ENGL 397: Capturing Music at Rice

I’m teaching a course this semester on music, writing, and culture in Houston, sponsored by the wonderful Humanities Research Center here at Rice University. After four concerts and five excellent guest speakers, the course culminated with a visit from The New Yorker’s Alex Ross last week. You can read about it on the English department website if you like, but in summary, it was a brilliant visit full of Catherisms, Wagnerisms and other favorite things.

And for the last concert of the semester, Ars Lyrica’s “Italian Sirens,” my students competed in a writing competition hosted by ALH. You can read the winning piece on ALH’s website.

Old Testament Brimstone

A really rare performance of Handel’s Jephtha is happening this weekend. Read my preview of it at Houstonia Magazine. It’s hardly ever performed because it’s straight up technically hard, not because it’s difficult to listen to (like many, many other so-called hidden gems). Listen to this, for example, and get tickets at Ars Lyrica’s website.