Ars Lyrica -"Esther" George Frideric Handel (1685–1759)

Esther & Jonah Friday, February 16 at 7:30 pm Zilkha Hall / Hobby Center For The Performing Arts Soloists (in order of appearance): Officer Cody Arthur Haman Christopher Besch 1st Israelite Cody Arthur 2nd Israelite Renée Rybolt 3rd Israelite (alto) Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen Esther Jennifer Bates Mordecai Eduardo Tercero Ahasuerus Tony Boutté Conductor Matthew Dirst Bach Society Houston Rick Erickson, Director Ars Lyrica Houston Matthew Dirst, Artistic Director Produced in collaboration with Bach Society Houston as part of the 2018 Houston Early Music Festival, this program comprises two concise music dramas from opposite ends of the 18th century: G. F. Handel’s Esther (1718) and Samuel Felsted’s Jonah (1775). With gorgeous arias and stirring choruses, Handel’s first English-language oratorio celebrates an Old Testament heroine’s ultimate victory over the forces of evil. Such works provided valuable models for Samuel Felsted, a composer born to an English family in Jamaica in the early 1740s. His concise setting of the story of Jonah and the whale is the first American oratorio. © Ars Lyrica Houston 2018 www.arslyricahouston.org Video and Audio produced by Runaway Productions LLC