The woman behind Symphony Chorus
weekend, the stage of Jones Hall will be consumed with the combined forces of Houston Symphony and the Houston Symphony Chorus.
Together, on Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoon, they’ll tackle two big choir-and-orchestra works: Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9” and Leonard Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms.”
Maestro Andrés Orozco-Estrada will be on the podium, but there’s one key player who won’t be on stage during the performance.
Houston Symphony Chorus director Betsy Cook Weber will be sitting in the audience, listening to the result of her hard work. It’s her job to carry the chorus to a concert-ready state, before turning things over to Orozco-Estrada.
“I’ll be in the audience, sitting on my hands and gritting my teeth,” the 53-year-old Houston native says with a laugh. “I’ll
listen carefully — because I send out written notes after every performance about what we can do to make the next performance even better.”
Cook Weber was named the director of the Houston Symphony Chorus two years ago, taking over from longtime director Charles Hausmann. But her association with the chorus goes back 25 years. From 1990-97, she served as associate director.
Her commitment to choral conducting goes back even further.
“I decided at the age of 10 that I wanted to conduct choirs,” she recalls.
After leading elementary, middle school and high school choirs, Cook Weber became the first person to enroll in the University of Houston’s doctoral program in choral conducting. She’s now a professor at UH, where she leads the Moores School Concert Chorale.
“I’m on the road a lot,” she says, “conducting festival choirs and church conference choirs.”
Cook Weber has conducted throughout the U.S., in Canada and Mexico, in France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
“I was supposed to go to Shanghai,” she adds, “but I had to cancel twice. We’re still trying to find a date that will work.”
Since taking the reins of the Houston Symphony Chorus, she has prepared the choir for about a dozen concerts with the Houston Symphony. In this capacity, she has worked with various conductors. But she says she especially enjoys working with Orozco-Estrada.
“My first preparation for Andrés was the Mozart ‘Requiem,’ ” she recalls. “He and I were getting to know each other, and those concerts came off nicely. Then in the spring of 2015, we did a Verdi ‘Requiem’ with him, and I felt the chorus had really moved forward. Later, in July, we did a ‘Carmina Burana’ that was a really fine concert.”
The Houston Symphony Chorus has a flexible membership of more than 280 singers, although they don’t all sing at all concerts. For the upcoming concerts, the choir will number 170, along with five vocal soloists: boy soprano Dennis Xu, soprano Joyce El-Khoury, mezzo Kelley O’Connor, tenor Gordon Gietz and bass Peixin Chen.
“I’d describe them as
sensitive, energetic and very emotionally connected to the music,” she says. “Many are music teachers, but we also have rocket scientists. It’s an evolving chorus, and I hope it will get better and better over the next few years.”
Both the Beethoven and Bernstein works have their challenges, and it’s Cook Weber’s task to troubleshoot pitch, balance and diction problems in rehearsal.
“Beethoven was criticized for writing music that is very difficult to sing,” she points out, “and I think that criticism has a solid foundation. The range of the ‘Ninth’ is extensive for all voice parts. Also, the Bernstein is sung in Hebrew, and it contains some very modern harmonies.”
With the Houston Symphony, Cook Weber is always a bridesmaid and never a bride. When her job is done, she hands the baton to another conductor who leads the actual performances. Yet she insists this isn’t an issue.
“When I was interviewed for the job, I said that I have zero interest in conducting the Houston Symphony,” she said. “I don’t feel equipped to do that. I’m a choral person. But it’s fun to collaborate with conductors who are collegial. It’s a real joy.”