Conductors, Guest Artists, and Faculty - University of Houston
Skip to main content
Site Home
Guest Artists                  Conductors                 Faculty

2025 Guest Artists

  • Barry Douglas, piano

    Barry Douglas, piano

    Lietzow Piano Series Recital I & Masterclass

    Barry Douglas has established a major international career since winning the Gold Medal at the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition, Moscow. As Artistic Director of Camerata Ireland, the only all-Ireland orchestra and the Clandeboye Festival, he continues to celebrate his Irish heritage whilst also maintaining a busy international touring schedule. In recent seasons, Barry has performed with orchestras including the London Symphony, Estonian National Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lille, Nuremberg Symphony, and Staatskapelle Halle, among others. Learn more.

  • Clayton Stephenson, piano

    Clayton Stephenson, piano

    Lietzow Piano Series Recital II & Masterclass

    American pianist Clayton Stephenson’s love for music is immediately apparent in his joyous charisma onstage, expressive power, and natural ease at the instrument. Hailed for “extraordinary narrative and poetic gifts” and interpretations that are “fresh, incisive and characterfully alive” (Gramophone), he is committed to making an impact on the world through his music-making. Learn more.

  • Gabriela Martinez, piano

    Gabriela Martinez, piano

    Lietzow Piano Series Recital III

    Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Martinez has a reputation for the lyricism of her playing, her compelling interpretations, and her elegant stage presence.  Her playing has been described as “magical… a remarkable pianist, with a cool determination, a tone full of glowing color and a seemingly effortless technique” (Mark Swed/LA Times) and “compelling …versatile, daring and insightful” (New York Times). Learn more.

  • Kirsten Yon, violin

    Kirsten Yon, violin

    Orchestra Series III Soloist

    Dr. Kirsten Yon is Associate Professor of Violin and Head of the String Division at the University of Houston Moores School of Music. Her active solo career includes recital engagements and masterclasses throughout the United States (including Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall), Brazil, Czech Republic, England, South Korea, Honduras, Mexico, Germany, France, Iceland, and Norway. She toured Brazil with the Botticelli String Quartet and pianist Cristina Capparelli Gerling. The winner of multiple competitions, Yon received outstanding accolades for her performances as a concert soloist, chamber musician, and for her concerto appearances. Learn more.

2025 Conductors

  • Franz Anton Krager, conductor

    Franz Anton Krager

    Since making his prize-winning European conducting debut in Copenhagen’s Tivoli Koncertsalen in 1978, Franz Anton Krager has led orchestras in the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Moscow’s State Kremlin Palace, Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall, Birmingham England’s Adrian Boult Hall, Guangzhou China’s Xinghai Music Center, the Sydney Opera House, The Hague’s Congresgebouw, Kazan’s State Philharmonic Hall in Russia, Guadalajara’s Degollado Theater, and Sarasota’s Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. His affiliations with leading music festivals include the Lancaster International Concert Series and Lichfield and Aberystwyth International Arts Festivals in the U.K., the Festival Internacional de Santa Lucía in Mexico, and the Texas Music Festival and Interlochen National Music Camp in the U.S. Maestro Krager has led the Houston, Russian State, Traverse City Michigan and Florida West Coast symphonies, Romanian and Kazan State philharmonics, and orchestras in Berlin, London, Chicago, Paris, Singapore, Leipzig, Bratislava, Monterrey, Pordenone, Ingolstadt, Neuss, and Honolulu. In 2015, he was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the North Shore Chamber Arts Ensemble in Chicago.

    Krager is the Hourani Endowed Professor of Music, Director of Orchestras, and Chair of the Conducting Department at the University of Houston Moores School of Music. Learn more.

  • Josep CaballĂ© Domenech, conductor

    Josep Caballé Domenech

    Josep Caballé Domenech is in his eleventh season as Music Director of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic (USA) and since 2018 Chief Conductor of the Moritzburg Festival Orchestra (Germany). He has also held the position of General Director of the Halle Opera and Staatskapelle (Germany) from 2013 to 2018, Artistic Director of the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra (Colombia) in 2018 and Principal Guest Conductor of the Norköping Symphony in Sweden between 2005 and 2007.

    As guest conductor, Caballé Domenech has conducted a prominent list of orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic, with which he recorded Respighi’s “Roman Trilogy” on Onyx Classics, BBC Philharmonic, Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, Hr-Sinfonieorchester, Bayerischen Rundfunk, Bamberg Symphony, WDR Sinfonieorchester, DSO Berlin, Czech Philharmonic, RSO Wien, Tonkünstler Symphony, Belgian National Symphony, Antwerp Symphony, LaVerdi Milano, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, New Japan Philharmonic and the Symphony Orchestras of Baltimore, Houston, San Antonio, Tucson, Fort Worth and Sichuan, among numerous others. Learn more.

  • Mei-Ann Chen, conductor

    Mei-Ann Chen

    Bold, passionate and innovative, Taiwanese American conductor Mei-Ann Chen is renowned as one of the most versatile and dynamic conductors on the podium today, praised for the energy and enthusiasm with which she infuses orchestras and performances. Music Director of the MacArthur Award-winning Chicago Sinfonietta since 2011, her contract has been unanimously extended through the end of the 2028-2029 season. Named Artistic Advisor of Springfield Symphony Orchestra (MA) in March 2024, Chen has been Chief Conductor of Austria’s Recreation - Grosses Orchester Graz at Styriarte since fall 2021, following two seasons as the orchestra’s first-ever Principal Guest Conductor, making her the first female Asian conductor to hold this position with an Austrian orchestra. She has served as the first-ever Artistic Partner of Houston’s ROCO since 2019, and since 2022, as an Artistic Partner with Northwest Sinfonietta (WA). Highly regarded as a compelling communicator and a creative leader both on and off the podium, and a sought-after guest conductor, she has appeared with distinguished orchestras throughout the Americas, Europe, Taiwan, The United Kingdom, and Scandinavia, and continues to expand her relationships with orchestras worldwide (over 150 orchestras to date). Learn more.

2025 Faculty

TMF orchestra from above, conducted by Hans Graf