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| Getting to Know the Bayou City |
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) is the oldest museum in Texas as well as the most prominent. The opening of the $83 million Audrey Jones Beck Building in March 2000 made MFAH the largest museum in the Southwest. The dramatic expansion continued most recently with the Lora Jean Killroy Visitor and Education Center, opened in 2010, making the museum able to increase the number of blockbusters, including major exhibitions featuring works from the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The Children’s Museum of Houston (CMH) is a hands-on educational and entertaining family-oriented destination. Adults and kids alike will go crazy about the playful building (designed by renowned architect Robert Venturi) and wondrous and ever-changing exhibits of CMH. The John P. McGovern Museum of Health & Medical Science, also known as The Health Museum, is Houston’s most interactive science learning center and a member institution of the world-renowned Texas Medical Center. The museum’s main event is the Jim Hickox Amazing Body Pavilion, a larger-than-life walking tour through the human body.
The art of nature takes center stage at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, with family-friendly programming that attracts all ages. Traveling exhibitions are insightful and intriguing, ranging from Discovering the Civil War to the new Terra Cotta Warriors Exhibit opening in 2012. Exciting permanent features, such as the Wortham IMAX Theatre, Burke Baker Planetarium, Cockrell Butterfly Center and the Cullen Hall of Gems and Minerals (the top gemological collection in the world) make this the third most attended museum in the United States. More than 500,000 school children visit the Houston Museum of Natural Science annually.
For less traditional and more off-beat displays, visit the Lone Star Flight Museum, Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig & Museum, Houston Fire Museum, Houston Police Department Museum, National Museum of Funeral History, The John C. Freeman Weather Museum and the Museum of Printing History.
PERFORMING ARTS
In true Houston style, there are a multitude of high-quality performing arts venues from which to select. Houston is one of only a few U.S. cities with permanent professional resident companies in opera, ballet, music and theater, which are all located in Houston’s downtown Theater District that spans 17 blocks. The Theater District, with its five major performing arts venues, is home to these companies as well as four other internationally recognized performing arts presenters. The area also features numerous restaurants and clubs where one can sip on a pre-theater cocktail while listening to live music or enjoy a leisurely dinner after the show.
Outside of the skyscrapers of downtown, a diverse array of smaller companies call Houston home, offering a unique blend of cutting-edge performing arts and well- known classics in a variety of intimate settings. The latest figures show that more than 4 million people experience the magic of live theater in Houston annually.
— Houston Ballet
Performing in the spectacular 2,500-seat Wortham Theater Center, Houston Ballet is America’s fifth largest ballet company, producing numerous contemporary works and full-length world premiers, such as Dracula, The Snow Maieden and Cleopatra. More than 40 years old, Houston Ballet is the city’s youngest resident professional company.
— Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera (HGO) has long been known for its innovative works and imaginative presentations of traditional masterpieces. HGO’s numerous world premieres have included Florencia en el Amazonas (the first Spanish opera by a Mexican composer to be commissioned by a major U.S. opera company) and Nixon in China, which garnered an Emmy and a Grammy.
— Houston Symphony
Fonded in 1913, the Houston Symphony is the oldest performing arts organization in the city. This season, the Houston Symphony performs in the largest (more than 2,900 seats) and arguably most impressive space in the theater district, Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts. Currently under the leadership of Hans Graf, the Houston Symphony’s impressive list of conductors has included Leopold Stokowski, Andre Previn and Christoph Eschenbach. From Brahms and Beethoven to pop concerts with special guests, such as Debbie Reynolds and Shirley Maclaine, the Houston Symphony offers something for every musical taste.
Performing approximately some 170 concerts a year at Jones Hall, Miller Outdoor Theatre and the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, the Houston Symphony also tours internationally. The symphony also sponsors more than 300 separate educational and community service performances each season. Its concerts for schoolchildren, a 50-year-old tradition, have introduced more than 1 million students to live performances of symphonic music.
— More Venues
Not unlike New York’s Off-Broadway, tickets to productions at Houston’s numerous theaters outside of downtown often come at a considerably lower price than their Theater District counterparts, and the groups boast legions of loyal patrons from throughout the surrounding areas. Be sure to check out the Fresh Arts Coalition, a collective organization of Houston’s many fascinating performing and visual arts companies outside of downtown. Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, Main Street Theater and Stages Repertory Theatre are some of the thriving, lesser-known companies.
Located in The Woodlands, the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion is a concert amphitheatre catering to both the performing arts and contemporary artists. It is also the regional summer home for the Houston Symphony. Damage from Hurricane Ike in 2008 resulted in a $9.5 million renovation providing a total capacity of 16,040 with a new state-of-the-art sound system to provide a better quality of sound to lawn guests. Miller Outdoor Theatre is located on approximately 7.5 acres of land in Hermann Park, is also the site of the Houston Zoo, the Garden Center and the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Seating is provided for 1,582 patrons and 27 wheelchair spaces plus an 80,000-square-foot sloping lawn that accommodates about 4,500 more. Unique in the United States, the theater offers quality and professional entertainment that is free to the public.
The art of nature takes center stage at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, with family-friendly programming that attracts all ages. Traveling exhibitions are insightful and intriguing, ranging from Discovering the Civil War to the new Terra Cotta Warriors Exhibit opening in 2012. Exciting permanent features, such as the Wortham IMAX Theatre, Burke Baker Planetarium, Cockrell Butterfly Center and the Cullen Hall of Gems and Minerals (the top gemological collection in the world) make this the third most attended museum in the United States. More than 500,000 school children visit the Houston Museum of Natural Science annually.
For less traditional and more off-beat displays, visit the Lone Star Flight Museum, Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig & Museum, Houston Fire Museum, Houston Police Department Museum, National Museum of Funeral History, The John C. Freeman Weather Museum and the Museum of Printing History.
PERFORMING ARTS
In true Houston style, there are a multitude of high-quality performing arts venues from which to select. Houston is one of only a few U.S. cities with permanent professional resident companies in opera, ballet, music and theater, which are all located in Houston’s downtown Theater District that spans 17 blocks. The Theater District, with its five major performing arts venues, is home to these companies as well as four other internationally recognized performing arts presenters. The area also features numerous restaurants and clubs where one can sip on a pre-theater cocktail while listening to live music or enjoy a leisurely dinner after the show.
Outside of the skyscrapers of downtown, a diverse array of smaller companies call Houston home, offering a unique blend of cutting-edge performing arts and well- known classics in a variety of intimate settings. The latest figures show that more than 4 million people experience the magic of live theater in Houston annually.
— Houston Ballet
Performing in the spectacular 2,500-seat Wortham Theater Center, Houston Ballet is America’s fifth largest ballet company, producing numerous contemporary works and full-length world premiers, such as Dracula, The Snow Maieden and Cleopatra. More than 40 years old, Houston Ballet is the city’s youngest resident professional company.
— Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera (HGO) has long been known for its innovative works and imaginative presentations of traditional masterpieces. HGO’s numerous world premieres have included Florencia en el Amazonas (the first Spanish opera by a Mexican composer to be commissioned by a major U.S. opera company) and Nixon in China, which garnered an Emmy and a Grammy.
— Houston Symphony
Fonded in 1913, the Houston Symphony is the oldest performing arts organization in the city. This season, the Houston Symphony performs in the largest (more than 2,900 seats) and arguably most impressive space in the theater district, Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts. Currently under the leadership of Hans Graf, the Houston Symphony’s impressive list of conductors has included Leopold Stokowski, Andre Previn and Christoph Eschenbach. From Brahms and Beethoven to pop concerts with special guests, such as Debbie Reynolds and Shirley Maclaine, the Houston Symphony offers something for every musical taste.
Performing approximately some 170 concerts a year at Jones Hall, Miller Outdoor Theatre and the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, the Houston Symphony also tours internationally. The symphony also sponsors more than 300 separate educational and community service performances each season. Its concerts for schoolchildren, a 50-year-old tradition, have introduced more than 1 million students to live performances of symphonic music.
— More Venues
Not unlike New York’s Off-Broadway, tickets to productions at Houston’s numerous theaters outside of downtown often come at a considerably lower price than their Theater District counterparts, and the groups boast legions of loyal patrons from throughout the surrounding areas. Be sure to check out the Fresh Arts Coalition, a collective organization of Houston’s many fascinating performing and visual arts companies outside of downtown. Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, Main Street Theater and Stages Repertory Theatre are some of the thriving, lesser-known companies.
Located in The Woodlands, the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion is a concert amphitheatre catering to both the performing arts and contemporary artists. It is also the regional summer home for the Houston Symphony. Damage from Hurricane Ike in 2008 resulted in a $9.5 million renovation providing a total capacity of 16,040 with a new state-of-the-art sound system to provide a better quality of sound to lawn guests. Miller Outdoor Theatre is located on approximately 7.5 acres of land in Hermann Park, is also the site of the Houston Zoo, the Garden Center and the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Seating is provided for 1,582 patrons and 27 wheelchair spaces plus an 80,000-square-foot sloping lawn that accommodates about 4,500 more. Unique in the United States, the theater offers quality and professional entertainment that is free to the public.
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