In this week’s best bets, we’ve got a suite from a groundbreaking opera, a boatload of films curated just for us Houstonians and, because it’s never too early for the holidays around here, an early visit to a winter wonderland over at Discovery Green. Keep reading for these and more all on this week’s list of the best things to do around town.

Tonight – Thursday, November 9 – at 6:30 p.m. is your last chance to experience a dance performance and film installation titled LANDS – Portrait of the City of Houston at The MATCH. The work, co-created by French artists Emmanuelle Huynh and Jocelyn Cottencin, was commissioned by DiverseWorks and developed over the course of the last year through interviews, workshops and visits to the city of Houston. Huynh recently told Houston Matters that “this work means investigating the architecture, the landscape, people, the history of the places and the gestures that the people do in those cities in their works, in their life, [and] trying to link that to what we try to find as a meaning of a city.” Tickets are pay-what-you-can with a suggested price of $25 and can be purchased here.

The Houston Cinema Arts Festival begins with two screenings of Katherine Propper’s film, Lost Soulz, at 7 and 10 p.m. at The DeLUXE Theater on Thursday, November 9. The film, inspired by Sauve Sidle, kicks off a festival with more than two dozen events scheduled through Sunday, November 19, at venues across the city (including Rice Cinema and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston). These include a 25th anniversary screening of Wes Anderson’s film Rushmore! on Friday, November 17, at St. John's School where the film was shot, and a showing of The Herricanes, about Houston’s own women's 1970s full tackle football team, on Sunday, November 12. Tickets, ranging from $15 for a single screening to a $200 all-access pass, can be purchased here, and you can view the full festival lineup here.

It’s going to starting looking a lot like winter over at Discovery Green as Frostival returns on Friday, November 10, from 5 to 10 p.m. During the free festivities, you can make snow angels in the “snow zone,” take a photo with a Santa Claus of your choosing (as both Houston’s Pancho Claus and Black Santa will be present), and enjoy J-Dance Company’s hip hop dancing and a set from DJ Mohawk Steve. You can also ice skate, and not only is Green Mountain Energy Ice at Discovery Green back, the first 50 people in line at 5 p.m. get to skate for free (while regular priced tickets are $17). You can also check out Discovery Green's new winter art installation, Bioluminaire by Input Output, comprised of eight sculptures that respond to the touch of passersby with light and sound.

If My Arcade’s collection of classic arcade games – about half-a-foot in size and powered by USB cords or AA batteries – aren’t quite enough to satisfy your nostalgia for the real thing, you may want to check out the 2023 Houston Arcade Expo at the Houston Marriott Westchase from Friday, November 10, to Sunday, November 12. In addition to hundreds of games (pinball machines, classic consoles, and arcade games) and a free gaming area, you can expect tournaments, workshops, vendors, more than a dozen special guests, musical acts, and a free swap meet in the parking lot. You can view the full expo schedule here, and though online tickets are no longer available, you can purchase a day pass at the door for $45 or weekend pass for $55.

Terence Blanchard’s opera, Fire Shut Up in My Bones, became the first opera by a Black composer to be performed at the Met when it opened their 2021–22 season. On Friday, November 10, at 8 p.m. Blanchard will bring a suite of music from the opera, inspired by the memoir of Charles M. Blow, to the Wortham Theater Center courtesy of DACAMERA. Blanchard, a five-time Grammy winner and frequent Spike Lee collaborator, recently told Houston Matters that he was first drawn to Blow’s story because he thinks Blow is “brilliant, and to see what he went through and came through, I thought was extremely powerful and can really be helpful for a lot of people.” Act fast, as only some tickets are still available (and can be purchased here for $42.50 to $72.50).

Four hundred years ago “a Father of Musick,” William Byrd, a composer who served through the reigns of Henry VIII to James I, passed away. On Saturday, November 11, at 7:30 p.m. Houston Chamber Choir will present a program of the Englishman’s work (along with contemporaries Thomas Weelkes, Orlando Gibbons and Thomas Morley) during Byrds of a Feather at St. Thomas Episcopal Church. Houston Chamber Choir founder and artistic director Robert Simpson recently told the Houston Press that Byrd “brought English Renaissance music to its greatest heights since its golden age,” saying it explains the interest in “the music world, particularly the choral community, in celebrating William Byrd’s tremendous impact.” Tickets to the concert are available here for $10 to $45. If you can’t make it, you can also tune into a livestream from home. Tickets to the livestream can be purchased here for $25.

On Sunday, November 12, at 2 p.m. songs of the humpback whale, a Taiwanese pop from the 1960s, and the jingle of the ice cream truck – among many other inspirations – will come together in the workshop premiere of sisila ila ila: saying goodbye. The musical poem by Shih-Hui Chen, presented at Asia Society Texas in partnership with the National Theater and Concert Hall of Taiwan, features violinist Hsin-Yun Huang and story design and direction by Doug Fitch in a composition that will be brought to life by the Taiwanese Tung-Hua Shadow Puppet Troupe. Following the performance will be a panel talk with musician and author David Rothenberg and a reception hosted by Rice University’s Center for Environmental Studies. Tickets can be purchased here for $25.