Dorian Sono Luminus invites you to a night at the opera with this 2 CD release of Adolf Hasse’s serenata Marc’Antonio e Cleopatra, performed by the Houston-based ensemble Ars Lyrica. Founded in 1998 by harpsichordist and conductor Matthew Dirst, Ars Lyrica Houston has begun to make a name for itself in the international early music community. Gramophone recently praised Ars Lyrica’s début CD (A SCARLATTI Euridice dall'Inferno, La Concettione della Beata Vergine Naxos 8.570950) for its ‘exemplary skill and taste’, the ensemble’s musicians for their ‘impassioned performance’. In 1721 Johann Adolf Hasse traveled to Italy to hone his craft and seek his fortune. Settling in Naples, Hasse studied composition first with Nicola Porpora, then Alessandro Scarlatti, and began to write seriously for the stage. By 1730 he produced at least seven operas, eight intermezzi, and three serenate, the most significant of which is Marc’Antonio e Cleopatra. Hasse’s score makes vivid the complex emotions of his title characters in eight arias, two duets, and some highly expressive recitative; the whole is introduced by a Sinfonia in two movements. Though the work is scored for just strings and continuo, this recording adds various woodwind colors (oboes, recorders, flute, and bassoon), rendering even more colorful Hasse’s imaginative and supple ideas. This 2-CD set will enchant the early music community, thrill the opera lover, and intrigue all lovers of classical music.