Music Director and Conductor Steven Reineke is a wonder, and a real gift to the Pops, to Carnegie Hall, and to the live music industry.

Besides, any time principal Pops conductor Steven Reineke is on the podium is a guaranteed good time. His enthusiasm for the music is obvious and contagious, evident in his broad baton strokes and his adeptness in finding a groove, a skill not all conductors possess. His skills as a raconteur are equally sharp, filling the space between early numbers with tantalizing Williams factoids.

"The undisputed king of the genre today is the ebullient, Ohio-born conductor and composer Steven Reineke..."

Houston Symphony Principal POPS Conductor Steven Reineke, in Houston this week leading the Symphony in a program titled “In the Mood: A Big Band New Year,” has just signed a 5-year contract extension. The popular and charismatic Reineke is now set to lead the Symphony’s Bank of America POPS series through the 2026–27 Season.

The originality, in the music as in the film, lay in the flair with which familiar formulas were used and transformed. At the NSO in September, conductor Steven Reineke engaged the audience with verve, encouraging them to react when they heard things they liked, keeping the energy in the room at a high pitch both on and off the stage.

No disrespect to Kris Kringle, or Frosty the Snowman, but the real jolly, happy soul on hand had to be Principal POPS Conductor Steven Reineke. As gregarious leading the orchestra as he is engaging with the audience, Reineke conducted with broad, semaphore-ish motions brimming with good cheer.

But here’s a confession: no one — not the band, not the choir, not even the dancers — have the rhythm and panache of Reineke.