ROCO In Concert: Pure Imagination

ROCO plays The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts – Zilkha Hall on Saturday, February 13, 2027, at 5 PM. It's their debut at the venue and part of their 22nd season, which pairs two commissioned premieres with works by Mozart and Mahler. Artistic Partner Mei-Ann Chen returns to the podium to lead the Houston chamber orchestra.

The new writing takes center stage. Grammy winner Austin Wintory wrote a guitar concerto for guitarist Mak Grgić, who performs it with the orchestra; the piece is a Texas premiere, and the audience shapes the music in real time through interactive technology. Maxime Goulet's The Return of Wolves: A Musical Tale of Nature's Balance is a world premiere that traces an ecosystem's rebirth after wolves return to their habitat. Both are new commissions, and both are on the bill.

Rounding out the program are two classics: Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds, specifically the first movement, Allegro, and the first movement of Mahler's Symphony No. 1. The whole evening puts the new premieres alongside these older records, with the Wintory concerto and the Goulet piece as the main draw.

Tickets are pay-what-you-wish, with a suggested price of $55. The concert is at 5 PM on Saturday, February 13, at The Hobby Center's Zilkha Hall, 800 Bagby St in downtown Houston.