Once you’re done folding your laundry today, you’ll probably be in the mood for something a little more fun – at least as a reward for a chore well done. Lucky you, we’ve got a few suggestions, from the locally weird and wacky to an entire program celebrating divas. Keep reading for our best bets over the next seven days.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Franz Schubert are on the program when the Tetzlaff-Tetzlaff-Dörken Trio stops by the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday, March 30, at 7:30 p.m. DACAMERA will welcome the trio – violinist Christian Tetzlaff, cellist Tanja Tetzlaff and pianist Kiveli Dörken – for two masterworks of chamber music. Despite once dismissing the trio of violin, cello and piano as having “no tonal blend,” Tchaikovsky went on to write the “ambitious” Trio in A minor for Violin, Cello, and Piano, Opus 50, a piece that served as both “a memorial” to Russian pianist Nicolai Rubinstein and “as the wellspring for ensuing chamber music legacies.” Tchaikovsky’s trio will be paired with “one of the most revered chamber works in the classical repertoire,” Schubert’s “lively, buoyant” Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat Major, D. 898. Tickets can be purchased here for $37.50 to $67.50.
If you like your storytelling live, competitive and with the promise of the winners taking home a cash prize, you’ll want to check out the ROAR Story Slam on Friday, March 31, at 7 p.m. Presented by Asia Society Texas Center in partnership with Korean American Story, six finalists will each have six minutes to tell an authentic Korean American story under the theme of “What the heck?” – no scripts or props allowed. Even better, this year’s finalists include three locals: pediatric nurse Tina Kim, recent University of Houston graduate Kwonperat Teimchaiyapoom, and author and pastor Joseph Yoo. Tickets can be purchased here for $25 to $35.
Houston was founded back in August 1836 by Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen, and that’s given us plenty of time to develop of rich history of weirdness. On Saturday, April 1, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, in collaboration with Archivists of the Houston Area (AHA!), will present Old, Weird Houston, a history fair with a twist. In addition to exhibitor booths to peruse, panels and lectures are scheduled all day on topics such as the writings of mid-century newspaperman Sig Byrd, the underground newspaper Space City! (with founder and editor Thorne Dreyer), the Houston Art Car Parade, the Hyde Park Miniature Museum and, of course, a look at the history and conservation of the Orange Show. Houston’s own mydolls will close the day at 4 p.m. with a performance in Orange Show Monument. Attendance is free, but you have to RSVP here.
ROCO Concertmaster and Artistic Partner Scott St. John concludes the ensemble’s Unchambered series at The MATCH on Saturday, April 1, at 7:30 p.m. with ROCO Unchambered: Scott St. John & Friends. The program will feature selections from Béla Bartók’s 44 Duos for 2 Violins; Reena Esmail’s Zeher for string quartet; Robert Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44; and the Adagio of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Solo Sonata No. 1 in g minor, BMV 1001, the “grandeur” of which, “so miraculously set forth on the single violin, could not be enhanced if transcribed for a full symphony orchestra.” Also on the program are two movements from Jean-Marie Leclair’s Trio Sonata in F major, Op. 4, No. 4, and Alyssa Morris’s Trailblazer, a ROCO-commissioned world premiere. Tickets are pay-what-you-wish, with a suggested price of $25, and can be purchased here. You can also stream the performance for free on ROCO’s website, Facebook page, YouTube channel, and A440.live.
Take a stroll down the Buffalo Bayou East trails on Saturday, April 1, from 7:30 to 10 p.m. when Buffalo Bayou Partnership and Aurora Picture Show bring back NIGHT LIGHT. During the evening program, occurring around Tony Marron Park, visitors can experience works of video art projected on surfaces along a half-mile stretch of trail as well as enjoy a night market. Works include Chap Edmonson’s kaleidoscopic Daisy’s Gate, a bridge installation incorporating animation, artificial intelligence and stained-glass windows; Input Output’s Luminous Playground, an immersive activation with a nod to old-school arcade games; and a dock-specific video installation from Jamie Robertson titled PROTECTBYEâ¦YOUPROTECT. In addition to the installation, which highlights the significance of Buffalo Bayou and the origin of the word bayou, Robertson will contribute BAYOU SIREN, a piece that imagines the mythological creature as bayou protector. NIGHT LIGHT is free, and you can register here.
Hopefully, you haven’t forgotten that March is Women’s History Month. As Women’s History Month draws to a close, you have one last chance to celebrate the musical contributions of women on Saturday, April 1, at 8 p.m. when the Houston Pride Band presents Divas!, a program of music by, for and about women, at The MATCH. The two-hour tribute – featuring the reigning Miss Lone Star, Houston drag diva Jacklyn Dior, as guest emcee – will feature works both composed by women and inspired by women, all in the hands of female conductors, including the University of Houston‘s Dana Pradervand Sedatole, Houston Pride Band member Jessie Meng, and Texas Bandmasters Hall of Fame inductee Sharon Prince. Tickets can be purchased here for $15 (and $5 for children 12 and under).
It’s not every day that two holy men appear at your door claiming your toddler is the reincarnation of a Buddhist high lama and asking to whisk him away for spiritual training in India, but that’s the premise of The Oldest Boy: A Play in Three Ceremonies by Sarah Ruhl, which will officially open its regional premiere at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 2, at Main Street Theater. The production’s director, Sophia Watt, told the Houston Press that The Oldest Boy is “a beautiful story of what I think it means to be a mother, what it means to love someone and what it means to let go” and is an honest look at “this question of could you give someone up at their most vulnerable, who you love the most, if you thought it was for the best for them.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through April 23. Tickets are available here for $35 to $59.
Aperio, Music of the Americas, will traverse the landscape of musical Americana from a modern perspective on Sunday, April 2, at 6 p.m. during Songs America Loves to Sing. The program’s title is borrowed from an instrumental suite from John Harbison, ten movements interpreting familiar pieces of music including “Amazing Grace,” “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” and “We Shall Overcome.” Harbison will be joined on the program by Andre Previn, Ned Rorem and two works from Margaret Bonds which will be presented in dialogue with works by Aaron Copland and Frederic Rzewski, Bonds’s “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” with Copland’s “At the River” and “Troubled Water” with Rzewski’s “Down By The Riverside.” Tickets to program, to be performed at The MATCH, are available here for $15 to $35.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
