Rienzi is a jewel in the crown of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Its dramatic setting, focused on the European decorative arts, is the perfect pairing for our historically informed performances. Be transported to another time and place through these immersive musical experiences. 

Ars Lyrica Artistic Director Matthew Dirst continues his survey of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier with two performances of excerpts from Book 1 in the sumptuous surroundings of Rienzi, the house museum for European decorative arts of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The featured instrument, inspired by the work of the Gräbner family in Dresden in the early eighteenth century, is visually and acoustically stunning, a perfect complement to the Baroque-era décor at Rienzi.

The Well-Tempered Clavier at Rienzi concert series is presented to our six-concert subscribers only.

Concert 1: Oct. 16, 2021 at 6 pm (sold out)
and 7:30 pm (sold out)

On the program

Preludes & fugues in:

C-sharp Major
C-sharp Minor
A Major
E Minor
F-sharp Major
F-sharp Minor
G Major
F Minor

Concert 2: June 4, 2022 at 6 pm (sold out)

On the program

Preludes & fugues in:

A-flat Major
E-flat Minor
D Major
B Minor
B Major
G-sharp Minor
E Major
B-flat Minor

Matthew Dirst, recently described in the Washington Post as an “efficient, extremely precise conductor who has an ear for detail,” is the first American musician to win major international prizes in both organ and harpsichord, including the American Guild of Organists National Young Artist Competition and the Warsaw International Harpsichord Competition. Widely admired for his stylish playing and conducting, Dirst leads Ars Lyrica Houston, a period-instrument ensemble with several acclaimed recordings, one of which—J. A. Hasse’s Marc Antonio e Cleopatra—was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2011 for Best Opera.

His degrees include a PhD in musicology from Stanford University and the prix de virtuosité in both organ and harpsichord from the Conservatoire National de Reuil-Malmaison, France, where he spent two years as a Fulbright scholar. Equally active as a scholar and as an organist, Dirst is Professor of Music at the Moores School of Music, University of Houston, and Organist at St Philip Presbyterian Church in Houston. His publications include Engaging Bach: The Keyboard Legacy from Marpurg to Mendelssohn (Cambridge University Press, 2012), Bach and the Organ (University of Illinois Press, 2016), and Learned Play: Bach’s Art of Fugue and Musical Offering (Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2022).