Name: Barbara Strozzi
Start: 2022-07-07T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2022-07-09T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Blackheath Halls

Organization

Conductor

Harry Sever

Costume designer

Gidon Saks

Blackheath Halls Opera

Barbara Strozzi

London

United Kingdom

Blackheath Halls

Public

Approved

In Strozzi! Trinity Laban performers bring to life the intriguing world of seventeenth-century Venetian composer Barbara Strozzi. The drama uses Strozzi’s own music to illustrate the events of her extraordinary life, right from her childhood in a bohemian household, as a gifted young singer at L’Incogniti (one of Venice’s famed Academies), to the days of her celebrity and success as a published composer and society queen.

Set in a city famous for the pursuit of pleasure, the story also explores her alleged double life as a courtesan. Many colourful characters enter the stage in this ‘pasticcio’ - and the scandals, controversies and tragedies in Barbara’s power-packed life are featured against a backdrop of plagues, wars, poverty, carnival and celebration.

Cavalli, Monteverdi and the ghost of Gesualdo appear - and their stories are reflected in Strozzi’s ravishing music. The arrangements of the music, performed with a small instrumental ensemble, will echo the exotic and diverse influences which resonated in this cosmopolitan city. This is a passionate tale of poets, singers, artists, lovers, courtesans, aristocrats, entrepreneurs, villains and murderers - all dominated by an extraordinary woman who was far ahead of her time, forging her way forward in a male-dominated world.

English

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Crew