InTUNE The Houston Symphony Magazine
Idina Menzel
August 30, 2026
ORCHESTRA ROSTER Juraj Valčuha
Steven Reineke, Principal POPS Conductor
Music Director Roy and Lillie Cullen Chair
FIRST VIOLIN Yoonshin Song, Concertmaster Max Levine Chair Vacant, Associate Concertmaster Ellen E. Kelley Chair Boson Mo, Assistant Concertmaster Qi Ming, Assistant Concertmaster Fondren Foundation Chair Tong Yan Ferenc Illenyi Si-Yang Lao Christopher Neal Sergei Galperin Annie Chen Han Xie SECOND VIOLIN Vacant, Principal Vacant, Associate Principal Amy Semes Mihaela Frusina Jing Zheng Anastasia Iglesias Tina Zhang* Yankı Karataş Hannah Duncan Alexandros Sakarellos VIOLA Joan DerHovsepian, Principal Wei Jiang, Acting Associate Principal Samuel Pedersen, Assistant Principal Paul Aguilar Sheldon Person Fay Shapiro Keoni Bolding Jimmy Cunningham CELLO Brinton Averil Smith, Principal Janice H. and Thomas D. Barrow Chair Christopher French, Associate Principal Jane and Robert Cizik Chair Anthony Kitai Louis-Marie Fardet Jeffrey Butler Maki Kubota Xiao Wong Charles Seo Jeremy Kreutz DOUBLE BASS Robin Kesselman, Principal Timothy Dilenschneider, Associate Principal Andrew Pedersen, Assistant Principal Eric Larson Logan May Burke Shaw Donald Howey Avery Weeks
COMMUNITY-EMBEDDED MUSICIAN Lindsey Baggett, Violin LIBRARIANS Ali Verderber, Associate Librarian Megan Fisher, Assistant Librarian
Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Conductor Laureate Gonzalo Farias, Associate Conductor
FLUTE Kayla Burggraf, Principal General Maurice Hirsch Chair Matthew Roitstein, Associate Principal Judy Dines Kathryn Ladner
TRUMPET Mark Hughes, Principal George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Chair John Parker, Associate Principal Richard Harris Vacant, Utility Trumpet
PICCOLO Kathryn Ladner
TROMBONE Nick Platoff, Principal Bradley White, Associate Principal Phillip Freeman
OBOE Jonathan Fischer, Principal Lucy Binyon Stude Chair Anne Leek, Associate Principal Vacant Adam Dinitz Pablo Moreno+ ENGLISH HORN Adam Dinitz Barbara and Pat McCelvey Chair CLARINET Mark Nuccio, Principal Bobbie Nau Chair Vacant, Associate Principal Christian Schubert Alexander Potiomkin Ben Freimuth+
BASS TROMBONE Phillip Freeman TUBA Dave Kirk, Principal TIMPANI Leonardo Soto, Principal Matthew Strauss, Associate Principal PERCUSSION Vacant, Principal Mark Griffith Matthew Strauss HARP Allegra Lilly, Principal
E-FLAT CLARINET Vacant Ben Freimuth+
KEYBOARD Vacant, Principal
BASS CLARINET Alexander Potiomkin
LIBRARIAN Luke Bryson, Principal
BASSOON Rian Craypo, Principal Isaac Schultz, Associate Principal Elise Wagner Adam Trussell CONTRABASSOON Adam Trussell HORN William VerMeulen, Principal Mr. and Mrs. Alexander K. McLanahan Endowed Chair Robert Johnson, Associate Principal Nathan Cloeter, Assistant Principal/Utility Ian Mayton Barbara J. Burger Chair Brian Mangrum Spencer Bay+
*on leave + contracted substitute
STAGE PERSONNEL Vacant, Stage Manager José Rios, Assistant Stage Manager Nicholas DiFonzo, Head Video Engineer Justin Herriford, Head Audio Engineer Connor Morrow, Head Stage Technician Giancarlo Minotti, Audio Production Manager
PERFORMANCE CALENDAR 2026-27 season
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Idina Menzel August 30
Mozart’s Jupiter & JIJI October 16, 17* & 18
Ben Rector: Symphonies Across America with Jon McLaughlin September 4
Dolly Parton’s Threads: My Songs in Symphony October 30, November 1
How to Train Your Dragon in Concert September 5 & 6
Haunted Halloween October 31 S
Opening Night: Celebrating America at 250 September 19
Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony & Yoonshin Song November 6, 7* & 8
Simply the Best: A Tribute to Tina Turner September 25 & 26*
La Vida Loca November 21 & 22*
Rachmaninoff Festival: Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony October 2, 3* & 4
Thanksgiving Weekend: Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 7 & Shéhérazade November 27, 28* & 29
Rachmaninoff Festival: Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 October 9, 10* & 11
Classical Series
Bank of America POPS Series
Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas in Concert Live-to-Film October 31
See our full year calendar for even more concerts!
PNC Family Series
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Summer & Specials
Chamber Series
*Performance livestreamed
2026–27 SEASON
SOCIETY BOARD OF TRUSTEES OFFICERS Barbara McCelvey President
Barbara J. Burger Immediate Past President
John Rydman** Board Chair Chair, Artistic & Orchestra Affairs
Mike S. Stude** Chair Emeritus Paul Morico General Counsel
Jonathan Ayre Secretary Chair, Finance
Gary Ginstling^ Executive Director/CEO Margaret Alkek Williams Chair
Janet F. Clark^ Immediate Past Chair
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Brad W. Corson Chair, Governance & Leadership
Ed Schneider Chair, Development
Juraj Valčuha^ Music Director Roy and Lillie Cullen Chair
Carey Kirkpatrick Chair, Marketing & Communications
Robert Orr Chair, Strategic Planning
Joan DerHovsepian^ Musician Representative
Jesse B. Tutor** Chair, Audit
Mark Hughes^ Musician Representative
Jerre Williams President, Houston Symphony League
Jeremy Kreutz^ Musician Representative
Evan B. Glick Chair, Popular Programming Sippi Khurana, M.D. Chair, Education & Community Engagement Mary Lynn Marks Chair, Volunteers & Special Events
James H. Lee^ President, Houston Symphony Endowment
Steven P. Mach^ At-Large Member Bobby Tudor^** At-Large Member Gretchen Watkins^ At-Large Member
Mark Nuccio^ Musician Representative
GOVERNING DIRECTORS Gary Beauchamp Eric Brueggeman MK Campion John Cassidy, M.D. Khoa Dao Lidiya Gold
David J. M. Key David Krieger Cindy Levit Isabel Stude Lummis Cora Sue Mach** Rodney Margolis**
Meredith Marshall Leslie Nossaman Chris Powers Brittany Sakowitz Ed Schneider Justin Stenberg
William J. Toomey II Betty Tutor** Robert Weiner Margaret Alkek Williams**
TRUSTEES Christopher Armstrong David Balderston David J. Beck Carrie Brandsberg-Dahl Nancy Shelton Bratic Terry Ann Brown** Ralph Burch John T. Cater** Robert Chanon Heaven Chee Michael H. Clark Virginia Clark Andrew Davis, Ph.D. Denise Davis Tracy Dieterich Kelli Cohen Fein Jeffrey B. Firestone Eugene A. Fong Aggie L. Foster
Kate Dearing Fowler Aoife French Carolyn Gaidos Andrew Gould Lori Harrington Pablo Hernandez SchmidtTophoff Jeff Hiller Grace Ho Gary L. Hollingsworth John W. Hutchinson Brian James Matthew Kades I. Ray Kirk, M.D. Matthew Loden Kirby Lodholz Michael Mann, M.D. Nancy Martin Jack Matzer
Jackie Wolens Mazow Diane K. Morales Tim Ong Edward Osterberg Jr. Gloria G. Pryzant Miwa Sakashita Andrew Schwaitzberg Helen Shaffer** Becky Shaw Jim R. Smith Miles O. Smith** Quentin Smith Tad Smith Anthony Speier Tina Raham Stewart Nanako Tingleaf Terry Thomas Margaret Waisman, M.D. Fredric A. Weber
Vicki West Steven J. Williams David J. Wuthrich Ellen A. Yarrell Robert Yekovich
FOUNDATION FOR JONES HALL REPRESENTATIVES Janet F. Clark Brad W. Corson As of June 5, 2026
Barbara McCelvey
EX-OFFICIO Alejandro Gallardo Reverend Ray Mackey, III Frank F. Wilson IV
Fredric Weber ^Ex-Officio **Lifetime Trustee
LEADERSHIP GROUP Gary Ginstling, Executive Director/CEO Margaret Alkek Williams Chair Elizabeth S. Condic, Chief Financial Officer Vicky Dominguez, Chief Operating Officer Rolanda Gregory, Chief Marketing Officer Jennifer Renner, Chief Development Officer Mayenne Minuit, Executive Assistant DEVELOPMENT Leanna Aldis, Manager, Foundation Relations Sarah Bhalla, Board Relations Associate Lauren Buchanan, Development Communications Manager Grace Blando, Development Officer Alex Canales, Manager, Donor Services Isabel Cook, Development Associate, Annual Giving & Membership Jessie De Arman, Development Associate, Gifts, Records, & Research Timothy Dillow, Senior Director, Individual Giving Amanda T. Dinitz, Director, Principal Gifts & Endowment Kamra Kilmer, Manager, Corporate Relations Karyn Mason, Institutional Giving Officer Hadia Mawlawi, Endowment & Planned Giving Officer Gavin Reed, Major Gifts Officer Tim Richey, Major Gifts Officer Katie Salvatore, Director, Annual Giving & Membership Phillip Smith, Special Events and League Liaison Officer Lena Streetman, Director, Development Operations Sarah Thompson, Donor Events Manager Christina Trunzo, Director, Institutional Giving EDUCATION | COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Olivia Allred, Education Manager Allison Conlan, Senior Director, Education & Community Engagement Austin Hinkle, Education & Community Engagement Coordinator Jazmine Olwalia, Community Engagement Manager Community-Embedded Musicians (CEM): Lindsey Baggett, Lead CEM Lucinda Chiu, CEM Teaching Artist David Connor, Senior CEM Teaching Artist Bensen Kwan, CEM Education Specialist Brittany Leavitt, CEM Teaching Artist Bianca Lozano, CEM Teaching Artist Adrian Ponce, CEM Teaching Artist Lauren Ross, CEM Teaching Artist Jaya Varma, CEM Teaching Artist
FINANCE | ADMINISTRATION | IT | HR José Arriaga, Systems Engineer Henry Cantu, Finance Accountant Kimberly Cegielski, Staff Accountant Heather Fails, Database Administrator Ronin Jackson, IT Intern Joel James, Director of Human Resources Tanya Lovetro, Director of Budgeting & Financial Reporting Freddie Piegsa, Help Desk Technician Morgana Rickard, Controller Gabriela Rivera, Senior Accountant Pam Romo, Office Manager/HR Coordinator Lee Whatley, Senior Director, IT & Analytics MARKETING | COMMUNICATIONS Bryan Ayllon, UX & Conversion Specialist Rachel Cheng, Marketing & External Relations Assistant Bella Cutaia, Manager, Patron Services Kathryn Judd, Director, Marketing Priya Kurup, Senior Associate, Group Sales Caroline Lawson, Patron Services Representative Yoo-Ell Lee, Graphics & Media Designer Milow Lozano, Ticketing Systems & Marketing Operations Specialist Ciara Macaulay, Creative Director Ashley Martinez, Patron Services Coordinator Mariah Martinez, Email Marketing Coordinator Alexander McKeveny, Performance Marketing Specialist Casey Pearce, Graphic Design Manager Aracely Quevedo, Patron Services Representative Nadjalie Santos, Front of House Coordinator Eric Skelly, Senior Director, Communications Christian Sosa, Web Experience Director Alexa Ustaszewski, Manager, Revenue and Audience Insights Sophie Volpe, Digital Content Specialist Leecia Whatley, Patron Services Representative Jenny Zuniga, Director, Patron Services OPERATIONS | ARTISTIC Stephanie Alla, Associate Director of Artistic Planning Becky Brown, Associate Director of Orchestra Personnel Juan Pablo Brand, Artistic Assistant Ryan Diefenderfer, Concert Operations Assistant Megan Fisher, Assistant Librarian Julia Hall, Assistant Director, Houston Symphony Chorus Parker Hart, Concert Operations Manager Adrian Hernandez, Concert Media Production Manager Brian Miller, Director of Orchestra Personnel Giancarlo Minotti, Audio Production Manager José Rios, Assistant Stage Manager Brad Sayles, Senior Recording Engineer Nathan Trinkl, Artistic Assistant & Assistant to the Music Director Ali Verderber, Associate Librarian Meredith Williams, Director of Concert Operations Rebecca Zabinski, Senior Director of Artistic Planning
August 30, 2026
Idina Menzel Steven Reineke, conductor Idina Menzel, vocalist There will not be an intermission Program will be announced from the stage
About the Music Sunday, August 30
Jones Hall
7:30 p.m.
On stage, Reineke creates and collaborates with a range of leading artists in hip-hop, R & B, Broadway, television, and rock including Killer Mike, Maxwell, Common, Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Ne-Yo, Bob Weir, Trey Anastasio, Barry Manilow, Cynthia Erivo, Ben Rector, Cody Fry, Sutton Foster, Amos Lee, Dispatch, Jason Mraz, and Ben Folds, amongst others. In 2024, he led the NSO on PBS’s Next at the Kennedy Center featuring Ben Folds DeClassified with Jacob Collier, Laufey, and dodie. He was previously seen with the NSO on PBS’s Great Performances with hip-hop legend Nas performing his seminal album Illmatic. Reineke is the conductor on Ben Folds Live with The National Symphony Orchestra and William Shatner’s So Fragile, So Blue with The National Symphony Orchestra. In November 2025, Reineke was joined on the podium by NFL legend Marshawn Lynch, who visited the Houston Symphony ahead of Thursday Night Football, for a conducting tutorial featured in his Amazon Prime show, ‘N Yo’ City.
his works are performed worldwide and can be heard on numerous Cincinnati Pops Orchestra recordings. His symphonic works Celebration Fanfare, 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 pieces 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 perennially.
Program Bios
Steven Reineke, conductor Meredith & Ben Marshall, sponsor
Steven Reineke is one of North America’s leading conductors of popular music and is in his second decade as Music Director of The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. He is the Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Principal Pops Conductor of the Houston Symphony and Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Reineke is a frequent guest conductor and can be seen on the podium with the Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit Symphony Orchestras.
Sponsors
Underwriter
Reineke is the creator of hundreds of orchestral arrangements and
A native of Ohio, Reineke is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio (2020 Alumnus Distinguished Achievement Medal) 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.
Program Bios off when she won a Tony Award for her role as Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, in the smash musical Wicked. Her voice can be heard as Elsa in Disney’s Oscarwinning Frozen and Disney’s Frozen 2.
Idina Menzel, vocalist Idina Menzel is a Tony Awardwinning, powerhouse multihyphenate: a singer, an actress in film and TV, a songwriter, a Broadway star, and a philanthropist. Menzel was among the recipients of the 2023 National Medal of Arts, the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the federal government, which was presented by President Joe Biden. She rose to fame for her role as Maureen in the popular Broadway musical Rent, and her career took
In January 2017, Menzel was seen in Lifetime’s remake of Beaches, in which she portrays the role made famous by Bette Midler. Her other film credits include Disney’s Enchanted and its sequel Enchanted 2: Disenchanted, Netflix’s You’re So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, Chris Columbus’s film version of Rent, and Robert Towne’s Ask the Dust. On television, Menzel appeared in the recurring role of Shelby Corcoran on Fox’s Glee. In late 2022, Menzel released the personal Disney+ documentary Which Way to the Stage? Menzel was seen on Broadway in the original production If/Then,
for which she earned her third Tony nomination; appeared as Sheila in the Encores! production of Hair; and starred as Amneris in Broadway’s Aida. In 2025, she made her return to Broadway to star in Redwood, which she coconceived with Tina Landau. In a true full-circle moment, the show played the Nederlander Theatre, where Menzel made her Broadway debut in Rent. She received a Distinguished Performance Award from the 2025 Drama League Awards for her performance. A skillful songwriter, Menzel has a prolific recording career which includes multiple cast albums and the solo albums Still I Can’t Be Still; Here, I Stand; and idina, which landed in the Top 30 on Billboard’s Top 200 charts. Outside of music, stage, and screen, Menzel has also authored two books, released a clothing line, and co-founded the A BroaderWay Foundation.
Exclusive Benefits for Groups of 10+ Guests ENJOY THE SYMPHONY TOGETHER! Whether you’re planning a night out with friends, a family gathering, or a company event, the Houston Symphony offers a setting that turns moments into lasting memories. Bring a group of 10 or more and unlock exclusive benefits designed to make your experience seamless—and even more rewarding. Ready to plan your group outing? Let’s make it unforgettable.
Juraj Valčuha, Music Director
Jones Hall – 615 Louisiana Street houstonsymphony.org