As a performer, Paganini was so virtuosic and showy it was rumored he had traded his soul to the Devil in exchange for his unearthly talent. His dazzling Violin Concerto No. 1 will sparkle in the extraordinary hands of the brilliant Francisco Fullana, who will perform on a 1735 Guarneri del Gesu violin. Come at 7 PM to hear directly from the artists in “Musically Speaking,” sponsored by Uniland Development.

Hans Graf, conductor
Francisco Fullana, violin

DVORÁK Carnival Overture
PAGANINI Violin Concerto No. 1
DVORÁK Symphony No. 6

About Hans Graf

Known for his wide range of repertoire and creative programming, the distinguished Austrian conductor Hans Graf is one of today’s most highly respected musicians.

Appointed Music Director of the Houston Symphony in 2001, Mr. Graf concluded his tenure in May 2013 and is the longest serving Music Director in the orchestra’s history. Prior to his appointment in Houston, he was the Music Director of the Calgary Philharmonic for eight seasons and held the same post with the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine for six years. He also led the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra from 1984 to 1994 and the Basque National Orchestra from 1994 to 1996.

Hans Graf is a frequent guest with all of the major North American orchestras. His recent and upcoming guest engagements include appearances with the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, the Boston, San Francisco, St. Louis, Cincinnati, National, Detroit, Dallas, Baltimore, Indianapolis, New Jersey, Milwaukee, Colorado and Utah symphonies, as well as the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra among others.

Mr. Graf made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Houston Symphony in January 2006 and returned to Carnegie leading the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in March 2007. He and the Houston Symphony were re-invited to appear at Carnegie Hall in January 2010, at which time they presented the New York premiere of The Planets – An HD Odyssey, featuring the orchestra playing Holst’s famous work, The Planets, accompanied by exclusive high definition images from NASA’s exploration of the solar system. Mr. Graf and the Houston Symphony returned to Carnegie Hall again in May 2012 to participate in Carnegie’s Spring for Music festival with an all-Shostakovich program.

In Europe, Mr. Graf has conducted the Vienna and London Philharmonics, Vienna Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra as well as the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphony Orchestra Berlin, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic, Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic among others. He is also a regular guest with the Sydney Symphony and the Hong Kong, Malaysia and Seoul Philharmonics.

During the summer of 2013, Mr. Graf returned to the Salzburg Festival for three different programs, which included conducting a new work by Austrian composer Gerhard Wimberger with the Mozarteum Orchestra and an unusual, multi-media TV production of Mozart’s The Abduction From the Seraglio with the Camerata Salzburg. He has also appeared at other prestigious European festivals such as the Maggio Musicale, Bregenz and Aix en Provence. His US festival appearances include Tanglewood and the Aspen Music Festival, where he returns in the summer of 2017, as well as the Blossom Music Festival, Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival and the Grant Park Music Festival in downtown Chicago.

An experienced opera conductor, Mr. Graf first conducted the Vienna State Opera in 1981 and has since led productions in the opera houses of Berlin, Munich, Paris and Rome among others. His extensive opera repertoire includes several world premieres. Recent opera engagements include Parsifal at the Zurich Opera, Boris Godunov at the Opera National du Rhin in Strasbourg, and a rarely produced opera by Strauss, Die Feuersnot, at the famed Volksoper Vienna, for which he received the 2014 Austrian Music Theatre Prize.

Hans Graf has recorded for the EMI, Orfeo, CBC, Erato, Capriccio and JVC labels and his extensive discography includes the complete symphonies of Mozart and Schubert, the premiere recording of Zemlinsky’s opera Es war einmal and the complete orchestral works of Dutilleux, which he recorded under the supervision of the composer, with the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine for BMG Arte Nova. His recent recordings are the complete works by Paul Hindemith for viola and orchestra with Tabea Zimmermann and the Deutsches Symphony Orchestra Berlin and a live recording of Carmina Burana with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition, a recording of a live performance of Wozzeck with the Houston Symphony was released by Naxos in the spring of 2017 and was awarded the 2017 ECHO Klassik prize for best opera recording in the category of 20th and 21st century opera.

Born near Linz, Hans Graf first studied violin and piano. After receiving diplomas in piano and conducting from the Musikhochschule in Graz, he continued his studies in Italy with Franco Ferrara and Sergui Celibadache and in Russia with Arvid Jansons. Mr. Graf has been awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Legion d’Honneur by the French government for championing French music around the world as well as the Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria. He is also Professor Emeritus for Orchestral Conducting at the Universitat Mozarteum in Salzburg.

About Francisco Fullana

Spanish violinist Francisco Fullana has received international praise as a “rising star” (BBC Music Magazine), an “amazing talent” (maestro Gustavo Dudamel) and “a paragon of delicacy” (San Francisco’s Classical Voice). His 2016 recital debut at Carnegie Hall was noted for his “joy and playfulness in collaboration; it was perfection” (New York Classical Review).

A native of the Spanish Balearic island of Mallorca, Fullana is making a name for himself as both a performer and as a leader of innovative educational institutions. The coming year will find Fullana in debuts as a soloist with the Castilla y Leon, Boca del Rio and Las Cruces Symphony Orchestras, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and returns with Alabama, Balearic Islands, Dana Point, Extremadura and Xalapa Symphonies, among the concerto performances in U.S., Europe and Asia. Among the many chamber music engagements on his upcoming schedule, he has been invited to join the prestigious roster of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society Two, starting in 2018.

His recording Through The Lens of Time was released in March 2018, which includes Max Richter’s “Four Seasons Recomposed,” with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Carlos Izcaray. The ambitious project carries forward from its modern reconsideration of Vivaldi’s beloved classic with a series of contemporary solo works that also shine a new light on the baroque music tradition. Fullana’s ongoing collaboration with Argentinian bandoneonist J.P. Jofre will culminate with the 2018 premiere of Jofre’s Double Concerto for Bandoneon and Violin, a work commissioned by the Balearic Islands Symphony, San Antonio Chamber Orchestra and New York City’s Metropolis Ensemble.

Born into a family of educators, Francisco first studied with Bernat Pomar in his hometown of Palma de Mallorca, later graduating from the Royal Conservatory of Madrid. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he received bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and is also an Artist Diploma graduate from the USC Thornton School of Music, where he worked with the renowned violinist Midori.

Fullana was honored in 2015 with the Pro Musicis International Award, the same year also finding him awarded First Prize in the Munetsugu Angel Violin Competition in Japan, along with all four special prizes. He won First Prize in the 2014 Johannes Brahms International Violin Competition, in Austria, while his other awards include First Prizes at the Julio Cardona International Violin Competition and the Pablo Sarasate Competition.

Francisco has also become a committed innovator, leading new institutions of musical education for young people. He is a co-founder of San Antonio’s Classical Music Summer Institute, where he currently serves as Chamber Music Director. He also created the Fortissimo Youth Initiative, a series of baroque and classical music seminars and performances with youth orchestras, which aims to explore and deepen young musicians’ understanding of 18th century music.

He currently performs on the 1735 “Mary Portman” ex-Kreisler Guarneri del Gesù violin, kindly on loan from Clement and Karen Arrison through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.