Lecture and Recital Featuring Scott Metcalfe, Sophie Michaux, and Emiliano Ricciardi : College of Humanities & Fine Arts : UMass Amherst

A collage of three professional headshots. On the left, a man with gray hair, glasses, and a black blazer smiles warmly with crossed arms. In the center, a woman with curly silver hair and a yellow sweater looks upward with a thoughtful expression. On the right, a man with a beard, glasses, and a tweed blazer looks directly at the camera with a calm, steady gaze. Each represents a distinct, professional style.

A lecture-recital featuring Prof. Emiliano Ricciardi (Department of Music and Dance) and members of the award-winning ensemble Blue Heron

In this lecture-recital, Prof. Emiliano Ricciardi (Department of Music and Dance) and members of the award-winning ensemble Blue Heron will showcase the art of virtuoso soprano and harp player Laura Peverara (1563-1600), one of the most distinguished women musicians of the late Renaissance. Hailing from Mantua, Peverara joined the Este court of Ferrara in 1580, performing alongside Livia d’Arco and Anna Guarini in the renowned concerto delle dame, a three-soprano ensemble that performed highly virtuosic repertoire for the exclusive consumption of the ducal family. Laura became a source of inspiration for notable composers like Luzzasco Luzzaschi and Giaches de Wert as well as for distinguished poets like Torquato Tasso, who celebrated her in their respective works. In this event, we will shed light on Peverara’s activity at the Este court, placing it in the larger context of the late sixteenth-century discourse on the status of women in the arts. At the same time, by performing a selection of works written specifically for her, we will illustrate some of the vocal skills that so impressed her contemporaries.

Speakers/Performers

Emiliano Ricciardi (https://www.umass.edu/music-dance/about/directory/emiliano-ricciardi)

Members of Blue Heron (https://www.blueheron.org/)

Scott Metcalfe, director (https://www.blueheron.org/about-us/music-director/)

Sophie Michaux, mezzo-soprano (https://www.blueheron.org/about-us/musicians/sophie-michaux/)

Dani Zanuttini-Frank, lute (https://www.newberryconsort.org/bios-1/rotem-gilbert-7x5ww)

Public-domain visual arts

Concerto: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/italian-venetian-a-concert
Arpa estense: https://artsupp.com/en/artists/anonymous/arpa-estense

Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies

EMAIL

rencen [at] umass [dot] edu (rencen[at]umass[dot]edu)

PHONE