Symphony of the Hills opens season Oct. 8 with Weber and Brahms — and the Governor came to their July 4 concert
Dowdy, the orchestra’s conductor and artistic director, appeared alongside Board President Tim Summerlin to discuss a season that is both one of the symphony’s most programmatically ambitious in its 26-year history.
Gene Dowdy wants to be clear about something: the Conan the Barbarian theme is serious music.
“Anvil of Crom” — the thundering, brass-heavy opening from John Milius’s 1982 film — will open the Symphony of the Hills’ Jan. 9 Heroes and Villains concert. It will also, Dowdy told Lead Live on Wednesday, be used to open the symphony’s school outreach concerts this fall. He played a clip on air. The reaction was immediate.
“Watching those musicians going after it,” Dowdy said, “it’s an experience.”
Dowdy, the orchestra’s conductor and artistic director, appeared alongside Board President Tim Summerlin to discuss a season that is both one of the symphony’s most programmatically ambitious in its 26-year history and a direct response to two years of community grief. The July 4 concert — free to the public, attended by Governor Greg Abbott and First Lady Cecilia Abbott, featuring Mayor Joe Herring narrating Lincoln’s words alongside the live orchestra — was the season’s emotional centerpiece before the season officially began.
“We need more of that in this country,” Dowdy said. “Unity over division. We want to be that for the community.”
The 2026-2027 season, Heroes and Villains, opens Oct. 8 with a pairing of Weber’s Phantom of the Opera (featuring vocalists Bronwin White and Brandon Morales) and Brahms’ First Symphony. Dowdy described Brahms’ compositional challenge: writing a symphony while living under the shadow of Beethoven, beginning in C minor and transforming the final movement into a triumphant C major resolution. The Dec. 3 Christmas Comfort and Joy concert features the Hill Country Chorale, Vivaldi’s Winter mashed with Oh Hanukkah, and music from Home Alone. The Feb. 25 Frontiers and Freedom concert will feature a side-by-side performance with the Hill Country Youth Orchestras and pianist Jeffrey Biegel performing Peter Boyer’s Rhapsody in Red, White, and Blue. The April Romance and Passion concert closes the season with violinist Nancy Zhou.
The board is also installing permanent LED video screens at the Cailloux Theater to enable multimedia events. Succession planning — a topic Summerlin raised directly — is ongoing.
“Succession planning is everything,” Summerlin said. “You have to always be looking for people passionate about doing it, because it requires that kind of passion.”
Season tickets and single concert tickets: symphonyofthehills.org.
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