HOUSTON, TX (September 19, 2024) — Following its wildly popular concerts with Common in 2019 and 2022, the Houston Symphony is collaborating with the iconic rapper Killer Mike. Drawing from his three-time Grammy-winning album Michael, Killer Mike and the Mighty Midnight Revival performs in concert with the Houston Symphony under the baton of Principal POPS Conductor Steven Reineke for one performance only, Thursday, January 16, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. in Jones Hall.
The concert was created through a team effort, with Killer Mike collaborating with Steven Reineke and the National Symphony for a March 2024 premiere. Online review website Reviews and Dunn said this of the National Symphony performance: “The crowd was left buzzing with adrenaline and pure inspiration as the concert wrapped up. Killer Mike’s performance not only showcased how music can unite and uplift, but it ignited a spark of change in the hearts of everyone present. It’s a night that will surely stand out as a milestone in hip-hop history, a testament to the electrifying mix of talent, passion, and social awareness that Killer Mike brings to the stage.”
“One of my missions as a modern orchestra conductor is to collaborate with exceptional musicians from ALL genres of music,” said Steven Reineke. “I’ve been a passionate advocate for including rap and hip-hop artists in that list of collaborators and I’m so excited that Killer Mike will be joining the mighty Houston Symphony. My idea in helping to create these special concerts is to take the best of both genres, orchestra and rap, and put them together in a truly meaningful and artistic way that creates something truly epic. For those audience members that may have never heard a symphony orchestra live or for those not familiar with Killer Mike, his fantastic music and his uplifting messaging, prepare to have your minds blown. It’s simply a concert you won’t want to miss!”
Killer Mike and the Mighty Midnight Revival performs with the Houston Symphony Thursday, January 16, ,2025 at 7:30 p.m. at Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, 615 Louisiana Street, in Houston’s Theater District.. For tickets and information, please call or text 713.224.7575 or visit houstonsymphony.org.
Killer Mike and the Mighty Midnight Revival
January 16, 2025 @ 7:30 p.m., Jones Hall
Steven Reineke, conductor
About Killer Mike
Atlanta’s favorite son Killer Mike gets recognized as many things — a rapper, an advocate for the disenfranchised, an entrepreneur, a Bernie Sanders whisperer, and for his widely lauded advocacy work on political and social causes — which yielded him Billboard’s inaugural 2020 Change Maker Award. Most recently his critically lauded 2023 album MICHAEL earned him three Grammy Awards (Best Rap Album and Best Rap Song & Performance for “SCIENTISTS & ENGINEERS”) for its complex portrait of Black southern masculinity. The honors marked his first awards from the Academy since taking home the Grammy for Best Rap Performance Duo or Group for his 2001 collaboration with Outkast, “The Whole World.”
While Killer Mike has been an active solo artist for over 20 years, releasing numerous studio projects while also collaborating with some of the biggest names in hip-hop (including Outkast, Jay-Z, Big Boi, T.I., Black Thought, and more), he is also widely renowned as half of the popular hip-hop super duo, Run The Jewels, with whom he has released four studio albums alongside his partner in rhyme EL-P. Their most recent, 2020’s RTJ4, soared to the Top 10 on the Billboard 200 and was met with widespread critical acclaim, landing at #1 on NME’s The Best 50 Albums of 2020 list. Named the 2020 Spin Magazine Artist of the Year, Run The Jewels have won eleven Libera Awards, including the 2021 A2IM Humanitarian Award, took home four Clio Awards, including two Gold-winning Music Marketing campaigns, and received a 2018 Grammy nomination for Best Rap Song.
In addition to his success as a musician, Killer Mike has gained wide recognition beyond the industry. He has acted in several films, including Baby Driver, Idlewild, and ATL and showed up TV cameos on Ozark and Billions. He also provided voiceover for the 2021 Netflix film America: The Motion Picture and is the host of multiple series including the Emmy Award winning PBS show Love & Respect with Killer Mike, Facebook’s Roll’N with Killer Mike, and Netflix’s Trigger Warning with Killer Mike, while also turning in regular speaking appearances on Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Real Time with Bill Maher.
About Steven Reineke
Houston Symphony Principal POPS Conductor Steven Reineke has established himself as 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 principal pops conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Steven is a frequent guest conductor with The Philadelphia Orchestra, and his extensive North American conducting appearances include Dallas, Detroit, and the Ravinia Music Festival.
On stage, Steven has created programs and collaborated 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, Cynthia Erivo, Ben Rector, Cody Fry, Sutton Foster, Megan Hilty, Cheyenne Jackson, Wayne Brady, Peter Frampton, and Ben Folds, among others. In 2017, he was featured on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered leading the National Symphony Orchestra—in a first for the show’s 45-year history— performing live music excerpts between news segments. In 2018, Steven led the National Symphony Orchestra with hip hop legend Nas performing his seminal album Illmatic on PBS’s Great Performances.
As the creator of more than 100 orchestral arrangements for the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Steven’s work has been performed worldwide, and can be heard on numerous Cincinnati Pops Orchestra recordings on the Telarc label. 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 worldwide.
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 lives in New York City with his husband, Eric Gabbard.
About 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 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 $40.7 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 Community-Embedded Musicians also offer nearly 600 community-based performances each year at various schools, community centers, hospitals, senior centers, and churches, annually reaching nearly 200,000 people in Greater Houston in addition to Jones Hall.
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 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. 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