First modern performance of a composition by Agata, orphan of the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice: the Australian Chamber Choir at the Conservatorio di Musica, Venice.

It's been a delight to work closely with our partners at the Conservatorio di Musica “Benedetto Marcello” in Venice and to collaborate with them to help our new friends at the Australian Chamber Choir, with Liz Anderson and Douglas Lawrence, to produce a concert performance in Venice of the wonderful reconstruction that Liz has led of “Agata’s cantata” Ecce nunc. Huge credit must go to the student musicians of the "Ensemble di archi del Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello" and of course to the wonderful voices of the ACC.

To explain the story of Agata's "Cantata", it feels only right if we allow Liz to explain:

“It is rare that a piece of music written in Europe is premiered in Australia. But this is the case with Agata’s Cantata. Thanks to the Biblioteca Benedetto Marcello, the manuscripts of this work have been safely preserved, so that the work can now be heard by modern audiences.

“Agata, born without the fingers of her left hand, and abandoned to the Ospedale della Pietà, would likely not have received any significant recognition for her compositions during her lifetime.

“This evening, we celebrate Agata. She can now add to her list of achievements ten performances of her Cantata, her first radio broadcast (on Australia’s ABC Radio National), her first commercial CD recording and her first performance in Venice after a silence of some 300 years.”

You can imagine how much we applaud this incredible work of musicology by Liz.

You can buy a copy of the CD Keys to Heaven which feature’s “Agata’s cantata” by clicking on the image below:

 

 

Watch Paul's talk here

As part of the evening, Paul spoke briefly about our much-valued partnership with the Conservatorio and also the goal of the Teatro San Cassiano to recover this vast volume of lost intangible heritage in the form of restaging these great forgotten composers and operas from the 17^th and 18^th centuries.

You can enjoy Paul’s talk here:

 

 

A huge thank you to Direttore Roberto Gottipavero, Paolo da Col and Silvia Urbani at the conservatory for making our second collaboration possibile.