The Houston Early Music Festival collaborates with the Houston Seminar for a series of educational lectures titled "Center Stage in Houston: Early Music." The speakers will preview the music to be performed at the festival, which spans four centuries of Western music from the late Middle Ages to the Baroque.
Jan. 14, 7:30 p.m. - Critics' Circle
Houston Public Media's St. John Flynn will lead a panel discussion with current and former Houston music critics, including Steven Brown, Charles Ward and Carl Cunningham. They will discuss why early music seems compelling globally and locally and will describe the organizations that are leading the movement in Houston.
Jan. 21, 7:30 p.m. - Early Masters
Gregory Barnett is co-director of the Collegium Musicum and chair of musicology in the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. He will explore both the connecting threads and the distinguishing traits found in works by Guillaume de Machaut and Josquin Desprez, the respective masters of medieval and Renaissance vocal polyphony. The lecture highlights the music presented in the Houston Early Music performance that features the Orlando Consort, set for Feb. 11.
Jan. 30, 7:30 p.m. - Baroque Musical Theater
Ars Lyrica's Matthew Dirst will explore Baroque opera and oratorio and introduce Alessandro Scarlatti's opera La Sposa dei Cantici, which will receive its modern world premiere in Houston on Feb. 8. He will conclude the evening by playing music by Domenico Scarlatti, son of Alessandro, on the harpsichord.
Feb. 6, 7:30 p.m. - Christoph Wolff: Defining Bach the Composer
What do Bach's Brandenburg Concertos and the B Minor Mass have in common? On the surface, they could not be more different — one a group of instrumental compositions for courtly entertainment and the other a monumental vocal work of sacred character. Bach scholar Christoph Wolff will delve into how these works reveal Bach's ambitions, goals and gifts. The lecture prepares audiences for Mercury's performance of the complete Brandenburg Concertos, set for Feb. 14, and Bach Society's performance of Bach's Mass in B Minor, set for Feb. 16.