IDYLL & INTRIGUE Concert to be Presented by Ars Lyrica Houston
Sopranos Abigail Fischer, who makes her debut with the ensemble, and Lauren Snouffer headline the concert.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz
Ars Lyrica Houston will offer the penultimate concert of its first virtual season with Idyll & Intrigue. Featuring Handel's pastoral cantata Aminta e Fillide, the concert will air on Friday, May 21, 2021 at 7:30 p.m. The early work by the composer of The Messiah tells the story of two lovers who need a little help from Cupid. Sopranos Abigail Fischer, who makes her debut with the ensemble, and Lauren Snouffer headline the concert. This concert will be broadcast online only.
Pastoral opera was more than another musical diversion. This fusion of the exciting Italian-born genre and the attempt to forge a distinctly English style in the arts provided the ideal inspiration for Handel. The composer, who was only 22 when Aminta e Fillide debuted, wrote some of his finest music which he would later reuse in operas like Agrippina (1709) and Rinaldo (1711). Typical of his style, the arias feature high voices in both the shepherd and nymph roles.Matthew Dirst, Artstic Director of Ars Lyrica, cast two flourishing sopranos for the performance. Abigal Fischer will join Dirst on stage for the first time along with Lauren Snouffer, a soprano well known to Houston audiences from her Houston Grand Opera performances. Both singers bring astonishing versatility to their work, performing diverse music from Baroque through contemporary composers.
- Listen to Lauren Snouffer perform on a September 2018 Ars Lyrica performance of works by Francois Couperin from Regifting with Royalty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWjkjQe-7mo&t=1s
Lauren Snouffer will also be a featured performer at Ars Lyrica Opera Circle Soirée on Friday, May 14, 2021, at the beautiful Dukessa in the Houston Galleria area. This safely-distanced event, benefiting Ars Lyrica Houston and its Baroque opera productions will raise vital support for next season's operas: Henry Purcell's Baroque masterpiece Dido and Aeneas, and Jonathan Dove's contemporary chamber opera with period instruments, The Other Eurydice.
Tickets for the concert broadcast are available as part of Ars Lyrica's Concert Broadcast and All Accesssubscription packages, and also as a single event. Single ticket access is available at $10 and may be reserved at https://www.arslyricahouston.org/subscriptionsandtickets or by calling (713) 622-7443.
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