Houston Symphony says its stage is flood-free, but more concerts may be cancelled

Houston Symphony says its stage is flood-free, but more concerts may be cancelled

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norman lebrecht

August 31, 2017

Message just posted by the board president, Janet F Clark:

 

 

Our hearts go out to everyone in our beloved Houston community affected by Hurricane Harvey. This is an incredibly challenging time for all of us.

Many members of the Houston Symphony family are safe and dry; however, some musicians, staff, Board, Chorus and League members have had water in their homes or lost power, and some have also needed to evacuate their homes. Like the rest of our city, we will not know the full extent of the storm’s impact for some time.

Our performance home, Jones Hall, had some water penetration, but we are fortunate that the stage and auditorium appear to have been untouched. Water did reach the basement level, where some equipment was stored, but we moved the most valuable and hard-to-replace items to higher floors prior to Harvey’s arrival. The Theater District garages are flooded and therefore are not accessible.

Unfortunately, we have had to cancel this weekend’s performances of Ella at 100 on September 1-3. If you have tickets, our Patron Services Center has already contacted you via e-mail. Please direct any ticket inquiries while the Patron Service Center is closed to Jenny Zuniga, Director, Patron Services, at jenny.zuniga@houstonsymphony.org.

Decisions regarding next week’s performances, including The Best of John Williams in The Woodlands on September 6, Opening Night on September 9, and Fiesta Sinfónica on September 10, are pending further assessment. We will keep you posted with further updates when available.

Houston Symphony administrative offices and the Patron Services Center will be closed through Monday, September 4. We hope to be back at work next week, but for our employees’ safety, we must ascertain the condition of offices and parking before announcing an official re-open date.

We deeply appreciate the tireless work of our colleagues at Houston First, Theater District Houston, and Jones Hall’s resident engineering and security companies. We are also grateful for the outpouring of support from members of the Houston Symphony family, the Houston community and orchestras across the country.

To support Houstonians who have suffered from flooding, we encourage you to support Mayor Sylvester Turner’s relief fund here: ghcf.org/hurricane-relief.

Among your many priorities at this time, please consider helping the Houston Symphony maintain its operations during this period of uncertainty. You may do so here: bit.ly/1oSL3eP

We thank you for all that you do for the Houston Symphony. We are eager to begin the cleanup and recovery process, and to provide an outstanding 2017-18 Season of concerts and community programs. As Houston’s orchestra, we look forward to helping our city to heal, bringing the people of our community together through the inspiring power of music.

Comments

  • Jeffrey Biegel says:

    So very tragic, and one of the worst global storms in history. Glad you are all safe. I am discussing a benefit recital where I live to help victims of Hurricane Harvey. Will probably take place in late September–October, as this will be an ongoing relief effort, no doubt. Stay safe, Houston.

    • Ungeheuer says:

      As monstrous and tragic as Harvey still is, some perspective is called for. Read this:

      https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/08/31/opinion/hurricanes-climate-capitalists-wealth-.html

    • trolley80 says:

      Thank god this has not been anywhere remotely close to one of the “worst global storms in history.”

    • Wurtfangler says:

      The globe doesn’t extend beyond the USA for far far too many people.

      Millions (yes, MILLIONS) dead in China in 1931 – nah, that doesn’t count.
      280,000 dead from the earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004 – piffle
      138,000 dead in 1991 cyclone in Bangladesh – chicken feed
      60,000 dead in storm surge in the Netherlands in 1212 – nope
      189 dead in after storm Black Friday in Scotland in 1881 – zilch
      33 dead (so far) in Storm Harvey – OH MY GOD! WORST STORM IN GLOBAL HISTORY EVER!!!!!!!!!

      • MacroV says:

        The “worst” refers to the scale of the act of nature (e.g. the amount of water) and the economic damage, not to lives lost. I can’t say much about the storm surge of 1212, but the 2004 tsunami is well known (and the US military did a lot to provide relief).

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