Common with the Houston Symphony July 29, 30

Philharmonic in Sweden. The release of Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY, recorded by Arnie and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, coincided with the start of the Distant Worlds international tour. Distant Worlds continues to thrill audiences around the globe and has released four additional albums of FINAL FANTASY music, as well as several concerts on DVD. Arnie has been involved in several PBS specials, a 10-part television series featuring the Irish Tenors, and many international television and radio broadcasts appearances. He was commissioned by Gerald Arpino, founder and a choreographer of the Joffrey Ballet, to compose music for a new Arpino ballet premiered in Chicago. He produced and conducted music for the Robert Altman film The Company, and was the producer, composer, conductor, and arranger for the CGI Barbie animated films from Mattel Entertainment. He won the Best Score Award at the 2003 DVD Premier Awards for his score for the film Barbie™ as Rapunzel, and was nominated for an Emmy for his original song “Shine” from Barbie™ in The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Arnie has produced and conducted music for many films and dozens of bestselling albums released on American Gramaphone, JVC, Mattel, Warner Bros., Sony, Koch, and Razor & Tie. www.awrmusic.com

Featured Program

Friday July 29 7:30 p.m. Hobby Center Saturday June 30 7:30 p.m. Hobby Center

Steve Reineke, conductor Common, performer

Program to be announced from the stage SUMMER SERIES

• Common’s alma mater is Florida A&M University where he graduated with a major in business administration. • When he was 12 years old, Common was a ball boy for the Chicago Bulls. • He has recorded 14 albums and won three Grammys. He was the first rapper to win a Grammy Award, an Academy Award, and an Emmy Award. • His song “Glory” won himself and collaborating artist John Legend a Golden

Globe and was the driving force behind the movie Selma. • Also an actor, Common and has starred in films American Gangster, Happy

Feet Two, John Wick: Chapter 2, and others.

Houston Symphony Principal POPS Conductor Steven Reineke has established himself as a leading conductor of popular music. This season, he celebrates his 10th anniversary as music director of The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. Additionally, he is principal pops conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Steven is a frequent guest conductor with The Philadelphia Orchestra, and his extensive conducting appearances include Dallas, Detroit, and the Ravinia Music Festival.

Steven has created programs and collaborated with a range of leading artists from hip hop, R & B, Broadway, television, and rock, including: Maxwell, Common, Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Cynthia Erivo, Sutton Foster, Megan Hilty, Cheyenne Jackson, Wayne Brady, Peter Frampton, and Ben Folds, among others. In 2017, he was featured on NPR’s All Things Considered leading the NSO—in a first for the show’s 45-year history – performing live music excerpts between news segments. In 2018, Steven led the NSO, 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 (CPO), Steven’s work has been performed worldwide, and can be

heard on numerous CPO recordings (Telarc). His symphonic works Celebration Fanfare, Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and Casey at the Bat are frequently performed in North America, including performances by the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic. His Sun Valley Festival Fanfare commemorated the Sun Valley Summer Symphony’s pavilion, and his Festival Te Deum and Swan’s Island Sojourn were debuted by the Cincinnati Symphony and CPO. His numerous wind ensemble compositions are published by the C.L. Barnhouse Company and are performed 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 trumpet performance and music composition. He currently resides in New York City with his husband Eric Gabbard.

Academy Award, Emmy and Grammy-winning artist, actor, author, and activist, Common continues to break down barriers with a multitude of diverse roles and continued success.

Common currently stars in the film Alice. Inspired by true events, the plot follows a woman of servitude in 1800s Georgia, who escapes the 55-acre confines of her captor to discover the shocking reality that exists beyond the tree line…it’s 1973.

His extensive film and television performances include the hit Netflix series Never Have I Ever and Selma (alongside John Legend, he won the 2015 Academy Award and 2016 Grammy for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture for “Glory,” which was featured in the film), among many others. Common executive-produced the Netflix drama Burning Sands and performed the original song “The Cross.” He executive produces Showtime’s hit TV series The Chi, a coming-of-age story set in Chicago. He lent his voice to the Warner Bros animated film Smallfoot. His latest album, A Beautiful Revolution Part 2, (Loma Vista Recordings) is a timely follow-up to his A Beautiful Revolution Part 1, which was written during the height of the pandemic when racial and social justice protests, a contested election, and economic collapse were polarizing the country. The albums are a call to action, but one that sees the world in a new light, a chance to create a better tomorrow and a responsibility to never forget the past. Common is doing his part. He recently launched The Stardust Kids, an incubator and accelerator collective for emerging artists and creative entrepreneurs that