Music Director, Houston Symphony Orchestra

The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion has served as the summer home for the Houston Symphony Orchestra for the past 20 years. For the past 12 years, the symphony has performed under the direction of Austrian-born conductor Hans Graf, who is leaving his post at the end of this year to work internationally and will be awarded the title conductor laureate.

Born in 1949, near Linz, Austria, Graf plays both the piano and violin. He attended the Musikhochschule in Graz, where he earned diplomas in conducting and piano and continued his studies in Italy and Russia. Graf served as the music director of the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra in Baghdad for the 1975-76 season and shortly after he began coaching at the Vienna State Opera.

Graf has held distinguished music directing posts in Calgary, Salzburg and Bordeaux. He is the winner of the Karl Bohm Competition and was honored with the title of Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honor by the French government for championing French music throughout the world, and also by the Republic of Austria, which bestowed upon him the Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the country.

After making his Carnegie Hall debut with the Houston Symphony in 2006, Graf returned, leading the Orchestra of St. Luke's in 2007. Graf and the Houston Symphony were invited to reappear in 2010 to present the New York premiere of The Planets–An HD Odyssey, accompanied by high definition photos and images from NASA's exploration of the solar system, set to the music of Gustav Holst's "The Planets." The Houston Symphony and Graf returned to Carnegie Hall yet again in May 2012 to participate in Carnegie's Spring for Music Festival.

What advantages has the Woodlands Pavilion provided for the symphony?

It's a fantastic venue outside Houston, which we need to reach people out of the city boundaries. The only thing is that it's sometimes a little bit hot playing there. It's well built, it functions well. Sometimes I would wish two or three more people would show up, or 2,000 more, but it's a good venue. If you play the right things, it makes for nice concerts, and I think people can be very satisfied with what they're getting. I like the screens, and I think we made some adjustments in programming, which have probably yielded better responses over time. But the orchestra should keep working there.

What do you feel has helped make the partnership between the symphony and the Pavilion successful?

I think it helps if both partners are talking together and find out what is the best time of year and what are the best programs to bring. As the music director, I'm concerned that we really have to fine-tune certain programs that can be presented there and how and when. I think there's been good development over the last couple of years.

What has been your most memorable performance at the Pavilion?

There were a couple of nice performances. One stands out for the wrong reason, because it was pouring. It was raining and storming when we were driving out, we first thought we wouldn't make it there. Then, we made it there, and I bet that it's not possible to play today and, sure enough, it was possible and we played a very nice concert. There were a couple of beautiful Brahms programs and couple of beautiful Beethoven programs years ago with the third symphony and the triple concerto with Linderholm.

What are your plans upon the end of your tenure in December?

I will continue conducting worldwide —conductors do not retire. I'm going to continue with my job with other orchestras as I did before. I've got another 20 years probably. But yes, I will miss this orchestra; it's been a part of my life for 12 years, which is incredible, and it's been the most important part of my life. The world has many orchestras. The only thing that will change is I'm flying less often and flying to Houston back and forth for 12 years is a monthly routine that we got very used to. What I miss, of course, will be being director of the orchestra and working with so many friends that are in the orchestra, but that's the course of our life and this is necessary. An orchestra like the Houston Symphony, which is a big and very high-ranking orchestra, has an enormous amount of impact and inspiration from very good conductors.

What has been the best part of the job?

You get to be conductor not by chance or mistake. It's a fantastic privilege to be a musician and to be a conductor and to do this job, which others are dreaming of. Houston is a fantastic orchestra which keeps you working hard all the time. There's a great spirit, and you have a great organization and a great audience and just to refresh their joy of music, their interest in music. This has a little bit of a finality to it, but that's what this is.

Is this the end of an era?

I will be conducting as much as I did before, but with other orchestras and other cities on other continents and America. Some connections I have had for many years and decades will continue and the connection to Houston will also continue in a way, since they decided to name me conductor laureate. But we will see how this goes on. Life is not ending.