Houston—In a rehearsal room in San Francisco just three years ago, something remarkable happened. More than 80 musicians, queer people and their allies, gathered from around the world, lifted their instruments and played together for the first time. For many, it was the first time they had ever made music as their full, authentic selves. Those first historic notes were the start of something special that continues to this day.
That orchestra was the International Pride Orchestra (IPO). And on Wednesday, June 3, at 7:30 p.m., IPO brings that spirit to Houston for its Texas debut, a one-night-only concert at the Cullen Theater at the Wortham Center, 501 Texas Ave, with a portion of ticket proceeds benefiting the Montrose Center, Houston’s largest and most beloved LGBTQ+ community center.
The program IPO has assembled for Houston is both sweeping and intimate, a journey through American music and beyond that speaks to endurance, identity, and joy including music by Leonard Bernstein, Carlos Simon, Gabriella Lena Frank and Reza Vali, among others. The concert closes with Lincoln Portrait by Aaron Copland.
“We built this program around the idea that visibility is not one-dimensional,” said IPO’s Founder and Music Director Michael Roest. “Queer life contains joy, grief, resistance, humor, beauty, anger, love, and hope. This program reflects the fullness of that experience, and we are honored to bring it to Houston.”
The program will be led by a distinguished trio of conductors including Christine Brandes, guest conductor at Seattle Opera, Atlanta Opera and Chicago Opera Theater; Robert Moody, the music director of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra and Arizona MusicFest; and Michael Roest, the orchestra’s founder.
The concert also carries a particular resonance for Houston itself. Inspired by her own experience as an IPO participant, Houston musician Ruby Ortiz launched the first-ever Houston Pride Orchestra, a direct and living legacy of what happens when queer musicians are given a stage and told: you belong here. “The International Pride Orchestra changed my life,” Ortiz said. “It showed me the kind of community I had never experienced as a queer musician in Texas, and I realized that the orchestra I’d been waiting for someone else to create was something I needed to help start.” That spirit is what IPO has always been about, and it’s what brings the orchestra to the Wortham Center on June 3.
CONCERT DETAILS:
Date: Wednesday, June 3, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.
Venue: Cullen Theater at the Wortham Center, 501 Texas Ave, Houston, TX
Tickets: Starting at $28.75 with a portion of proceeds benefiting the Montrose Center
Tickets: performingartshouston.org/events/
Info at: InternationalPrideOrchestra.org
— David Taffet