Franz Joseph Haydn is widely known as the “father of the string quartet,” but some works originally attributed to Haydn were in fact written by someone else. La Speranza performs one such work, a string quartet by Benedictine monk and devoted Haydn admirer, Roman Hoffstetter. Audiences can compare and contrast Hoffstetter’s work with one of Haydn’s own, a charming quartet in G major nicknamed “How do you do?” Spanish composer Juan Cristosomo de Arriaga’s amiable Variations for String Quartet belies traditional string quartet form and complements Haydn and Hoffstetter’s familiar voices.

HANDEL Eternal Source of Light Divine

BACH Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C Major

VIVALDI Gloria

HANDEL Dixit Dominus

Mary Wilson, soprano • Morgan Balfour, soprano

Ágnes Vojtkó, contralto • Kyle Tingzon, countertenor

Jon Lee Keenan, tenor • Jesse Blumberg, baritone

American Bach Soloists & Cantorei

Jeffrey Thomas, conductor

HANDEL Eternal Source of Light Divine

BACH Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C Major

VIVALDI Gloria

HANDEL Dixit Dominus

Mary Wilson, soprano • Morgan Balfour, soprano

Ágnes Vojtkó, contralto • Kyle Tingzon, countertenor

Jon Lee Keenan, tenor • Jesse Blumberg, baritone

American Bach Soloists & Cantorei

Jeffrey Thomas, conductor

HANDEL Eternal Source of Light Divine

BACH Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C Major

VIVALDI Gloria

HANDEL Dixit Dominus

Mary Wilson, soprano • Morgan Balfour, soprano

Ágnes Vojtkó, contralto • Kyle Tingzon, countertenor

Jon Lee Keenan, tenor • Jesse Blumberg, baritone

American Bach Soloists & Cantorei

Jeffrey Thomas, conductor

HANDEL Eternal Source of Light Divine

BACH Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C Major

VIVALDI Gloria

HANDEL Dixit Dominus

Mary Wilson, soprano • Morgan Balfour, soprano

Ágnes Vojtkó, contralto • Kyle Tingzon, countertenor

Jon Lee Keenan, tenor • Jesse Blumberg, baritone

American Bach Soloists & Cantorei

Jeffrey Thomas, conductor

Most composers wouldn’t dare write a work for a horn, a violin, one cello, and TWO violas; fortunately for us, Mozart is not “most composers!” Natural hornist Elisabeth Axtell joins La Speranza for Mozart’s Quintet for Horn and Strings in E flat major, juxtaposed thematically with Mozart’s “Hunt” quartet. A string quartet written by Antonio Rosetti, Mozart contemporary and double bassist, rounds out the program.

A favorite German chorale, as treated by composers from the 17th through the 20th centuries, provides this program’s through-thread. Philipp Nicolai’s 1599 hymn Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (“Zion Hears the Watchmen Singing”), which traditionally hails the arrival of the Advent season, takes as its basis the Parable of the Ten Virgins, which reminds believers to prepare for the Lord’s arrival or suffer the consequences. Around multiple iterations of Wachet auf—including pieces for diverse forces by Franz Tunder, Dietrich Buxtehude, J. S.  Bach, and Hugo Distler—this program includes other seasonal music for voices and instruments by the German Baroque masters Heinrich Schütz and Nicolaus Bruhns.

Featured artists:
Erica Schuller, soprano
Michael Skarke, alto
Thomas O’Neill, tenor
Tzvi Bat Asherah, bass
Matthew Dirst, organ

Liv Redpath, soprano • Ágnes Vojtkó, contralto

Brian Giebler, tenor • Christian Pursell, bass-baritone

American Bach Soloists • American Bach Choir

Jeffrey Thomas, conductor

Liv Redpath, soprano • Ágnes Vojtkó, contralto

Brian Giebler, tenor • Christian Pursell, bass-baritone

American Bach Soloists • American Bach Choir

Jeffrey Thomas, conductor

Baroque Opera Arias, Duets, and Overtures from:

HANDEL Ariodante, Giulio Cesare, Tamerlano, & Hercules

RAMEAU Pygmalion
GLUCK Orphée et Eurydice
VIVALDI Ercole sul Termodonte & Griselda
and more

Sarah Coit, mezzo-soprano • Matthew Hill, tenor

American Bach Soloists • Jeffrey Thomas, conductor

Join us on a journey through Rome’s Golden Age of music, where we celebrate the incredible musical heritage of the Eternal City through the works of Arcangelo Corelli and his contemporaries, whose work from the heart of Italy left an indelible mark on the rest of of the Baroque world. 

Join us on a journey through Rome’s Golden Age of music, where we celebrate the incredible musical heritage of the Eternal City through the works of Arcangelo Corelli and his contemporaries, whose work from the heart of Italy left an indelible mark on the rest of of the Baroque world. 

In “A Time and Place,” La Speranza challenges the presupposition that modern-day Austria and Germany were the only game in town when it came to chamber music composition and publication in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. By pairing works written and published elsewhere – the whimsical String Quartet in A major by George Onslow, a wealthy contemporary of Beethoven who published in Paris, France, with John Frederick Peter’s jovial String Quintet in D major, written in 1789 in Salem, North Carolina – we shine a light into forgotten corners of musical composition, honoring the history of music in the United States for its semiquincentennial in the process. Haydn’s sparkling String Quartet in A major, Op. 20, No. 6, completes the program. 

PERGOLESI Stabat Mater

LOCATELLI Violin Concerto in D Major "The Harmonic Labyrinth"

BACH Non sa che sia dolore, Cantata 209

SCARLATTI Salve Regina

Maya Kherani, soprano • Sarah Coit , mezzo-soprano

YuEun Gemma Kim, violin • Bethanne Walker, flute

American Bach Soloists • Jeffrey Thomas, conductor

PERGOLESI Stabat Mater

LOCATELLI Violin Concerto in D Major "The Harmonic Labyrinth"

BACH Non sa che sia dolore, Cantata 209

SCARLATTI Salve Regina

Maya Kherani, soprano • Sarah Coit , mezzo-soprano

YuEun Gemma Kim, violin • Bethanne Walker, flute

American Bach Soloists • Jeffrey Thomas, conductor

PERGOLESI Stabat Mater

LOCATELLI Violin Concerto in D Major "The Harmonic Labyrinth"

BACH Non sa che sia dolore, Cantata 209

SCARLATTI Salve Regina

Maya Kherani, soprano • Sarah Coit , mezzo-soprano

YuEun Gemma Kim, violin • Bethanne Walker, flute

American Bach Soloists • Jeffrey Thomas, conductor

PERGOLESI Stabat Mater

LOCATELLI Violin Concerto in D Major "The Harmonic Labyrinth"

BACH Non sa che sia dolore, Cantata 209

SCARLATTI Salve Regina

Maya Kherani, soprano • Sarah Coit , mezzo-soprano

YuEun Gemma Kim, violin • Bethanne Walker, flute

American Bach Soloists • Jeffrey Thomas, conductor

Music by York Bowen and Julius Röntgen, with Dr. Yvonne Chen, piano, and Marcel Wormsley, poet. Details TBA!

The lovers Acis and Galatea, another famous couple from Ovid, must contend with a meddling monster: a cyclops named Polyphemus, whose lust leads to Acis’s death and his metamorphosis as a river. Aci, Galatea e Polifemo (Naples, 1708) is Handel’s first setting of this tale; a decade later he created the better-known Acis and Galatea. Ars Lyrica is delighted to present the Houston premiere of the former serenata, whose fiery score provides abundant opportunities for vocal display.

In their season finale, La Speranza revisits the first string quartets – Nos. 1 – of Beethoven and Mendelssohn. First, that is, according to their catalog numbers. As is often the case, the chronology of works can be more complicated than the numbers attached to them. In truth, these quartets were written subsequent to each composer completing his actual first string quartet. Mendelssohn's first quartets followed on the heels of Beethoven’s last, demonstrating that one need not be revolutionary to produce works of exquisite beauty and depth.

Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903

Sonata No. 6 in G Major for Harpsichord and Violin, BWV 1019

Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major BWV 1050

Concerto in A Minor for Flute, Violin, Harpsichord, and Strings, BWV 1044

Concerto in C Major for 2 Harpsichords, BWV 1061

Gabriel Benton & Corey Jamason, harpsichord

Tatiana Chulochnikova, Toma Iliev, & YuEun Gemma Kim, violin

Bethanne Walker, flute

American Bach Soloists • Jeffrey Thomas, conductor

Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903

Sonata No. 6 in G Major for Harpsichord and Violin, BWV 1019

Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major BWV 1050

Concerto in A Minor for Flute, Violin, Harpsichord, and Strings, BWV 1044

Concerto in C Major for 2 Harpsichords, BWV 1061

Gabriel Benton & Corey Jamason, harpsichord

Tatiana Chulochnikova, Toma Iliev, & YuEun Gemma Kim, violin

Bethanne Walker, flute

American Bach Soloists • Jeffrey Thomas, conductor

Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903

Sonata No. 6 in G Major for Harpsichord and Violin, BWV 1019

Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major BWV 1050

Concerto in A Minor for Flute, Violin, Harpsichord, and Strings, BWV 1044

Concerto in C Major for 2 Harpsichords, BWV 1061

Gabriel Benton & Corey Jamason, harpsichord

Tatiana Chulochnikova, Toma Iliev, & YuEun Gemma Kim, violin

Bethanne Walker, flute

American Bach Soloists • Jeffrey Thomas, conductor

Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903

Sonata No. 6 in G Major for Harpsichord and Violin, BWV 1019

Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major BWV 1050

Concerto in A Minor for Flute, Violin, Harpsichord, and Strings, BWV 1044

Concerto in C Major for 2 Harpsichords, BWV 1061

Gabriel Benton & Corey Jamason, harpsichord

Tatiana Chulochnikova, Toma Iliev, & YuEun Gemma Kim, violin

Bethanne Walker, flute

American Bach Soloists • Jeffrey Thomas, conductor

There is perhaps no better operatic subject matter than Orpheus, whose exceptional singing melts the hearts of the living and the dead. Claudio Monteverdi’s Orfeo stands at the head of a long list, and not just because of its early date. Together with librettist Alessandro Striggio, Monteverdi created in 1607 the first great opera. Its vivid recitative, toe-tapping arias, lavish accompaniments, and potent dramatic arc breathe life into his era’s revolutionary ideas about musical expression. Ars Lyrica’s new production, a collaboration with the New York Baroque Dance Company, is directed and choreographed by its Artistic Director Catherine Turocy and conducted by ALH Artistic Director Matthew Dirst.

Cast:
Karim Sulayman°, Orfeo
Amia Langer, La Musica/Euridice
Hannah De Priest, Proserpina/Ninfa
Cecilia Duarte, Messaggera/Speranza
Enrico Lagasca, Caronte
Tzvi Bat Ahserah, Plutone

° Ars Lyrica debut

Production Team:
Catherine Turocy, stage director & choreographer
Matthew Dirst, music director
Julius Sanchez, stage manager

There is perhaps no better operatic subject matter than Orpheus, whose exceptional singing melts the hearts of the living and the dead. Claudio Monteverdi’s Orfeo stands at the head of a long list, and not just because of its early date. Together with librettist Alessandro Striggio, Monteverdi created in 1607 the first great opera. Its vivid recitative, toe-tapping arias, lavish accompaniments, and potent dramatic arc breathe life into his era’s revolutionary ideas about musical expression. Ars Lyrica’s new production, a collaboration with the New York Baroque Dance Company, is directed and choreographed by its Artistic Director Catherine Turocy and conducted by ALH Artistic Director Matthew Dirst.

Cast:
Karim Sulayman°, Orfeo
Amia Langer, La Musica/Euridice
Hannah De Priest, Proserpina/Ninfa
Cecilia Duarte, Messaggera/Speranza
Enrico Lagasca, Caronte
Tzvi Bat Ahserah, Plutone

° Ars Lyrica debut

Production Team:
Catherine Turocy, stage director & choreographer
Matthew Dirst, music director
Julius Sanchez, stage manager