Enjoy full-length Ars Lyrica performances from home!
Digital Replay Passes
Each Digital Replay Pass ($20) grants access to a high-quality recording of a past performance.
Hunter’s Prey
Concert Broadcast Premiere:
Friday, September 25, 2026 at 7:30PM
Zilkha Hall, The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts
Our 2026/27 Visions & Visionaries season began with musical depictions of the hunt, a favorite aristocratic pastime with potentially lethal consequences. Charpentier’s chamber opera Actéon tells the tale of a hunter whose brief vision of Diana proves fatal, while Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie relates the story of two lovers who, while fleeing a vengeful stepmother, enjoy a brief hunt in the forest. Both feature tenor Richard Pittsinger in his Ars Lyrica debut. Heinichen’s Concerto in F Major spotlights the horns and oboes, traditional instruments of the hunt.
Featured artists:
Richard Pittsinger, tenor
Alicia Gianni, soprano
Amia Langer, soprano
Andréa Walker, soprano
On the program:
Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Actéon
Johann David Heinichen, Concerto in F Major
Jean-Philippe Rameau, Hippolyte et Aricie (Act IV, Scenes 1-3)
Only one Digital Replay Pass per household is needed. With a Digital Single Event Pass, you can watch and re-watch whenever you want.
Monteverdi’s Orfeo
Opera Broadcast Premiere:
Saturday, May 30, 2026 at 7:30 PM CT
Zilkha Hall, The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts
Monteverdi’s Orfeo brings one of opera’s earliest masterpieces to life in a new Ars Lyrica Houston production created in collaboration with the New York Baroque Dance Company. First performed in 1607, Orfeo tells the mythic story of a musician whose extraordinary song moves gods, mortals, and the spirits of the underworld. This landmark production features Grammy Award-winning tenor Karim Sulayman in the title role, with direction and choreography by Catherine Turocy and musical direction by Ars Lyrica Artistic Director Matthew Dirst.
Only one Digital Replay Pass per household is needed. With a Digital Single Event Pass, you can watch and re-watch whenever you want.
Bach’s Divine Comedy
Concert Broadcast Premiere:
Friday, September 19, 2025 at 7:30PM
Zilkha Hall, The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts
Our 2025/26 Twists of Fate season begins with a dazzling singing contest from the pen of J. S. Bach: his dramma per musica “Phoebus & Pan,” who argue the virtues of artful and populist song styles, respectively. Thankfully, Bach’s secular cantata, as filtered through the Roman storyteller Ovid, comes to a happier conclusion than the original myth: in the ancient Greek tale, Apollo (god of music) flays Pan (god of nature) for his clumsy singing. A stellar cast of eight also offers an intricate double-chorus motet, and the orchestra a beloved suite.
Featured artists:
Hannah DePriest and Andréa Walker°, sopranos
Jay Carter and Michael Skarke, countertenors
Matthew Newhouse° and Thomas O’Neill, tenors
Tom Meglioranza and Timothy Jones, bass-baritones
°Ars Lyrica debut
Only one Digital Replay Pass per household is needed. With a Digital Single Event Pass, you can watch and re-watch whenever you want.
Handel’s Theodora
Concert Broadcast Premiere:
Saturday, March 29, 2025 at 6PM CT
Zilkha Hall, The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts
Handel’s final masterpiece tells the story of Theodora, an early Christian martyr, who is persecuted by a corrupt and wicked Roman president. Bacchanal and piety compete in this deeply moving oratorio, which features five soloists, chorus, and orchestra. Its central message, that faith triumphs over death, is common across religious traditions.
Featured artists:
Nola Richardson, soprano (Theodora)
Cecilia Duarte, mezzo-soprano (Irene)
Douglas Williams, bass-baritone (Valens)
Cody Bowers, countertenor (Didymus)°
Brian Giebler, tenor (Septimus)°
The Moores School Concert Chorale
°Ars Lyrica debut
Only one Digital Replay Pass per household is needed. With a Digital Single Event Pass, you can watch and re-watch whenever you want.
Opera Offerings
Orfeo (May 30, 2025)
Ars Lyrica Houston’s original production of Claudio Monteverdi’s masterpiece, and the first great opera, L’Orfeo. Featuring Karim Sulayman (Orfeo), Amia Langer (Euridice), Hannah De Priest (Proserpina), Tzvi Bat Asherah (Plutone), Cecilia Duarte (Messaggera), Enrico Lagasca (Caronte), and dancers from The New York Baroque Dance Company. Run time: 2 hours
Amadigi di Gaula (May 25, 2024)
The Houston premiere of Handel’s magic opera Amadigi di Gaula. A new, fully staged production with stage direction by Tara Faircloth and music direction by Matthew Dirst. Featuring Randall Scotting (Amadigi), Nola Richardson (Oriana), Raven McMillon (Melissa), and Nicholas Garza (Dardano). Run time: 1.5 hours
Concert Offerings
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. The predecessor of Handel’s better-known Acis and Galatea, this fiery serenata features soprano Lauren Snouffer as Aci, contralto Cecilia McKinley as Galatea, and bass-baritone Douglas Williams as Polifemo. Run time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Love Untamed explores deeply felt emotions with a Haydn solo cantata and a song cycle by Houston’s own David Ashley White. Haydn’s Arianna a Naxos treats the legend of Ariadne, whose abandonment by Theseus elicits a torrent of feelings, from despair to wrath. In contrast, White’s contemporary song cycle, set to poetry of Wendell Berry, finds balm for the troubled soul in the natural world. Featuring mezzo-soprano Erin Wagner in a triumphant Ars Lyrica debut. Run time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Theodora (March 29, 2025)
Handel’s final masterpiece tells the story of Theodora, an early Christian martyr, who is persecuted by a corrupt and wicked Roman president. Bacchanal and piety compete in this deeply moving oratorio, which features five soloists, chorus, and orchestra. Its central message, that faith triumphs over death, is common across religious traditions. Featuring soprano Nola Richardson in the title role. Run time: 2 hours 15 minutes
Madrigals of Love and War (November 8, 2024)
Claudio Monteverdi’s Madrigals of Love and War transformed a venerable genre—the Renaissance part song—into dramatic scenes that rival the flamboyant art of Caravaggio or Bernini. By updating an old musical form, Monteverdi created a repertoire that is both timeless and singular: few madrigals from any age hold a candle to these masterworks for multiple voices and instruments. Run time: 1 hour 15 minutes