In upcoming concerts Gloria ~ Lifting the Veil on Vivaldi’s Masterpiece, Melodia Women’s Choir of NYC brings together music, history, dramatic scenes, and story telling this May 4 and 5 with its performance of Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria. Audiences may know this well-beloved classic, but they have never heard or seen it quite like this!
To get behind the music to the stories of the real girls and women living, working, and making music at the Ospedale della Pietà, Melodia and artistic collaborators script writer Pam McAllister and theater director Christa Scott-Reed drew inspiration from the historical novel Vivaldi’s Virgins, by Barbara Quick.
“It’s a fabulous book told from the point of view of one of the young girls who lives in the Ospedale della Pietà and who is one of Vivaldi’s figlie di coro (daughters of the choir),” said Brooklyn writer and poet McAllister. “Maestro Vivaldi and the shimmering city of Venice come to life in this novel. I loved it.”
In a recent conversation with journalist and writer Cindy Cooper, author Quick and Melodia Artistic Director Cynthia Powell discuss Vivaldi’s singing “angels,” the debauchery of Carnival, and the writing of a book that inspired Melodia’s Gloria: Lifting the Veil on Vivaldi’s Masterpiece.
LISTEN TO THE CONVERSATION HERE
GLORIA: LIFTING THE VEIL ON VIVALDI’S MASTERPIECE
Hear Vivaldi’s masterpiece alongside the stories of the women and girls who originally performed Vivaldi’s choral works at the Ospedale della Pietà music conservatory and orphanage in 1715 Venice, Italy.
Cynthia Powell, Artistic Director and Conductor
Directed by Christa Scott-Reed; script by Pam McAllister
Taisiya Pushkar, harpsichord
Ji Soo Choi and Jaram Kim, violins
Stephanie Griffin, viola
Claire Marie Solomon, cello
Ha Young Jung, double bass
Nancy Ranger, oboe
Kate Amrine, trumpet
With Lynda Gravatt, Katrina Michaels, and Erika Rolfsrud
Saturday, May 4 at 7:30pm
Sunday, May 5 at 4:00pm
Holy Apostles, 296 Ninth Avenue @ 28th Street, Chelsea, NYC
Subway C, E to 23rd Street
April 20th, 2019
Melodia Women's Choir 