Houston Symphony Announces 2025 Free Summer Symphony Nights At Miller Outdoor Theatre And The Return Of A Star-Spangled Salute On July 4
Summer Symphony Nights, PRESENTED BY SPEC’S WINES, SPIRITS & FINER FOODS/SPEC’S CHARITABLE FOUNDATION:
July 4, 11, 12, 18, AND 19, 2025
The Houston Symphony announced the 2025 Summer Symphony Nights, presented by Spec’s Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods/Spec’s Charitable Foundation, at Miller Outdoor Theatre. In its 84th year, the annual tradition introduces outstanding soloists and conductors to Houston audiences, as well as one of Houston best-loved traditions: the Houston Symphony’s Star-Spangled Salute on the 4th of July! The July 4th Concert is led by Houston Symphony Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke, and features Houston vocalist Christina Wells in her Houston Symphony debut. Audiences can count on a spectacular fireworks show, which most certainly follows Tchaikovsky’s dramatic 1812 Overture.
Houston Symphony Associate Conductor Gonzalo Farias kicks off Houston Symphony’s Summer Symphony Nights at Miller Outdoor Theatre on Friday, July 11, 2025 at 8:30 p.m. with perhaps the most famous work in the orchestra repertoire: Beethoven’s dramatic Symphony No. 5. Rising young Indonesian pianist Janice Carissa makes her Houston Symphony debut performing Rachmaninoff’s passionate Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, and Farias opens the concert with the final dance of Carlos Simon’s Four Black American Dances.
The next night, Saturday, July 12, 2025 at 8:30 p.m., Spanish-American conductor François López-Ferrer makes his Houston debut leading the orchestra and fellow Houston Symphony debuting artist, Venezuelan violinist Gabriela Lara, in Astor Piazzolla’s tango-charged Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 completes the program.
Russian-born conductor Anna Rakitina makes her Houston Symphony debut on Friday, July 18, 2025 at 8:30 p.m. She conducts Tchaikovsky’s impassioned Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy, as well as Shostakovich’s dramatic Symphony No. 5.
French-British conductor Stephanie Childress makes her Houston Symphony debut the next night, Saturday, July 18, 2025 at 8:30 p.m. She leads the orchestra in Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony, and Mary Kouyoumdjian’s Tagh of an Immigrant, and is joined by Houston Symphony debuting viola soloist Jordan Bak for 18th-century composer Carl Stamitz’s technically demanding Viola Concerto.
Admission is free to all the Summer Symphony Nights concerts at Miller Outdoor Theatre, but tickets are required for the covered seating area. Tickets for covered seating are available online at www.milleroutdoortheatre.com/get-tickets beginning at 10 a.m., one day prior to the performance date until noon on the day of the performance. There will be a limited number of tickets at the box office one hour before the performance. No tickets are required for the hill.
Miller Outdoor Theatre
6000 Hermann Park Drive
Houston, TX 77030
