Five Questions

The music communicator: Former prodigy Frank Huang embraces new challenge atHouston Symphony

The Houston Symphony has plenty of new in store this season, but the biggest new face is Frank Huang, an acclaimed violinist who's returned to Houston to take over as concertmaster. Though he was born in China, Huang moved to Sugar Land when he was seven and spent many of his formative years growing up in the shadow of the Bayou City.

Huang was only 11 when he first performed with the Houston Symphony in a nationally broadcast concert and now after playing around the world as a soloist and teaching at the prestigious Eastman School of Music, he returns in one of Symphony's most important positions for Saturday's Opening Night: A Vienna Soiree at Jones Hall. Tabbing the 32-year-old Huang as concertmaster completed a two-year, worldwide search to fill the position.

CultureMap talks to Huang about seeing Houston in a different light, the challenges of his new role and the spectacle of Opening Night and the guests it brings.

CultureMap: You grew up in Sugar Land. How does it feel to be back in the hometown?

Frank Huang: It feels good. My parents are here and they're very happy I'm back close to home. I left when I was quite young, about 15, and I haven't had much time to be back, so it's nice to come back and get to know the city as an adult. I've seen a lot of things that I didn't know were here.

CM: What's your role as the concertmaster?

FH: Well I was a concertmaster before for about seven to eight years, of a chamber orchestra, but a full symphony is different — there's more people, a lot more people than the chamber orchestra, and before I had no conductor. It was a small thing, but with a big orchestra you want to still keep that small feel. The concertmaster is like a conduit between the conductor and the rest of the orchestra. What (the conductor) wants to do with the music the concertmaster has to translate that into actual playing.

There are specific things I have to do as well, making sure all the string players' bowings are matching, lots of discussions with other principal players about how to play things, especially things that are tricky and difficult. It's kind of like being the middle man. But the people here are great musicians, they listen and watch well.

CM: What are you most excited about this season? Is there anything you haven't played before?

FH: Opening night on Saturday, the Mozart Sinfonia concertante — that's going to be really fun, great piece between myself and Wayne Brooks on viola, as well as my first performance as concertmaster. There's a lot of great music throughout the season, it's hard to pick a specific one. Each week will be its own challenge.

There's actually a lot of pieces I haven't played, I know them just from hearing them, and maybe I played them in school, but most of my career so far has been concertos and trios, quartets, small groups, so I've played pretty much all that kind of music, but with symphonies and big pieces there is a lot that's new to me.

CM: Looking forward to any special guests?

FH: There's alot of people I know coming — Gil Shaham, I'm very excited to see him, I've done a few recordings with him and a few tours and he's one of the nicest, greatest guys around. A couple of younger musicians that are friends of mine from chamber music, like Alisa Weilerstein, she played in the first quartet I was in when I was 17-18 years old, her dad was my teacher. It's a lot of fun to see them and have them here.

CM: Before coming to Houston, you taught at Eastman School of Music. How does this experience compare?

FH: It's a completely different thing, I enjoyed teaching a lot and I'm teaching this year at the University of Houston. It's so rewarding. I've had some inspirational teachers and I think that's why I love it, because I can see what can happen when you inspire someone to practice and really work to be their best.

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Movie Review

George Clooney shines in Jay Kelly, a sharp and heartfelt look at fame

Photo by Peter Mountain/Netflix

George Clooney in Jay Kelly.

The life of a celebrity is paradoxical in that your life is lived in the public eye, yet who you really are is almost unknowable. Movie history is littered with films that try to dig into the private lives of real and fictional actors, with varying results. The latest film to try to unearth what it means to be famous is Jay Kelly.

In a perfect bit of casting, George Clooney stars in the title role as an actor who’s still world famous even if he’s edging toward the downside of his career. His coterie of helpers, including manager Ron (Adam Sandler) and publicist Liz (Laura Dern), make sure he is taken care of at every turn, often anticipating his needs before he realizes it.

A run-in with an old friend, Timothy (Billy Crudup), sends Jay spiraling, questioning not just the meaning of his 35-plus year career, but also his relationships with his two daughters, Jessica (Riley Keough) and Daisy (Grace Edwards). Jay’s attempt to manage the crisis pits his identity as a celebrity and as a father and friend against each other.

Written and directed by Noah Baumbach, and co-written by Emily Mortimer (who has a small role), the film has to walk the tightrope of making the audience like Jay even as he does and says things that might make him unlikable. There’s a very thin line between the character of Jay Kelly and the real life George Clooney; each is seemingly infinitely charming when dealing with the public, but they lead very different private lives.

Baumbach takes a light approach to the story, occasionally dipping into more serious territory but never going too deep. For some, this may seem like a copout, as if he’s merely pretending to want to explore what celebrity truly is. But as you see Jay navigate his way between his work, his family, and being out among the public, little details emerge that make him increasingly complex.

A lot of the film’s pleasure comes from the strong actors cast in relatively minor roles. There are not enough words to express what it means to have actors like Jim Broadbent as Jay’s mentor, or Greta Gerwig as Ron’s wife, or Stacy Keach as Jay’s father, or Patrick Wilson as a fellow longtime actor. Each of them and more lend an instant air of excellence to the film that elevates the story beyond its simple premise.

Clooney may be playing a version of himself, but as the film notes on multiple occasions, playing yourself is more difficult than it seems. He is deserving of an Oscar nomination, as is Sandler, who doesn’t give off even a whiff of insincerity as a man who has given perhaps a bit too much of himself in aid of another man’s career.

Jay Kelly is not a world-changing film, and some may accuse it of being another navel-gazing Hollywood story. But the forcefulness of Clooney’s performance, the long line of strong supporting actors, and the subtly effective storytelling by Baumbach and Mortimer (making her feature screenwriting debut) help it become much more than might be expected.

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Jay Kelly is now playing in select theaters. It debuts on Netflix on December 5.

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