Buy tickets here for Chopin and Tchaikovsky, September 18.

• Click here to buy tickets for Rockapella Goes Retro, September 3.
• Click here to buy tickets for Viva Filarmonica, September 10.

Today’s Groupon gently stuffs sweet-sounding wads of classic rock, classical Hispanic music, or prototypical classical music in your ear canals with a ticket to one of three shows from the Houston Symphony at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, operated by The Center for Performing Arts at The Woodlands.

Hear Rockapella Goes Retro on September 3, Viva Filarmonica on September 10, or Chopin and Tchaikovsky on September 18 at the Pavilion, an outdoor amphitheater with a well-manicured lawn surrounded by lush forests, affording you a once in a lifetime opportunity to search for the elusive beast known as Kibblesmith.

After Hurricane Ike in 2008, the Pavilion was renovated and expanded to include thousands of new seats, a larger canopy structure, and a state-of-the-art sound system that makes Houston Symphony’s perfectly punctuated staccatos, fine fortississimos, and notes sound superb. It’s an enormous upgrade over the previous sound system, which was an elaborate network of voice-imitating myna birds held in tandem by pipe cleaners. You get seats in the lower orchestra level (you’ll be assigned a seat when you redeem your Groupon; click here to see a seating chart). Mezzanine and lawn seats are free, but today’s deal enhances your musical experience by putting you close to the action.

Listening to classical music live is pretty much the only way to see and hear the sweet warbling of each individual viol, bass viol, and viola da gamba. Hear classical Hispanic music by composers from Spain, Mexico, and Latin American countries with a ticket to the Viva Filarmonica concert on September 10. The symphony will be under the direction of The New York Times–acclaimed conductor Alondra de la Parra, with guest guitarist Pablo Sainz Villegas. Click here to buy tickets for Viva Filarmonica, September 10.

Or hear Chopin and Tchaikovsky on September 18; when Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 drifts in the open air of the pavilion, the emotionally transcendent frequencies will tune your soul—a sublime and ticklish sensation. Click here to buy tickets for Chopin and Tchaikovsky, September 18.

Or get a ticket to Rockapella Goes Retro on September 3. In an age when computers make it possible for people to harmonize with themselves or harmonize with themselves harmonizing with computers, there’s something special about five renowned harmonizers harmonizing live, incredibly harmonically, live, and in person. Rockapella will sing hits from the ’60s and ’70s such as “Here Comes the Sun,” “Rock the Boat,” “Under the Boardwalk,” “Shambala,” and “Philadelphia Freedom” to the accompaniment of the Houston Symphony (click here to see Rockapella perform “Shambala”). Click here to buy tickets for Rockapella Goes Retro, September 3.

If you like rock, you’ll like Rockapella, and if you like a capella, you’ll like Rockapella. If you don’t like rock or a capella, you’ll like Rockapella because an a capella group with accompaniment is neither rock nor a capella. Arrive early to get free ice cream.

Reviews

Dallas News says the Houston Symphony sounds good, and The New York Times likes the conductor of Viva Filarmonica: > * The orchestra sounds wonderfully lush. – Lawson Taitte, Dallas News > * With incisive gestures, Ms. de la Parra elicited a vibrantly nuanced performance whose bristling conclusion had the audience, which included many Spanish speakers and children, on their feet. – Vivien Schweitzer, The New York Times

One Yelper gives the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion a four stars; others give the Houston Symphony four stars too: > * It’s a nice place… Most of the “seating” is on the lawn, a nicely manicured, well, lawn…The sound system is loud without being overpowering. Overall, I had a nice time. – Scott O. > * The Houston Symphony has made a big resurgence. Tix are pretty reasonable, & shows are bigger & better than past years. – LAWJISTIK > * The Houston Symphony is the cornerstone of Houston’s fine arts scene and they hold up their end quite well. – Dolph W.