Ars Lyrica Has Announced its 2020/21 Turning Points Season

Ars Lyrica Houston has announced its 16th season, which introduces a new chamber series at Rienzi alongside its popular mainstage subscription series at the Hobby Center. Highlights of the 2020/21 season, entitled Turning Points, include two operas, one a contemporary work for solo voice and historic instruments and the other a full-dress Baroque opera with period dancing and poignant drama. Timeless stories and transcendent music animate Ars Lyrica's 2020/21 programming, as this Grammy-nominated ensemble continues to offer Houston audiences the finest in live period-instrument performance.

Matthew Dirst, Artistic Director of Ars Lyrica, took inspiration for this season from those crucial moments when everything changes. "Our Spring 2021 opera, Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, revolves around the heroine who makes a fatal decision-to let herself fall in love with a man who shouldn't be trusted-and that decision seals her fate. Not all turning points are tragic, however; by contrast, in classical mythology Hercules rejects vanity and becomes a kind of model citizen, one whose virtue is to be emulated. Those life-changing decisions define this season in music that ranges widely, from the mixing of immigrant and native cultures in Crossing Borders (Dec 2020) to classics of the Baroque repertoire."

Uncommon repertoire choices are a hallmark of every Ars Lyrica season, as are innovative dramatizations. The May 2021 production of Dido and Aeneas will feature a stellar cast (with several Houston favorites) and the New York Baroque Dance Company, in a production directed by historical dance specialist Catherine Turocy. A September 2020 production of Jonathan Dove's L'altra Euridice (The Other Eurydice) retells the familiar story of Orpheus and Eurydice, but from the point of view of Pluto, King of the Underworld. This remarkable work, scored for solo bass-baritone and a chamber ensemble of period and modern instruments, will receive its Texas premiere on a September 2020 Ars Lyrica program that also features a solo Bach cantata on the topic of eternity.

Baritone Mark Diamond, who will sing the role of Aeneas in the May opera, says working with Ars Lyrica is the most collaborative experience he has ever had. "Historical performance provides a window by which one can hear and experience the beauty of music as it existed at its inception. The human spirit is timeless, and historical performance allows us to experience that spirit through the lens of another time and place." Houston Grand Opera studio artist Leia Lensing is equally excited about her first program with Ars Lyrica, in which she'll be singing alongside HGO Studio alum and frequent Ars Lyrica collaborator Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen in two grand settings of the Choice of Hercules, one by G. F. Handel the other by J. S. Bach.

During 2020/21 Ars Lyrica launches a new chamber series at Rienzi, the MFAH house museum for European decorative arts. This gorgeous and intimate venue is the perfect place to experience the finest in Baroque chamber music especially, while surrounded by art and artifacts of the period. Ars Lyrica will also be on the road during the coming season, with performances of two different programs scheduled in New York, San Diego, Ann Arbor, and Tulsa.

For the best seats, subscribe now to Ars Lyrica Houston's 2020/21 season. Subscriptions and single tickets are on sale at www.arslyricahouston.org or call the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts Box Office at 713.315.2525 (Press 4 for Ars Lyrica Houston). For more information on BAM!, our new series of concerts and events for young professionals, visit www.arslyricahouston.org/bam or contact their events coordinator at kstaten@arslyricahouston.org.

Founded in 1998 by harpsichordist and conductor Matthew Dirst, Ars Lyrica Houston presents a diverse array of music in its original context while creating connections to contemporary life. Intelligent programming features neglected gems alongside familiar masterworks while mining the dramatic potential, emotional resonance, and expressive power of early music especially. Its local subscription series, according to the Houston Chronicle, "sets the agenda" for early music in Houston. Ars Lyrica appears regularly at international festivals and concert series because of its distinctive focus, and its pioneering efforts in the field of authentic performance have won international acclaim, including a Grammy nomination (Best Opera 2011).

Highlights of the 2020/21 Turning Points season include:

Fully-staged production of Purcell's Dido & Aeneas in collaboration with the New York Baroque Dance Company

Houston premiere of a contemporary work for period instruments and solo voice

Collaboration on major works of Bach and Handel with the internationally acclaimed Moores School of Music Concert Chorale of the University of Houston

Ars Lyrica's 2020/21 Season: Turning Points

March 14, 2020 at 6 pm: Artistic Director Matthew Dirst performs a solo harpsichord recital featuring Bach's iconic "Italian Concerto" at Rice University's Duncan Recital Hall. This program is offered for no charge to subscribers, and tickets are also available for purchase for $20.

May 16, 2020 at 7:30 pm: Tara Faircloth directs and Matthew Dirst conducts Bach's comedic masterpiece aPhoebus & Pan with soprano Dominique McCormick, countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, tenors Derek Chester and Christopher Bozeka, and baritones Thomas Glass and Mark Diamond.

Turning Points: Many timeless stories revolve around a singular unexpected event, one that leads inexorably to tragedy or triumph. Join us for our next season with highlights including Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with the New York Baroque Dance Company.

A Star is Born Gala: Star power, operatic elegance, and Houston legacies.A Star is Born will honor three generations of Houston's finest opera supporters and stars, raise vital support for Ars Lyrica's Opera Circle.

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