Associate Conductor for the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, Jerry Hou is establishing himself as a versatile and exciting conductor. At the Shepherd School of Music, he leads the Shepherd School Contemporary Ensemble, curates the Hear&Now new music series, and works with the Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. In addition to his work at Rice, Mr. Hou serves as Associate Conductor of the Grand Teton Music Festival. For the past five seasons, he has worked closely with the St. Louis Symphony and their music director David Robertson. Mr. Hou made his debut with the orchestra, in the US premiere of John Cage’s Thirty Pieces for Five Orchestras.
Previously, Mr. Hou served as assistant conductor with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra for two seasons. In the summer of 2013, Mr. Hou served as an assistant conductor for the Lincoln Center Festival, working with conductor Brad Lubman, Ensemble Signal, and director Chen Shi-Zheng in the festival production of the opera, Monkey: Journey to the West. He returned to make his Lincoln Center debut with Ensemble Signal as part of Lincoln Center Songbook: Steve Reich and Stephen Sondheim in Conversation.
A passionate advocate of contemporary music, Mr. Hou has collaborated with composers such as Bernard Rands, Helmut Lachenmann, Gyorgy Kurtag, Luca Francesconi, Steve Reich, George Lewis, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Unsuk Chin, Brett Dean, Harrison Birtwistle, Pierre Boulez, and Peter Eötvös.
Born in Taiwan, Jerry Hou received his early musical training in Chicago and Minneapolis. After completing a Master’s degree from the Shepherd School of Music, he went to Europe to study contemporary music performance with Pierre Boulez and members of the Ensemble Intercontemporain at the Lucerne Festival Academy and with Peter Eötvös and members of the Ensemble Modern at the Ensemble Modern Academy.
Mr. Hou has conducted orchestras such as the Houston Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Rochester Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, and Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as contemporary music groups including Ensemble Modern, Remix Ensemble, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Slee Sinfonietta, Alarm Will Sound, and Ensemble Signal.