Sherry Cheng

Let’s do the numbers. Houston’s premiere chamber orchestra ROCO will have reached a staggering 150 world premieres by the end of its 20th season.

“What is it about opera that keeps everybody thinking in a romantic frame of mind?” That’s a question Khori Dastoor, General Director and CEO of Houston Grand Opera (HGO), pondered while deciding the theme for HGO’s 2024-25 season.

As the largest wildfire in Texas history raged across the Panhandle in March of this year, Loop38, the Houston-based new music ensemble, was set to begin a multi-day residency at Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) centered on the premiere of composer Ben Morris’s multimedia work Longleaf.

Musiqa took a turn underground. In November 2023 the Houston-based new music organization had the opportunity to present the world premiere of a site-specific work by Houston composer Pierre Jalbert in the Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern as part of its popular Underground Sounds series.

Back in 2009, the music entrepreneurship movement was gathering steam and start-up ensembles were popping up everywhere.

Mario Aschauer, Founder and Artistic Director of Houston’s newest early music ensemble Harmonia Stellarum Houston (HSH), likes to take road trips to look at organs.

Reflecting on a milestone 20 years at Ars Lyrica Houston, Founder and Artistic Director Matthew Dirst took a moment to look back at the beginning. “It hardly seems possible,” says Dirst. “It was a kitchen table kind of organization. It essentially grew out of a nucleus of musicians that I had put together to play programs on some local church series.”