Music Director Designate Juraj Valčuha leads orchestra, chorus, and vocal soloists in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Come together in Jones Hall and 
experience one of classical music’s most moving, uplifting, and inspiring journeys, a rallying cry to hope, humanity, and universal fellowship culminating in the exuberant “Ode to Joy.”
(From All Music.com's Mark Deming) A singer whose style blends country sounds with a pop sensibility, Jessie James Decker's vocal style is strong enough to shine in either style, though her heart is most clearly in country themes. Decker is most at home with songs about love, either going 
well or going south, and she brings a style and glamour to her performances that doesn't cancel out the girl-next-door outlook of her songs. Delivering a slick fusion of country and pop on her 2009 debut as Jessie James, she pushed her country mood up in the mix when she re-established herself as Jessie James Decker on 2014's Comin Home, and she achieved an easy balance between heart and polish on 2021's The Woman I've Become.
This weekend its Romeo and Juliet presented by Housoton's Grand Opera. This opera is notable for the series o
f four duets for the main characters and the waltz song "Je veux vivre" for the soprano. It was first perforemed in Paris in 1867 created by Charles-François Gounod. Gounod is known in popular culture for his creation of the opera Faust.
Synopsis
SETTING: Verona
ACT I: Lord Capulet hosts a ball in honor of his daughter Juliet’s birthday. Among the crowd are some uninvited guests: Romeo, the son of the rival Montague clan, and his friend Mercutio. When Romeo catches a glimpse of Juliet, he falls 
mmediately in love with her; and when they meet, she falls in love just as instantaneously. Still unaware of each other’s identity, the would-be lovers are interrupted by Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt. He recognizes Romeo as a Montague, but is restrained from attacking him by Lord Capulet so as not to create a scene at the ball.
ACT II: Unbeknown to Juliet, Romeo is hiding in the garden beneath her balcony when she calls into the night for him. He reveals himself and they declare their love. They are interrupted by Gregorio and the Capulet servants, who are searching for an intruder, and again by Juliet’s nurse, who calls her inside. Romeo and Juliet take their leave, promising eternal devotion.
ACT III: The next day, Romeo and Juliet meet in the cell of Friar Laurence, who agrees to marry them in the hope that their union may bring an end to the feud between their families.
INTERMISSION
The page Stephano is waiting for his master Romeo, whom he thinks is at the Capulet home. He sings a disrespectful song which leads to a quarrel. Romeo tries to stop the fighting, but Tybalt kills Mercutio. In retaliation, Romeo kills Tybalt and is banished from the city.
ACT IV: Romeo and Juliet have spent the night together; it is dawn and Romeo must flee. Gertrude comes to warn Juliet that her father is approaching with Friar Laurence. Lord Capulet tells Juliet that, according to the dying wish of her cousin Tybalt, she must on that very day marry Paris, the nobleman her father has selected to be her husband. No one dares tell Lord Capulet that Juliet has already married Romeo. When her father leaves, Friar Laurence stays behind to give Juliet a sleeping potion that will cause her to appear dead for 24 hours; when she wakes up in her tomb, Romeo will be there for her.
ACT V: Romeo returns for Juliet. He has not received the message from Friar Laurence that she is only sleeping, and, upon finding her apparently lifeless body, he swallows poison. Juliet awakens and they are reunited—but only briefly. The poison begins to work, and Juliet, desiring to be united with Romeo in death, plunges his dagger into her chest.
This weekend in northwest Houston its Carrie Rodriguez and Gaby Moreno at The Heights Theatre on W.19th Street.
Carrie Rodriguez, a singer-songwriter from Austin, Texas, finds beauty in the cross-pollination of diverse traditions. A passionate performer, she effortlessly melds fiery fiddle playing, electrifying vocals and a fresh interpretation of new and classic 
songs with an “Ameri-Chicana” attitude. Her newest project, the upcoming Spanish/English album Lola, is both a return to her musical roots and something of a departure where she delivers her own twangy, Texas-bred twist on Mexican Ranchera songs, creating culturally blended music for a culturally blended world.
Inspired by the 1940’s-era recordings of Carrie’s great aunt, Chicana singing sensation Eva Garza, the album is a mixture of new and old songs. It features Spanish songs written by some of Carrie’s favorite Mexican composers, as well as her own Ranchera-inspired original songs written in English, Spanish and “Spanglish.”
Gaby Moreno
The Venezuelan song “Alma Llanera” premiered in Caracas more than a century ago, encapsulates a universal yearning: “I love, I weep, I sing, I dream”. These four essential and deeply emotional feelings can be felt by anyone, rich or poor, young and old. That’s what anthems are made of. Anyone, anywhere, can identify with an anthem, no matter the language. This is an album of anthems. Pan-American anthems in Spanish, Portuguese and English.
Once upon a time in Latin America, “El Cancionero Picot” unified the continent with songs. This popular songbook was distributed by a company that sold an effervescent antacid called ‘Sal de Uvas Picot’. 
Radio stations from Mexico to Argentina broadcast a nightly music program, sponsored by Picot, featuring songs from across the continent. Listeners sang along to tangos, boleros, rancheras, pasillos, bambucos, valses and other popular Latin American anthems sung in different accents, but filled with emotions anyone could identify with.
During those days, people tuned their radio on at night and listened to the latest songs from Mexico to Argentina. They listened and, thanks to the Cancionero Picot, sang along with the pop stars of the day. They sang along to “Alma Llanera”, a joropo from Venezuela glorifying life in the countryside; they sang “Nube Gris” a Peruvian vals, at one point more popular than Chabuca Granda’s “La Flor de la Canela”, another classic anthem from Peru. They sang along to “Historia de un amor”, a bolero written in 1955 by Panama’s composer Carlos Eleta Almarán, inspired by the passing of his brother’s wife. They listened and sang along to “Espérame en el cielo” by Francisco López Vidal, who wrote verses inspired by the afterlife: “...wait for me in the heavens, my love, if you go there first”. They listened and sang to Pan-American anthems.
This weeked its Lauren Sanderson in her "The Death of A Fantasy Tour" at LiveNation's House of Blues in GreenStreet.
(From All Music.com's James Christopher Monger) An American singer, songwriter, and rapper with a motivational message and a devoted social media following, Lauren Sanderson first gained fame via her YouTube and SoundCloud channels -- her video 
cover of Maroon 5's "She Will Be Loved" drew a significant amount of traffic. In 2016 she released her debut EP, Center of Expression, followed by a sophomore extended player, Spaces, in 2017. Signed to Epic late that year, Sanderson released "Written in the Stars" featuring PnB Rock, which was included on her 2018 EP Spaces. Another release, the six-song Don't Panic! EP, also appeared that year. Sanderson kept up a steady stream of releases over the next year including the 2019 EP Hasta La Vista and the singles "Hotel Room" and "Upset."
