Matthew Dirst, organist, harpsichordist, conductor
 
Matthew Dirst, organist, harpsichordist, conductor
 
Matthew Dirst, organist, harpsichordist, conductor

2023-24 Season

22 September: conductor & harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston, Fallen Angels, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Houston TX.

20-22 October: conductor & harpsichordist for Ars Minerva production of Domenico Freschi’s Olimpia vendicata. ODC Theater, San Francisco, CA.

3 November: conductor & harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston, Ecstatic Visions, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Houston TX.

12 December: conductor & harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston, Awe and Wonder, St Philip Presbyterian Church, Houston, TX.

13 January: harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston, Fugal Games, Duncan Recital Hall, Rice University, Houston, TX.

14 January: harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston, Fugal Games, St Mark’s Episcopal Church, San Antonio, TX.

16 March: conductor & harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston, Visions and Reveries, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Houston TX.

24-25 May: conductor & harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston, production of Handel’s Amadigi di Gaula, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Houston TX.

2022-23 Season

23 September: conductor & harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston, Hail, Bright Cecilia, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Houston TX.

21-23 October: conductor & harpsichordist for Ars Minerva production of Leonardo Vinci’s Astianatte, ODC Theater, San Francisco, CA.

12 November: conductor & harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston, Red Priest of Venice, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Houston TX.

13 December: conductor & harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston, A Marian Feast, St Philip Presbyterian Church, Houston, TX.

13-15 January: organist for Houston Symphony subscription program, Jones Hall, Houston, TX.

20 January: director & harpsichordist for Crossing Borders, San Diego Early Music Society, San Diego, CA.

22 January: director & harpsichordist for Crossing Borders, Arizona Early Music, Tucson AZ.

9 March: harpsichord recital for Between Old Worlds and New: Keyboard Encounters c1700-1900, Westfield Center for Historical Keyboard Studies 2023 conference at the Sigal Music Museum, Greenville, SC.

26 March: conductor & harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston, Clori, Tirsi e Fileno (Handel), Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Houston TX.

28 April: solo recital at Harpsichord Heaven, Brandywine Baroque, Wilmington, DE, with lecture on 30 April.

13 May: conductor & harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston, Songs of Zion, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Houston TX.

17 June: harpsichordist for Houston Classical Guitar Festival program, St Philip Presbyterian Church, Houston TX.

9 July: organ recital for Music at St Philip, St Philip Presbyterian Church, Houston TX.

2021-22 Season

24 September: conductor for Ars Lyrica Houston, Bach, Handel, and Hercules, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Houston TX.

16 October, harpsichord soloist, Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, Rienzi - Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

13 November: conductor for Ars Lyrica Houston, Eternity & Underworld, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Houston TX.

12 December: artistic director/harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston, Crossing Borders, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Houston TX.

19 December: artistic director/harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston, Crossing Borders, Music Before 1800, New York, NY.

12 and 13 March: harpsichordist and artistic director for Best of Bach, St Philip Presbyterian Church, Houston (12 March) and St Mark’s Episcopal Church, San Antonio (13 March),.

26 March: conductor for Ars Lyrica Houston, An Uncommon Chevalier , Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Houston TX.

1-2 April, harpsichordist for Semper Fantasticus, Academy of Early Music, Ann Arbor, MI.

21-22 May: conductor for Ars Lyrica Houston, Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas, a collaboration with the New York Baroque Dance Company, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Houston TX.

4 June, harpsichord soloist, Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, Rienzi - Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

8 June, speaker and harpsichordist for WTC Jamboree, Berkeley Festival and Exhibition, Berkeley, CA.

11 June, organ recitalist, Music from the Organ’s Nadir, Berkeley Festival and Exhibition, Berkeley, CA.

19 June, concerto soloist, Many Happy Returns, Baroque Music Festival Corona del Mar, CA.

20 June, harpsichord and organ recitalist, Follies and Fantasies, Baroque Music Festival Corona del Mar, CA.


2020-21 Season

26 September: conductor & harpsichord soloist for Ars Lyrica Houston, Baroque Duels, virtual program.

24 October: conductor & harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston, Conflict & Concord, virtual program.

15 November: harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston, Bach 2 Bach, virtual program.

19 November: harpsichordist for Ars Minerva, The Neapolitan School, virtual program.

18 December: conductor & harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston, Comfort & Joy, virtual program.

12 March: conductor for Ars Lyrica Houston, Signature Works, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Houston TX (and virtual).

16 May: conductor for Ars Lyrica Houston, Idyll & Intrigue, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Houston TX (and virtual).

13 June: harpsichordist/artistic director for Ars Lyrica Houston Chamber Players, Semper Fantasticus, Chamber Music Tulsa, OK.


2019-20 Season 

20 September: conductor & harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston and the New York Baroque Dance Company, Dancing at the Palais, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Houston TX.

29 September: organ continuo for Orpheus Chamber Singers, Southern Heat, Guadalupe Cathedral, Dallas, TX.

11 October: Guest Artist Recital (harpsichord and organ), Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, Houston TX.

26 October: A Dutch Musical Cabinet recital with Kathryn Montoya (recorder) for “Blending Past and Present: Collections and Collectors” conference of the Westfield Center for Historical Keyboard Studies at Oberlin Conservatory, Oberlin OH.

10 November: Semper Phantasticus with violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock and viola da gambist Mary Springfels, Ars Lyrica Houston Chamber Players, St Philip Presbyterian Church, Houston TX.

21 November: conductor & harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston, Handel in Love, St James Episcopal Church, Alexandria LA.

23 November: conductor & harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston, Handel in Love, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Houston TX.

20-22 December: organist for Handel’s Messiah with the Houston Symphony, Jones Hall, Houston TX.

31 December: conductor & harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston, Venetian Carnival, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Houston TX.

22 February: harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston, Goya’s World, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Houston TX.

28-29 February & 1 March: Duos for Violin and Harpsichord with violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock, Severall Friends, Santa Fe and Albuquerque NM. 

14 March: All-Bach harpsichord recital, Ars Lyrica Houston, Duncan Recital Hall at the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, Houston TX.

27 March: conductor & harpsichordist for all-Bach program at St Mark’s Episcopal Church, San Antonio TX.

16 May: conductor & harpsichordist for Ars Lyrica Houston, Bach Goes Greek, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Houston TX.

2018-19 Season 

7-9 September: harpsichordist for Dallas Symphony all-Bach programs 

20-21 September: harpsichord soloist and conductor for Ars Lyrica’s Re-Gifting with Royalty program 

16 & 18 November: conductor for Handel’s Agrippina with Ars Lyrica Houston 

14 & 15 December: conductor for Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Portland Baroque Orchestra and Trinity Cathedral Choir, Portland, OR 

21-23 December: harpsichordist for Handel’s Messiah with the Houston Symphony 

31 December: harpsichordist and conductor for Ars Lyrica’s Baroque Razzle-Dazzle program 

11-13 January: harpsichordist for chamber programs with violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock and viola da gambist Mary Springfels, San Francisco Early Music Society (Palo Alto, Berkeley, San Francisco) 

15 February: harpsichordist and conductor for Ars Lyrica’s Scherzi Musicali program 

3 March: organ recital at First Congregational Church, Columbus, OH 

30 March: harpsichordist and conductor for Stradella’s San Giovanni Battista with Ars Lyrica Houston 

20 Aprilorgan & chamber Holy Saturday program for St Philip Presbyterian Church, Houston 

19 May: harpsichordist and conductor for Ars Lyrica’s From Brandenburg to Esterhazy program 

9 July: organ recital for Southwest Regional Convention of the American Guild of Organists, Denver, CO

2017-18 Season 

11-12 September: organ recital for Reformations and the Organ Conference at the University of Notre Dame 

22 September: harpsichordist and conductor for Ars Lyrica’s Sweet Philomela program, including major works by CPE Bach and Johann Adolf Hasse 

3 October: organist and conductor for Washington Bach Consort cantata series, Washington, DC

11-18 October: harpsichordist for programs in Taiwan with University of North Texas early music faculty

20 October: organ recital at St Paul’s Cathedral, Pittsburgh AGO Organ Artist Series

12-13 November: harpsichordist and conductor for Ars Lyrica’s Italian Sirens program

12 & 14 December: harpsichordist for El Mundo programs in Houston, TX and Alexandria, LA

31 December: fortepiano soloist and conductor for Ars Lyrica’s New Year’s Eve in Berlin program

6 January: organ soloist for The First Concertos: Reconstructions of Works by Handel & Bach at St Philip Presbyterian Church, Houston, TX

16 February: harpsichordist and conductor for Handel’s Esther, Bach Society Houston & Ars Lyrica Houston

18 March: conductor for Bach’s St John Passion, Washington Bach Consort, Washington, DC

25 March: harpsichord soloist, Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra, College Station, TX

7-8 April: conductor for Handel’s Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne & Bach’s Trauerode, Ars Lyrica Houston and the Moores School Concert Chorale

19 May: harpsichordist and conductor for Ars Lyrica’s A Day with Marie Antoinette program, including orchestral works by Gluck, Haydn, and the Chevalier de Saint-Georges