HOUSTON – December 11, 2006 - ichael Lowe, artistic director of the Houston Chamber Orchestra, leads the orchestra in its third concert of the season with a program that includes three concertos for a wide variety of solo instruments and covering musical history from baroque to contemporary. The concert continues the orchestra's tradition of providing performances in which the audience experiences a close and personal contact with both orchestra players and soloists.

Program:

Concerto for Harpsichord in A Major, J.S. Bach Concerto for Oboe and Strings, Ralph Vaughan Williams Concerto for Double Bass, Dave Anderson Introduction and Allegro for Strings, Sir Edward Elgar.

Harpsichordist Molly Hammond is featured in J. S. Bach's "Concerto for Harpsichord in A Major," which dates from 1741. Hammond is co-founder and principal player with the orchestra. She is a former member of Houston's Mercury Baroque and has performed as soloist and with chamber music groups in Texas, Mexico, England, Australia and New Zealand.

Moving to modern times, Anne Leek, Houston Symphony associate principal oboist, performs as soloist in "Concerto for Oboe and Strings" by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. Written in 1944, it is one of the most frequently performed and recorded works for oboe. Leek has distinguished herself as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic and has performed with conductors Lorin Maazel, Christoph Eschenbach and Seiji Ozawa. She has also been a soloist at the Tanglewood and Ravinia music festivals.

The contemporary scene is represented by "Concerto for Double Bass" by New Orleans composer Dave Anderson. A professional double bassist, Anderson has performed extensively with orchestras in Louisville and Atlanta. He joined the Louisiana Philharmonic in New Orleans in 1996 after winning their principal bass audition. In addition to composing for his instrument, he has frequently performed with jazz groups around New Orleans and the French Quarter.

Anderson and his family were able to escape the ravages of Hurricane Katrina, but many of his scores were damaged or lost in the flooding. The score of the double bass concerto survived more or less intact, but new copies of the orchestral parts are being reconstructed for this performance.

Deborah Dunham, a doctoral student at the Shepherd School of Music, performs the solo part in the Anderson concerto. She has performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Symphony and Boston Pops. Dunham currently serves as principal bassist for Boston Baroque.

Rounding out the program is Sir Edward Elgar's "Introduction and Allegro for Strings." Although not formally titled as a concerto, the piece is actually a "concerto grosso," a designation used in earlier periods to denote music for a group of soloists performing prominent parts against the background of a larger orchestra. Featured soloists in the piece are violinists Ferenc Illényi and Kurt Johnson, violist Wei Jiang and cellist Brinton Averil Smith.

TICKETS are $30 and are available to students for $10. A 20 percent discount is offered to seniors and KUHF members. To purchase tickets, call the Hobby Center at 713.315.2525 or go online at www.UniquelyHouston.org.