In tune with the times

Dallas Symphony takes shows on the road with 16-foot mobile concert truck

If audiences can't go to Dallas Symphony Orchestra concerts this holiday season, the orchestra will haul the concerts to them. A mobile venue called The Concert Truck will take up residency with the DSO, rolling out small pop-up shows around the city through mid-December.

The concerts will be a collaboration among DSO musicians, members of other arts organizations (including Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Arts, Dallas Theater Center, and Dallas Black Dance Theatre), and concert pianists Susan Zhang and Nick Luby.

Zhang and Luby founded The Concert Truck in 2016 as a mobile concert stage that could take classical chamber music directly to communities. According to their website, they converted a 16-foot box truck into a fully functioning concert hall on wheels, complete with lights, sound system, and piano. The truck won Most Original Idea in Social Enterprise in the 2018 Johns Hopkins University Business Plan Competition.

The founders take the truck all over the the country, performing alone and with other musicians at a range of venues, according to a release. This fall, they've partnered with The Kennedy Center’s Washington National Opera, University of South Carolina, and more.

Zhang and Luby will perform in all of the upcoming Dallas shows.

“Our musicians have been wonderful to volunteer to play chamber music around the city. Since May they have done more than 80 appearances in many different locations,” says Kim Noltemy, Ross Perot President & CEO of the Dallas Symphony, in a release. “As the weather has gotten cooler, we looked for a way to continue this music-making, and we found The Concert Truck."

Dallas-area concerts will be held outdoors in both traditional and nontraditional venues, including Neiman Marcus Garden at NorthPark Center, The Sound at Cypress Water, and UT Southwestern Medical. Audiences and performers will be able to maintain a safe distance while enjoying live performances, the DSO assures.

Each concert will last 45 to 60 minutes and will be free to attend.

"This will be an incredible method for the DSO to perform outside the Meyerson in a very professional manner," Noltemy says. "We are delighted to be able to share the stage, literally, with our colleague arts groups in Dallas and take the show on the road to our audiences around the city. We are so thankful to Susan and Nick for the vision and idea to create this innovative mobile stage.”

Here's the current Concert Truck pop-up concert schedule, with more details and locations to come, they say. Pianists Zhang and Luby will perform at all events. (Other artists and locations are subject to change.)

Keep up with the truck’s location at mydso.com.

Saturday, November 21: The Potter’s House Church
Members of the DSO

Sunday, November 22 at 2 pm: The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
Members of the DSO

Monday, November 23 at 6:30 pm: Medical City Dallas Hospital
Members of the DSO

Wednesday, December 2 at 5:30 pm: The Ronald McDonald House
Members of the DSO

Thursday, December 3-Friday, December 4 at 6 pm: Neiman Marcus Garden at NorthPark Center
Members of the DSO

Saturday, December 5 at 3 pm: The Sound at Cypress Water
Susan Zhang and Nick Luby, piano

Sunday, December 6 at 4 pm: Neiman Marcus Garden at NorthPark Center
Members of the DSO

Tuesday, December 8 at 3:30 pm: Booker T. Washington HSPVA
BTW Students

Wednesday, December 9 at 12 pm: UT Southwestern Medical – Clements Hospital
Members of the DSO

Wednesday, December 9 at 5:30 pm: Klyde Warren Park
Members of Dallas Theater Center's Diane and Hal Brierley Resident Acting Company with Members of the DSO

Thursday, December 10 at 6 pm: HALL Arts Hotel – Urban Garden
Members of the DSO

Friday, December 11 at 3:30 pm: Booker T. Washington HSPVA
BTW Students

Friday, December 11 at 6 pm: Klyde Warren Park
Members of the DSO

Saturday, December 12 at 12:30 pm – Location TBC
Members of Dallas Theater Center's Diane and Hal Brierley Resident Acting Company with Members of the DSO

Sunday, December 13 at 12 pm: The Nasher Sculpture Center
Members of the DSO

Sunday, December 13 at 3:30 pm: Meyerson Symphony Center
Dallas Black Dance Theatre's DBDT: Encore! with Members of the DSO

Monday, December 14 at 10:30 am: Greiner Middle School
Members of the DSO

Tuesday, December 15 at 9 am: Eduardo Mata Elementary School
Members of the DSO

Wednesday, December 16 at 3 pm: The Landon at Lake Highlands
Members of the DSO

Thursday, December 17 at 2 pm: Methodist Hospital Dallas
Members of the DSO

Thursday, December 17 at 7 pm: St. Paul United Methodist (with caroling)
Singers from St. Paul Choir with Members of the DSO

Friday, December 18: Trinity Basin Prep School, Ledbetter Campus
Members of the DSO

Friday, December 18 at 6 pm: Klyde Warren Park
Members of the DSO

They can fit a little chamber ensemble on stage.

Photo courtesy of The Concert Truck

They can fit a little chamber ensemble on stage.

concerts symphony music

history in the making

Taylor Sheridan to be honored with legendary Texas award in 2027

1923 Las Vegas Premiere Screening & After Party Taylor Sheridan

Photo by David Becker/Getty Images for Paramount+

Taylor Sheridan is a 2027 recipient of the History-Making Texan Award.

Trailblazing North Texas producer, director, and screenwriter Taylor Sheridan will add a new award to his shelf in 2027. Sheridan has been named one of two recipients of the History-Making Texan Award, which the Texas State History Museum Foundation (TSHMF) will present in Austin in spring 2027.

Since 2005, the organization has honored "living Texas legends whose contributions to the state and the nation have been truly historic and exceptional in scope and nature." Past galas have recognized prominent Texas figures such as former presidents George H.W. and George W. Bush and former first ladies Barbara and Laura Bush, as well as H-E-B chairman Charles Butt, singer-songwriter and accordionist Leonardo “Flaco” Jimenéz, among others.

Joining Sheridan as the other 2027 honoree is Texas Historical Commission chairman, businessman, and philanthropist John L. Nau, III. The 2027 gala will be held at the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin on March 2, Texas Independence Day.

"Our honorees are national leaders whose accomplishments have elevated Texas’ distinctive place on the national and international stage," said Debbie Raynor, Dinner Chair and TSHMF Trustee, in a relase. "John L. Nau, III and Taylor Sheridan have each, in very different ways, helped tell the Texas story — one through the preservation of our history and treasured places, the other through the power of storytelling that has brought Texas and the American West to audiences around the world."

Quadruple-threat filmmaker Sheridan is most widely recognized for his award-winning neo-Western TV series Yellowstone and its associated spin-offs 1883, 1923, Marshals, and Dutton Ranch. Raynor hailed Sheridan for his success in bringing a "remarkable new dimension to the way the world sees Texas and the American West."

"As a creator, writer, director, and executive producer of some of television’s most successful series, he has captured the imagination of audiences across the globe while bringing the people, landscapes, traditions and enduring spirit of the West into millions of homes," she said. "And he does more than tell the Texas story — he lives it, as a native Texan, accomplished horseman and steward of two legendary Texas ranches."

Nau is the former chairman and CEO of Silver Eagle Beverages, one of the largest Anheuser-Busch distributors in the U.S. Raynor said Nau's "commitment to preservation" extends further than his protection of Texas historic sites "to the stewardship and conservation of the land itself, including his bay area lodge in south Texas and his ranch in west Texas."

"[Nau's] leadership and lifelong dedication to history have earned him national recognition, but perhaps his greatest legacy is his determination to ensure that the stories and places that shaped Texas endure for generations to come," Raynor said.

A release estimates about 450 "business, political, and community leaders" attend the Texas Independence Day Dinner each year, and proceeds will benefit the Bullock Museum's educational programs and special projects.

The 2027 Texas Independence Day Dinner will take place March 2, 2027, at the Bullock Museum in Austin. A VIP reception will start at 6:30 pm, followed by a 7 pm reception, and 7:30 dinner and program.

Taylor Sheridan is gifting his creative archive to Texas State University.

Photo by David Becker/Getty Images for Paramount+

Taylor Sheridan is a 2027 recipient of the History-Making Texan Award.

taylor sheridan galas awards ceremony texas texas historical commission bullock museum yellowstone awards