On Friday, April 14, at 7 p.m. Bach Society Houston will complete their two-part performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos – “some of the liveliest and most colourful orchestral works of their day” as well as “groundbreaking” – in the galleries of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. This second concert will cover Concertos No. 3, 5 and 6. Bach’s “Concertos No. 3 and 6 are fine examples of the orchestral concerto, in which there is no designated solo group,” while Concerto No. 5 – originally “written for transverse (horizontal) flute, violin, and harpsichord” – is an “especially good” example of “the concerto grosso,” in which the concertino (or group of soloists) “shines above the rest of the ensemble, with beautiful lyric passages and virtuosic flourishes.” General admission tickets can be purchased here for $50 (with student tickets available for $20).
In Belgian-Romanian director Teodora Ana Mihai’s 2022 film, La Civil, playing at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston on Friday, April 14, at 7 p.m., “an ordinary and careworn middle-aged mom” takes matters into her own hands after her daughter is kidnapped in northern Mexico. The film, a fictionalized take on a real mother “who hunted down the people responsible for the kidnap and murder of her 14-year-old daughter,” has been described as “a gritty, woozy, un-Hollywood treatment of a subject that is most often mined for action and excitement,” and “a harrowingly immersive portrait of a society being eaten alive from within.” La Civil will screen again at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 15, and at 5 p.m. on Sunday, April 16. Tickets for any of the three screenings can be purchased here for $7 to $9.

The world’s most famous detective meets Lillie Langtry and Oscar Wilde in Katie Forgette’s Sherlock Holmes and The Case of the Jersey Lily, which you can catch at the Alley Theatre on Friday, April 14, at 8 p.m. Resident Acting Company Member Todd Waite recently told the Houston Press that Forgette’s comedy-mystery his “favorite” of all Sherlock scripts, adding that he loves “words that flash through your soul quicker than thought like darts. It’s partly a melodrama but it’s fun. The speed is fun. The muscularity of it is fun. His mind is fascinating and enjoyable to play." Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and Sundays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, through May 14. Tickets are available here for $34 to $78.

What Grammy winner has “sold more than four million records” and “considers Sting to be one of his best friends”? If you guessed trumpeter Chris Botti, then you will want to make your way over to Jones Hall on Friday, April 14, at 8 p.m. when the Houston Symphony welcomes Botti back to town for the first of three performances. Conductor Steven Reineke will lead the Symphony in a program that will display Botti’s “impressive melodic craftsmanship.” Concerts are also scheduled for 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 15, and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 16. In-hall tickets to any of the three performances can be purchased here for $54 to $195. If you can’t make it out, you can always buy a ticket to the livestream of Saturday night’s concert here for $20.
Asia Society Texas Center kicks off Bollywood Film Nights, a series of three outdoor screenings, this Friday, April 14, at 8 p.m. with Rajkumar Hirani’s 2009 film, 3 Idiots. In the film, three students “realize that their futures aren’t exactly inscribed in a mathematics book” in a world where their “parents have sacrificed everything for their education are expected to reach the top.” As one character says in a very anti-Ferris Bueller moment, “Life is a race. If you’re not fast enough, you’ll get trampled.” But the film ultimately “conveys a powerful message about how valuable your friends can be when they push you toward reaching your own highest potential.” Tickets to the screening can be purchased here for $10, and don’t forget to bring a lawn chair or blanket. Snacks and drinks will be available for purchase at the screening.

If you’ve missed the events in the runup to the 36th Annual Houston Art Car Parade, hosted by the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, don’t fret. The main event is from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 15, when you can check out the more than 250 masterpieces on wheels as they roll through Downtown Houston and Allen Parkway. Orange Show’s Executive Director Tommy Pace recently shared his excitement about this year’s parade with the Houston Press, saying the “Art Car Parade is the single, largest manifestation of that mission where, through the work of the parade, we inspire everyday citizens and artists alike to transform their vehicles into moving works of art and put them on display for the rest of the city to enjoy.” The parade is free to attend.

DACAMERA will welcome composer Osvaldo Golijov’s Falling Out of Time to the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, April 15, at 7:30 p.m. The piece, commissioned by and featuring the Silkroad Ensemble, is based on Israeli writer David Grossman’s book about the death of his son, and it’s been said the song cycle’s “use use of folk idioms — Sephardic, Middle Eastern and something like the blues” makes “the performance eerily intimate and age-old, like a community’s spirit had been cracked open.” Tickets to Saturday’s performance, which will be followed by a post-concert talkback with Golijov and DACAMERA Artistic Director Sarah Rothenberg as well as a meet and greet opportunity in the lobby, can be purchased here for $37.50 to $67.50. A second performance is scheduled for Sunday, April 16, at 3 p.m. and tickets for the Sunday show can be bought here for $17.50 to $47.50.

European settlers brought many things with them to the New World, from different plants and horses to guns and disease – and also music. On Sunday, April 16, at 4 p.m. Houston Early Music will welcome The Baltimore Consort for Crossing to the New World: Early and Traditional Music in the British Isles, France & North America. The concert, set to be held at the University of Houston’s A.D. Bruce Religion Center, will include Scottish ballads by way of Appalachia, dance tunes from the English country, the popular lute, and much more. The show will be preceded by a talk at 3:15 p.m. and during intermission, All For One Fencing will be on hand to present a fencing demonstration (because yes, the settlers brought fencing too). Tickets for the program can be purchased here for $20 to $50.