HOUSTON (May 11, 2018) – Principal POPS Conductor Steven Reineke closes out the 2017-18 BBVA Compass POPS Series May 25 & 26 at 8 p.m. and May 27 at 7:30 p.m. with One-Hit Wonders, a program featuring some of the most memorable songs of the 70s, 80s and 90s.
Show-stopping vocalist Storm Large returns to perform some of the greatest and most recognizable songs of all time, which are often overlooked on concert programs in favor of music by more well-established artists and bands. Among those familiar songs featured in the program are “Video Killed the Radio Star,” “Chariots of Fire,” “Bittersweet Symphony,” “Take on Me,” “The Hustle” and “The Girl from Ipanema.”
Large, who first shot to fame in 2006 as a finalist on the CBS show Rock Star: Supernova, is a co-lead vocalist of the Portland-based Pink Martini band and regularly tours concert halls across the country with her band Le Bonheur. Recent highlights include engagements with The New York Pops; Cincinnati and Memphis Symphony Orchestras; The Louisville Orchestra; and performances at the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago.
Large and Reineke will be joined by Broadway star Matt Doyle who recently starred in the U.S. premiere of A Clockwork Orange at New World Stages and made his Carnegie Hall debut with The New York Pops last fall. Matt’s Broadway credits include The Book of Mormon (Elder Price), War Horse (Billy Narracott), Spring Awakening (Hanschen) and Bye Bye Birdie (Hugo Peabody). Doyle will be making his Houston Symphony debut.
The concert will take place at Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, 615 Louisiana Street, in Houston’s Theater District. For tickets and information, please call (713) 224-7575 or visit houstonsymphony.org. Tickets may also be purchased at the Houston Symphony Patron Services Center in Jones Hall (Monday–Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.). All programs and artists are subject to change.
ONE-HIT WONDERS
Friday, May 25, 2018, at 8 p.m.
Saturday, May 26, 2018, at 8 p.m.
Sunday, May 27, 2018, at 7:30 p.m.
Steven Reineke, conductor
Storm Large, vocalist
Matt Doyle, vocalist
About Steven Reineke
Steven Reineke has established himself as one of North America’s leading conductors of popular music. In addition to being Principal POPS Conductor at the Houston Symphony, Steven is the music director of The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, 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. He previously held the posts of principal pops conductor of the Long Beach and Modesto Symphony Orchestras and associate conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra.
Steven is a frequent guest conductor with The Philadelphia Orchestra and has been on the podium with the Boston Pops Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia. His extensive North American conducting appearances include San Francisco, Seattle, Edmonton, Pittsburgh, Vancouver, Ottawa (National Arts Centre), Detroit, Milwaukee and Calgary.
On stage, Steven has created programs and collaborated with a range of leading artists from the worlds of hip hop, Broadway, television and rock, including Common, Kendrick Lamar, Nas, 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.
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, The 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, 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 Storm Large
Storm Large: musician, actor, playwright, author, awesome. She shot to national prominence in 2006 as a finalist on the CBS show Rock Star: Supernova, where despite having been eliminated in the week before the finale, Storm built a fan base that still follows her around the world.
Highlights of the 2017-18 season include debuts with The Phoenix, San Francisco and Jacksonville Symphonies; Pittsburgh, Vancouver and RTÉ National Symphony Orchestras and return engagements here and with the Toronto and Toledo Symphony Orchestras. Storm and her band, Le Bonheur, continue to tour concert halls across the country. The 2016-17 season included debuts with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Atlanta, Baltimore and BBC Symphony Orchestras as well as return engagements with National and Detroit Symphony Orchestras.
Recent highlights include engagements with The New York Pops; Cincinnati and Memphis Symphony Orchestras; The Louisville Orchestra; and performances at the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago. She joined Michael Feinstein as special guest on the Jazz & Popular Song series at Lincoln Center as well as with Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey and the Pasadena Symphony and Pops. She debuted with the Oregon Symphony in 2010 and has returned for sold-out performances each year. Storm made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2013, singing Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as part of the Spring for Music festival. The New York Times called her “sensational,” and the classical music world instantly had a new star.
Storm made her debut as guest vocalist with the band Pink Martini in April 2011, singing four sold-out concerts with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She continues to perform with the band, touring nationally and internationally, and she was featured on the group’s CD, Get Happy.
Storm’s musical memoir, Crazy Enough, played to packed houses in 2009 during its unprecedented 21-week sold-out run at Portland Center Stage. She performed a cabaret version of the show to critical acclaim at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Adelaide Festival in Australia and Joe’s Pub in New York. Her memoir, Crazy Enough, was released by Simon and Schuster in 2012, named Oprah’s Book of the Week and awarded the 2013 Oregon Book Award for Creative Nonfiction.
About Matt Doyle
Matt Doyle recently starred in the U.S. premiere of A Clockwork Orange at New World Stages and made his Carnegie Hall debut with The New York Pops last fall. Matt’s Broadway credits include The Book of Mormon (Elder Price), War Horse (Billy Narracott), Spring Awakening (Hanschen) and Bye Bye Birdie (Hugo Peabody). National tour credits include Spring Awakening (Melchior). Off-Broadway credits include Sweeney Todd (Anthony), Brooklynite (Trey) and Jasper in Deadland (Jasper). Regional credits include West Side Story at Paper Mill Playhouse (Tony), Jasper in Deadland at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre (Jasper) and Giant at Dallas Theater Center (Jordy Jr.). Film and TV credits include a recurring role on Gossip Girl (Jonathan) and Private Romeo (Glenn). Recordings include Bare: A Pop Opera (Peter). Matt’s solo EPs, Daylight and Constant (co-written by Will Van Dyke), are available on iTunes.
About the Houston Symphony
During the 2017-18 season, the Houston Symphony celebrates its fourth season with Music Director Andrés Orozco- Estrada and continues its second century as one of America’s leading orchestras with a full complement of concert, community, education, touring and recording activities. The Houston Symphony, one of the oldest performing arts organizations in Texas, held its inaugural performance at The Majestic Theater in downtown Houston June 21, 1913. Today, with an annual operating budget of $33.9 million, the full-time ensemble of 88 professional musicians presents nearly 170 concerts annually, making it the largest performing arts organization in Houston. Additionally, musicians of the orchestra and the Symphony’s four Community-Embedded Musicians offer over 900 community-based performances each year, reaching thousands of people in Greater Houston.
The Grammy Award-winning Houston Symphony has recorded under various prestigious labels, including Naxos, Koch International Classics, Telarc, RCA Red Seal, 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.
For tickets and more information, please visit houstonsymphony.org or call 713-224-7575.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Vanessa Astros: (713) 337-8560, vanessa.astros@houstonsymphony.org
Mireya Reyna: (713) 337-8557, mireya.reyna@houstonsymphony.org
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