Moores School of Music Orchestras

Franz Anton Krager, Director of Orchestras (biography)

Peter Jacoby, Music Director, Moores Opera Center (biography)

Jaemi Blair Loeb, Manager & Librarian - University Orchestras

Roger Kalia, Assistant Manager and Librarian, University Orchestras

Dominique Royem, General Manager - University Orchestras
Moores School Symphony Orchestra

The 100-member Moores School Symphony Orchestra (MSSO) is conducted by Moores School Director of Orchestras, Franz Anton Krager. As a major ensemble, the MSSO performs as a musical partner with many of the MSM's departments and studios. The high level of its performances has been hailed by international artists and critics alike as a student ensemble of professional quality and versatility. The MSSO appears regularly with world-class performing artists, and has been featured at several Texas Music Educators Association Conventions. The MSSO enjoys frequent airing on NPR and "Houston-In-Concert," and can be heard on compact disc on the Albany Records label.

Membership in the MSSO is open, by audition, to all graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Houston. During a normal school year the MSSO will perform on an average of twice monthly, and engage all of the major orchestral genres including full orchestra, chamber orchestra, opera, oratorio, and ballet. The MSSO collaborates on a regular basis with the Moores Opera Center, Moores School Choirs, and Houston Ballet Academy. It is a leading ensemble in the area of new music as well as being an important repository for the standard literature. The MSSO also sponsors the Moores School Concerto Competition, held annually. As an accompanying ensemble, the MSSO performs with soloists including MSM faculty, major guest artists, and students selected through the Moores School Concerto Competition. Many MSSO graduates have gone on to become professional level orchestra musicians, conductors, and leading music educators in the field. For further information, email Franz Anton Krager.

Photos from the September 2006 concert at St. John the Divine Episcopal Church, Houston, Texas (photos coutesy of Joel Wren)

Hear a performance:
Robert Shaw conducts the Verdi Requiem | Shostakovich, The Execution of Stepan Razin, Op. 119 | Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade, Op. 35 | Michael Horvit, Daughters of Jerusalem