Houston Symphony Announces Preview Of 2016-2017 Season

With its 103rd season in full swing, the Houston Symphony will present five distinctly different concerts for Houston audiences during October 2016, from the sounds of a 60s folk-rock duo to a Greek violin virtuoso and a lecture on wildlife in between.

Vocalists AJ Swearengin and Jonathan Beedle will capture The Sounds of Simon and Garfunkel at 8 p.m. Oct. 14-15 and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 16. The original duo, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, became counterculture icons during the social revolution of the 1960s with songs like "Mrs. Robinson," "Homeward Bound," "Sounds of Silence" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water," which Swearengin and Beedle's beautiful acoustic arrangements will emulate.

That same weekend A Magic Carpet Ride will take families and children of all ages on an exciting journey at 10 and 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 15. The adventure to a land of princes, princesses and genies will feature music from Disney's Aladdin, as well as Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, a symphonic suite based on One Thousand and One Nights, also known as theArabian Nights. Storyteller Hope Shiver will join the orchestra in this portion of the program to bring this magical story to life.

A half-century celebration will take over the hall during the Jones Hall 50th Anniversary Ball and Concert at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22. Violinist Itzhak Perlman will perform with the Houston Symphony for the 18th time, followed by a festive Mad Men-themed event to pay tribute to the Jones family and landmark performing arts building that opened Oct. 2, 1966.

The Symphony's brand-new National Geographic Live lecture series kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, with the tales of thrill-seeking photographer Steve Winter, who has documented some of the most beautiful and often-times endangered animals around the world. The wildlife photographer will share captivating stories in this one-night-only presentation, titled "On the Trail of Big Cats: Tigers, Cougars & Snow Leopards." (The Houston Symphony will not appear on this program.)

The last concert of the month will feature Athens-born violinist Leonidas Kavakos in Kavakos Plays and Conducts. Hailed by the Boston Globe as "one of the most comprehensively gifted instrumentalists of his time," Kavakos returns to Houston to perform Bach's exquisite Violin Concerto in A minor and step to the podium to conduct the orchestra in Brahms' Symphony No. 4.

All concerts will take place at Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, 615 Louisiana Street, unless otherwise noted. For tickets and information, please 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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