Past Seasons

2023-24: 20 Years of Magic

Fugal Games: Jan. 13, 2024
Fugal Games takes up an enigmatic though quintessentially Baroque mode of music-making while celebrating the release of artistic director Matthew Dirst’s new book on Bach’s Art of Fugue and Musical Offering, the composer’s ultimate demonstrations of learned counterpoint. With significant excerpts from both works, this program also supplies context in the form of miniature marvels by George Philipp Telemann.

Visions & Reveries: March 16, 2024
Visions and Reveries showcases a select ensemble of period-instrument specialists and one of our favorite singers in an all-French program. Its delectable prix-fixe menu includes lyric cantatas on mythological themes by Elizabeth Claude Jacquet de la Guerre and Jean-Philippe Rameau, whose contributions to the genre elevate it to high art, and a sumptuous instrumental suite by François Couperin.

Amadigi di Gaula: May 24, 2024 & May 25, 2024
The most ambitious undertaking of our 2023/24 season is a new production of Handel’s Amadigi di Gaula, one of a handful of “magic” operas he produced during his long career in London. Our cast includes four rising stars of the operatic firmament, all ideally suited to this exceptionally beautiful score. Tara Faircloth directs and Matthew Dirst conducts this Houston premiere.

2022-23: Sounding Legacies

A Marian Feast: Dec. 13, 2022
Our 2022 holiday program explores the rich musical legacy of the Virgin Mary, from medieval polyphony to contemporary carols and anthems. The main course at this sumptuous musical feast is Claudio Monteverdi's 1610 setting of the Magnificat for six voices and continuo. All musicians will perform from the choir loft (different from previous Ars Lyrica performances at St. Philip), creating a divine listening experience as music floats down from above and envelops the audience.

From China with Love: Musical Chinoiseries in 17th- and 18th-Century Europe: Jan. 29, 2022
Exotic decorations on cabinets, porcelain vessels, and embroideries imported from China inspired a popular design trend in Baroque Europe, one reflected in various objects in the Rienzi collection and on the harpsichord featured on this program. Musical selections by Teodorico Pedrini, Henry Purcell, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and Christoph Willibald Gluck illustrate how composers of this time created equally lavish-sounding textures.

Clori, Tirsi, e Fileno: March 26, 2023
A delightful musical romp, Handel's Clori, Tirsi e Fileno includes spectacular arias that the composer later borrowed for his Italian operas. A cast of young operatic stars, all singing en travesti as the opposite gender, brings a new twist to this timeless story of a wily shepherdess and her two suitors.

Songs of Zion: May 13, 2022
From the rich legacy of psalm settings, our season finale juxtaposes music from the Jewish and Christian traditions. In convertendo (Psalm 126) from the operatic master Jean-Philippe Rameau infuses the psalmist's words with flair and passion, while companion pieces by Salamone Rossi and J. S. Bach infuse psalm texts with sonorous counterpoint.

2022-23: Turning Points

Bach, Handel, and Hercules: Sep. 24, 2021
Ars Lyrica returns to the Hobby Center with a morality tale set to music by both Bach and Handel. The iconic strongman Hercules earned his place in the pantheon not through conquests but rather for his wisdom and honor. A pillar of mythology since Antiquity, Hercules faces a familiar dilemma, one that found significant resonance in the Baroque era, when ancient stories were a principal source of moral instruction. Both composers treat Hercules’ temptation and ultimate embrace of virtue with ravishing arias and grand ensembles. Watch highlights here.

Eternity and the Underworld: Nov. 13, 2021
This program sets old against new, the promise of everlasting peace against the frustration of unfulfilled dreams. Bach’s meditation on death in Cantata 82 depicts the great beyond as a peaceful refuge. One of his best-known vehicles for solo voice, Ich habe genug also blends the melancholy sound of the Baroque oboe with accompanying strings, to magical effect. In contrast, Jonathan Dove’s L’altra Euridice (The Other Eurydice) transports us to the underworld, from which Pluto exposes the treachery of humanity in a remarkable chamber opera for bass-baritone plus a mix of period and modern instruments. Ars Lyrica’s provocative new staging of both works will provide plenty of food for thought about the next world. Watch highlights here.

Crossing Borders: Dec. 17, 2021
Crossing Borders explores a crucial moment in the musical history of the New World: when European musical traditions began to mingle with indigenous musical practices. This festive program for the holiday season includes villancicos and romances for voices and ensemble plus instrumental works drawn from the rich repertoire of 17th- and 18th-century colonial and Latin American cultures. Musical selections by Roque Ceruti, José Duran, Antonio de Salazar, Manuel Joseph Quiroz, Sebastián Duron and others illustrate the multiple and creative ways music traverses cultural and national borders. Watch highlights here.

An Uncommon Chevalier: Mar. 27, 2022
This program transports us to a lively Parisian concert hall in the mid 1780s, just before the Revolution changed everything. An accomplished composer, violinist, conductor, fencer, and dancer, Joseph de Bologne became the toast of Paris in the early 1770s. The son of a plantation owner and an African slave, the younger mixed-race Bologne acquired the title Chevalier de Saint-Georges thanks to Louis XV, in whose personal guard he briefly served, and eventually became a favorite of Marie Antoinette. The program features a tuneful violin concerto from Saint-Georges, a comparable work from a contemporary, and a symphony commissioned by the Chevalier. Watch highlights here.

Dido and Aeneas: May 21-22, 2022
Universal stories often revolve around impossible choices between love and duty, hatred and desire, will and destiny. The consequences of such turning points are both beautiful and tragic in opera especially. The 2021/22 Ars Lyrica season concludes with a new production of the first masterpiece of English opera. Henry Purcell, early modern England’s greatest musical dramatist, infused his chosen texts with both beauty and pathos. His Dido and Aeneas is a miracle of operatic economy, with lively dancing, memorable choruses, and at its center a noble heroine who loves too well: her demise is both tragic and transcendent. Watch highlights here.

The Well-Tempered Clavier at Rienzi: Oct. 16, 2021 & Jun. 4, 2022
Rienzi is a jewel in the crown of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Its dramatic setting, focused on the European decorative arts, is the perfect pairing for our historically informed performances. Be transported to another time and place through these immersive musical experiences. Ars Lyrica Artistic Director Matthew Dirst continues his survey of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier with two performances of excerpts from Book 1 in the sumptuous surroundings of Rienzi, the house museum for European decorative arts of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The featured instrument, inspired by the work of the Gräbner family in Dresden in the early eighteenth century, is visually and acoustically stunning, a perfect complement to the Baroque-era décor at Rienzi. Watch highlights here.

2020-21: Side by Side

Musical Duels: Sep. 26, 2020
Our season opener spotlights Artistic Director Matthew Dirst along with Sam Houston State professor Mario Aschauer in favorite concertos for two harpsichords by J. S. Bach. We’ll be inaugurating an extraordinary new instrument as well: a lavishly decorated harpsichord modeled after instruments known to Bach himself. This program of musical duels also features Ars Lyrica core string players in a bit of tuneful fencing plus a sonorous suite, both by masters of the Austrian Baroque. Watch here.

Conflict & Concord: Oct. 24, 2020
This first of two all-Bach programs for Fall 2020 explores the rich repertory of cantatas and chamber music from the great Baroque master. Cantata 170 transcends human suffering with beautiful melodies and delicate textures, while Cantata 134 celebrates the joys of the next world with sumptuous orchestral and vocal forces. Between these masterworks, principal players offer a remarkable trio sonata Bach composed for Frederick the Great, from a collection infused with ideological and musical contrasts. Watch here.

Bach 2 Bach: Nov. 15, 2020
Our second all-Bach installment is devoted to music for violin and harpsichord, including two of the beloved “duet” sonatas for harpsichord and violin. Both players also take solo turns with music Bach composed for the other instrument, in transcriptions that reveal new ways of hearing familiar repertoire. Featuring renowned Baroque violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock and Ars Lyrica founder Matthew Dirst, this will be the chamber highlight of our 2020/21 season. Watch here.

Comfort & Joy: Dec. 18, 2020
This festive holiday program includes seasonal favorites alongside seldom-heard gems of the Baroque era, all with abundant vocal and instrumental display. Scarlatti’s celebrated cantata, written for a festive 1711 Christmas Eve entertainment in Rome, proclaims a universal message of hope and expectation. Vivaldi’s most inventive psalm setting, along with a tuneful Telemann concerto and some lively French noëls, complete this multi-national holiday gift for the Ars Lyrica family. Watch here.

Signature Works: Mar. 14, 2021
Certain iconic works define the reputations of their creators; others provide rare glimpses into the art of minor masters who might otherwise be forgotten. This program spotlights one of classical music’s all-time favorites plus a gloriously operatic setting of the Stabat Mater, an ancient hymn to the Virgin Mary, which made audiences weep at its first performance in 1736. Bridging the gap between sorrow and bliss, Signature Works conjures a world of enlightened expression, with something for everyone. Watch here.

Idyll & Intrigue: May 21, 2021
Our penultimate program of the season features a delightful cantata a due by the youthful George Frideric Handel. A 1708 commission from the Arcadian Academy, Aminta e Fillide tells the story of two lovers who need a little help from Cupid. Handel fleshes out this endearing pastoral courtship for two voices and strings with great panache and charm. Its arias proved so popular that he reused some of them the very next year in Agrippina. Watch here.

Cantio Polonica: May 23, 2021
An exemplary selection of Polish Baroque music illustrates this culture’s significant and little-known contribution to European musical practice during the “golden age” of the 17th and 18th centuries. Curated by lutenist and scholar Arash Noori, this program on the musical heritage of Poland also features Ars Lyrica Artistic Director and harpsichordist Matthew Dirst, violinists Stephanie Raby and Alan Austin, and da gamba player Eric Smith. Watch here.

A Bach Keyboard Extravaganza: Jun. 25, 2021
Featuring solo harpsichord and organ music interspersed with lively spoken commentary on the instruments and music, this program is an immersive one-hour virtual concert film, performed by the acclaimed American harpsichordist and organist Matthew Dirst. The concert has a focus on works of J.S. Bach alongside music by key contemporaries. Watch here.

2019-20: National Treasures

Dancing at the Palais
Our season opener features a full Baroque orchestra of strings and winds plus the New York Baroque Dance Company, in a program of instrumental suites from two vibrantly colorful French Baroque operas, both first seen at the Palais-Royal in Paris. Period choreography, paired with period instruments, recreate a refined artform that was de rigueur throughout Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. Watch an excerpt here.

Handel in Love
Amorous duets, arias, and instrumental works mix freely on this tribute to the Baroque era’s finest musical dramatist. A truly cosmopolitan figure, George Frederic Handel combined a sturdy German musical heritage with sophisticated Italian training, in works that remain emblematic of his adopted English home. Watch here.

Venetian Carnival
On New Year’s Eve 2019, Ars Lyrica celebrates the legacy of Antonio Vivaldi and his Venetian predecessors with a program of virtuosic concertos for flute and equally flamboyant works for one, two, and three solo violins, featuring Elizabeth Blumenstock and Alana Youssefian. Watch here.

Goya’s World
The turbulent environment of Spanish artist Francisco Goya takes center stage in a multi-media program featuring lively instrumental and vocal works by Francisco Courcelle, Fernando Sor, Vicente Garviso, plus one of Luigi Boccherini’s beloved guitar quintets, all accompanied by projections of Goya’s artwork. “Goya’s World: Reflexión y Revolución” is curated and guest directed by Ars Lyrica guitarist and lutenist Richard Savino. Watch here.

Bach Goes Greek
Our 2019/20 season finale was scheduled to be an evening of Bach cantatas with characters drawn from Greek mythology. The in-person performance was cancelled due to the pandemic. However, we pledged to pay our artists 50% of their fees for the performance and established the Artist Support Fund to reach that goal. Many of the artists involved came together virtually for a reimagined performance. Watch here.

2018-2019: Out of the Box

From Brandenburg to Esterházy
Ars Lyrica’s 2018/19 season finale travels from Brandenburg to Esterházy, with Bach’s two remaining concertos and a concerto by Franz Joseph Haydn. The second “Brandenburg” concerto offers the set’s oddest combination of soloists—recorder, oboe, violin, and trumpet—while the fourth is a stealth concerto, ostensibly for violin and two recorders, though the violinist leaves everyone in the dust. Baroque violinist Ingrid Matthews joins harpsichordist and artistic director Matthew Dirst at center stage, along with Paul Leenhouts (recorder), Kathryn Montoya (Baroque oboe), and Nathaniel Mayfield (natural trumpet).

San Giovanni Battista
This 1675 oratorio tells the story of the death of John the Baptist with great flair and vivid drama. The prodigiously gifted Italian composer Alessandro Stradella took no prisoners in life or in art: his vocal lines, by turns acrobatic and deeply expressive, resemble his brief but spectacular career. Our cast for this performance, the Houston premiere of San Giovanni Battista, includes counter-tenor Jay Carter in the title role, soprano Sherezade Panthaki as Herodiade, tenor Joseph Gaines as Consigliero, and bass-baritone Sam Handley as Herod.

Scherzi musicali
These game-changing publications from 1607 and 1632 gave life to one of the most famous debates in music history: Monteverdi’s experimental style of vocal writing favored the words, whose careful expression justified the occasional compositional impropriety. Love in all its delicious colors is on the menu, as served up by soprano Dominique McCormick, mezzo-soprano Cecilia Duarte and baritone Brian Shircliffe.

Baroque Razzle-Dazzle
Our New Year’s Eve spotlight shines on violinist Adam LaMotte and Ars Lyrica core instrumentalists, as we ring in 2019 with three dazzling concertos. The first and third “Brandenburg” concertos are brilliant ensemble works for strings and winds. Baroque Razzle-Dazzle pairs these works with an equally extravagant violin concerto by Bach’s close contemporary Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello, who served the Württemberg court in Stuttgart.

Handel’s Agrippina
An instant sensation at its premiere in Venice in 1709, Agrippina established the young Handel’s reputation as a theatrical genius. Its tuneful score, abundant humor, and classic Roman intrigue make for a delightful evening at the opera. The cast for Ars Lyrica’s production of this early masterpiece includes: Sofia Selowsky, Agrippina, John Holiday, Nero, Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, Ottone, Camille Ortiz, Poppea, Timothy Jones, Claudio, Tara Faircloth, stage director, Matthew Dirst, conductor.

Re-Gifting with Royalty
Leading composers of the Baroque era often repurposed their own works, especially when a royal patron needed a special gift. Bach and Couperin were expert re-gifters: Bach’s “Six Concertos for Diverse Instruments” (as he titled them) were assembled, not composed afresh, for the Margrave of Brandenburg, while Couperin collected his chamber music at regular intervals for the royal seal of approval from Louis XIV. The fifth and sixth “Brandenburg” concertos turned the genre on its head, with an unprecedented harpsichord cadenza (in No. 5) and a violin-free texture of lower strings only (in No. 6).

2017-2018: Artful Women

A Day with Marie Antoinette
This special evening with France’s most famous queen includes a violin concerto by her music teacher Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, operatic excerpts from C. W. Gluck’s Orphée, and Haydn’s “Paris” Symphony No. 85, subtitled “The Queen.”

Long Live the Queen
In a program featuring the award-winning Moores School Concert Chorale, Ars Lyrica celebrates the musical legacy of two important royal patrons from the Baroque era with J. S. Bach’s rarely heard Trauerode, written for the funeral of Christiane Eberhardine of Saxony, and Handel’s Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne.

Esther & Jonah
Ars Lyrica’s 2018 Houston Early Music Festival program, offered in collaboration with Bach Society Houston, pairs two concise music dramas from opposite ends of the 18th century: Handel’s Esther (1718) and Samuel Felsted’s Jonah (1775). With gorgeous arias and stirring choruses in abundance, the former celebrates an Old Testament heroine’s victory over the forces of evil while the latter is the first American oratorio.

New Year's in Berlin
To ring in the new year, Ars Lyrica recreates a salon chez Sara Itzig Levy in Berlin, whose home was a meeting place for literary and musical giants, including Bach’s eldest sons and the young Felix Mendelssohn, Levy’s grandnephew. This program features a C. P. E. Bach double concerto for fortepiano and harpsichord, a work closely connected with our legendary hostess: at its 1788 première, Mme. Levy herself played one of the solo parts! The evening also includes an elegant pre-concert dinner and post-concert gala.

Italian Sirens
The decades around 1600 saw a remarkable flowering of female musical talent, virtuoso singers especially. Italian Sirens is devoted to these unique voices, as realized in the work of three remarkable early 17th-century composers: Isabella Leonarda, Francesca Caccini, and Barbara Strozzi.

Sweet Philomela
Featuring exotic musical works inspired by Philomela, mythical princess of Athens including arias from Handel’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato and Johann Adolph Hasse’s lyric cantata L’Armonica, with glass harmonica. The ensemble of strings and winds soars as well, with one of C. P. E. Bach’s vibrant symphonies for twelve obbligato instruments.

2016-2017: Fables and Follies

Don Quixote's Excellent Adventures                                                                                                      One of history’s greatest literary figures, Don Quixote has inspired many musical works over the years, from Renaissance songs to a Broadway musical. Ars Lyrica’s 2016/17 season finale features core string players and singers in a pan-European survey of Baroque music devoted to this Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha.  

Classical Spectres
In chamber works from this era, musical depictions of the supernatural took on a life of their own outside the opera house. Shorn of traditional theatrical trappings, the purely aural spectres of J. C. F. Bach and Beethoven make powerful impressions, indeed. Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, Pygmalion, Jean-Marie LeClair, Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 7/1, Ludwig van, Beethoven, "Ghost" Trio in D Major, Op. 70/1, Ludwig van Beethoven, An die ferne geliebte

Les Plaisirs de Versailles
Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s witty chamber opera Les Plaisirs de Versailles—an ode to both wine and chocolate—plus chamber works by François Couperin and Joseph Bodin de Boismortier.

Handel’s Jephtha
Handel’s final masterpiece, on a searing Old Testament tale about a foolish promise and its consequences—featuring a stellar cast of soloists and the award-winning Moores School of Music Concert Choral from the University of Houston.

Bachanalia: Cantatas for the New Year
A festive program rings in the New Year with cantatas J. S. Bach wrote specifically for this holiday plus other celebratory works. 

Scalable Heights
Beloved works from late Baroque masters who catered to the emerging cult of the virtuoso, including J.S. Bach’s “Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen.”

2015-2016: Seasonal Rituals

Autumn Hunt
Featuring mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton in Haydn’s Arianna a Naxos and violinist Adam LaMotte in Vivaldi’s Autumn from The Four Seasons.

Homage to the Sun King
This program features Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s sparkling chamber opera Les arts florissants plus royal motets and chamber works by Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau.

Fire and Ice
New Year’s Eve 2015 brings a star-studded evening with music that is by turns hot and cold. Vivaldi’s Winter sets the stage for Handel’s Apollo e Dafne, which tells the story of too-ardent love and a unique transformation. 

All in a Garden Green
Spring from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons plus spirited songs of the season from various cultures. PART OF THE 2016 HOUSTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL

An Easter Messiah
The Orpheus Chamber Singers return to collaborate on Handel’s Messiah with conductor John Butt, 2014 Gramophone Award Winner, and stellar soloists.

Summer Zephyr
Featuring Vivaldi’s Summer, Bach’s Harpsichord Concerto In D Minor, W. A. Mozart’s Exsultate, Jubilate, with countertenor John Holiday, baroque oboe and recorder player Kathryn Montoya, and harpsichordist Matthew Dirst. 

2014-2015: The Power of Music

Flying High
French and Italian Baroque chamber works animate this program, featuring French-Italian Soprano Céline Ricci and viola da gambist Mary Springfels in G. F. Handel’s evocative Tra le fiamme.

Bach & Sons: At the Café 
This program includes a rarely performed ode by Carl Phillipp Emanuel Bach, his younger brother Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach’s cantata Die Amerikanerin, plus patriarch Johann Sebastian Bach’s beloved “Coffee Cantata” in a new staging by Lynda McKnight. 

¡Felices Fiestas! 
On New Year’s Eve, Ars Lyrica offers a festive evening of celebration and beautiful music featuring soprano Melissa Givens and mezzo-soprano Cecilia Duarte.

Love Letters
A swoon advisory is thus in effect for this performance featuring duets from Claudio Monteverdi and cantatas by Vivaldi and Scarlatti.

Bach & Sons: At Court
Ars Lyrica’s season-long tribute to the Bach family continues with an evening of concertos by Johann Sebastian, Carl Philipp Emanuel, and Johann Christian Bach.

Alexander's Feast
Our 2014/15 season finale provides abundant vocal and instrumental fireworks, with Alexander’s Feast—Or, The Power of Music by G.F. Handel, produced in collaboration with the Bach Society Houston. 

2013–2014: Discoveries

Menus Plaisirs
Rarely heard works including Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Magnificat a 3 and Petite Pastorale plus pieces by Lully, C. P. E. Bach, and Handel. With Aaron Sheehan, John Buffett, and Eduardo Tercero.

Venetian Carnival
Celebrating Venice and its carnival tradition with exotic music from the City of Masks. With Melissa Givens and Blair Doerge, Sean Wang, Colin St Martin, and Richard Savino.

La Sposa dei Cantici
The modern world première of a 1703 oratorio by Alessandro Scarlatti featuring Canadian soprano Meghan Lindsay and three of the world’s leading countertenors: John Holiday, Jay Carter, and Ryland Angel.

Susanna
The Texas première of Handel's oratorio.  With Meg Bragle, Cecilia Duarte, Abigail Levis, Zachary Averyt, Brian Shircliffe, Timothy Jones, and the University of Houston Moores School of Music Concert Chorale.

A Baroque Wedding Feast
Springtime Baroque favorites, featuring soprano Meghan Lindsay. 

2012–2013: Anticipations

It Takes Two 
Bach’s 4th “Brandenburg” Concerto, Haydn’s Concerto in F Major for violin and harpsichord, and other works for two or more soloists. With Marc Destrubé, Paul Leenhouts, Kathryn Montoya, and Matthew Dirst.

Magnificat 
Bach’s Magnificat plus ceremonial works by Gabrieli and Handel. In collaboration with the Orpheus Chamber Singers.

A Vienneses New Year 
Festive music by the legendary composers of the Viennese royal court: Mozart, Gluck, Schmeltzer, Fux, and Strauss. With Lauren Snouffer and John Holiday.

Acis and Galatea 
Handel’s pastoral masterpiece directed by Tara Faircloth. With Blair Doerge, Ryland Angel, Derek Chester, Michael Kelly, and Timothy Jones.

Divine Recreation 
Musical settings of texts from the Song of Solomon by Monteverdi, Buxtehude, and Part I of Handel’s oratorio Solomon. With Melissa Givens, Ellie Jarrett Shattles, and Tony Boutté.

2011–2012: Transformations

Paradise Found 
A journey from worldly torment to heavenly ecstasy with music of Scarlatti, Couperin, Rameau, and Handel.

Musical Alchemy 
J.S. Bach’s “Brandenburg” Concerto No. 5 with prize-winning soloists, and music of Frederick the Great’s personal composer, J.G. Janitsch.

Bach and Time 
A seasonal all-Bach program on the subject of time in its multiple dimensions.

La Resurrezione 
A telling of the Resurrection story by G.F. Handel, with vocal fireworks, beautiful melodies, and a stellar cast.

Heaven and Hell
In collaboration with the New York Baroque Dance Company, some of Monteverdi’s most imaginative scores are brought to Houston in a staged program.

2010–2011: Teatro Mundi

La Dirindina 
A Domenico Scarlatti intermezzo and string concerti arranged from his keyboard sonatas.

1610 Vespers 
On the 400th anniversary of Monteverdi’s grandest sacred work, in collaboration with the Orpheus Chamber Singers.

Musical Resolutions 
Handel'sApollo e Dafne plus instrumental works by Bach and Telemann.

St John Passion 
Bach’s sacred drama, with the Moores School Concert Chorale.

Forbidden Pleasures 
Music for the castrati from Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti.

2009–2010: A Musical Grand Tour

A Musical Offering 
Works by Bach and Telemann evoking far-flung locales.

Hail! Bright Cecilia 
Purcell’s ode to the patron saint of music, in collaboration with the Houston Chamber Choir.

A Neapolitan New Year 
The American première of J. A. Hasse’s serenata Marc Antonio e Cleopatra.

Springtime in Paris 
French Baroque chamber works for voices and instruments.

Les Plaisirs de Versailles
Chamber opera by Marc-Antoine Charpentier at Rienzi.

Roman Holiday 
Handel’s Clori, Tirsi e Fileno.

2008–2009

Legendary Lovers 
Cantatas and operatic scenes by Clérambault, Handel, Hasse, and Gluck

Rockin’ Rococo 
CPE Bach, Cello Concerto No. 2 and “Der Frühling” Chamber works of J-Ph. Rameau

Bachanalia 2008–2009 
J. S. Bach wedding cantatas, oboe concerto

Women on the Verge 
Music for three sopranos by Rossi, Carissimi, and Haydn

Il Trionfo del Tempo
G. F. Handel

Messiah 
G. F. Handel. In collaboration with Moores School of Music Concert Chorale

A Musical Pleasure Garden
Songs and sonatas of Handel, Arne, Shield, and their contemporaries. Outdoor performance at Bayou Bend

2007-2008

Mad Women 
Baroque mad scenes by Purcell, Handel, and Clerambault

Wired Bach 
Instrumental music by the Bach family

Love and War 
Madrigals by Claudio Monteverdi

Clandestine Classics 
Handel’ Gloria and Bach’ Ich habe genug

A Marian Feast 
Religious music by A. Scarlatti

When in Rome 
Carissimi, Mazzocchi, and Gallerano

Duelling Divas 
Handel and Bach

2006–2007

Stravaganze! 
Scarlatti, Handel, and Vivaldi

Celestial Sirens 
Music for the Concerte delle donne

Biber, Bach, and Bubbly
Brandenburg V, Orchestral Suite II, “Non sa che sia dolore”

Flavio 
G. F. Handel

Portraits d’amour 
French Baroque portraits

La Resurrezione 
G. F. Handel

2005–2006

Suonare e cantare 
Music of the Scarlattis

Clori, Tirsi e Fileno 
G. F. Handel

La descente d’Orphée aux enfers 
M. A. Charpentier

Goldberg Variations 
J. S. Bach

..Mozart @ 250 
Sonatas and Trios

Lettere d'amore 
Monteverdi and his contemporaries

The Art of Buxtehude 
Vocal and instrumental chamber music

2004–2005

Actéon 
M. A. Charpentier

Piano Trios and Songs 
J. Haydn

Stabat Mater 
D. Scarlatti

La Concettione della Beata Vergine 
A Scarlatti

St John Passion 
J. S. Bach

Hagar and Ishmael 
A. Scarlatti

2003–2004

Il primo omicidio 
A. Scarlatti

Vespers of 1610 
C. Monteverdi

La Giuditta 
A. Scarlatti