The Virtuosa Project
|
|
Reflections on the Virtuosa project, by Infusion Baroque.
"These women offer us an inspiring and empowering exemplar for how it is possible to build for oneself a meaningful and fulfilling life in the arts."
-Gili Loftus, Harpsichord |
"Had I been born during the time that the music on this album was composed, I would not have been allowed to play the flute."
- Alexa Raine-Wright, Baroque flute and recorder "Women were not allowed to perform in public; doing so meant risking punishment or death." -Sallynee Amawat, Baroque Violin "...Inspiration at their ability to succeed, learn, excel and be published, tour and perform when it was considered immodest and unwomanly" -Andrea Stewart, Baroque cello "This sense of connection, imagined though it may be, has been a great source of inspiration..." -Rona Nadler, Harpsichord |
The Composers
|
|
|
Clara Schumann, née Wieck (1819–1896)
Clara Schumann was a prominent pianist of the Romantic era, a notable composer, and a dedicated music teacher. While she is best known today for being the wife of Robert Schumann, Clara had already established an international reputation as a concert pianist at the time of her marriage, whereas Robert’s work was still relatively unknown. [MORE] |
|
Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (1665–1729)
Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre was acknowledged as a significant musician in her own lifetime and has taken her place in our modern-day canon of Baroque composers. Born to a family of musicians and instrument makers, Elisabeth was a precocious talent who famously sang and played before Louis XIV at the age of five. [MORE] |
|
Hélène Liebmann, née Riese (1795–1869)
Born in Berlin to wealthy middle-class parents, Hélène Riese received an excellent musical education in piano and composition. Lauded as a child prodigy—she was called a brilliant pianist by the age of ten—she studied with the best teachers available, including Franz Lauska (a former student of Clementi)... [MORE] |
|
Leopoldine Blahetka (1809–1885)
Leopoldine Blahetka was an Austrian pianist and composer. Lauded as a child prodigy, she made her debut performance in 1818, and many famous pianists, including Beethoven and Chopin, followed her career with interest. She toured Europe for twenty years starting in 1821, often accompanied by her mother, who was also a pianist. By 1825, she was performing her own music... [MORE] |
|
Linda Catlin Smith (b. 1957)
Linda Catlin Smith’s relationship with composing started at the piano during her childhood in New York. Today her works are played, commissioned, and recorded by soloists, ensembles, and festivals across Canada and internationally. [MORE] |
|
Maddalena Laura Sirmen, née Lombardini (1745–1818)
Born to a noble Venetian family, Maddalena Laura Lombardini was accepted to the Ospedale dei Mendicanti as a music student at age seven. There her studies included voice, violin, and keyboard instruments. At fourteen, she began to study with violinist-composer Giuseppe Tartini, who later became her benefactor. [MORE] |
|
Teresa Milanollo (1827–1904)
Italian violinist and composer Teresa Milanollo made her stage debut at the tender age of nine. During the following year, she performed throughout Europe—in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and more, sometimes performing up to forty concerts a month. Teresa also began teaching her younger sister, Maria, and several years later the two began an extensive concert tour... [MORE] |
|
Wilhelmine, Princess of Prussia, later Margräfin of Bayreuth (1709–1758)
Wilhelmine von Bayreuth was the elder sister of Anna Amalia and Frederick II, and she joined their secret study of music. Although her marriage to the Margrave Frederick of Bayreuth was arranged, her husband shared her passion for culture and the arts. Inspired by Versailles, the couple transformed Bayreuth into a European intellectual centre... [MORE] |
Plus some bonus material:
Infusion Baroque is proud to present The Virtuosa Series a webseries dedicated to four women of the 18th and 19th centuries: Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia, Lise Cristiani, Teresa Milanollo, and Élisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre. Each mini-documentary is accompanied by a companion video, in which a piece written by or composed for the featured musician is performed. The series ends with a bonus episode - a round-table discussion on what it means to the members and guests of Infusion Baroque to be a musician and a woman.
Visit our #virtuELLES video collection, celebrating women of the past and present making music at home.
