PHOTOS AND B-ROLL

HOUSTON (June 15, 2026) – The Houston Symphony has announced the addition of two film screenings with the orchestra performing the score live to the 2026–27 Season: How To Train Your Dragon In Concert, September 5 and 6, 2026 at Jones Hall, and Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas In Concert Live-to-Film on Halloween Night, October 31, 2026 at Jones Hall.

How To Train Your Dragon In Concert features this acclaimed film presented in HD, with composer John Powell’s Academy Award®-nominated score performed live to picture by the Houston Symphony in a thrilling experience for all ages. A winner with audiences and critics alike, DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon is a captivating and original story that combines humor, fire-breathing action and epic adventure! It tells the tale of Hiccup, a young Viking who defies tradition when he befriends one of his deadliest foes – a ferocious dragon he calls Toothless. Together, these unlikely heroes must fight against all odds to save both their worlds. Jason Seber conducts the Houston Symphony in the score live to the film on Jones Hall’s big screen, September 5 and 6, 2026. 

Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas In Concert Live-to-Film features the contemporary holiday classic on the big screen in full symphonic glory with GRAMMY®-winning composer Danny Elfman’s musical score performed live to the film by the Houston Symphony. Houston Symphony Principal POPS Conductor Steven Reineke leads this special Houston Symphony live to film concert screening on Halloween Night, and audience costumes are definitely encouraged!

First released in 1993, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas was directed by Henry Selick (James and the Giant Peach) and based on a story and characters by Tim Burton. Bored with the same old scare-and-scream routine, Pumpkin King Jack Skellington presides over Halloweentown, but longs to spread the joy of Christmas. But his merry mission puts Santa in jeopardy and creates a nightmare for good little boys and girls everywhere.

The presentation is licensed by Disney Concerts.

Tickets to How To Train Your Dragon In Concert and Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas In Concert Live-to-Film, as well as the rest of the Houston Symphony’s 2026–27 Season, will be available to donors and subscribers on June 24, 2026 and to the general public on June 29, 2026 at houstonsymphony.org, by phone or text at 713-224-7575, or in person at the Houston Symphony’s Courtyard Level box office at Jones Hall.

How To Train Your Dragon In Concert

Saturday, September 5, 2026 @ 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, September 6, 2026 @ 2 p.m.

Jones Hall for the Performing Arts

Jason Seber, conductor

Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas In Concert Live-to-Film

Saturday, October 31, 2026 @ 7:30 p.m.

Jones Hall for the Performing Arts

Steven Reineke, conductor

About Disney Concerts

Disney Concerts is the concert production and licensing division of Disney Music Group, the music arm of The Walt Disney Company.  Disney Concerts produces concerts and tours, and licenses Disney music and visual content to symphony orchestras, choruses and presenters on a worldwide basis. Disney Concerts’ concert packages include a variety of formats, such as “live-to-picture” film concerts, and themed instrumental and vocal compilation concerts that range from instrumental-only symphonic performances to multimedia productions featuring live vocalists and choirs. Showcasing concerts from the largest movie franchises in the world and the most iconic studios in entertainment –Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, Pixar, 20^th Century Studios and National Geographic – Disney Concerts delivers world-class specialty entertainment, from bespoke performances to blockbuster hits, classics to seasonal favorites, in many of the world’s leading venues. Current and upcoming titles include the Star Wars Film Concert Series, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, Infinity Saga Concert Experience, Black Panther, Moana, Frozen, The Lion King, Coco, Waiting to Exhale, Disney Princess: The Concert, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Toy Story, Edward Scissorhands, Home Alone 2, and the hit Worlds Collide tours. For more information visit www.disneyconcerts.com.

About Steven Reineke

Houston Symphony Principal POPS Conductor Steven Reineke is one of North America's leading conductors of popular music and is in his second decade as Music Director of The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. He is the Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Principal Pops Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.​

Reineke is a frequent guest conductor and can be seen on the podium with the Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit Symphony Orchestras.

On stage, Mr. Reineke creates and collaborates with a range of leading artists from the worlds hip-hop, R & B, Broadway, television and rock including: Killer Mike, 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, amongst 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." Reineke is the conductor on "Ben Folds Live with The National Symphony Orchestra and William Shatner's "So Fragile, So Blue" with The National Symphony Orchestra. In November 2025, Reineke was joined on the podium by NFL legend Marshawn Lynch, who visited the Houston Symphony ahead of Thursday Night Football, for a conducting tutorial featured in his Amazon Prime show, “N Yo City.” ​

As the creator of hundreds of orchestral arrangements, Reineke’s 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 performed frequently 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 performed by concert bands perennially.

A native of Ohio, Mr. Reineke is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio (2020 Alumnus Distinguished Achievement Medal), where he earned two 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 Jason Seber

Jason Seber is known for his inviting and engaging approach on and off the podium. A strong believer in the eclectic experiences which today’s symphony orchestras offer their communities, he strives to make music of many genres and styles accessible, relevant, and meaningful to diverse audiences across the country.

Jason has conducted many leading American orchestras, including the Houston, Colorado, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Nashville, National, San Diego, and St. Louis Symphonies; the Louisville and Minnesota Orchestras; the Cincinnati Pops; and the Buffalo Philharmonic, among others. Upcoming performances include debuts with the North Carolina Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, and Phoenix Symphony. He has conducted more than 20 full-feature films and has had the pleasure of performing with a wide range of artists, including Patti Austin, Mason Bates, Andrew Bird, Boyz II Men, Jinjoo Cho, Melissa Etheridge, Ben Folds, Cody Fry, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Indigo Girls, Paul Jacobs, Wynonna Judd, Lyle Lovett, Katharine McPhee, Natalie Merchant, Brian Stokes Mitchell, My Morning Jacket, Leslie Odom Jr., Aoife O’Donovan, Pink Martini, Ben Rector, Stephen Schwartz, Doc Severinsen, Conrad Tao, Bobby Watson, and Joyce Yang.

Jason served as associate conductor of the Kansas City Symphony from 2016 to 2022. In this position, he led the Symphony in more than 300 performances on the Classical, Pops, Classics Uncorked, Family, Film + Live Orchestra, Education, and Christmas Festival series. He also served as co-host for the Symphony’s podcast, “Beethoven Walks into a Bar.” Prior to Kansas City, he was the education and outreach conductor at the Louisville Orchestra from 2013 to 2016 and music director of the Louisville Youth Orchestra from 2005 to 2016.

A passionate advocate for music education, Jason has led the Honors Performance Series Orchestra in concert at Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, and Royal Festival Hall in London. He is a frequent guest conductor of the National Repertory Orchestra each summer, and he has served as the All-State Orchestra conductor for Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, and Pennsylvania.