Handel’s Aci, Galatea e Polifemo

Presented by Ars Lyrica Houston
A Hobby Center Arts Partner Performance

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. Aci, Galatea e Polifemo (Naples, 1708) is Handel’s first setting of this tale; a decade later he created the better-known Acis and Galatea. Ars Lyrica is delighted to present the Houston premiere of the former serenata, whose fiery score provides abundant opportunities for vocal display.

       cast

Lauren Snouffer, Aci
Cecelia McKinley, Galatea
Douglas Williams, Polifemo

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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