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Cuban-born violinist Rainel Joubert joined the Houston Symphony as a Community-Embedded Musician in 2016. He has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba, the Opera and Ballet Orchestras of Havana and has played for many renowned musicians, including Claudio Abbado, Gidon Kremer, Erick Grossman, Ilmar López Gavilán, Paul Kantor, and the Borromeo String Quartet.

His many awards include being named one of the four finalists of the 15th Annual Sphinx Competition, First Prize in the Concerto Competition of the University of Southern Mississippi, and Second Prize in the Violin Competition and Best Interpretation of Cuban Music at the 2006 Union de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (Cuban Artists and Writers Union).

As a member of Sphinx Virtuosi (SV) he performed in important halls such as New World Center (Miami), Kennedy Center (Washington), Carnegie Hall (New York), and participated in extensive community engagement activities. He speaks three languages (Spanish, Portuguese, and English) and holds a Master’s Degree in Music Performance from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Houston-raised vocalist, Douglas Mills, Jr. is a freshman at Sam Houston State University and an alumnus of Kinder HSPVA’s vocal department. He received a golden ticket to participate in the most recent season of American Idol, where he advanced to the top 50. He was also selected as a merit winner for the 2021 National YoungArts Foundation. He is currently studying music therapy as a way to help others the way music helped him and hopes to continue growing in experience to give back to the community.