So, two of the Aldredge House concerts this year will be Arash, so you can formally meet him, and ME, in celebration of my completion of recording the complete harpsichord works of Jean-Philippe Rameau, which will come out at the same time. The third concert will open our season on September 21 at Aldredge House with three of the fabulous young ladies who just seem to fall out of the heavens to lighten up our concerts. First it was Kara McBain, who, on two days’ notice brought Vivaldi’s and Charpentier’s Christmas histories to life for us two years ago. Then Taylor Fenner, who sang a couple of Bach Arias as a Get-To-Know-You on last seasons’ opening night BACH AND THE DANCE (was that just last season?!), when our friends from the New York Baroque Dance Company showed us how Bach’s Cello Suites (played with such grace by Sydney ZumMallen) evoke the dance both Baroque and New. This year we add Lauren Salazar on alto for our version of IL CONCERTO DELLE DONNE – the Three Ladies of Ferrara, who were so important in the amazing transition from Renaissance to Baroque led by Claudio Monteverdi, with Luzzaschi, Strozzi, and company. Don’t miss this show – three voices perfectly matched in freshness, sound, beauty, and expression – before they inevitably go their own ways, singing incomparable duets and madrigals together – Tell me, is a Handel Duo a Madrigal or is a Monteverdi Madrigal a Duo? Tell them YOU WERE THERE!

MESSIAH AT THE MEYERSON – on December 16, and then the MESSIAH SING-ALONG at ZION LUTHERAN on the 17th. Soloists this year are David Grogan, Dann Coakwell, Dianna Grabowski, and Kara McBain.

FOR NEW YEAR’S EVE this season we offer all-VIVALDI – first, the familiar GLORIA, and then THE FOUR SEASONS, the amazing set of violin concertos he called IL CIMENTO DELL’ARMONIA E DELL’INVENTIONE, featuring the brilliant Texas violinist Stephanie Noori.  (She and Arash tied the knot in 2019 - Happy 5th Anniversary!)

A new artistic exploration for the Society comes on March 16, 2025, courtesy of the New York Baroque Dance Company, who were invited last season to perform with The Silambam Houston Dance Company which is the performing wing of Silambam Houston. Comprised of stellar performers trained to professional level in various Indian classical dance forms, the Company represents the fruition of collective decades of effort and dedication. The NYBDC dancers had a great time joining Silambam last season in Houston for The Baroque-Carnatic Connection, a cross-cultural exploration of the commonalities and distinct flavors of Western baroque and South Indian classical music and dance traditions, and reported that the audience was rapt, as the two companies traded dances as it were. The violin proved perfectly suited for Carnatic  music, as the gamakas (glides and oscillations through the notes – the lifeline of Carnatic music) were not only possible, but natural and intuitive on the violin.   The footwork of these totally distinct styles of dance, especially between the Indian and Baroque Period European practice, was completely captivating and, especially in the opera’s final-act Contest, was revealing and inspiring.

​