Live From Jones Hall Program | American Strings

ABOUT THE MUSIC

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POP S S E RI E S

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The Classical Season is sponsored by

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The Houston Symphony is funded in part by the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.

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THE HOUSTON SYMPHONY WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR GENEROUS SERIES SPONSORS

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PR OG RA M T O BE ANNOU NC E D F ROM THE STA GE

P R O G R A M T O I N C LU D E

SCOTT JOPLIN “ T H E E N T E R TA I N E R ”

The son of a former slave, Scott Joplin was born around 1867 near Texarkana.

A 1903 St. Louis newspaper article described Scott Joplin as “The King of Rag-Time Composers.”

P R O G R A M T O I N C LU D E

H E N RY M A N C I N I “MOON RIVER”

Originally sung by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, “Moon River” is also well-remembered as a signature tune for singer Andy Williams.

“Moon River” was nearly edited out of Breakfast at Tiffany’s for length, but Mancini and Mercer successfully argued for it to stay. It won both an Oscar and Grammy that year.

P R O G R A M T O I N C LU D E

JOHN WILLIAMS “AIR AND SIMPLE GIFTS”

John Williams composed “Air and Simple Gifts” for President Barack Obama’s first term inauguration.

Williams drew inspiration from the 19th-century Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts.”

ARTIST BIO STEVEN REINEKE

PRINCIPAL POPS CONDUCTOR Steven Reineke has established himself as one of North America’s leading conductors of popular music. In addition to his role as Principal POPS Conductor of the Houston Symphony, 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 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 North American conducting appearances include Atlanta, Cincinnati, Edmonton, San Francisco, and Sarasota.

On stage, he 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 NPR’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 same orchestra and 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, 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 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 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 lives in New York City with his husband, Eric Gabbard.