Tempesta Di Mare To Open 2025–26 Season With HIDDEN VIRTUOSAS

Philadelphia’s Tempesta di Mare – the award-winning Baroque Orchestra – will launch its 2025–26 season with Hidden Virtuosas, a multi-event project that sheds light on the extraordinary but long-overlooked female musicians of baroque Venice.

Running November 1–8, 2025, the immersive initiative includes a symposium, performance salon, and concert programs featuring modern world and North American premieres. The project continues into 2026 with a chamber concert series in February/March and a discovery tour to Italy in March, offering audiences the chance to explore the music and stories of these women in the very cities they lived and worked.

The centerpiece of Hidden Virtuosas is Agata’s Cantata, performed November 7–8 at Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral. Tempesta di Mare will give the U.S. premiere of Agata della Pietà’s Ecce nunc, a rare work reconstructed by Richard Stone. The program also includes Andrea Bernasconi’s Cessate ire furores, featuring cadenzas by Fortunata della Pietà, and Antonio Martinelli’s Concerto in C, with cadenzas by Chiara dall’Violino della Pietà—all presented as modern world premieres. The concerts will feature soprano Laura Heimes, mezzo-soprano Gabriela Estephanie Solís, the Choir of Girard College, and Tempesta musicians under the direction of Gwyn Roberts and Richard Stone, with lighting and projections by Midnight Productions.

On November 1, the project opens with a symposium and performance salon at FringeArts Theatre & Bar. Hosted by Sunday Baroque’s Suzanne Bona, the symposium will feature scholars and artists discussing why music composed by women often went unpreserved and how their stories can be reclaimed today. Panelists include Vanessa Tonelli, Paula Maust, and Gwyn Roberts. The following salon will recreate the atmosphere of a Venetian evening gathering, with Tempesta musicians portraying historic figures such as Giovanna Cedroni, Santa Tasca, Anna Maria dall’Violino, Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen, Paolina dal violoncello, and Anna Bon.

The project continues in spring 2026 with Le Donne Musicali (February 27–March 1), a chamber program highlighting works by Francesca Caccini, Isabella Leonarda, Agata della Pietà, and Anna Bon, alongside music written by Vivaldi, Porpora, and Gasparini for the women of the Venetian ospedali. The program will feature Tempesta Chamber Players with mezzo-soprano Gabriela Estephanie Solís.

Finally, Tempesta will lead a curated Discovery Fan Tour to Venice, Ferrara, and Florence from March 23–30, 2026. The weeklong journey will allow audiences to experience the music and stories of the ospedali’s women firsthand, in the breathtaking settings where their artistry flourished.