Houston Symphony Extends Cancelations

In response to recent Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations, the Houston Symphony announced that it is extending its concert cancelations, canceling all remaining concerts and community activities through May 10, 2020 in order to protect the health of audiences, orchestra and chorus members, and staff.

"The CDC is recommending a ban on gatherings of more than 50 people for the next eight weeks," explained Executive Director, CEO, and holder of the Margaret Alkek Williams Chair John Mangum. "We want to do everything we can to protect our audiences, musicians and chorus, and staff, so we've made the difficult decision to move forward with these cancelations. We are working to reschedule upcoming concerts and programs whenever possible during the summer and in future seasons."

The concerts affected by the cancelations are:

• Swing to Rock with Dave Bennett, March 20, 21, and 22, 2020
• Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20, March 26, 28, and 29, 2020
• Chamber Music Series Concert with Cedric Tiberghien, March 27, 2020
• Andrés Conducts Mahler 7, April 3, 4, and 5, 2020
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, April 10 and 11, 2020
• Aretha: Queen of Soul, April 17, 18, and 19, 2020
• Heroes and Adventures (Family Concert), April 18, 2020
• Symphonie fantastique, May 1, 2, and 3, 2020
• The Music Critic with John Malkovich, May 7, 2020
• The Music of Whitney Houston, May 9 and 10, 2020

The Houston Symphony is a key contributor to Houston's nonprofit arts and cultural community, which is a vital part of Houston's economy. The unexpected loss of event-dependent revenue and related decline in charitable contributions is still being felt in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey just three years ago, and is expected to grow as a result of this health crisis. The Houston Symphony is currently reaching out to ticket-holders for the canceled concerts via email, phone, web, and social media to ask that they:

• donate the cost of the tickets to the Symphony. The Symphony will provide a donation form for the ticket value for tax purposes.
• exchange their ticket(s) for another scheduled performance in 2020 or for a voucher for the value of their purchase, allowing the ticket-holder more time to decide on another performance later on, or
• The Symphony's Patron Services Center is available by phone to answer any questions or help with exchanges at 713.224.7575 during operating hours: Monday-Saturday, 12 noon-6 p.m.

The Houston Symphony encourages people to follow their social media pages as they develop ways for people to continue to enjoy music from home.

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