About

la speranza is a group of string and wind players that present chamber music performances on period instruments of repertoire spanning from the Baroque to early Romantic eras. Named after the Italian word for “hope”, la speranza seeks to promote physical and emotional healing through their historically informed performances in Houston communities.

Each of our musicians have made historically informed performance practice (HIPP) a focus of their careers and are active performers in the United States and Europe.

At la speranza, our instruments are as close as possible to what would have been used to premiere the works we perform. This means our stringed instruments are equipped with gut strings and no chin rests, shoulder rests, or endpins. Our wind instruments are originals or copies of originals from the appropriate era, and instead of a Steinway, we use fortepianos or harpsichords as our keyboard instrument of choice.

la speranza exists to illuminate and explore the connection between historically informed chamber music performances and our overall wellbeing in each one of our concerts. We might be performing in a concert hall or a hospital room, a living room with fifteen people or a theater with five hundred people, but our goal is always to bring the unforgettable intimacy of Baroque, Classical, and Romantic era chamber music on period instruments to communities all over Houston and the United States.

Music

Beethoven- String Quartets Op. 18, Op. 59, Op. 95; String Trios op. 8 and 9
Brahms- Clarinet Quintet in b minor, op. 115; Sonata no. 1 in f minor for Clarinet and piano, Op. 120
Bruch- Eight Pieces for clarinet, viola, and piano, op. 83
Crusell- Clarinet Quartet in E flat no. 1
Haydn- Any string quartet (we have recently performed Op. 71 no. 3)
Hummel- Clarinet Quartet in E flat Major, op. 2 no. 2
Mozart- Any string quartet, Clarinet Quintet in A Major, K. 581
Schumann- Märchenerzählungen, op. 132 for clarinet, viola, and piano; Märchenbilder, op. 113 for viola and piano
Wranitzky- String Trios, op. 3

Videos