HOUSTON (June 21, 2022) – Today, the Houston Symphony announced the 2022 Truist Summer Symphony Nights at Miller Outdoor Theatre. In its 81st year, the annual tradition introduces outstanding soloists and conductors to Houston audiences. On Friday, July 1, 2022 at 8:30 p.m., Young German conductor Christian Reif makes his Houston Symphony debut opening the Miller season leading the orchestra in Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7, as well as Copland’s Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo, and Errollyn Wallen’s Mighty River.
The next night, Saturday, July 2, 2022 at 8:30 p.m., Lina Gonzáles-Granados and Gabriel Martins make their Houston Symphony debuts as conductor and cellist respectively in Schumann’s Cello Concerto. Also on the program are 19th-century French composer Louise Farrenc’s Symphony No. 3, and Carlos Simon’s Fate Now Conquers.
Stravinsky’s Firebird is the highlight of the July 8 8:30 p.m. concert led by Christopher Rountree. He’s joined by Michelle Cann in her Houston Symphony debut as soloist in Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement, and William Grant Still’s Darker Night and Caroline Shaw’s Valencia for String Orchestra complete the program. Houston Symphony Assistant Conductor and holder of the the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation Chair Yue Bao leads the 2022 Houston Symphony finale at Miller Outdoor Theatre on July 9at 8:30 p.m. The program comprises Felix Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony No. 4, Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel’s Overture in C major, and Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony.
Admission is free to all the Truist Summer Symphony Nights concerts at Miller Outdoor Theatre, but tickets are required for the covered seating area. Tickets for covered seating are available online at www.milleroutdoortheatre.com/get-tickets beginning at 10 a.m., one day prior to the performance date until noon on the day of the performance. There will be a limited number of tickets at the box office one hour before the performance. No tickets are required for the hill.
Houston Symphony is also proud to announce the return of Houston Symphony Neighborhood Concerts after a three-year hiatus. A summer tradition, these evening concerts are held in casual and accessible venues across Greater Houston, bringing the Houston Symphony to people of all ages and backgrounds.
This year’s Neighborhood Concerts—led by Houston Symphony Assistant Conductor and holder of the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation Chair Yue Bao—are the Symphony’s first since Summer 2019, and are held in schools and churches across Houston featuring some of the most popular and beloved classical works in the orchestra canon. Tchaikovsky’s Suite from The Sleeping Beauty, Bizet’s Carmen Suite, Copland’s Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo, as well as William Li’s arrangement of the popular Chinese folk song Jasmine Flower, African American composer Florence Price’s Symphony No. 1, and Mexican composer José Pablo Moncayo’s Huapango are all in store for at Lilly Grove Missionary Baptist Church (South Side Houston) on June 21; Kashmere High School on June 23, and Waltrip High School on June 24. All of the venues for this year’s Neighborhood Concerts serve Complete Communities in accordance with Mayor Sylvester Turner’s initiative.
Truist Summer Symphony Nights at Miller Outdoor Theatre
Miller Outdoor Theatre, 6000 Hermann Park Drive, Houston, TX 77030
DVOŘÁK SYMPHONY NO. 7
Friday, July 1, 2022, 8:30 p.m.
*Christian Reif, conductor
- WALLEN: Mighty River
COPLAND: Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes
DVOŘÁK S: Symphony No. 7
SCHUMANN’S CELLO CONCERTO
Saturday, July 2, 2022, 8:30 p.m.
*Lina Gonzáles-Granados, conductor
*Gabriel Martins, cello
- SIMON: Fate Now Conquers
SCHUMANN: Cello Concerto
FARRENC: Symphony No. 3
STRAVINSKY’S FIREBIRD
Friday, July 8, 2022, 8:30 p.m.
Christopher Rountree, conductor
*Michelle Cann, piano
- SHAW: Valencia for String Orchestra
STILL: Darker America
PRICE: Piano Concerto in One Movement
STRAVINSKY: Suite from The Firebird
MENDELSSOHN’S ITALIAN SYMPHONY
Saturday, July 9, 2022, 8:30 p.m.
Yue Bao, conductor
MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL: Overture in C major
PROKOFIEV: Classical Symphony
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 4, Italian
[* = Houston Symphony Debut]
NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERTS
General Admission (tickets are not issued)
LILLY GROVE MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH
7034 Tierwester St., Houston, TX 77021
Tuesday, June 21, 2022, 7:30 p.m.
Yue Bao, conductor
KASHMERE HIGH SCHOOL
6900 Wileyvale Rd., Houston, TX 77028
Thursday, June 23, 2022, 7:30 p.m.
Yue Bao, conductor
WALTRIP HIGH SCHOOL
1900 W. 34th St., TX 77018
Thursday, June 24, 2022, 7:30 p.m.
Yue Bao, conductor
About the Houston Symphony
During the 2022–23 Season, the Houston Symphony continues its second century as one of America’s leading orchestras with a full complement of concert, community, education, touring, and recording activities. One of the oldest performing arts organizations in Texas, the Symphony held its inaugural performance at The Majestic Theater in downtown Houston on June 21, 1913. Today, with an operating budget of $28.8 million (FY22), the full-time ensemble of professional musicians presents nearly 170 (FY19) concerts annually, making it the largest performing arts organization in Houston. Additionally, musicians of the orchestra and the Symphony’s two Community-Embedded Musicians offer over 1,000 (FY19) community-based performances each year at various schools, community centers, hospitals, and churches reaching more than 200,000 (FY19) people in Greater Houston annually, prior to COVID-19.
After suspending concert activities in March 2020 and cancelling the remainder of 2019–20 events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Symphony resumed activities in May 2020, opening the 2020–21 Season on schedule in September 2020 with small audiences of 150, which the Symphony gradually increased to 450 audience members per performance. Due to the financial impact of the canceled 2019–20 Season events, plus the reduction of sales capacity due to audience social distancing in 2020–21, the Symphony cut expenses, reducing planned spending from $36.2 million in 2019–20 to $22.7 million in 2020–21. The Houston Symphony’s Education and Community Engagement team continued to fulfill its mission through creative and virtual means throughout this period. The Symphony successfully completed a full season with in-person audiences and weekly livestreams of each performance, making it one of the only orchestras in the world to do so.
The Grammy Award-winning Houston Symphony has recorded under various prestigious labels, including Koch International Classics, Naxos, RCA Red Seal, Telarc, Virgin Classics, and, most recently, Dutch recording label Pentatone. In 2017, the Houston Symphony was awarded an ECHO Klassik award for the live recording of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck under the direction of former Music Director Hans Graf. The orchestra earned its first Grammy nomination and Grammy Award at the 60th annual ceremony for the same recording in the Best Opera Recording category.