Bringing forgotten music back to life
News
November 20th 2020 at 7pm PST
Two of the Bay Area’s liveliest and most inventive musical organizations — the San Francisco Girls Chorus and Baroque opera company Ars Minerva — are joining forces for an exciting online event, combining music and documentary video.
At the heart of the production is music from “Juditha Triumphans,” Vivaldi’s 1716 oratorio celebrating the Israelite widow who, according to the Bible, rescued her nation by chopping off the head of an invading general (see Caravaggio’s magnificent painting, “Judith Beheading Holofernes,” for further details).
To underscore the message of female power, the program includes music by Vivaldi’s notable predecessors Barbara Strozzi and Isabella Leonarda. Harpsichordist Corey Jamason is a guest artist.
The San Francisco Chronicle - Joshua Kosman
It was an inspired match. Ars Minerva, the intrepid San Francisco company committed to staging neglected Baroque performance works, and the invaluable San Francisco Girls Chorus would join forces on Juditha Triumphans (1716), a rarely heard Vivaldi oratorio based on the Biblical heroine Judith and composed for an all-female ensemble. Then the pandemic threw its viral wrench into the works.
San Francisco Classical Voice - Steven Winn
