Bach’s Divine Comedy

Presented by Ars Lyrica Houston
A Hobby Center Arts Partner Performance

Ars Lyrica’s 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.

featuring

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

Grammy-nominated ensemble Ars Lyrica Houston specializes in music from the Baroque era, transporting listeners back in time to the “golden age” of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Through performances on period instruments with careful attention to historical style and context, Ars Lyrica brings imaginative, world-class performances of early music to Houston.

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