Ars Lyrica Announces Turning Points Season

Ars Lyrica Houston has announced its 17th season, which celebrates a return to the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, live audiences, and to a milestone set of performances. The season introduces a long-awaited chamber series at Rienzi, the MFAH house museum for European decorative arts, alongside its popular mainstage subscription series at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. Highlights of the 2021/22 season, aptly entitled Turning Points, include the organizational firsts of two operas in a single season and contemporary work for solo voice and historic instruments.

Matthew Dirst, Artistic Director of Ars Lyrica, is "...thrilled at the possibility of being back in front of a live audience. Like all cultural organizations, we've really missed having our wonderful patrons there." Ars Lyrica's season opener, Bach, Handel, and Hercules, starring acclaimed countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen will also serve as the inaugural performance for the Hobby Center Zilkha Hall since its closing in the spring of 2020.

Uncommon repertoire choices are a hallmark of every Ars Lyrica season, as are innovative dramatizations. Highlights this year include programs focusing on diverse cultures. Crossing Borders showcases Latin American composers and soloists with performances at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston on December 17 as well as on tour in New York City on the Music Before 1800 series. Additionally, An Uncommon Chevalier pairs Joseph de Bologne, the first known classical composer of African ancestry, alongside his contemporaries Haydn and Mozart. The May 2022 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. The November 2021 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 November 2021 program. Rounding out the season is the long-awaited chamber music series at Rienzi, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston where Matthew Dirst will pay homage to 300 years of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier in a series of local and internationally broadcast concerts.

Kinga Ferguson, Executive Director, went to great lengths to hire the artists originally contracted for the Turning Points season. "Our artists and audiences bring Ars Lyrica's vision to life. We wanted to honor the artistic vision and promise to our audiences, as well as our commitment to the talented artists who make Ars Lyrica 'The leader among Houston's early music ensembles.'"

For the best seats, subscribe now to Ars Lyrica Houston's 2021/2 season. Subscriptions 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 information on safety protocols, visit the Hobby Center at https://www.thehobbycenter.org/?q=node/2818.

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