Ars Lyrica Houston Continues Season with SIGNATURE WORKS

Ars Lyrica Houston, the Grammy-nominated early music ensemble, continues its season with Signature Works on Sunday, March 14, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.

The concert is comprised of two iconic peices: Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's intimate and operatic Stabat Mater paired with W. A. Mozart's famous Eine kleine Nachtmusik. Soprano Sherezade Panthaki and countertenor Jay Carter headline the concert. This concert will be broadcast online, and will also welcome a modest, in-person audience.

Artistic Director Matthew Dirst created this program as a component of the originally proposed Turning Pointsseason. Dirst notes that the program reflects the paradoxes of the current era. "Bridging the gap between sorrow and bliss, Signature Works conjures a world of enlightened expression, with something for everyone." Pergolesi's Marian anthem, one of the most popular of settings composed on the Latin text between the 13th and 18th centuries, occupies a pivotal role in Classical music.

Reflecting the shift between opulent and emotive Baroque music and the more balanced and subjective Classical period, his sacred Stabat Mater also lays the foundation for opera. Ars Lyrica has a history of mounting reconstructions in this very genre, as the pinnacle of full immersion into the world of culture from the 17th and 18th centuries. Panthaki and Carter have previously worked with Ars Lyrica, and also regularly appear together.

Appearing alongside the introspective Pergolesi is the buoyant serenade for strings, Eine kleine Nacthmusik. Written 50 years after the Stabat Mater, this four-movement masterwork is also a defining work for its composer. The two works share the same instrumental scoring and offer a dramatic contrast from the same voicing. Both pieces feature Ars Lyrica's core orchestra members as well as guest concertmaster Adam LaMotte.

Tickets for the concert broadcast are available as part of Ars Lyrica's Concert Broadcast and All Access subscription packages, and also as a single event. Single ticket access is available at $10 and may be reserved at https://www.arslyricahouston.org/signatureworks or by calling (713) 622-7443.