Tempesta di Mare and Soloists Perform Faustina & Santina

Prize-winning Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra Tempesta di Mare and vocal soloists Gabriela Estephanie Solís and Meg Bragle will perform Faustina & Santina: The Venetian Divas of Handel, Hasse & Veracini on May 17, 2025 at Trinity @ 22nd in Philadelphia, PA, and on May 18, 2025 at the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill. 

Faustina & Santina: The Venetian Divas of Handel, Hasse & Veracini will feature arias written for Faustina Bordoni and Santina Tasca, two leading divas of baroque opera's greatest stages in London, Prague and Munich. These two mezzo-soprano divas, both born in Venice, led lives full of both commonalities and contrasts. Despite very different starts in life—Faustina was born into a family of means, while Santina was raised in poverty in an orphanage— both women drove their own careers and achieved musical success. Many prominent composers created pieces specifically for these divas, including Handel, Hasse, and Veracini. 

The program will feature soloists Gabriela Estephanie Solís and Meg Bragle. Gwyn Roberts, co-founder and co-director of the award-winning Tempesta di Mare (Fasch Prize, Germany, 2023) will narrate the concert. 

Gabriela Estephanie Solís will portray Faustina Bordoni, a noblewoman born in Venice in 1697. Faustina was known as a great beauty, who studied with opera composer Michelangelo Gasparini. After becoming a renowned mezzo soprano on the Venetian stage, she moved to London in 1726 to sing in Handel's company at the King's Theatre, where he wrote many starring roles for her. She would eventually marry the German composer Hasse, who also wrote extensively for her. 

Faustina became known as one of the greatest singers of her generation, and she achieved remarkable career success and international renown well before her marriage at age 30. Although nearly everything written about her in modern times refers to her husband within the first sentence or so, her fame far outstripped his. Hasse, in turn, wrote some of his greatest roles for her. Their mutually supportive marriage lasted until her death in 1781. 

Meg Bragle will portray Santina Tasca, an opera singer who came from a very different background. Born into poverty in Venice in 1715, Santina was deposited in the scaffata, or drop box, at the Ospedale della Pietà shortly after her birth. She was covered with pockmarks acquired while living in crowded conditions with the other orphans. She studied with Francesco Gasparini, the music master at the Pietà, and with her female colleagues. 

After being caught with a man at the age of 18, Santina married her “seducer,” Antonio Tasca. She also had to pledge that she would never sing in public again. However, her husband supported her musical career, and they moved to London in 1735 to avoid the Pietà's strict non-performance rule. Santina sang in operas by Porpora and Veracini with the company that succeeded Handel's in the same King's Theatre as Faustina. She would also go on to have an international career, singing in Prague, Strasbourg, and Munich, ascending to the rank of Prima Donna along the way.   

 PROGRAM DETAILS  

FAUSTINA & SANTINA: The Venetian Divas of Handel, Hasse & Veracini 

Tempesta di Mare | Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra  
Gwyn Roberts & Richard Stone, directors | Emlyn Ngai, concertmaster  

Gabriela Estephanie Solís, mezzo-soprano 

Meg Bragle, mezzo-soprano 

Gwyn Roberts, narration 

Philadelphia Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. CATS (Shawnee Playhouse)

17.3% of votes

2. INTO THE WOODS (The Milford Theater)

6% of votes

3. NEWSIES (Viviana Theatre)

3.9% of votes

Vote Now!