Ars Lyrica Houston Presents "Haunted Spirits" Featuring Mad Scenes and Tartini

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Mezzo-soprano Nikola Printz makes her debut with violinist Manami Mizumoto performing Tartini's Devil's Trill Sonata.

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Ars Lyrica Houston marks Halloween with Haunted Spirits, a devilish program of mad scenes and eerie instrumental music spanning Henry Purcell to C. P. E. Bach, on Saturday, October 31 at 5 pm in Zilkha Hall at the Hobby Center. Costumes are encouraged.

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The program opens with Jean-Féry Rebel's Les Elemens, whose famous “Chaos” sounds every note of the D minor scale simultaneously by the entire ensemble — a moment of primordial disorder from which the four elements gradually emerge and take shape. It's both a remarkable piece of musical storytelling and one of the weirdest pieces in the Baroque repertoire.

Mad scenes were a standard feature of Baroque opera, giving composers and singers the chance to portray completely unhinged emotional states, with music that could shift violently from tenderness to hysteria and back again. Mezzo-soprano Nikola Printz, described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “vibrant and tonally resplendent” and “richly eloquent,” makes a much-anticipated Ars Lyrica debut, delivering mad scenes from Handel's Alcina and Hercules with drama and panache.

Violinist Manami Mizumoto, returns to Houston after her acclaimed 2024 Ars Lyrica appearance, braves Giuseppe Tartini's fearsome “Devil's Trill” Sonata, said to have come to the composer in a dream. Rounding out the program are Purcell's “Bess of Bedlam” mad scene and a symphony by C. P. E. Bach full of odd digressions and nervous energy.

“This was an era fascinated by emotional extremes, when grief, jealousy, or supernatural terror overwhelm the rational mind,” says Artistic Director Matthew Dirst . “Tartini's music is genuinely diabolical, and it's ideally suited to our demon violinist Manami Mizumoto. Come in costume — this is going to be a night to remember.”

Saturday, October 31st at 5 PM Zilkha Hall, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts

Nikola Printz, mezzo-soprano Manami Mizumoto, violin

Season subscriptions are still available directly through Ars Lyrica Houston. Single tickets range $40–$80 depending on seating tier; student tickets are $15. Concerts also stream live and on demand via our Baroque Digital Hall .

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/houston/article/HAUNTED-SPIRITS-Will-Present-Mad-Scenes-and-Tartini-at-Ars-Lyrica-Houston-20260930)._