BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN TZID:America/New_York X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_YorkBEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN TZID:America/New_York X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York BEGIN:VEVENT UID:1147@earlymusicamerica.org DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260314T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260314T153000 DTSTAMP:20260128T173151Z URL:https://www.earlymusicamerica.org/events/les-touches-montrose-library- houston-public-library/ SUMMARY:Les Touches @ Montrose Library (Houston Public Library) DESCRIPTION:This is the first of our FREE appearances with the Houston Publ ic Library (HPL) system for the Spring 2026 season. These concerts are not only offered for free to expand public access to the Greater Houston area but also to demonstrate the diversity of musicians in the early music com munity.\n\n The Montrose Library is located in its eponymous neighborhood \, which is considered an epicenter of the LGBT community in the Greater H ouston area and is also home to various cultural landmarks such as the Rot hko Chapel and the Menil Collection.\n Our repertoire will serve as a pre view for our church concert scheduled the same month\, and we plan to incl ude brief lectures about the history of the viol and a viol petting zoo ge ared particularly to newcomers to early music and the viola da gamba.\n R epertoire will focus on 3-4 part viol consort\, occasionally featuring oth er variations in the consort such as viol duets and voice and viol. All vo cals will be sung by Les Touches member Jocelyn Ursua\, a trans woman who has been vocally training as a tenor.\n This audience members to learn mo re about the viola da gamba and to understand its role in the world of ear ly music.\n The material in our presentation is also an opportunity to de monstrate the diversity of musicians in the early music community\, which can be potentially impactful with features such as a trans woman singing t enor for a local audience in a predominantly queer neighborhood.\n\nVisit the HPL website provided in this page to register your attendance for FREE !\n\n___\n\nAbout Les Touches\n\n Founded in 2011 by Pedro Funes-Whitting ton at the Jacobs School of Music and the Early Music Institute at Indiana University\, Les Touches is a viol consort whose core repertoire includes the works of many of England’s most prominent early music composers suc h as William Byrd and John Coprario\, as well as the works of composers wh ose work deserves wider recognition\, such as George Jeffreys and Peter Ph illips. The ensemble has performed across the United States\, working with groups such as Texas Early Music Project and the South Dakota Chorale\, a nd continues to pursue collaboration with other musicians and ensembles. I n 2014\, Les Touches held its inaugural season in Texas and began a partne rship with Viols of Houston\, with whom they provide outreach programs in local schools. In 2015\, Les Touches was named one of the 10 finalists in the York Young Artist International Competition.\n Les Touches continues to share their passion for the viol and make its fascinating consort reper toire\, as an aspect of early music\, accessible to their general communit y in the Greater Houston region of Southeast Texas.\n Since the debut of their most recent revival in 2024\, they were featured in a performance/le cture presentation hosted by Early Music America at the Chamber Music Amer ica 2025 Conference at Rice University.\n\n This presentation consisted o f a repertoire of 4-part consort pieces from a range of composers from Jen kins to Coperario\, intertwined with brief lectures about the history of v iol performance and appearances from local grade school viol program Viols of Deer Park\n\n\n Les Touches is currently partnered with the Houston P ublic Library system — their most recent collaboration was a free perfor mance/lecture series hosted at 11 branch locations for the library’s "Su mmer Reading For Adults” program.\n\n This presentation followed a simi lar format to the CMA conference\, consisting of repertoire for 3-part con sort\, voice and viol\, and violin with viol consort featuring a guest app earance from Baroque violinist Nadia Lesinska.\n This series was offered for free to the general public of Greater Houston with financial support f rom the Viola da Gamba Society of America and individual donors.\n\n\n Le s Touches’ current revival consists of the following members:\n\n Pedro Funes-Whittington: treble/tenor/bass viol\n Elisabeth Ellison: bass viol \n Matt Dunn: tenor/bass viol\n Jocelyn Ursua: treble/tenor/bass viol\; vocalist (tenor)\n\n\n ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.earlymusicamerica.org/wp-content/upl oads/2026/01/Les-Touches-HPL-Spring-2026-Series-1-731x1024-1.jpg CATEGORIES:Concerts,Early Music Month Events LOCATION:Montrose Library\, 1001 California St\, Houston\, TX\, 77006\, Uni ted States GEO:29.745286;-95.390728 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=1001 California St\, Housto n\, TX\, 77006\, United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Montrose Library :geo:29.745286,-95.390728 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Chicago X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Chicago BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20260308T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR