rothko Chapel, but in the broader context of our changing climate and growing vulnerability to extreme weather events,” said David Leslie, executive director of the Chapel. “The conservation process will require extensive time, specialized materials, and expert technical support to stabilize and restore these works, ensuring they can once again inspire visitors within this sacred space. Bank of America’s support underscores the urgent need to preserve culturally significant artworks like these, especially as we face new environmental challenges that threaten our artistic legacy.”

    The Bank of America Art Conservation Project has been used to fund the preservation and restoration of culturally significant artworks since 2010. In 2021, the project also funded the restoration of an 13th Century Incan textile housed at Houston's Menil Collection. This year's other recipients include the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Museo Nacional de San Carlos in Mexico City, Sir John Soane's Museum in London, and the Sydney Opera House.

    Since 1971, Rothko Chapel has been one of the best meditative spaces in Houston. Commissioned by John and Dominique de Menil in 1964, Rothko designed the space and painted its famous black panels. Rothko himself did not live to see the completion, dying by suicide in New York in 1970. Now, the chapel stands as a non-denominational spiritual center, hosting concerts, mindfulness clinics, and other events designed to promote mental healing in visitors.

    When Hurricane Beryl hit Houston on July 8, high winds and torrential hammered the chapel's roof. Water leakage damaged the walls and one of Rothko's black triptychs on the east side of the building. It took seven months of work before the chapel was reopened to the public in December, but the damaged art was still housed off site for restoration. Bank of America's grant should hopefully speed up the process of returning the iconic pieces back to public view.

    “It is devastating to see the domino effects of an event like Hurricane Beryl, jeopardizing the storied institutions and culturally significant works that provide so much context into the Houston identity,” said Hong Ogle, President, Bank of America Houston. “I am very proud that Bank of America’s Art Conservation Project allows us to support the arts in a unique and impactful way and preserve the works that mean the most to our community.”

    In addition to the restoration, Rothko Chapel recently broke ground on a $42 million campus expansion. Two new buildings to the north with house administrative services and an archive, and a meditation garden dedicated to Kathleen and Chuck Mullenweg. A new program center will follow after.

    news/arts
    Loading...