MUSIC

Director Amelia LeClair will lead the chorus and period instrument ensemble Cappella Clausura for an intimate look at two significant composers of the Italian Baroque: Isabella Leonarda and Barbara Strozzi. Leonarda composed some 200 sacred and secular chamber works, featuring some especially flamboyant writing for the violin. Barbara Strozzi – perhaps the most commercially successful female composer of her time – brought the early Baroque song form to new heights with her deeply expressive and highly complex writing for voice. This program offers a rare chance to hear their music side by side, showcasing not only some of the greatest music written by women but the greatest music by any of the Baroque composers! Strozzi’s intimate vocal works for 3,4, and 5 voices offer sensual contrast to Leonarda’s astounding instrumental works for violins, theorbo, viola da gamba, and organ. With special guest violinists Jesse Irons and Gigi Turgeon.