Early Music Missouri brings its Women’s History Month concert to the Kemper Unplugged series on the WashU campus with a program of music by several important women musicians active in 17th-century Italy. Active in the early decades of the century, Francesca Caccini was a renowned singer whose songs follow the model of her father, Giulio Caccini. Barbara Strozzi, a singer and composer, published eight collections of vocal music in her lifetime—more than any of her male contemporaries—and is perhaps the best-known woman composer of the Baroque era. As a nun, Isabella Leonarda composed primarily vocal music, but this concert presents her one solo violin sonata.
The ensemble includes performers who appear regularly on Early Music Missouri concerts, and features sopranos Arianna Aerie and Samantha Arten, Baroque violinist Celina Boldrey, and Baroque cellist Stephanie Hunt. This band of Early Music Missouri’s women has invited lutenist and Early Music Missouri Director Jeff Noonan to join them on theorbo and Baroque guitar.
The free concert will take place on March 20 at noon in the Kemper Art Museum on WashU’s campus. The performance space is accessible for those with special mobility needs. The concert is open to the public and admission is free.
Early Music Missouri is the region’s foremost promoter and presenter of Early Music concerts. Its performances feature Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque repertoire performed on period instruments by expert performers from the region and nation.
