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Friday’s exciting season-opening concert in the Paramount Theatre, led by guest conductor Mei-Ann Chen, gave plenty of cause for optimism.

It wasn’t just that Chen, who rearranged her schedule to lead off a season’s worth of guest conductors, drew playing of such vitality and fervor from the orchestra. And it wasn’t just that the orchestra — which like so many other cultural institutions went through daunting, near-existential crises during the long dark months of the pandemic shutdown — has evidently emerged strong and resilient."

Taiwanese American conductor Mei-Ann Chen officially takes on the post of principal conductor of recreation - Grosses Orchester Graz at Styriarte beginning this fall, making her the first female Asian conductor to serve as chief conductor of the ensemble. She is also one of the first female Asian conductors to hold such a position with an Austrian orchestra.

Nationally syndicated PerformanceToday will feature Gabriel Faure's Masques et bergamasques, Op. 12, from the September 26, 2020 River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO) concert on today's program. Performed and recorded at Houston's Cynthia Wood Mitchell Pavilion, and led by conductor Mei-Ann Chen, first-ever Artistic Partner of ROCO, the performance airs in the second hour of the program.