Bowie, Motown, FINAL FANTASY, Queen and Seth MacFarlane Set for Houston Symphony's Summer 2016 Series Beginning Today

The Houston Symphony announces the full lineup for its Summer Concert Series at Jones Hall. Tickets for the Summer Concert Series, which begins mid-June, are now on sale to the general public.

Vocalist Brody Dolyniuk will lend his talents to an electrifying Summer Concert Series opener June 11 with The Music of David Bowie. The program will be led by guest conductor Brent Havens and will feature the orchestra and a full, amplified rock band in tribute to the late rock legend's unforgettable sounds. Celebrating a career that spanned five decades and an estimated 140 million albums sold worldwide, the program will feature Bowie's groundbreaking songs like "Space Oddity," "Changes," "Under Pressure," and more.

Continuing the Summer Concert Series at Jones Hall July 1-2, the Houston Symphony upholds its tradition of screening films with live orchestra. Raiders of the Lost Ark - Film with Live Orchestra, celebrates the 35th anniversary of the Academy Award-winning Indiana Jones series created by iconic filmmaker Steven Spielberg in 1981. Led by Principal Pops Conductor Designate Steven Reineke, the entirety of John Williams' score for this classic film will be performed live as the audience watches the film on a large screen above the stage.

For those with 1960s "Motown Sound" nostalgia, the soulful sounds of The Men of Motown will capture the class, style, choreography and harmonies of songs like "Get Ready," "I'll Be There," and "My Girl," as well as medleys celebrating The Four Seasons and The Righteous Brothers. Guest conductor Chelsea Tipton II will lead the Symphony and Las Vegas-based rhythm and blues vocal quartet Spectrum, in a one-night-only performance of the emblematic "Motown Sound" July 16.

Grammy Award-winning conductor Arnie Roth will join the orchestra for the Houston presentation of the global concert tour Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY which features music from respected Japanese video game composer Nobuo Uematsu. Novice and expert orchestral music fans will experience music from every single video game of the series in this two-hour long concert while FINAL FANTASY video and art stills are projected onto screens. Members of the Houston Symphony Chorus will accompany the orchestra in this exclusive concert July 23.

Classic rock lives on with The Music of Queen in a tribute to the band's epic, multipart songs during the Classic Rock Weekend Sept. 3. Guest conductor Brent Havens, vocalist Brody Dolyniuk and a full rock band will join the Houston Symphony to capture the spirit of Freddy Mercury and his bandmates with a dazzling performance of hit songs such as "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Under Pressure," "Somebody to Love," and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love."

The Summer Concert Series at Jones Hall concludes Sept. 4 with the highly-anticipated Houston Symphony debut of Emmy-winning actor, Grammy-nominated singer and filmmaker Seth MacFarlane. Performing lush swing-style gems from the 40s and 50s as well as selections from the Great American Songbook, MacFarlane combines his suave singing talents with his love of big band in a performance that will bring an entertaining mix of comedy and music. Leading the orchestra will be Joel McNeely, a longtime collaborator of MacFarlane.

All concerts will take place at Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, 615 Louisiana Street, in Houston's Theater District. For tickets and information, call (713) 224-7575 or visit www.houstonsymphony.org. Tickets may also be purchased at the Houston Symphony Patron Services Center in Jones Hall (Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.). All programs and artists are subject to change.

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