Valčuha plans multi-week programs centered around the themes “COMPOSER AS HERO,” “DOOMED LOVERS,” And “TRANSFIGURATION”
Valčuha LEADS A HOUSTON SYMPHONY MULTI-MEDIA PERFORMANCE OF THE ELEMENTS, A WORK COMMISSIONED and performed by JOSHUA BELL
WITH MOVEMENTS BY KEVIN PUTS, EDGAR MEYER, JAKE HEGGIE, JENNIFER HIGDON AND JESSIE MONTGOMER
OTHER Valčuha-led highlights include THE MAESTRO’S MILLER OUTDOOR THEATRE DEBUT; A SEASON OPENING NIGHT FEATURING STRAVINSKY’S FIREBIRD AND FLORENT SCHMITT’S PSALM 47; RICHARD STRAUSS’S EIN HELDENLEBEN, and tod und verklärung; Act ii of wagner’s Tristan und Isolde; The World Premiere Of Andy Akiho’s Timpani Concerto Featuring Houston Symphony Principal Timpani Leonardo Soto As Soloist; And Mahler’s Symphony No. 9
America 250: American elements in 2026 programs
Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke Conducts “King For A Day: The Music Of Elvis,” “From Stage To Screen: Broadway Meets Hollywood,” “Piano Man: The Music Of Billy Joel,” “Disney’s Fantasia In Concert,” And “Lights! Camera! Music! 100 Years Of Epic Film Scores”
Three World Premieres Commissioned By The Houston Symphony
Guest Performances By Such Musical Luminaries As Sopranos Angel Blue And Tamara Wilson; Mezzo-Soprano Jamie Barton; Vocalists Tony Desare, Capathia Jenkins, And Ryan Shaw; Violinists Joshua Bell And Augustin Hadelich; Pianists Hélène Grimaud, Lang Lang, Víkingur Ólafsson, And Jean-Yves Thibaudet; Trumpets Arturo Sandoval And Byron Stripling; And Conductors John Adams, Marin Alsop, And Vasily Petrenko
The Houston Symphony Chorus Led By New Houston Symphony Chorus Director Anthony J. Maglione In Works By Schmitt, Handel, Sibelius, Grieg, Holst, Plus “Very Merry Pops,” And “Lights! Camera! Music! 100 Years Of Epic Film Scores”
Film Screenings With Orchestra Include
Jaws, Disney And Pixar’s Up, Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, Elf, Disney’s Fantasia, And Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi
HOUSTON (March 5, 2025) – The Houston Symphony and Music Director Juraj Valčuha are announcing today details of the 2025−26 Season, Valčuha’s fourth as music director. Valčuha leads eight of the eighteen classical subscription programs in the season, and opens the season by making his debut at Miller Outdoor Theatre, the Houston Symphony’s summer home. Highlights include Valčuha’s musical multi-weekend mini-festivals, this season comprising “Composer As Hero,” “Doomed Lovers,” and “Transfiguration.” In addition, Valčuha leads the Houston Symphony and an acclaimed cast in Act II of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, which includes one of the most glorious love duets in all of opera. Houston Symphony musicians Allegra Lilly, Yoonshin Song, and Leonardo Soto take the spotlight as soloists, Associate Conductor Gonzalo Farias leads his own classical subscription concert, and the Symphony welcomes the greatest guest artists in the world to Houston, including Behzod Abduraimov, John Adams, Marin Alsop, Jamie Barton, Joshua Bell, Angel Blue, Tony DeSare, Hélène Grimaud, Augustin Hadelich, Capathia Jenkins, Lang Lang, Jan Lisiecki, Víkingur Ólafsson, Vasily Petrenko, Arturo Sandoval, Ryan Shaw, Stuart Skelton, Baiba Skride, Byron Stripling, Ali Stroker, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Tamara Wilson.
New works this season include the Houston Symphony co-commissioned world premiere of American composer Julia Wolfe’s Liberty Bell, the world premiere of a Houston Symphony-commissioned work from Slovak composer L’ubica Čekovská; the world premiere of the Houston Symphony commissioned Timpani Concerto by American composer Andy Akiho; and the Southwest Premiere of The Elements with music by Kevin Puts, Edgar Meyer, Jake Heggie, Jennifer Higdon, and Jessie Montgomery.
From Copland’s sunny pioneer spirit and William Grant Still’s thrilling fusion of classical, jazz, and blues, to John Adams’s hypnotic energy and Jennifer Higdon’s boundless musical worlds—and everything in between—American composers have made a unique and indelible impact on the classical canon. In honor of the 250th Anniversary of the United States in 2026, the Houston Symphony presents a full calendar year of Classical and Bank of America POPS concerts celebrating outstanding American composers, music, and musicians. Each classical and POPS concert in calendar year 2026 will have at least one American element.
“We once believed that a lack of information made the world unreadable,” said Houston Symphony Music Director Juraj Valčuha. “Today, drowning in an overwhelming flood of data, we face the opposite crisis: a world so saturated with information that it has become indecipherable. In this relentless noise, we are losing something profound—the ability to listen. Not just to each other, but to ourselves. Music offers one of the rarest sanctuaries from this chaos. When we immerse ourselves in sound, we abandon words and enter a space where we can truly meet ourselves. In music, we surrender to a world where abstract beauty and grandeur lift us beyond the immediate, shifting our perspective on life itself. In any era, this journey is vital. But today, it is essential. It is not just an escape—it is a remedy, a way back to clarity, to meaning, and ultimately, to ourselves.”
“Having joined the Houston Symphony in the middle of the 2024–25 season I have already heard some truly extraordinary music-making,” said Executive Director, CEO, and holder of the Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, Gary Ginstling. “Now, I’m eager to experience my first full Houston Symphony season, carefully and thoughtfully curated by Juraj Valčuha and Steven Reineke. I encourage patrons to spend an evening with the Houston Symphony at Jones Hall to experience the unique sonic luster of this virtuosic orchestra.”
Before the official opening night of the new season, Music Director Juraj Valčuha makes his Miller Outdoor Theatre debut on September 12, 2025 at 8:30 p.m., leading colorful orchestra works including Ginastera’s Dances from Estancia, Revueltas’s Sensamayá, and Ravel’s iconic Bólero. Bernstein’s energetic Symphonic Dances from West Side Story conclude this free concert.
Valčuha officially opens the season September 19, 2025 (with additional performances September 20 and 21) with the orchestra, the Houston Symphony Chorus, and star soprano Angel Blue performing the monumental choral work Psalm 47 by Florent Schmitt, a protégé of Gabriel Fauré. The program also boasts the world premiere of the Houston Symphony co-commissioned Liberty Bell by Julia Wolfe, and Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite. ConocoPhillips serves as the Opening Night Concert Sponsor and Lead Gala Underwriter.
Beloved former Music Director Christoph Eschenbach returns September 27 and 28, 2025 to lead the orchestra, flute virtuoso Stathis Karapanos and Houston Symphony Principal Harp Allegra Lilly in Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp, as well as one of Eschenbach’s signature composers, Anton Bruckner: his Symphony No. 7.
October 2025 brings a pair of piano luminaries. Jean-Yves Thibaudet returns to the Jones Hall stage under the direction of Juanjo Mena to perform Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto No. 5, “Egyptian,” October 10, 11, and 12, 2025. Three works by Manuel de Falla complete the program: The Three-Cornered Hat (the complete ballet) and two selections from his opera La vida breve, featuring mezzo-soprano Sara Couden in her Houston Symphony debut.
Just a week later, piano fans have even more reason to rejoice, as Hélène Grimaud returns for Gershwin’s jazzy Piano Concerto in its 100th anniversary year, under the baton of Christian Reif, who also leads the orchestra in Julia Perry’s A Short Piece for Orchestra, and Weill’s Symphony No. 2, October 17, 18, and 19, 2025.
November 8 and 9, 2025, Houston Symphony Associate Conductor Gonzalo Farias makes his classical subscription debut, leading the orchestra in a tantalizing program comprising Debussy’s languid Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, Ginastera’s Varaciones Concertantes, Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No. 1, and Gabriela Ortiz’s Antrópolis, before bringing the concert to a thrilling close with Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes by Carl Maria von Weber.
Music Director Juraj Valčuha returns to close out November with a pair of starry guest soloists in the first of his three themed mini-festivals: Composer as Hero. November 21, 22, and 23, 2025, he’s joined by violinist Baiba Skride for Britten’s Violin Concerto, before closing the program with Shostakovich’s musical remembrance of the Stalin regime and his rebellion against it, ending in a climactic triumph of the human spirit: his Symphony No. 10.
Behzod Abduraimov joins Valčuha and the orchestra November 28, 29, and 30, 2025 for Tchaikovsky’s beloved Piano Concerto No. 1. The Houston Symphony-commissioned world premiere by Slovak composer L’ubica Čekovská opens the concert, which closes with Richard Strauss’s towering, autobiographical Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life).
Houston Symphony Concertmaster Yoonshin Song takes center stage as soloist in Bernstein’s virtuosic Serenade (after Plato’s Symposium) under the baton of acclaimed American conductor Marin Alsop, who also leads the orchestra in Barber’s Second Essay for Orchestra and Brahms’s luminous Symphony No. 2, January 23, 24, and 25, 2026.
February ushers in the second of Valčuha’s mini-festivals. Spanning three concert weekends, the Doomed Lovers Festival opens with Ryan Bancroft leading the orchestra in Berlioz’s wild symphonic depiction of a love-stricken artist’s phantasmagorical pursuit of his beloved: Symphonie fantastique. On the same program are Gabriella Smith’s Tumblebird Contrails, and violinist Clara-Jumi Kang’s Houston Symphony debut as soloist in Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole, February 13, 14, and 15, 2026.
The unbridled passion of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Overture Fantasy continues the theme of Doomed Lovers, as Juraj Valčuha conducts one of the most iconic works in the orchestra literature, as well as Holmès’s “La Nuit et l’Amour” from Ludus pro Patria, and Sofia Gabaidulina’s In Tempus Praesens, featuring rising star violinist Alexi Kenney in his Houston Symphony debut. Scriabin’s glorious The Poem of Ecstasy closes out this program, February 20, 21, and 22, 2026.
February 28 and March 1, 2026, the festival concludes with the music world’s most emblematic pair of doomed lovers, as Juraj Valčuha leads Act II of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, featuring the Houston Symphony and an extraordinary cast led by Tamara Wilson as Isolde, Stuart Skelton as Tristan, and Jamie Barton as Brangäne. Bass Derek Welton as King Marke and bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee as Kurwenal and Melot complete this exceptional cast.
Acclaimed Russian-British conductor and Royal Philharmonic Music Director Vasily Petrenko returns to the Jones Hall stage to lead the orchestra in Elgar’s enthralling Enigma Variations and Alfred Newman’s Wuthering Heights Suite, as well as Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 with piano virtuoso Jan Lisiecki, March 13, 14, and 15, 2026.
March 20, 21, and 22, 2026 brings the Houston Symphony-commissioned world premiere of Andy Akiho’s Timpani Concerto featuring Houston Symphony Principal Timpani Leonardo Soto (for whom it was written) under the direction of Juraj Valčuha. Also on the program are Louise Farrenc’s Overture No. 2, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.
Finnish maestro Dima Slobodeniouk returns to the Houston Symphony for a Scandinavian musical feast, comprising Grieg’s colorful music depiction of the adventures of the charismatic Norwegian folk legend: selections from Peer Gynt, Sibelius’ patriotic cantata The Captive Queen featuring the Houston Symphony Chorus (in both the Sibelius and Grieg works), William Grant Still’s Threnody: In Memory of Jean Sibelius, and Sibelius’s mythic tone poem based on the Finnish national epic, The Kalevala, Pohjola’s Daughter, March 27, 28, and 29, 2026.
The dean of American composers, John Adams, leads an all-American program comprising Ives’s The Unanswered Question, Copland’s iconic Appalachian Spring, and Adams’s own Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?—featuring piano luminary Víkingur Ólafsson—and The Rock You Stand On, April 18 and 19, 2026.
Juraj Valčuha’s third and final min-festival provides the 2025–26 Season with its truly grand finale. The Transfiguration festival opens May 7, 9, and 10, 2026 with Valčuha conducting a concert featuring Strauss’s powerful tone poem Death and Transfiguration, Wagner’s Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, and the Southwest premiere of The Elements featuring violin superstar Joshua Bell. With sound and video illuminating the five sections of Earth, Fire, Water, Air, and Space, the music for this monumental work comes from a “who’s who” of contemporary American composers: Kevin Puts, Edgar Meyer, Jake Heggie, Jennifer Higdon, and Jessie Montgomery.
The second weekend of the Transfiguration Festival brings the return of the extraordinary violin virtuoso Augustin Hadelich for Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, led by guest conductor Andrew Manze May 15, 16, and 17, 2026. Jennifer Higdon’s transcendent blue cathedral, and Holst’s innovative orchestral suite, The Planets.
The mini-festival and the season conclude with Juraj Valčuha leading the Houston Symphony in Gustav Mahler’s last completed symphony, his magnificent farewell, the Symphony No. 9.
Livestreaming
The first major American orchestra to both livestream and welcome live audiences back to the concert hall for the entirety of the 2020–21 Season, the Houston Symphony has livestreamed all subsequent seasons. It remains committed to livestreaming its 2025–26 Season to a broad audience in more than 45 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.
Livestream of Houston Symphony concerts is made possible by Barbara J. Burger.
2025−26 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
Returning and Debuting Guest Conductors and Artists
The season includes return appearances by conductors John Adams, Marin Alsop, Ryan Bancroft, Christoph Eschenbach, Nicholas Hersh, Juanjo Mena, Brett Mitchell, Vasily Petrenko, Christian Reif, Dima Slobodeniouk, and Lucas Waldin; pianists Behzod Abduraimov, Hélène Grimaud, Lang Lang, Jan Lisiecki, Víkingur Ólafsson and Jean-Yves Thibaudet; violinists Joshua Bell, Augustin Hadelich, Alexi Kenney, and Baiba Skride; flutist Stathis Karapanos; trumpeters Arturo Sandoval and Byron Stripling; countertenor Reginald Mobley; bass-baritone Douglas Williams; and vocalists Tony DeSare, Capathia Jenkins, Frankie Moreno, Hugh Panaro, Ryan Shaw, and Ali Stroker.
Making Houston Symphony debuts in the 2025−26 Season are conductors Andrew Manze, Patrick Quigley, and Thiago Tiberio; violinist Clara-Jumi Kang; sopranos Angel Blue, Kathryn Mueller, and Tamara Wilson; mezzo-sopranos Jamie Barton and Sara Couden; tenors John Matthew Myers and Stuart Skelton; bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee; bass Derek Welton; and vocalist Elizabeth Stanley.
Houston Symphony Chorus
Music Director Juraj Valčuha’s commitment to programming choral repertoire finds the Houston Symphony Chorus performing an impressively diverse repertoire in the 2025−26 Season, under the direction of Anthony J. Maglione in his first season. Their 2025–26 Season performances include the opening night performance of Schmitt’s Psalm 47 under Valčuha’s baton, as well as performances of Sibelius’s The Captive Queen; Grieg’s selections from Peer Gynt; Holst’s The Planets; Handel’s Messiah and Very Merry Pops, both longstanding Houston holiday traditions; and Lights! Camera! Music! 100Years of Epic Film Scores under the baton of Steven Reineke.
The classical season is endowed by The Wortham Foundation, Inc. in memory of Gus S. and Lyndall F. Wortham. Valčuha is the fifth music director to hold the Roy and Lillie Cullen Chair; a position endowed in perpetuity by The Cullen Foundation.
The Margaret Alkek Williams Spotlight Series
Made possible through generous support from Margaret Alkek Williams, Spotlight Series performances feature outstanding conductors and artists, including Music Director Juraj Valčuha and renowned guest artists. The concerts include curated musical selections by some of the greatest composers of all time such as Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and Rachmaninoff alongside contemporary works, offering audiences inspiring musical experiences that will stay with them after they leave the concert hall. Thanks in part to support from Margaret Alkek Williams, the Houston Symphony can serve its audiences with the highest level of artistry.
2025−26 BANK OF AMERICA POPS SEASON
Steven Reineke launches his ninth season as the Houston Symphony’s Principal POPS Conductor, leading five of the nine Bank of America POPS Season concerts.
“Once again, we’ve crafted a Bank of America POPS Series guaranteed to entertain and captivate our guests,” says Reineke. “I absolutely love the energy and enthusiasm our audiences in Houston bring to Jones Hall. This season, we relive some of our most cherished cinematic moments, pay tribute to our greatest icons, and celebrate Houston holiday traditions.”
October 3, 4, and 5, 2025, Steven Reineke opens the POPS season with special guest vocalist/pianist/guitarist Frankie Moreno performing the music of The King, Elvis, in King For A Day: The Music of Elvis. Reineke is joined October 31, November 1 and 2, 2025 by vocalists Elizabeth Stanley and Hugh Panaro for beloved songs that became great in the transition from cinema to theater and back, in From Stage To Screen: Broadway Meets Hollywood.
Conductor Brett Mitchell is joined by Tony Award-winning Broadway star Ali Stroker and the Houston Symphony Chorus December 11, 13, and 14, 2025, for the great Houston holiday tradition: Very Merry Pops, featuring Jones Hall decked out for the holidays, favorite carols and holiday music, and a special visit from Santa.
Houston favorite Byron Stripling rings in the new year with A Nat King Cole New Year, January 2, 3, and 4, 2026. Vocalist Denzal Sinclaire joins bandleader, trumpet, and vocalist Stripling, and the Houston Symphony Big Band, for hits like “Mona Lisa,” “Nature Boy,” “When I Fall In Love,” and many hits by Cole and other jazz legends.
January is for brass lovers, as trumpet great Arturo Sandoval takes the Jones Hall stage under the direction of conductor Thiago Tiberio, January 17 and 18, 2026. Arturo Sandoval: Journey To Freedom features the trumpet legend in a program of Son Cubano, Brazilian Samba, and jazz, along with personal stories from Sandoval’s life and career.
Another Houston favorite graces the Jones Hall stage February 6, 7, and 8, 2026: Tony DeSare! Steven Reineke leads pianist/vocalist DeSare and the orchestra in hits like “New York State of Mind,” “Just the Way You Are,” “Movin’ Out,” and so many more in Piano Man: The Music of Billy Joel.
April ushers in a very special Symphony movie screening perfect for the whole family. April 3 and 4, 2026, Steven Reineke leads the orchestra in the live score of one of the greatest and most ambitious animated film projects of all time, Disney’s Fantasia, with the film playing on a giant screen above the orchestra. It features wildly imaginative animated sequences set to iconic scores such as Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony No. 6, and of course, Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice starring Mickey Mouse, all originally conducted for the 1940 original film by former Houston Symphony Music Director Leopold Stokowski. This screening also includes sequences from Fantasia 2000, including Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, Respighi’s The Pines of Rome, and Saint-Saëns’ The Carnival of the Animals.
Capathia Jenkins and Ryan Shaw return to take the Jones Hall stage in music by Elvis, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, and Prince, in Icon: The Voices That Changed Music, conducted by Lucas Waldin, April 24, 25, and 26, 2026.
Steven Reineke is joined by the Houston Symphony Chorus led by Anthony J. Maglione for the Bank of America POPS Series’ grand finale, May 29, 30, and 31, 2026. Lights! Camera! Music! 100 Years of Epic Film Scores promises to recreate some of the most profound musical moments from the silver screen, from King Kong and The Godfather, to such modern classics as Pirates of the Caribbean and Gladiator.
2025−26 PNC Family Season Overview
On select Saturday mornings throughout each season, the Houston Symphony presents its PNC Family Series, a popular Saturday morning destination designed for families and children of all ages.
Family programs include free, interactive lobby activities, such as an Instrument Petting Zoo─which encourages children to try out orchestral instruments─theme-related music, and craft activities. These activities take place one hour before the 10 a.m. concerts and one hour following the 11:30 a.m. concerts in Jones Hall. Concertgoers are also encouraged to dress in costumes that match the concert’s theme.
The 2025–26 PNC Family Season kicks off with Frightfully Fun! A Halloween Concert for Kids on November 1, 2025, when guest conductor Nicholas Hersh leads the orchestra in spooky Halloween-themed classics. Guest conductor Brett Mitchell leads the orchestra in Oh, What Fun! A Holiday Concert for Kids, featuring a festive sing-along, lobby activities, free hot chocolate, and the chance to visit with Santa, December 13, 2025. Dinosaurs come to musical life when Associate Conductor Gonzalo Farias conducts When Instruments Roamed the Earth, a Jurassic, multi-media, musical adventure hosted by “paleo-musicologist” Sir Humphrey Treble Clef on February 7, 2026. The PNC Family Series concludes April 25, 2026, as Gonzalo Farias returns to lead the orchestra in Abracadabra! A Magical Musical Adventure.
2025−26 SYMPHONY SPECIALS
2025−26 subscribers get first access to Symphony Specials, like Lang Lang and Víkingur Ólafsson in Recital, as well as newly announced performances throughout the season, including the Houston Symphony’s most in-demand concerts.
Friday, June 20, 2025, marking the 50th anniversary of the film’s premiere, Houston Symphony audiences relive the thrilling suspense of Jaws, as the Symphony plays John Williams’ iconic score live in sync with the film projected on the big screen. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the concert hall... The original summer movie blockbuster, with an Academy Award®-winning score by composer John Williams, Jaws is an unforgettable film-with-live-orchestra experience! Directed by Academy Award® winner Steven Spielberg, Jaws set the standard for edge-of-your-seat suspense, quickly becoming a cultural phenomenon and forever changing the movie industry.
Then, Saturday, June 21 and 22, 2025, the Houston Symphony screens another modern classic with the orchestra performing the score live: Disney and Pixar’s UP, featuring a screening of the complete film with Academy Award® and Grammy®-winning composer Michael Giacchino’s musical score performed live to the film. Giacchino’s score brilliantly blends comedy and action-adventure, embracing the emotional side with his sentimental “Married Life” suite, which earned Giacchino his first Academy Award®.
Relive the days of Classic Rock in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s as guest conductor Brett Havens leads the Houston Symphony in The Music of Journey, July 26 in The Hobby Center’s Serofim Hall, 800 Bagby St. Havens and the Symphony rock out to a cavalcade of Journey’s greatest hits, including “Wheel in the Sky,” “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Any Way You Want It,” “Faithfully,” and a great many more.
Holiday Specials
Back by popular demand, the Symphony kicks off the Holiday Series, presented by Nexus Health Systems, with Joyful Fanfares: Holiday Brass Spectacular! Experience the festive brilliance of the Houston Symphony brass section in this family-friendly concert featuring classical works, treasured carols, and festive favorites—the perfect soundtrack to make the season sparkle.
A beloved Houston holiday tradition each season, the Houston Symphony and the Houston Symphony Chorus come together under the baton of Patrick Quigley (Artistic Director and founder of the vocal ensemble Seraphic Fire), December 5, 6, and 7, 2025 in a performance of Handel’s Messiah, the cherished English-language oratorio about the life and death of Jesus Christ. They’re joined by Kathryn Mueller, soprano; Reginald Mobley, countertenor; John Matthew Myers, tenor; and Douglas Williams, bass-baritone.
Elf In Concert joins the Houston Symphony’s festive holiday line-up on December 19, 20, and 21, 2025. Starring Will Ferrell, this modern holiday classic comedy tells the tale of Buddy the accidental Elf, who travels to New York in search of his real father.
The Houston Symphony brings audiences along on a journey to a galaxy far, far away with the final chapter of the original Star Wars trilogy, Star Wars: Episode VI—Return of the Jedi, January 9 and 10, 2026. Audiences can experience this iconic sci-fi film on the big screen as the Houston Symphony, performs John Williams’ award-winning score live.
Two piano superstars appear in recital in the Houston Symphony’s 2025–26 season in April. On April 1, 2026, Lang Lang performs works by Chopin, Schumann and more. And on April 17, 2026 Víkingur Ólafsson shares an evening of masterworks by Beethoven, Bach, and Brahms, including Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major.
2025–26 CHAMBER SERIES
Featuring members of the Houston Symphony in small ensembles, this concert series
allows for a unique, up-close experience to the musicians and the music. Concerts take place on September 28 and November 23, 2025; and March 15 and May 17, 2026.
THE HOUSTON SYMPHONY IN THE COMMUNITY
Houston Symphony Season Partners
Support from the Houston Symphony’s corporate, foundation, and government partners allows the orchestra to reach new artistic heights in music, education, and community engagement. The Houston Symphony 2025−26 Season partners include Spec’s Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods/Spec’s Charitable Foundation, Houston Methodist (Official Health Care Provider), and media partner ABC-13 (Official Television Partner). Series support comes from Bank of America, Frost Bank, Nexus Health Systems, PNC Bank, Shell USA, Inc., and Stella Artois. The Houston Symphony is funded in part by the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance, as well as by the Texas Commission on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Houston Symphony resolves to serve all of Houston’s diverse communities through initiatives like its In Harmony Initiative in partnership with AFA, serving the 5th Ward with its violin program DeLUXE K!DS In Harmony, serving the 2nd Ward with the Segundo Barrio “En Armonia” Violin Discovery Series, and reVision In Harmony, a 10-week after school series in the Gulfton community. The Houston Symphony Student Concerts now reach more than 50,000 students annually, more than double the number served by any other major American orchestra.
Ticket Information
Season tickets for the 2025–26 Season, including the Classical Series, the Bank of America POPS Series, and the PNC Family Series are on sale now. Classical Series packages start at $171, Bank of America POPS Series at $195, and PNC Family Series at $94. Subscriber benefits include presale access to Symphony Specials and free ticket exchanges.
Subscribers can also curate their own bespoke package, mixing and matching from over 35 different concerts across series to tailor the perfect season for any tastes.
Single tickets for fall and spring concerts will go on sale at a later date. For more information or to purchase, visit houstonsymphony.org, or call or text the Houston Symphony Patron Services Center at 713-224-7575, Monday−Saturday, noon−6 p.m.
Having built a substantial livestream audience beginning in July 2020 comprising audiences in all 50 states and in over 45 countries, the Houston Symphony strives to livestream all of its 2025–26 classical subscription performances, as well as most of its Bank of America POPS performances. Livestream subscriptions begin at $60, and are also now available at houstonsymphony.org.
2025–26 CLASSICAL SUBSCRIPTION SERIES
1.Wolfe: Liberty Bell
Houston Symphony Commission and World Premiere
Schmitt: Psalm 47
Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite
Falla: La vida breve: Interlude & Dance
Falla: La vida breve: “Aria de Salud”
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto NO. 5, Egyptian
Falla: El sombrero de tres picos (The Three-Cornered Hat)
- Puts, E. Meyer, J. Heggie, J. Higdon, J. Montgomery: The Elements
Wagner: Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde
Strauss: Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration)
Higdon: blue cathedral
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto
Holst: The Planets
2025–26 BANK OF AMERICA POPS
King for a Day: The Music of Elvis
October 3, 4, and 5, 2025
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
2025–26 PNC BANK FAMILY SERIES
2025–26 SPECIALS
Handel’s Messiah
December 5, 2025 7:30 p.m.
December 6, 2025 7:30 p.m.
December 7, 2025 2:00 p.m.
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
About Juraj Valčuha
Music Director, Roy and Lillie Cullen Chair
Houston Symphony Music Director Juraj Valčuha is recognized for his effortless expressiveness and depth of musicianship. He is known for his sharp baton technique and natural stage presence, and the impressive ease of his interpretations that translate even the most complex scores into immersive experiences.
Before joining the Houston Symphony in June 2022, Juraj was Music Director of the Teatro di San Carlo, Naples, from 2016 to 2022 and first guest conductor of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. He was Chief Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai from 2009 to 2016.
The 2005–06 Season marked the start of his international career on the podium of the Orchestre National de France followed by remarkable debuts in the United Kingdom with the Philharmonia London, in Germany with the Munich Philharmonic, in the United States with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and in Italy with Puccini’s La bohème in Bologna.
He has since led the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Munich Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Maggio Musicale in Florence, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Rome, Milan’s Filarmonica della Scala, Montréal Symphony, and the NHK and Yomiuri orchestras in Tokyo.
He enjoys regular collaborations with the Minnesota Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and San Francisco Symphony. International touring with the Orchestra Sinfonica della Rai took them to the Musikverein in Vienna and Philharmonie in Berlin, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Zurich, Munich, to the Enesco Festival in Bucharest, and the Abu Dhabi Classics. With the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, he visited Riga, Vilnius, and Tallinn to mark the 100th anniversary of the Baltic nations.
In Europe, he is acclaimed on the podium of the Munich Philharmonic, the NDR Hamburg and Frankfurt Radio orchestras, as well as the Vienna Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de Paris, BBC Symphony and Philharmonia London, and the Swedish Radio Orchestra.
Juraj champions the compositions of living composers and aims to program contemporary pieces in most of his concerts. He has conducted world premieres, including Christopher Rouse’s Supplica with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Steven Mackey’s violin concerto with Leila Josefowicz and the BBC Symphony in Manchester, and Nico Muhly’s Bright Idea with the Houston Symphony. In 2005, he conducted, in the presence of the composer, Steve Reich’s Four Seasons at the Melos-Ethos Festival in Bratislava. Other composers he has supported and continues to follow with interest are Bryce Dessner, Steven Stucky, Andrew Norman, James MacMillan, Luca Francesconi, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Anna Clyne, Julia Wolfe and Jessie Montgomery, among others.
Including his engagements in Houston, the 2023–24 Season took him to the Pittsburgh and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, San Francisco Symphony, and Minnesota Orchestra as well as to the Yomiuri Nippon Orchestra in Tokyo. On the European stage, he performed La fanciulla del West and Tristan and Isolde at the Bavarian State Opera and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Jenůfa at the Opera di Roma. He led concerts with the RAI Orchestra, the Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, the Orchestre National de France, the NDR, SWR, and the Bamberg Symphony, among others.
In the 2024–2025 Season Juraj will join the Semperoper in Dresden with Strauss´ Salomé as well as the Paris Opéra Bastille with Janáček´s The Cunning Little Vixen and the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Tchaikovsky´s Pique Dame. In the coming months, in addition to his concerts with the Houston Symphony, he will return to the Munich Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France, the London Philharmonic, the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchester, the San Francisco Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the Yomiuri Nippon Orchestra in Tokyo.
Born in Bratislava, Slovakia, Juraj studied composition and conducting in his birthplace, then at the conservatory in St. Petersburg (with Ilya Musin), and finally, at the Conservatoire Supérieur de la Musique in Paris.
About Steven Reineke
Houston Symphony Principal POPS Conductor Steven Reineke is one of North America’s leading conductors of popular music. He is in his second decade as music director of The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. Additionally, he is principal pops conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Steven is a frequent guest conductor and can be seen on the podium with the Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, and Detroit Symphony Orchestras.
On stage, he creates and collaborates with a range of leading artists from the worlds of hip-hop, R & B, Broadway, television, and rock including: Maxwell, Common, Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Ne-Yo, Bob Weir, Trey Anastasio, Barry Manilow, Cynthia Erivo, Ben Rector, Cody Fry, Sutton Foster, Amos Lee, Dispatch, Jason Mraz, and Ben Folds, among others.
In 2024, he led the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) on PBS’s Next at the Kennedy Center featuring Ben Folds DeClassified with Jacob Collier, Laufey, and dodie. He was previously seen with the NSO on PBS on Great Performances with hip-hop legend Nas performing his seminal album Illmatic. In 2017, he was featured on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered leading the NSO—in a first for the show’s 45-year history—performing live music excerpts between news segments.
Steven is the creator of hundreds of orchestral arrangements, and his work is performed worldwide and can be heard on numerous Cincinnati Pops Orchestra recordings. His symphonic works Celebration Fanfare, Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and Casey at the Bat are frequently performed in North America, including performances by the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic. His Sun Valley Festival Fanfare was used to commemorate the Sun Valley Summer Symphony’s pavilion, and his Festival Te Deum and Swan’s Island Sojourn were debuted by the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Pops Orchestras. His numerous wind ensemble compositions are published by the C.L. Barnhouse Company and are perennially performed by concert bands.
A native of Ohio, Steven is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio (2020 Alumnus Distinguished Achievement Medal), where he earned bachelor of music degrees with honors in both trumpet performance and music composition. He currently resides in New York City with his husband Eric Gabbard.
About the Houston Symphony
Under the leadership of Music Director Juraj Valčuha, the Grammy Award-winning Houston Symphony continues to inspire and engage diverse audiences in Houston and beyond with exceptional musical performances and enduring community impact. The Symphony held its inaugural performance at The Majestic Theater in downtown Houston on June 21, 1913. Now in its second century as one of America’s premier orchestras, the Houston Symphony is one of the oldest performing arts organizations in Texas and remains a cultural cornerstone of the region.
With an annual operating budget of $40.7 million, the Symphony presents over 130 concerts each year, making it one of the largest performing arts organizations in Texas. Its reach extends far beyond the concert hall, delivering more than 600 performances annually at schools, community centers, hospitals, and other venues, engaging over 160,000 people throughout Greater Houston.
The Symphony's innovative response to the COVID-19 pandemic—completing its 2020-21 Season with in-person audiences and weekly livestreams—earned national recognition and the ASCAP Foundation’s Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Broadcast/Media Award. Its commitment to innovation continues, with its 2024-25 Season reaching audiences in over 45 countries and all 50 states via livestreaming, making it one of the few American orchestras to sustain such global digital engagement.
Renowned for its artistry, the Symphony has a distinguished recording legacy under prestigious labels, including Koch International Classics, Naxos, RCA Red Seal, and Pentatone. Highlights include a Grammy and ECHO Klassik Award-winning live recording of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck and recent releases such as Jimmy López Bellido’s Aurora and Ad Astra (2022) and Jennifer Higdon’s Duo Duel (2023).
The Symphony’s educational impact is equally remarkable, with its Harry and Cora Sue Mach Student Concert Series reaching over 50,000 students annually. Its In Harmony after-school program and partnerships with institutions like the Houston Methodist Hospital, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Texas Children’s Hospital further demonstrate the Symphony’s commitment to fostering community connections and accessibility to the arts.
With a vision centered on artistic excellence, community engagement, and accessibility, the Houston Symphony remains a cultural leader in Houston and a global ambassador for the transformative power of music.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Eric Skelly: eric.skelly@houstonsymphony.org
Jessica Henderson: jessica@theckpgroup.com