The Sound of Christmas: John Williams’s Score to Home Alone

On December 3, the Houston Symphony presents Home Alone—Film with Live Orchestra. Our Grammy® Award-winning Recording Engineer and resident film music buff Brad Sayles explores how John Williams masterfully scored this holiday classic. Imagine being asked to score a Christmas film. A few well-known carols will appear throughout, but the true soundtrack must define the … Continued

Star Wars Generation

On November 7, 8, 9, and 10, the Houston Symphony continues to explore John Williams’s iconic music with performances of the score to Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back live to picture. Many Houston Symphony musicians are also big Star Wars fans, including Phillip Freeman, the Houston Symphony’s bass trombonist. Here, Freeman shares … Continued

Backstage Pass: Christian Schubert, clarinet

Christian Schubert has been the second clarinetist of the Houston Symphony since 1996 when he was appointed by Music Director Christoph Eschenbach. A native of Burbank, CA, he studied at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, where he received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees in music performance. His principal teachers have been Kalman Bloch, Robert Marcellus … Continued

The Houston Symphony Rings a Bell

Above: From left to right, Matthew Strauss (percussion), Mark Griffith (percussion), Marian Beauchamp, Gary Beauchamp and Brian Del Signore (principal percussion) pose with the new low E bell that will be played during this weekend’s concerts. At this weekend’s performances of Richard Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra, a new sound will ring out through Jones Hall. … Continued

John Williams in the Concert Hall

Houston audiences may know Brad Sayles best as the Houston Symphony’s Grammy Award-winning audio engineer, but he is also an active composer of film and concert music. He has also hosted Music from the Movies, a radio show that explored both new and classic film scores. In advance of our The Best of John Williams … Continued

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