For the health and safety of our patrons and speakers, masks may be required for indoor in-person Houston Seminar events, and we strongly prefer registrants to be fully vaccinated. Since events are held at a variety of venues with their own policies and protocols, there may be other requirements for some courses. We make every effort to inform guests in a timely manner if there are additional health and safety guidelines they will be asked to follow. Our trips and study tours, particularly those that include shared transportation or plane flights, may also require guidelines beyond those for in-person courses, which will be determined in conjunction with venues, vendors, and local guidelines. We will make every effort to announce these guidelines as far in advance as possible. Thank you for bearing with us as we continue to navigate the world of COVID-19 while bringing enriching experiences to our audiences.

Johannes Brahms: The German Master’s Inspired September Years
October 6, 2016 @ 12:00 am - October 13, 2016 @ 11:59 am
FreeJohannes Brahms: The German Master’s Inspired September Years
Timothy Hester will perform works of German composer Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897). These musical gems—Opus 116, 117, 118, and 119 – were composed in the last five years of Brahms’s life. They represent the epitome of the character piece, a genre of composition he had refined over the decades that captures the deepest feelings of the human spirit.
To end each program, Mr. Hester will be joined by clarinetist Mark Nuccio performing one of the sonatas for clarinet and piano from Opus 120. Brahms composed these works for his friend Richard Mühlfeld, and through them brought the clarinet sonata form to new heights.
Timothy Hester is professor of piano and director of keyboard collaborative arts at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music. He has performed internationally in solo and collaborative capacity. Mr. Hester studied with Albert Hirsch at the University of Houston and earned a Master of Music degree at the Juilliard School, where he studied with Adele Marcus.
Mark Nuccio is the newly appointed principal clarinetist of the Houston Symphony and a new faculty member of the Moores School of Music. He was previously on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music and served as acting principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic. After study at the University of Northern Colorado, he earned his Master of Music degree at Northwestern University.