Chamber-music concert bids adieu to symphony concertmaster

It's not yet official that violinist Frank Huang will be leaving Houston to join the New York Philharmonic.

Since the fall, he's been trying out the chair he was offered in the orchestra - the important position of concertmaster - while also playing with the Houston Symphony. Huang still has a few months to decide whether he wants to accept the job in New York.

However, Huang's colleagues in the Houston Symphony and at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music, where he's an adjunct professor, think the time is right to say farewell to the 37-year-old musician.

Their farewell comes in the form of a chamber-music concert Monday evening, in the Shepherd School's Duncan Recital Hall, featuring Huang and some of his friends.

There are just two works on the program, but they're both big cornerstones of the chamber repertoire: Franz Schubert's "Trio in E Flat" for violin, cello and piano and Felix Mendelssohn's "Octet" for double string quartet.

Huang will play in both pieces, as will cellist Brinton Smith. Smith, who plays principal cello in the Houston Symphony and is a professor at Rice, came up with the idea for the concert.

"I wanted to find an occasion to do the Schubert before Frank left," Smith said. "Then it dawned on me, 'Why not make this a celebration of his time and his friendships here?' This concert is as much about the relationships among the players as it is about the great music we'll be playing."

Rounding out the performers for the trio for the Schubert piece will be pianist Evelyn Chen, Smith's wife.

"The Mendelssohn 'Octet' is an amazing piece," Smith said, "and it's a way to involve a lot of people. Frank got married last spring, and his wife, Sarah, is a violinist. But they've never officially played together. So this is a chance to get Frank and Sarah and his sister, Ling Ling, who's also a violinist, to perform together."

Smith has worked closely with Huang since the violinist was appointed concertmaster of the Houston Symphony in 2010. The cellist vividly remembers how impressed he was when he first heard Huang audition for the orchestra.

"I recruited Frank when we were on the last concertmaster's search," Smith said. "Frank had never really played in an orchestra at that point - he was playing chamber music and having a freelance career in New York."

It was unusual for the Houston Symphony to hire Huang as its concertmaster, as he had little prior experience in such a role, Smith said. "We just knew that Frank had gifts that would work beautifully in the orchestra."

It's a decision he is proud to have had a part in.

"It was the Houston Symphony who found him and saw the potential in him when nobody else did," he said. "It says something about the orchestra, and also about Frank. The fact that we were able to make him a part of our orchestra is a great thing."