"The Muse of Novara" (concert)
Saturday, March 09, 2024 | 07:30 PM
Saturday, March 9, 2024, 7:30 pm @ Calvin Presbyterian Church
This evening will feature motets, masses, and sonatas by the brilliant Isabella Leonarda (1620–1704), whose 400th anniversary year in 2020 was unjustly clouded by the pandemic. Leonarda entered an Ursuline convent at age 16, where she spent the rest of her life. Despite holding various positions of authority in the convent, she became one of the most prolific composers of her time, publishing around 200 works. Unlike other women musicians of the 17th century, whose careers flourished in their youths, Leonarda seems to have flourished in her later life: most of her works were published when she was between the ages of 50 and 80.
