ROCO’s Season 21 Unveiled for 2025-2026:
The Season of the Senses
15 commissioned world premieres and rescores
Kevin Lau features as Composer In Residence
3 new performance venues
Audiences anywhere, in person or livestreaming, can now view the sheet music to scores and parts in the ROCO Mobile App during concerts
HOUSTON, TX – Driven by new artistic collaborations and adding performances in even more unique venues, ROCO’s bold 21st season is meant to be heard, felt, seen, and savored. “The Season of the Senses” presents evocative new works and immersive soundscapes by the great composers of our time, paired with reimagined classics in a wide variety of spaces.
“ROCO is a physical experience, a full body experience.”
-audience member
Telling Stories That Matter
ROCO’s Connections Series (site-specific collaborative chamber concerts) takes you all across the Houston landscape. Highlights include a newly commissioned work by Hiroaki Tokunaga based on Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata’s reflections on space exploration for a program beyond earthly boundaries to inspire curiosity and wonder at Asia Society Texas Center, featuring a quartet of ROCO musicians. Internationally renowned violinist and “epic force” Vijay Gupta takes the stage in partnership with ROCO principal cellist Alexis Gerlach at Holocaust Museum Houston, where music will bear a powerful testament to resilience.
A new collaborator is Artechouse, an immersive digital space where ROCO will perform in conjunction with neurofeedback from musicians and audience members, with real-time brain wave visualizations projected in the space. A newly commissioned work by Dr. Anthony Brandt, alongside a work by Beethoven, will explore the effects of known and unknown music on the brain and will also be performed in partnership at MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Music-in-Medicine series with Dr. Mei Rui. ROCO as well returns to the historic River Oaks Theatre with live music to silent film.
ROCO’s Unchambered Series (curated by ROCO musicians) will also be performed in unique venues across Houston. Laurie Meister’s harp will resonate through Houston Public Library’s Julia Ideson Library, celebrating its 100th anniversary with a commission inspired by its murals, painted by women during the Works Progress Administration era. ROCO flutists Brook Ferguson and Rebecca Powell Garfield join forces for a program honoring the 75th anniversary of St. Francis Episcopal Church, inspired by Francis’s love of animals.
“A heartfelt thank you for being able to experience this…
the music had my soul dancing!”
-Amirah, US Army Veteran
With the People Who Matter
Conductors Delyana Lazarova and Mei-Ann Chen return as Artistic Partners to deliver unmatched energy for the Albert and Margaret Alkek Foundation In Concert Series, featuring ROCO’s full 40-piece chamber orchestra. In April, Lazarova will again lead ROCO’s annual collaboration with Houston Youth Symphony, in a piece performed side-by-side. Andrew Earle Simpson returns with his signature silent film scores, and acclaimed conductor Anthony Parnther will also take the podium to make his ROCO debut.
Additionally, ROCO welcomes three guest concertmasters this season from the helms of their own orchestras. Margaret Batjer, Laura Frautschi, and Tereza Stanislav each bring their signature artistry to ROCO’s sound.
Engaging the Bachs, Beethovens, and Bonds of Our Time
The Season of the Senses carries through ROCO’s tidal wave of expanding the orchestral repertoire with fresh voices and bold ideas. As the #2 most prolific commissioning group in the United States, ROCO will have premiered 165 commissioned works by the end of this 2025-2026 season.
“I love knowing my support of ROCO is emboldening their work with living composers. Being a part of the creation process is exciting and makes the music deeply personal to me.”
-Andrew Coit, ROCO Resound Commissioning Consortium donor
Lauded for his ROCO-commissioned work that was adapted to a children’s book, The Nightingale composer Kevin Lau is Season 21’s Composer-In-Residence, kicking off the first concert with the world premiere of his clarinet concertino, featuring Principal Clarinetist Nathan Williams. This deeply personal piece will celebrate Nathan’s work in the hospice community as ROCO’s first Musicians with a Mission Manager and will wrestle with the arc of birth, life, and death. Lau will also write an epic piece for the full orchestra inspired by the world of C.S. Lewis’ fantasy novel series, The Chronicles of Narnia.
“Some of my fondest memories, in music and in life, have been spent in the company of the people at ROCO; this season I’m absolutely thrilled to be joining the ROCO family as Composer In Residence.”
-Kevin Wilks Lau
Other commissioned works tap into the senses: Emmy-winning composer John Wineglass’ Sacred Ground honors the people and rich history of Houston’s Freedmen’s town, GRAMMY-winning composer Starr Parodi’s Rip Tide creates a powerful sound world of life’s currents, while composer Heather Schmidt celebrates our furry companions in the premiere of her work based on husky rescue. A companion piece by James Stephenson called Quartet for Tomorrow is paired with excerpts from Messiaen’s famous Quartet for the End of Time at Holocaust Museum Houston. Errollyn Wallen writes a solo harp work in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Julia Ideson Public Library, based upon its murals painted by women through the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s. More commissioned premieres include a work by Gala Flagello, capturing the voice of our planet in Droughts and Downpours, and Patricia Leonard composes a work commemorating the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence.
Known for their commissioned rescores of traditional works for chamber orchestra, ROCO has invited long-time collaborator Anthony DiLorenzo to take both the iconic Toccata and Fugue in D minor by J.S. Bach and Maurice Ravel’s La Valse and reduce them for ROCO’s size. Andrew Earle Simpson’s reductions of his silent film scores and Jason Stephens’ reworking of the powerful New World Symphony by Antonin Dvořák round out the new pieces for the season.
Innovating Every Aspect of the Experience
Following the launch of the Season of the Senses opening concert, ROCO will host an art adventure Soirée at the immersive and interactive ARTECHOUSE—featuring dazzling digital installations, curated bites, cocktails, and a playful musician scavenger hunt. The Season of the Senses Soirée invites guests to celebrate creativity through every sense, honoring legendary guitarist Steve Vai as the Wildcatting in the Arts Awardee, Frank Donnelly of Kensinger Donnelly as the Corporate Pillar of the Arts Awardee, and led with passion by event chairs Jane Johnson and Wendy Burks.
Feeding lifelong curiosity, “Make a Joyful Noise!” returns to Padre’s Wine Bar on December 4th, inviting adults to have fun, learn, and rediscover the joys of music in a wildly entertaining evening where guests can enjoy wines, try musical instruments, and hit the gong!
ROCO recently launched a first-of-its-kind, innovative initiative called Musicians with a Mission (MWM), which reimagines and redesigns the role of a full-time musician within an orchestra. MWM invites individual ROCO musicians to bring together their unique passions and artistic talents to create and run their own arm of service under the ROCO umbrella with guidance and oversight from the ROCO team. Nathan Williams, ROCO’s principal clarinet, was selected as the very first MWM Manager to run his own access/outreach initiative in the hospice and palliative care area. He moved to Houston full-time in January to also join the artistic team of ROCO.
You’ve Never Heard a Feeling Like THIS!
2025-26 SEASON
ROCO’s full 40-piece orchestra performances, with musicians from all over the US and Canada and guest artists from around the world.
Albert and Margaret Alkek Foundation
IN CONCERT SERIES
FEELS LIKE HOME
Friday, Sept. 26, 2025 | Miller Outdoor Theatre | 7:30 pm
Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025 | The Church of St. John the Divine | 5:00 pm
Season of the Senses Soirée following | Artechouse | 7:30 pm
Delyana Lazarova, conductor
Nathan Williams, clarinet soloist
Kevin Lau: At the Still Point of the Turning World (clarinet concertino)
ROCO Commissioned World Premiere
Emilie Mayer: Symphony No. 4 in B minor
Starr Parodi: Rip Tide
Heather Schmidt: New Work based on Husky Rescue
ROCO Commissioned World Premiere
FRAGRANT MEMORIES
Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025 | The Church of St. John the Divine | 5:00 pm
Mei-Ann Chen, conductor
Laura Frautschi, violin soloist
J.S. Bach, arr. Anthony DiLorenzo: Toccata and Fugue in d minor
ROCO Commissioned World Premiere Rescore
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 10 in Eb Major
I. Andante-Allegro-Andante
Realized and arranged by Barry Cooper
Juan Pablo Contreras: La Minerva
lII. Himno a la Mujer
David Little: Haunted Topography
Maurice Ravel, arr. Anthony DiLorenzo: La Valse
ROCO Commissioned World Premiere Rescore
John Wineglass: Sacred Ground
ROCO Commissioned World Premiere
DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR?
America at 250
Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026 | The Church of St. John the Divine | 5:00 pm
Anthony Parnther, conductor
Antonín Dvořák, arr. Jason Stephens:
Symphony No. 9 in E minor, “From the New World”
ROCO Commissioned Rescore US Premiere
Duke Ellington: New World A-Comin’
Gala Flagello: Droughts and Downpours
for string orchestra
ROCO Co-Commissioned Premiere
Patricia Leonard: America 250
ROCO Commissioned World Premiere
SEEING IS BELIEVING
Saturday, April 18, 2026 | The Church of St. John the Divine | 5:00 pm
Delyana Lazarova, conductor
Viviana Goodwin, soprano
Brook Ferguson, flute
Alecia Lawyer, oboe
Kristin Wolfe Jensen, bassoon
Richard Danielpour: Adagietto for String Orchestra
Richard Danielpour: Breaking the Veil
Originally commissioned and premiered by ROCO,
Rescored for full string orchestra
“We Hold These Truths” Text by Thomas Jefferson
“Wild Horses” Original Words and Music by Jean Ritchie
Interpretation and Arrangement by J. Todd Frazier
Kevin Lau: Inspired by Narnia
ROCO Commissioned World Premiere
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel: Overture in C Major
Houston Youth Symphony Side-by-Side piece
The Unchambered Series features concerts curated by individual ROCO musicians, giving them carte blanche to bring their own unique passions into the creation of their programs.
UNCHAMBERED SERIES
Brook Ferguson & Rebecca Powell Garfield, flutes
Saturday, October 11, 2025 | St. Francis Episcopal Church | 5:00 pm
Celebrating St. Francis’s 75th anniversary with music about animals, and featuring our ROCOrooters music education/childcare program for the first time in a new location.
Laurie Meister, harp
Saturday, February 28, 2026 | Julia Ideson Library | 5:00 pm
Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Julia Ideson Library, with a ROCO Commissioned World Premiere by Errollyn Wallen inspired by the murals in the library painted by women in the 1930s through the Works Progress Administration.
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