Symphony at home

Houston Symphony strings together new virtual concerts series

Enjoy the symphony from your sofa with this new series of concerts.

Photo courtesy of Houston Symphony

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to make large gatherings a no-go, the Houston Symphony steps in to provide fans and newbies alike an opportunity to hear the orchestra from their own homes.

The "Live from Jones Hall" concert series continues this month, with weekly, hour-long performances from the symphony's downtown home, each one welcoming a guest conductors back to the stage to lead the orchestra.

Tickets are $10 per concert, and ticket buyers get a private link to access the live stream.

The August installment of the series kicks off August 8, with guest conductor Nicholas McGegan joining the symphony for a show featuring some of classical music's most recognizable and beloved pieces. The program includes Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik as well as Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, spotlighting four members of the Symphony’s violin section. The evening’s program also includes “Summerland” from Three Visions by composer William Grant Still.

The August 15 concert features George Walker’s Lyric for Strings, conducted by Houston Symphony conducting fellow Yue Bao, and Mozart’s Oboe Quartet in F major. Audiences can also expect a horn quartet that, at press time, was still to be announced.

On August 22, the symphony's principal double bass Robin Kesselman is spotlighted in Dark with Excessive Bright Concerto for Double Bass by American composer Missy Mazzoli. The program opens with opera arias from Mozart’s romantic and comic The Marriage of Figaro, transcribed for an ensemble of winds.

The series concludes the month on August 29, with Giancarlo Guerrero, music director of the Nashville Symphony, joining the orchestra for a concert showcasing the symphony's virtuosity. First up is “The Fiddler’s March” from The Fiddler’s Tale, by American composer and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, followed by Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale Suite. Guerrero wraps up the program with Schubert’s effervescent Symphony No. 2.

Those who want to share their love of classical music, or want to support Houston's own Grammy Award-winning orchestra, might think about encouraging friends to buy tickets and gather for a virtual watch party.

However music lovers watch, though, kudos to the Symphony for finding a way to continue making art and sharing it with the city — and beyond.

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GIFTED AND TALENTED

Houston artist awarded prestigious MacArthur 'genius grant'

Photo courtesy of the MacArthur Foundation

Vincent Valdez splits his time between San Antonio and Houston

Three Texans have been named 2026 MacArthur Fellows, one of the most prestigious honors in the U.S. for artists, scientists, and scholars. Among them is San Antonio native Vincent Valdez, currently serving as Alamo Colleges’ inaugural artist-in-residence.

Dallas-based historian Ariel Ron and San Marcos-based anthropologist Kate Spradley were also on the list of 20 recipients of the “genius grants” given by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Each fellow will receive $800,000 over five years, with no strings attached.

Individuals do not apply for the honor. The grants are awarded via a confidential, multi-step process managed by the foundation, and many recipients express surprise that they were considered for the fellowship.

“While individuals will have a track record of significant achievement, the fellowship is not a lifetime achievement award — it is an investment in a person's originality, insight, and potential,” wrote MacArthur on its website. “The Fellows Program is proactively working to foster and enable innovative, imaginative, and ground-breaking ideas, thinking, and strategies.”

Born on the South Side and now splitting time between San Antonio and Houston, Valdez is known for large, hyperrealistic drawings and paintings of Mexican American life. More recently, he has turned his focus to broader sociopolitical issues in works like The Strangest Fruit, a series of paintings confronting the lynching of Latinos.

Ron is a historian at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where he directs the Clements Center for Southwest Studies. His research focuses on how Northern agriculture shaped economic growth and federal power in 19th-century America. Grassroots Leviathan, his 2020 book, challenges the notion of an industrial North versus an agrarian South.

At Texas State University in San Marcos, forensic anthropologist Spradley founded Operation Identification in 2013 — a program that identifies and repatriates the remains of migrants who died along the Texas-Mexico border. She is also a cofounder of the Forensic Border Coalition, which pushes for policy changes at the local and national levels. Spradley is the school’s first MacArthur Fellow.

While Ron and Spradley rarely give public talks, Valdez makes regular appearances in Houston, including on September 30 at the Rothko Chapel. Follow him on Instagram for details about future presentations.

A full list of the 2026 MacArthur Fellows can be found online.

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