Houston Symphony Announces Performances with Three-Time Grammy Award-Winning Hip-Hop Artist Common

NNING HIP-HOP ARTIST COMMON

HOUSTON (July 1, 2019) – Academy Award, Golden Globe, Emmy and three-time Grammy Award-winning actor, activist, and hip-hop artist Common joins conductor Steven Reineke and the Houston Symphony for an unforgettable one-night-only performance on September 4 at 7:30 p.m.

The multi-talented artist Common will perform selections from his latest albums, including the upcoming album “Let Love” due later this summer, as well as some of his most memorable hits. Since his 1992 album Can I Borrow a Dollar?, Common has remained one of hip-hop’s and popular culture’s most influential figures. In 2015, having starred in the film Selma, Common won the Academy Award─alongside John Legend─for “Best Original Song in a Motion Picture” for “Glory,” which was featured in the film. His 11th studio album, “Black America Again” on the ARTium/Def Jam label, features a collaboration with Stevie Wonder on the title track, as well as the end-title track to Ava Duvernay’s powerful Oscar-Nominated documentary 13TH, for which he also received the 2017 Emmy for “Best Music and Lyrics.”

Common and Reineke, Houston Symphony Principal POPS Conductor, previously collaborated with symphony orchestras across the nation, beginning with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C.─where Reineke also serves as Principal POPS Conductor─which created this program for Common. Other orchestras include the San Francisco Symphony and the Chicago Symphony—the artist’s hometown Common said of performing with a symphony, “Hip-hop has a spontaneity to it and a freedom to it whereas orchestras and symphonies perform with written music, so you know what bar you’re going to end. It makes me stay on my toes.” (WBEZ Chicago)

Common performs with the Houston Symphony September 4 at 7:30 p.m. at Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, 615 Louisiana Street, in Houston’s Theater District. Tickets are now on sale for Common with the Houston Symphony, as well as for most of the Symphony’s 2019–20 performances via houstonsymphony.org and 713.224.7575. Tickets may also be purchased at the Houston Symphony Patron Services Center in Jones Hall (Monday–Saturday, 12–6 p.m.).