New Concert Series 'Open Gates Project' in New York Features Women Of Color

Gotham Early Music Scene (GEMS) inaugurates its Open Gates Project with The Divine Feminine: Centering Women of Color in Early Music, a program of 17th-century works celebrating the animating feminine spirit featuring an ensemble composed of women of color.

The performances take place November 12 at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church (Manhattan), November 13 at Jamaica Performing Arts Center (Queens), and November 14 at Pregones Theater (Bronx).

Taking its name from the creative force that brings all things into being, The Divine Feminine features sacred and secular works by preeminent 17th-century female composers Chiara Margarita Cozzolani, Barbara Strozzi, and Francesca Caccini, performed by outstanding rising and established American and International Artists, with careers encompassing early, chamber, and Classical music, opera, jazz, and musical theater. The program is bookended with works devoted to the Virgin Mary. It opens with Madre, de los primores by New World visionary Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz who is considered the first great Latin American poet and recognized for her influential perspectives on women and scholarship. Pergolesi's glorious and sublime Stabat Mater closes the program.

Through its Open Gates Project, GEMS is committed to significant efforts to make early music performance opportunities more equitable for artists of color and more accessible to historically excluded communities of color. Over the coming year, the Project will offer a rich variety of music performed by distinguished artists for diverse audiences throughout New York City.

Tickets priced at $15-$30 ($5 for students, ID required at venue) are all General Admission seating and are available online at gemsny.org; by calling 212-866-0468; and at the door, subject to availability. For more information, visit the website or email media@gemsny.org.