LA MONICA
8:00 p.m., Friday
May 6, 2005
Christ the King Lutheran Church
2353 Rice Blvd.
Tickets: 713-432-1744
Out of the Depths
Houston Early Music will present the West Coast-based baroque ensemble La Monica in the ensemble’s Houston debut at 8:00 p.m., Friday, May 6 at Christ the King Lutheran Church, 2353 Rice Blvd. The program, Out of the Depths, highlights the interactions between German and Italian cultures following the ruins of the Thirty Years War —a time when Germany entered a period which produced a great flowering of music characterized by cosmopolitan tastes and the steady exchange of ideas over political boundaries. Many German musicians traveled to Italy in order to study with such masters as Monteverdi and Frescobaldi, and many Italian musicians were imported to German-speaking lands.
The program features sacred works by the north Germans: Buxtehude, Tunder and Bernhard, and instrumental chamber works by Austrians: Kerll, Schmelzer and Rosenmuller.
Prior to the concert, at 7:00 pm, Dr. John Lienhard (author and voice of NPR’s The Engines of Our Ingenuity) will discuss scientific advances during the period following the Thirty Years War.
Ticket prices are $30 for general admission, $25 for seniors and $10 for students (under age 25 with student ID). Free admission for children under 12. Tickets may be purchased at the door or by calling 713-432-1744.
LA MONICA
1:00 p.m., Saturday
May 7, 2005
Brown Auditorium
Caroline Wiess Law Bldg.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
1100 Bissonnet
Tickets: 713-432-1744
Animalia
The San Francisco-based ensemble La Monica will lead a baroque instrumental safari for families when Houston Early Music presents a free concert at 1:00 p.m., Saturday, May 7 in the Brown Auditorium of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1100 Bissonnet.
La Monica's Animalia program is an introduction to various baroque string, and keyboard instruments through H.I.F. Biber's Sonata Representativa, which portrays animal sounds from frogs and birds to the cat – ending with the most ferocious animal of all ("Musketeer’s March"). Kids get to show the ensemble how they make each animal sound and then the musicians will show how the instruments can do it. Then all will join in singing Renaissance animal songs.
After the concert, a storyteller guide will lead a nature walk searching for creatures lurking in the Museum’s collection and children will have a chance to create their own masterpiece in a clay workshop.
*There is no charge for the concert. Children 18 and under are admitted free to the MFAH on weekends with their public library card.
Recordings by artists featured by Houston Early Music are available at
Joel's Classical Shop
4010 Bissonnet St, Houston, TX 77005
Phone: (713) 665-0954
These activities are made possible in part by a grant from the City of Houston and the Texas Commission on the Arts through the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Harris County