Biography
Recognized for his dynamic presence, insightful interpretations, versatility, and commanding technique, Taiwanese-American conductor Jerry Hou is making his mark in concert halls and opera houses in the United States and abroad. He has conducted the Dallas Symphony, Houston Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Luxembourg Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Teatro Colon, Rochester Philharmonic, and San Antonio Symphony, amongst others.
Last summer, Hou lead to much acclaim the opening concerts of the Grand Teton Music Festival, in a program of Copland, Aaron Jay Kernis, and Rachmaninoff’s First Piano Concerto with renowned soloist Daniil Trifonov. For three summers, he served as Associate Conductor of the Grand Teton Music Festival. Known for his flexibility in many styles and genres, he has conducted a broad range of repertoire from classical to contemporary, leading projects in a variety of settings including orchestra, opera, theater, multimedia, and mixed ensemble. This past spring, Hou led performances of a new collaboration between composer Steve Reich and artist Gerhart Richter to commemorate the opening of New York City’s new performing arts space and center for artistic invention, The Shed.
He worked at the Lincoln Center Festival with Gorillaz members Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, director Chen Shi-Zheng, and Ensemble Signal with Brad Lubman, on the opera Monkey Journey to the West. Hou returned to Lincoln Center to make his conducting debut with Ensemble Signal for the American Songbook: Steve Reich and Stephen Sondheim in Conversation. A leading interpreter and conductor of contemporary music, he has collaborated with internationally acclaimed composers including Steve Reich, John Adams, Steve Stucky, George Lewis, Bernard Rands, Gyorgy Kurtag, Helmut Lachenmann, Unsuk Chin, Brett Dean, Mark Anthony-Turnage, James MacMillan, John Luther Adams, Aaron Jay Kernis, Melinda Wagner, and Peter Eötvös.
In addition, he worked closely with the next generation of leading composers including Kate Soper, Anna Clyne, and Andrew Norman. Hou has conducted leading contemporary music ensembles Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Signal, Remix Ensemble, Musiqa, and Alarm Will Sound. He is on the faculty of the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University in Houston, Texas, where he leads the contemporary ensemble and works with the symphony orchestra, chamber orchestra, chamber music program, and opera. He is a founder and artistic director of the music series, Hear&Now.
