Summer Symphony Nights: July 4, 12, 13, 19, and 20, 2024
HOUSTON (June 27, 2024) – Today, the Houston Symphony announced the 2024 Summer Symphony Nights at Miller Outdoor Theatre. In its 83rd year, the annual tradition introduces outstanding soloists and conductors to Houston audiences. Also returning is a beloved Houston holiday tradition: the Houston Symphony’s Star-Spangled Salute on the 4th of July, presented by ExxonMobil!
The Houston Symphony’s Summer Symphony Nights at Miller Outdoor Theatre kicks off with A Star-Spangled Salute, presented by ExxonMobil on July 4, 2024. Conductor Jason Seber leads the Symphony and guest vocalist Rafael Moras in patriotic favorites like America the Beautiful and The Stars and Stripes Forever, “Seventy-Six Trombones” from Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man, John Williams’s Olympic Fanfare and Theme, and of course, Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, and a spectacular fireworks display.
Scotland-based American conductor Kellen Gray, Associate Artist of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, makes his Houston Symphony debut leading the Friday, July 12, 2024, program at Miller Outdoor Theatre. Opening with Copland’s An Outdoor Overture, Gray and the Houston Symphony perform Gershwin’s five-part symphonic suite Catfish Row (arranged by Steven Bowen) from Porgy and Bess, as well as Florence Price’s Symphony No. 3.
Houston Symphony Assistant Conductor Gonzalo Farias takes to the Miller Theatre podium on Saturday, July 13, 2024, welcoming Canadian Juno-nominated violinist Blake Pouliot to make his Houston Symphony debut performing Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto with the Houston Symphony. William Grant Still’s Summerland and Tchaikovsky’s passionate struggle with Fate in his Symphony No. 5 complete the program.
Russian-born conductor Anna Rakitina makes her Houston Symphony debut July 19, 2024 at Miller Outdoor Theatre leading Ellen Reid’s Floodplain, and Elgar’s famed Enigma Variations. Rakitina and the orchestra are joined by American violinist Annelle Gregory for Glazunov’s virtuosic Violin Concerto.
Young Greek Conductor Dionysis Grammenos makes his Houston Symphony debut, as well as his professional North American debut, in the closing concert of the Houston Symphony’s Summer Symphony Nights at Miller Outdoor Theatre. He leads the orchestra in Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade in A minor, and Dvořák’s joyous Symphony No. 8. Grammenos and the orchestra are joined by Houston Symphony cellist Charles Seo for Haydn’s lilting Cello Concerto in C major.
Admission is free to all the Summer Symphony Nights concerts at Miller Outdoor Theatre, which all begin at 8:30 p.m., 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.
Summer Symphony Nights at Miller Outdoor Theatre
Miller Outdoor Theatre, 6000 Hermann Park Drive, Houston, TX 77030
STAR-SPANGLED SALUTE
Thursday, July 4, 2024, 8:30 p.m.
Jason Seber, conductor
Rafael Moras, vocalist
AMERICAN MASTERWORKS
Friday, July 12, 2024, 8:30 p.m.
*Kellen Gray, conductor
COPLAND: An Outdoor Overture
GERSHWIN/BOWEN: Catfish Row (Symphonic Suite in Five Parts) from Porgy and Bess
PRICE: Symphony No. 3 in C minor
TCHAIKOVSKY’S SYMPHONY NO. 5
Saturday, July 13, 2024, 8:30 p.m.
Gonzalo Farias, conductor
*Blake Pouliot, violin
STILL: Summerland
TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto in D major
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 5
ENIGMA VARIATIONS
Friday, July 19, 2024, 8:30 p.m.
*Anna Rakitina, conductor
Annelle Gregory, violin
E. REID: Floodplain
GLAZUNOV: Violin Concerto in A minor
ELGAR: Enigma Variations
HAYDN & DVOŘÁK
Saturday, July 20, 2024, 8:30 p.m.
*Dionysis Grammenos, conductor
Charles Seo, cello
COLERIDGE-TAYLOR: Ballade in A minor
HAYDN: Cello Concerto in C major
DVOŘÁK: Symphony No. 8
[* = Houston Symphony Debut]
About the Houston Symphony
Under Music Director Juraj Valčuha, the Houston Symphony continues its second century inspiring and engaging a large and diverse audience in Houston and beyond through exceptional musical performances and creating an enduring impact in the Houston community. 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 $40.6 million, the full-time ensemble of professional musicians presents more than 130 concerts annually, making it the largest performing arts organization in Houston. Traditionally, musicians of the orchestra and the Symphony’s one Community-Embedded Musician also offer over 1,000 community-based performances each year at various schools, community centers, hospitals, and churches, annually reaching more than 200,000 people in Greater Houston.
After suspending concert activities in March 2020, the Symphony successfully completed a full 2020–21 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 Houston Symphony remains committed to livestreaming its 2024–25 Season to a broad audience in over forty-five countries and all 50 states, one of few American orchestras dedicated to transmitting live performances to a sizeable audience outside its home city through this technology. 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. The Symphony’s most recent recordings include a Pentatone release in January 2022 of its world premiere performances of Jimmy López Bellido’s Aurora and Ad Astra, and a Naxos release in July 2023 of its world premiere performance of Jennifer Higdon’s Duo Duel.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Eric Skelly: 713.337.8560, eric.skelly@houstonsymphony.org
Madison Mann: 832.930.4065 x120, madison@theckpgroup.com