Ars Lyrica's Season Opener Highlights The Paranormal In Baroque Music With FALLEN ANGELS

GRAMMY-nominated early music ensemble Ars Lyrica Houston kicks off their 20th anniversary season, 20 Years of Magic, with a dramatic season opener highlighting the paranormal in Baroque music: Fallen Angels on Friday, September 22nd at 7:30pm in Zilkha Hall, The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts (in-person and online). 

Featuring five extraordinary singers and a colorful orchestra, this concert showcases what Ars Lyrica does best – transport listeners to a different realm with incredible vocal artistry, world-class playing on historically accurate instruments, and stunning music that centers around deeply human ideas.

Artistic Director Matthew Dirst speaks to the theme of the concert, “Fallen Angels is all about the paranormal in music, or more precisely, when people find themselves in somewhat desperate circumstances.” 

He continues with specifics about the programmed pieces, “Our opening number, Carissimi's harrowing Judicium Salomonis, recounts the biblical story of the Judgement of Solomon, where two women are fighting over the same child. Purcell's In Guilty Night is a musical horror story adapted from the Book of Samuel that results only in gloom and doom. With our final piece on the program, Purcell's The Fairy Queen, we find ourselves transported to a Shakespearean world of fairies, demons, and other crazy people.”

Ars Lyrica welcomes back three beloved early music singers for the concert, including soprano Nola Richardson, praised for being “especially impressive” (The New York Times), countertenor Jay Carter, "such an exuberant performer you couldn't help but smile" (The Minneapolis Star-Tribune), and tenor Thomas O'Neill, who returns for a second year after making his debut with Ars Lyrica last year.

Two rising stars also make their debuts with Ars Lyrica in September: Filipino-American bass baritone Enrico Lagasca, who has already been featured on four GRAMMY-nominated recordings, and Polish soprano Eliza Masewicz, who will return to Houston after a summer spent performing across Europe. 

Six-concert and four-concert subscriptions ($148 - 420) are available for purchase at the Hobby Center website. Subscribers enjoy a wide range of benefits, including discounts on individual tickets, priority seating, invitations to exclusive post-concert receptions with the artists, and more. Digital subscriptions are also available for purchase at the Ars Lyrica website.

In-person tickets ($39 - 75) and student tickets ($15) will be available for purchase at the Hobby Center website on August 28. Digital tickets ($20 per household) are available for purchase at the Ars Lyrica website.

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. Imaginative programming features neglected gems alongside familiar masterworks, and extracts the dramatic potential, emotional resonance, and expressive power of music. 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 conferences because of its distinctive focus, and its pioneering efforts in the field of authentic performance have won international acclaim.

This 2023/24 season, Ars Lyrica Houston celebrates 20 Years of Magic with a season dedicated to musical wizardry of various kinds, from wondrous choral works by Carissimi and Charpentier to miraculous chamber pieces by Biber and Bach. The milestone 20th anniversary season closes with a new production of a “magic” opera, Handel's Amadigi di Gaula, in its Houston premiere.