Martedì 16 luglio 2024, ore 18:30 – Sala Concerti
Ingresso su invito
Programma
CLAUDIO MERULO (1533–1604)
Gloria, dalla Missa Cara la vita mia, Venezia, 1609
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI (1567–1643)
Lauda Jerusalem, Venezia, 1651
AGATA della Pietà (1712–69)
La Cantata, Ecce nunc, Venezia, c.1744
Australian Chamber Choir
Ensemble di archi del Conservatorio di musica “Benedetto Marcello” di Venezia
Direttore Douglas Lawrence AM
Agata della Pietà
Born in Venice on 24 March 1712, Agata was missing the fingers of her left hand. Given up to the orphanage known as the Ospedale della Pietà soon after her birth, baby Agata would have been passed through the small revolving door (called a scaffetta) in the exterior wall of the building. If you were a young girl with no parents, growing up in eighteenth-century Europe, then the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice was quite possibly the best place for you to be. Here, Antonio Vivaldi had established a music education program for girls that was second to none. Agata was well-educated and became a star student, performing as a soprano soloist and composing cantatas. When she had completed her education, she was employed by the Pietà, first as a singing teacher and later, also as the administrator (or Priora) of the institution. She remained at the Pietà until her death in 1769.
After a series of Australian performances, the ACC will gift Agata’s Cantata to the citizens of Venice during a European premiere performance in the Venetian Baroque splendour of the Pisani Palace.
Nell’imagine: Matthäus Merian, Venice (1636), engraving, detail | Rosalba Carriera, Young Lady (c.1730), pastel on paper, Galleria dell’Accademia, Venice
