A Bach Keyboard Extravaganza is an immersive one-hour virtual concert film, performed by the acclaimed American harpsichordist and organist Matthew Dirst. Featuring solo harpsichord and organ music interspersed with lively spoken commentary on the instruments and music, the performance will focus on works of J.S. Bach alongside music by key contemporaries. 

Winner of major international competitions on both instruments, Dirst is Artistic Director of Ars Lyrica Houston, a Grammy-nominated period instrument ensemble that presents a broad range of musical activities, from bilingual educational programs to fully staged operas. His program will be prerecorded at Rienzi, the European Decorative Arts Museum of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and at St. Philip Presbyterian Church in Houston, using two notable and visually stunning instruments: a German-style harpsichord by John Phillips (2020) with decoration by Janine Johnson, and a 48-stop mechanical action organ built by Paul Fritts (2010). Filming is used to full advantage, focusing on details of the instruments and their surroundings. Specially recorded in May 2021, the film is a co-production between the Baroque Music Festival, Corona del Mar (artistic director violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock) and Ars Lyrica Houston. It is funded by a cultural arts grant from the City of Newport Beach, CA.

Or send a check to:

Ars Lyrica Houston
4807 San Felipe Ste 202
Houston, TX 77056

Matthew Dirst, harpsichord and organ

Ars Lyrica Artistic Director Matthew Dirst, recently described in the Washington Post as an “efficient, extremely precise conductor who has an ear for detail,” is the first American musician to win major international prizes in both organ and harpsichord, including the American Guild of Organists National Young Artist Competition and the Warsaw International Harpsichord Competition.

Widely admired for his stylish playing and conducting, Dirst leads a period-instrument ensemble with several acclaimed recordings, one of which—J. A. Hasse’s Marc Antonio e Cleopatra—was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2011 for Best Opera. His degrees include a PhD in musicology from Stanford University and the prix de virtuosité in both organ and harpsichord from the Conservatoire National de Reuil-Malmaison, France, where he spent two years as a Fulbright scholar. Equally active as a scholar and as an organist, Dirst is Professor of Music at the Moores School of Music, University of Houston, and Organist at St Philip Presbyterian Church in Houston. His publications include Engaging Bach: The Keyboard Legacy from Marpurg to Mendelssohn (Cambridge University Press, 2012) and Bach and the Organ (University of Illinois Press, 2016).