HOUSTON (March 2, 2017) – Multiplatinum-selling singer, songwriter and producer Ben Folds will join the Houston Symphony in a one-night-only performance of his acclaimed Piano Concerto and alternative-pop hits at 7:30 p.m. March 16, 2017.
Folds’ one-night event features a performance of his three-movement Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, which draws on many recognizable classical influences such as Ravel and Gershwin, paired with selections from his latest album So There, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Classical and Classical Crossover charts. This most recent album is a blend of pop and classical original works, in part recorded with the revered classical sextet yMusic.
Known for his high-energy performances as the frontman for alternative rock band Bend Folds Five, Folds has enjoyed a successful career as a solo artist and has gone on to record multiple solo rock albums, as well as unique collaborative records with artists from Sara Bareilles and Regina Spektor, to Weird Al and William Shatner.
The multi-faceted artist has also shared the stage with some of the world’s greatest orchestras – from Sydney, Australia to the Kennedy Center – performing his pop hits and his critically-acclaimed Concerto for Piano and Orchestra which he premiered and recorded with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra in 2014. Folds has also contributed original songs to the soundtracks of the animated films “Over the Hedge” and “Hoodwinked!” and was a judge on the NBC a cappella singing competition “The Sing-Off”from 2009-2013.
The concert will take place at Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, 615 Louisiana Street, in Houston’s Theater District. For tickets and information, please call (713) 224-7575 or visit 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.
Ben Folds
- Thursday, March 16, 2017, 7:30 p.m.
Ben Folds Piano and Vocalist
Tickets from $29
About Ben Folds
Ben Folds is widely regarded as one of the major music influencers of our generation. He’s spent over a decade sharing the stage with some of the world’s greatest symphony orchestras – from Sydney, Australia to the Kennedy Center, performing his pop hits and his critically acclaimed concerto for Piano and Orchestra.
For five seasons he was a judge on the popular NBC series “The Sing Off,” which catapulted the art of a cappella into the national spotlight, and helped launch the careers of numerous a cappella groups. Throughout his career, Folds has created an enormous body of genre-bending musical art that includes pop albums as the frontman for Ben Folds Five, multiple solo rock albums, as well as unique collaborative records with artists from Sara Bareilles and Regina Spektor, to Weird Al and William Shatner. His most recent album is a blend of pop and classical original works, in part recorded with the revered classical sextet yMusic that soared to #1 on both the Billboard classical and classical crossover charts.
Beginning this Fall, Folds will be back to pound pianos again with cross-country solo touring reminiscent of his earliest solo tours, where he defied skeptics by delivering a high energy rock performance using the intimacy of just a piano. In addition to his self-described love of performing and making music “for humans,” Folds is also an avid photographer, and is a member of the distinguished Sony Artisans of Imagery. Folds is also an advocate for music education and music therapy as a member of Artist Committee of the Americans for The Arts, and he serves as a member of the board of directors of the Nashville Symphony.