adieu spa

Houston's premiere performing arts purveyor announces new name and season

DIAVOLO will leap into Houston.

For more than 5 decades, Houston fans have flocked to Society of Performing Arts (lovingly known as “SPA”) Houston events, delighting in nationally and globally renowned dance, plays, music, author and celebrity visits, and more.

Now, the city’s premiere performing arts organization has a new name, look, and season lineup: SPA is now Performing Arts Houston. The organization teased the rebrand at its recent soiree, The Kaleidoscope Ball.

Why the name change now? “Dropping the word ‘Society’ from our name reflects our value of welcoming all Houstonians to participate in the performing arts,” notes a press release.

Whether locals found the name alienating or not, there’s no denying the organization’s appeal to audiences and performers and entertainers. CEO Meg Booth also cited another reason to reposition.

“We have a strong 55-year legacy of providing high quality artistic programming and arts education to the city of Houston,” she said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to carry this mission into a second half century with a new name and look. “It also lets us lose the acronym, SPA. As therapeutic as the arts are, we’re happy not to be confused in google searches with spa treatments.”

As for the highly anticipated 2022/2023 lineup, tickets go on sale July 12.

Dance highlights include Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan; Ragamala Dance Company, a classical Indian Bharatnatyam company; Dance Theatre of Harlem, a New York City institution; and Gregory Maqoma’s Vuyani Dance Theatre from South Africa.

Music fans will no doubt delight in New Orleans icons Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Grammy Award-winning gospel legends The Blind Boys of Alabama will perform a Christmas show with The Voice finalist and Houston’s own Sarah Grace & The Soul. Mariachi Herencia de México will take the stage with special guest Lupita Infante.

America’s Got Talent favorite, DIAVOLO, will perform Trajectoire plus a new work honoring veterans. Cirque du Soleil’s Cirque Dreams Holidaze, blends musical theater, holiday classics, and signature circus arts. Dog lovers shouldn’t miss Mutts Gone Nuts!, a family comedy act with supremely talented four-legged stars. Our Planet Live in Concert, reimagines the popular Netflix documentary series, featuring a live orchestra, and showcases the wonders of Earth. Local favorite, STOMP returns to kick it.

Making their Performing Arts debuts are hilarious motherhood YouTubers My Name is NOT Mom; stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and podcast host Tom Papa; and British cook, TV host, and writer Nigella Lawson, who has sold more than 12 million cookbooks worldwide.

For a full list of 2022/2023 performers and events, visit the new-look Performing Arts Houston site.

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Arts News

Houston arts organization spins up a new record label for creative works

Two CD copies of Tyshawn Sorey's Monochromatic Light (Afterlife)

Photo courtesy of DACAMERA Editions

DACAMERA's unique musical contribution to Houston now comes in LP form.

For more than three decades, Houston arts and music non-profit DaCamera has brought innovative and unique jazz and chamber music performances to the city. Now, they are launching their own record label called DaCamera Editions, starting with TyShawn Sorey's Monochromatic Light (Afterlife) releasing on January 30.

Since 1987, DaCamera has been a nationally-celebrated curator, commissioner, and presenter of modern works that often fly under the mainstream radar. With the establishment of an in-house record label, the music they are known for becomes more widely available to audiences.

"Following the thrilling experience of commissioning, performing, and recording Monochromatic Light (Afterlife), we saw an opportunity to launch our own label," DaCamera artistic director Sarah Rothenberg said in a statement. "DaCamera Editions will enable us to share our distinctive, curated mix of new music, classical repertoire, and jazz in a way that emphasizes connections to art, literature and the world in which we live, all under the DaCamera umbrella."

Monochromatic Light (Afterlife) is the perfect album to herald a new Houston record label. The meditative piece was a joint commission from DaCamera and the Rothko Chapel to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the renowned Houston landmark. Featuring soloists Davóne Tines (bass-baritone), Kim Kashkashian (viola), Sarah Rothenberg (piano/celesta), Steven Schick (percussion), and the Houston Chamber Choir, the 75-minute work was a critical hit when it premiered in 2022. It built on a previous work, Morton Feldman's Rothko Chapel, which debuted at the site in 1972. Sorey composed a bass-baritone part for Tines and expanded the keyboard role by adding piano. As part of the performance, Tines sings lines from the spiritual "I Feel Like a Motherless Child."

Both The New York Times and The New Yorker named the premiere of Monochromatic Light (Afterlife) as a top 10 classical performance of 2022. It was also a Finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Music.

The album will be released on both CD and digital formats. Pre-orders are available at DaCameraEditions.com.

Future planned releases include Rothenberg's In Darkness and Light (May 2026), a piano album inspired by the anxiety of COVID and featuring Vijay Iyer’s eloquent personal memorial "For My Father;" and Tyshawn Sorey’s solo piano work For Julius Eastman, a tribute to the minimalist composer and activist whose work has undergone a 21st Century renaissance since his death in relative obscurity in 1990.

"DaCamera Editions will enable us to share our distinctive, curated mix of new music, classical repertoire, and jazz in a way that emphasizes connections to art, literature and the world in which we live,” Rothenberg said.

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