2020 FALL VIRTUAL SEASON SFGC & ARS MINERVA CO-PRESENT JUDITHA TRIUMPHANS LIVESTREAM PERFORMANCE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2020, 7PM Céline Ricci, Artistic Director San Francisco Girls Chorus Ars Minerva Valérie Sainte-Agathe Céline Ricci Artistic Director & Conductor Artistic Director & Stage Director with Special Guests Corey Jamason, harpsichord and piano Adam Cockerham, theorbo Following Juditha: The Journey of a Warrior Woman Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741) Excerpts from Juditha Triumphans Umbrae carae from Juditha Triumphans Antonio Vivaldi Così non la voglio Barbara Strozzi (1619–1677) Mercé di voi Barbara Strozzi O dilecte, O amatissime Jesu Isabella Leonarda (1620–1704) O Quam Vaga from Juditha Triumphans Antonio Vivaldi San Francisco Girls Chorus Valérie Sainte-Agathe, Artistic Director Alia Azad Sadie Habas Sophia Mugin Noël Taline Baghdassarian Gabrielle Haddick Elaine Peng Ellee Bamberger Adea Hansen-Whistler Alexandra Peregudova Maia Brockstedt Bibiane Huang Annika Pyo Vera Chandler Eva Jackson Ruby Rae Recht-Appel Charlotte Chanezon Audrey Johnson Nadia Rouag Natalie Chin Adela Kelemen Asha Grace Sager Coco Close Sarah Kelly Eliana Schiller Maireid McAfee Cohen Samantha Kingsbury Clara Sewell Maya Dluzak Victoria Ko Angelina Sorensen Anaïs Dunbar Valentina Kornach Sophia Stolte Erin Enriquez Calla Kra-Caskey Stella Vale Sarah Eschen Angelyn Liu Olivia White Alexandra Fisher Sarah Liu Noelani Williams Caroline Freeman-Cherry Maggie Lu Maeve Wood-Soloff Samantha Fung-Lee Cécile Marsh Isabel Yang Ava Gaughan Darya Massih Linda Ye Hannah Gonzales Molly McLean Sophia Zuzga Kelsey Shei Greenberg Lois McTrang Video Production Taylor Joshua Rankin, video and audio editing Mike Axinn, co-producer, Following Juditha: The Journey of a Warrior Woman David Rosberg, additional cinematography and editor, Following Juditha: The Journey of a Warrior Woman 2 PROGRAM NOTES Antonio Vivaldi: Juditha Triumphans time with La Pietà he wrote countless It’s the Bible that originally tells the compositions that featured the young story of Judith and Holofernes. He is an musicians. Assyrian general who invades Bethulia with his army; she is a virtuous widow ~ Celine Ricci, who seeks him out to strike back, which Artistic Director, Ars Minerva she does—by cutting his head off. Using the story to their own political Duets: Barbara Strozzi and ends, Vivaldi and his librettist Cassetti Isabella Leonarda drew parallels to a Venice under threat 17th century Venetian composer and from Turkish invasion. The work was performer Barbara Strozzi continues to commissioned to celebrate the victory be an anomaly to scholars today. She of the Republic of Venice over the Turks led a very interesting life in that she was in Corfu and was performed at the an unmarried mother of four children, Ospedale della Pietà in November 1716. the illegitimate daughter of a courtly Here, Judith is the symbol of the fighting poet, and a composer whose work was spirit of the Venetians and Venice itself. unconnected to the church. Each of these details were unusual for the time, Juditha Triumphans was specifically let alone all of them in one woman. Yet conceived as an all-female oratorio (for she thrived, published many collections five female voices and choir) as Vivaldi of songs, regularly performed, and wrote it for the Ospedale della Pietà, avoided being placed into a convent, an orphanage primarily for girls. This which was very common for unmarried charitable institution was established women of her time. Her thoughts speak in the fourteenth century by a priest to through her music as in “Cosi non la house and care for children that had voglio”, where she tells the listener “I been abandoned. Girls were tested for don’t want to be like that”, describing the musical aptitude when they were nine fate one suffers if they fall prey to Love’s or so. The most talented were given arrow. In “Mercé di voi”, Barbara Strozzi and extraordinary musical education. By sets a poem by her father, Giulio Strozzi. the 18th century, the reputation of this all She weaves together two upper voice female ensemble had spread through parts in an expression of pure love and Europe and attracted visitors from all joy that is rare and uncharacteristic of her over the continent. usual poetic settings that highlight life’s misfortunes and struggles for solo voice. In 1703, a 25-year-old Vivaldi (1678–1741) was ordained as a priest and joined the It may be difficult to believe, but 17th Pietà as maestro di violino. He worked century Italian nuns were afforded there on and off from 1703 until 1740 many freedoms that were unavailable and became concertmaster. During his to their married counterparts, granted 3 they were financially privileged upon the first work in her Opus 1 collection. It’s entry into cloistered life. Isabella a passionate personal devotion to Christ Leonarda was one such nun. Born as the text exalts Jesus, expressing a to a prominent Novarese family, she longing to follow in His footsteps. The entered an Ursuline convent at age 16 style combines recitative, dance-like and became renowned for her prolific moments, and florid passages as was compositions for voices, strings, and the common style. It’s particularly lovely continuo over a 60 year period. In to hear her early writing style given fact, 2020 marks the 400th anniversary her long compositional history and the of Isabella Leonarda’s birth. She led a historical changes in music that occur long life rising to the highest positions during her lifetime. of influence within the convent. She taught other nuns to perform and even ~ Jolle Greenleaf arranged her works for mixed-voice Artistic Director, TENET Vocal Artists choirs. “O dilecte, O amatissime Jesu” is BIOGRAPHIES VALÉRIE SAINTE-AGATHE, Artistic festival at Lincoln Center. She also Director, has conducted the San Francisco collaborated with The Knights for the Girls Chorus since 2013, including in SHIFT A Festival of American Orchestras performances with renowned artists at the Kennedy Center in Washington, such as Jon Nakamatsu, Deborah Voigt, DC. After five years in the United States, Laurie Rubin, Philip Glass, Aaron Jay her first recording as SFGC’s Music Kernis, Gustavo Dudamel, and Michael Director, Final Answer, was released Tilson Thomas. A strong believer in on Orange Mountain Music in February musical collaborations, she has performed 2018. Between 2014 and 2016, she was with the New Century Chamber assistant conductor for Lisa Bielawa’s Orchestra, Kronos Quartet, Magik*Magik made-for-TV opera, Vireo. During the Orchestra and TENET Vocal Artists. In 2018–2019 season, she served as Artist February 2018 she made her Carnegie in Residence for KRONOS FESTIVAL Hall debut with the Philip Glass Ensemble, 2019 and performed with DJ Spooky conducting with Michael Riesman in conducting a multi-media, virtual reality Glass’s Music with Changing Parts. piece entitled Quantopia: The Evolution She also conducted The Photographer of the Internet. She also served as Choir by Philip Glass in October 2017. In Master with Taylor Mac, recipient of June 2016, she conducted the Chorus MacArthur Foundation’s “Genius Grant,” alongside The Knights Orchestra and for the “Holiday Sauce” production at Brooklyn Youth Chorus for the New the Curran Theater. York Philharmonic’s NY PHIL BIENNIAL 4 Ms. Sainte-Agathe served as Music Recent performances include Second Director for the Young Singers program Woman in Dido and Aeneas with of the Montpellier National Symphony Akademie für Alte Musik, with and Opera in France from 1998–2011. In performances in Berlin, Buenos Aires this capacity, she trained young singers and Rome, concerts with Philharmonia for opera and symphony concerts Baroque at Lincoln Center and and productions. She participated in Tanglewood, with Ars Lyrica at the eight recordings with the Montpellier Berkeley Early Music Festival and in National Orchestra and The Radio Houston, and with Romabarocca at France Festival. She is a recipient of Palazzo Braschi in Rome among other Victoires de la Musique, and a two-time projects. recipient of the Orphée d’Or award—for Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher and Ms. Ricci has an impressive discography d’Indy’s L’Étranger. Ms. Sainte-Agathe that includes a number of audio studied at the Montpellier Conservatory recordings and two DVDs. She has in piano performance. She received her performed with many distinguished bachelor’s degree in conducting and a conductors, including Nicolas McGegan, Master in Management from Université William Christie, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Paul Valery in Montpellier. Martin Haselbock, Martin Gester, Matthew Dirst, and Attilio Cremonesi, among others. In addition, she has worked with CÉLINE RICCI is Ars Minerva’s Founder. choreographer Sasha Waltz and director She stage directed Ars Minerva’s Deborah Warner on a number of projects. productions La Cleopatra, The Amazons Her touring has taken her to New York, in the Fortunate Isles, La Circe, and Los Angeles, Berlin, London, Brussels, Ifigenia in Aulide. Her recent staging of Israel, and Barcelona, Paris, Vienna, Domenico Freschi’s Ermelinda garnered Amsterdam, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. great critical praise: “Ars Minerva revives an unknown opera with beauty and style,” Joshua Kosman, The Chronicle. SAN FRANCISCO GIRLS CHORUS Stunning range, flexibility, drama, and Céline, born in Florence of Italian and power are among the hallmarks of the French parents, studied in Paris and 41-year-old San Francisco Girls Chorus’s continued her post-graduate studies Premier Ensemble, recognized as at the Guildhall School of Music and one of the world’s leading youth vocal Drama in London. Selected by renowned ensembles. Led by Artistic Director Valérie conductor William Christie for his Sainte-Agathe, the Premier Ensemble has academy, Le Jardin des Voix, she was achieved an incomparable sound that named one of opera’s promising new underscores the unique clarity and force talents in 2005 by Opernwelt. During of impeccably trained treble voices.