Ars Lyrica musical director, Matthew Dirst, received good news Thursday with his morning meal.

Just as he was finishing breakfast he checked a text message from soprano Ava Pine alerting him that Ars Lyrica’s recording of J.A. Hasse’s Marc Antonio e Cleopatra won a Grammy nomination in the classical music opera category.

“It was a wonderful surprise this morning to wake up to that news,” said Dirst, who conducted the early music recording on the recording.

Ars Lyrica is the first group to record the Hasse’s opera, Dirst said. The work was composed in 1725, an early opera by the German composer, but only recently published. It is really serenate, a short dramatic composition usually performed as a concert piece rather than a staged opera. It tells the story of the tragic love of Anthony and Cleopatra.

“The melodies are very beautiful,” Dirst said. “The recitatives, especially, are quite dramatic and very engaging. Mostly it is Hasse’s great melodic gifts. He knows how to write an opera.”
Ars Lyrica performed the work on their annual New Years Eve program last year. The CD was recorded around the time of the performance in the Hobby Center’s Zilkha Hall, Dirst said. The nomination’s is Ars Lyrica’s first Grammy nod.

The performers on the recording include Houston-based mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton and Pine. The producer was Keith Weber, also of Houston.

The award winners will be announced Feb. 13 as part of the annual Grammy Award ceremony.

--By Chronicle Arts Writer Tara Dooley