FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Photographs by Amitava Sarkar unless otherwise noted Media Contact: Lauren Gilmore, Marketing Director Office: 713-622-7443 | Cell: 832-816-7864 | [email protected] ARS LYRICA PRESENTS TRIBUTE TO BACH DYNASTY Bach & Sons: At the Café – November 14 at 7:30 pm HOUSTON, TX (September 15, 2014) – The Grammy- nominated early music ensemble Ars Lyrica Houston presents Bach & Sons: At the Café on Friday, November 14, 2014 at Zilkha Hall, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. The first of a two-part tribute to the great Bach dynasty on Ars Lyrica’s 2014/15 season, this program includes a rarely performed ode and a concerto by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, younger brother Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach’s cantata Die Amerikanerin, plus patriarch Johann Sebastian Bach’s beloved “Coffee Cantata.” At the Café is the second program in Ars Lyrica’s 2014/15 season, The Power of Music, which explores the variety of expression and moods inspired by great music. “This is the biggest season yet for Ars Lyrica,” says Artistic Director Matthew Dirst, “and the individual programs present a wonderful opportunity for us to share some amazing music and talent with our Houston friends and patrons. I’m especially looking forward to the Bach & Sons programs,” notes Dirst, “since 2014 is the 300th anniversary of the birth of CPE Bach, long one of my favorite composers.” Bach & Sons: At the Café features several of Houston’s finest young singers, including soprano Lauren Snouffer, mezzo-soprano Sarah Mesko, tenor Zachary Averyt, and baritone Mark Diamond. Ars Lyrica presents a similar program of music by CPE and JCF Bach, along with a cantata for soprano and glass harmonica by J. A. Hasse, at Cornell University on October 3, 2014, as part of an international conference on the music of C.P.E. Bach. Bach & Sons: At the Café PROGRAM: C. P. E. Bach, Flute Concerto in G major J.C.F. Bach, Die Amerikanerin C.P.E. Bach, Klopstocks Morgengesang J.S. Bach, “Coffee” Cantata For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.arslyricahouston.org or call the Hobby Center box office at 713.315.2525 ### For high resolution images and individual artist bios, please contact Lauren Gilmore at 713-622-7445 or [email protected]. Photography by Amitava Sarkar. About Ars Lyrica Houston Founded in 1998 by harpsichordist and conductor Matthew Dirst, Ars Lyrica Houston is a Texas-based ensemble that performs world- class Baroque music on period instruments. Ars Lyrica’s world premiere recording of J.A. Hasse’s Marc Antonio e Cleopatra brought the ensemble its first Grammy nomination for “a thrilling performance that glows in its quieter moments and sparkles with vitality” (Early Music America). Ars Lyrica’s distinctive programming, drawn from the rich chamber and dramatic repertories of the 17th and 18th centuries, “sets the agenda for imaginative period instrument programming in Houston,” according to the Houston Chronicle. The ensemble’s first commercial release, on Naxos International, features the world première recordings of Alessandro Scarlatti’s La Concettione della Beata Vergine and Euridice dall’Inferno. This disc brought international recognition to the ensemble: Gramophone, the leading journal of the classical recording industry, praised this CD for its “exemplary skill and taste,” and Ars Lyrica’s musicians for their “impassioned performance” of never-before recorded works. Ars Lyrica’s latest Sono Luminus recording of Domenico Scarlatti’s comic intermezzo La Dirindina and his chamber cantata Pur nel sonno was released in August 2012. For more information visit www.arslyricahouston.org. About the Soloists Lauren Snouffer A graduate of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, soprano Lauren Snouffer has bowed at the Company as Elvira in L’italiana in Algeri, Ellie in Show Boat in a new production by Francesca Zambello under the baton of Music Director Patrick Summers, Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia conducted by Rory Macdonald and directed by Arin Arbus, Thibault in a new production of Don Carlos directed by John Caird and conducted by Patrick Summers, and as Rosina in student performances of Il barbiere di Siviglia. Her diverse array of roles spans from Phénice and La Gloire in Lully’s Armide and Clorinda in Monteverdi’s Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda to Florestine in Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles, Ruth Baldwin in Musto’s Later the Same Evening, and the Princess in Susa’s Transformations. Miss Snouffer spent the summer of 2012 covering the role of Agnes for the world premiere of George Benjamin’s Written On Skin at the Aix-en-Provence Festival and made her European operatic debut in the part at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, France. She has performed Written on Skin under the composer’s baton at the Tanglewood Music Festival and has been involved in presentations of the work given by the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the Wiener Festwochen. During the 2013-14 season, the soprano sang Pamina in The Magic Flute for a company debut at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City conducted by Gary Wedow and joined the roster of the Lyric Opera of Chicago in productions of Rusalka and La clemenza di Tito. Miss Snouffer made a New York Philharmonic debut in HK Gruber’s Gloria – A Pig Tale conducted by Alan Gilbert and directed by Doug Fitch and joined the International Beethoven Project in Chicago for Bach’s Johannes-Passion. She appeared with the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble for Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre, with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in a Viennese program, and a recording of Hasse’s Solimano with conductor Riccardo Minasi and Il Pomo d’Oro for the Decca label. Sarah Mesko Praised by The Washington Post for her “consistently beautiful sound,” American mezzo-soprano Sarah Mesko is rapidly gaining attention for her “rich mezzo soprano” voice and musicality In the 2013 – 2014 season, Sarah Mesko will return to Washington National Opera as the Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte and will also make her debut at Houston Grand Opera as Mrs. Segstrom in A Little Night Music. In concert, she appears with the Bach Society of Houston as well as Mercury Orchestra in Houston. Recently, Ms. Mesko made a striking role debut as Dorabella with Washington National Opera in their 2012 Emerging Artist performances of Così fan tutte and returned to Washington National Opera for another significant role debut as Hansel. Ms. Mesko also made recital appearances with the Dolce Suono Ensemble, performing “La flûte enchantée” from Ravel’s Shéhérazade; with Vocal Arts DC, presenting Janáček’s Diary of One Who Disappeared with tenor Toby Spence; and with San Francisco Opera Center’s Schwabacher Debut Recital Series, presenting a joint recital with tenor Theo Lebow and pianist Robert Mollicone. Ms. Mesko returned to Washington, DC for her company debut with Opera Lafayette as Junon and Hyale in Charpentier’s Actéon, and she concluded the 2012-2013 season with the Santa Fe Opera, making her company debut as Amélie in La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein and covering Malcom in La donna del lago. A native of Hot Springs, Arkansas, Ms. Mesko holds a master of music degree in vocal performance from Rice University and a bachelor of music degree in vocal and flute performance from the University of Arkansas. Zachary Averyt Texas-born tenor Zachary Averyt made his operatic debut in 2001 as Kaspar in Amahl and the Night Visitors, and has since continued to delight audiences. This is his second season with Ars Lyrica Houston. Averyt appears frequently in leading roles with Houston’s Opera in the Heights, where he returns to sing Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni in January of 2014. An avid concert singer, Mr. Averyt has explored a wide range of styles, singing mass settings by Charpentier, Handel, Beethoven, Stravinsky and Robert Ray. He has sung the title roles in Carissimi’s Jephte and Beethoven’s Christ on the Mount of Olives; as well as Uriel in Haydn’s The Creation; and the tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah, J.S. Bach’s Magnificat, Saint-Saëns’ Christmas Oratorio, Mozart’s Requiem, Howard Goodall’s Eternal Light: A Requiem, Rachmaninoff’s Vespers, and Carl Orff’s epic Carmina Burana. Recent concert engagements have included the Brahms Liebeslieder Walzer, chamber performances of Britten’s Abraham and Isaac and the rarely heard L’enfant prodigue by Claude Debussy. Mr. Averyt holds degrees from both the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston, and was a 2013 Emerging Artist with Opera New Jersey. He currently lives and teaches privately in Houston and has served on the faculty of the American Festival of the Arts. Mark Diamond Baritone Mark Diamond recently finished his second season as a member of the Studio of Houston Grand Opera where notable performances include Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia,Marcello in La bohème and the Marchese d’Obigny in La traviata, he also covered several roles such as Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni), Taddeo (L’italiana in Algeri), and Gaylord Ravenal (Showboat) Tarquinius (The Rape of Lucretia) and Rodrigue (Don Carlos). This season he returned as a guest artist to Houston Grand Opera to sing Count Carl-Magnus in A Little Night Music, In the future he debuts with the French opera theaters of Limoges, Caen, and Reimsas well as Ars Lyrica of Houston. Mr. Diamond is the recipient of a 2012 Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation and spent the summer of 2011 as a member of San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program, where he sang the title role of Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia.