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ARTIST BIO
STEVEN REINEKE
PRINCIPAL POPS CONDUCTOR Steven Reineke has established himself as one of North America’s leading conductors of popular music. In addition to his role as Principal POPS Conductor of the Houston Symphony, this season, he celebrates his 10th anniversary as music director of The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. Additionally, he is principal pops conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Steven is a frequent guest conductor with The Philadelphia Orchestra and his extensive North American conducting appearances include Atlanta, Cincinnati, Edmonton, San Francisco, and Sarasota. On stage, he has created programs and collaborated with a range of leading artists from the worlds of hip hop, Broadway, television, and rock, including Common, Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Sutton Foster, Megan Hilty, Cheyenne Jackson, Wayne Brady, Peter Frampton, and Ben Folds, among others. In 2017, he was featured on NPR’s All Things Considered leading the National Symphony Orchestra, in a first for the show’s 45-year history, performing live music excerpts between news segments. In 2018, Steven led the same orchestra and hip hop legend Nas performing his seminal album, Illmatic, on PBS’s Great Performances. As the creator of more than 100 orchestral arrangements for the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Steven’s work has been performed worldwide, and can be heard on numerous Cincinnati Pops Orchestra recordings on the Telarc label. His symphonic works Celebration Fanfare, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and Casey at the Bat are performed frequently in North America, including performances by the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic. His Sun Valley Festival Fanfare commemorated the Sun Valley Summer Symphony’s pavilion, and his Festival Te Deum and Swan’s Island Sojourn were debuted by the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Pops Orchestras. His numerous wind ensemble compositions are published by the C.L. Barnhouse Company and are performed by concert bands worldwide. A native of Ohio, Steven is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio, where he earned Bachelor of Music degrees with honors in both trumpet performance and music composition. He lives in New York City with his husband, Eric Gabbard.
ARTIST BIO
JESSICA FONTANA VOCALIST
Jessica Fontana has starred on Broadway in the title role of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Baby It’s You and Pipe Dream in New York City Center’s Encore series. OffBroadway, she starred as Lady Larken in Once Upon a Mattress with the Transport Group. On screen, she’s been seen in the hit web series Submissions Only, and Off The Menu (for which she co-wrote the opening song). She has starred in various productions around the country at The Smith Center, Paper Mill Playhouse, Signature Theatre, George Street Playhouse, Palm Beach Dramaworks, Denver Center, Pittsburgh CLO, and more. She is the co-creator and star of the hit podcast Support For This Podcast, singled out by NY Magazine’s Approval Matrix and iTunes’s “New & Noteworthy” section. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Birdland, Bucks County Playhouse, Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, Feinstein’s/54 Below, and of course the incredible Jones Hall with the Houston Symphony in 2016. Jessica is thrilled to return to Houston to sing with her favorite duet partner.
SANTINO FONTANA VOCALIST
Santino Fontana received the 2019 Tony Award for his tour de force dual performance in Tootsie. He’s also received two Drama Desk Awards, an Outer Critics Circle Award, Lortel Award, Obie Award, and Clarence Derwent Award in a mix of straight plays and musicals. Theater credits include Hello, Dolly!, Act One, Cinderella, and The Importance of Being Earnest. He is perhaps best known for lending his voice to Prince Hans in Disney’s Frozen. Other film credits include Sisters opposite Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, and Off The Menu. TV audiences will recognize him from the critically acclaimed Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and NBC’s Shades of Blue, opposite Jennifer Lopez. Other credits include Fosse/ Verdon, Mozart In The Jungle, The Good Wife, Nurse Jackie, and Royal Pains. As an interpreter of the American Songbook he has sung with the New York Philharmonic, NY Pops, Westchester Philharmonic, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Sesame Street Muppets, Phoenix Symphony, and at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, and more. He’s honored to return to the Houston Symphony and again share the stage with his better half.