Overview

A cycle of early music performances dedicated to women who left their imprint on musical creation and practice.

Little is known about the life of Isabella Leonarda (1620-1704), the “muse of Novara”, as Lazaro Agostino Cotta called her. At the age of sixteen, she entered the Ursuline Convent in Novara, where she remained until the end of her life. She was the most prolific composer of baroque music, with more than two hundred works, and the first one to write instrumental sonatas, most of which are characterised by their unusual structure and particular stylistic variety. The programme is based on her instrumental sonatas from opus 16.

19:15 Introductory speech for ticket holders:

“Divine sirens, muses, composers:  musical aspects of women artists, 16^th–17^th century”

Vassiliki Koutsobina, Assistant Professor, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Gabriella Spanò, Musicologist, Music Library “Lilian Voudouri”