Location: Sprague Memorial Hall
470 College Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Open to: General public
Admission: Free
Description: Yale Voxtet, James Taylor, director, with Yale Collegium Players, Robert Mealy, director
Although opera was banned in early 18th century Rome and women still forbidden to sing in public, composers set oratorio texts that included as much blood, torment and passion as any opera plot. Biblical narratives, lives of early Christian martyrs, even the Passion story itself provided theatrical outlets for virtuosic singing, while wealthy patrons boasted large orchestras and designers able to furnish lavish settings for these performances.
Working from manuscripts in the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library and from the Santini Collection in Münster, Judith Malafronte has edited excerpts from two early oratorios by Antonio Caldara as well as Il Martirio di Sant’Orsola (The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula) by Alessandro Scarlatti.
Students in the ISM vocal program will perform arias and ensembles of great beauty and virtuosity from these works as well as from Handel’s Roman oratorios.