Agatha’s Cantata, Vivaldi’s Gloria – Dunkeld

To mark the screening of the documentary, Agatha's Story on SBS OnDemand, the Australian Chamber Choir presents Agatha's Cantata, Vivaldi's Gloria.

This concert is presented with an orchestra of period instruments

directed by Douglas Lawrence.

Vivaldi's Gloria was written for the famous all-female ensemble of Venice's Ospedale della Pietà. During Vivaldi's time teaching at this orphanage (1703-40), the Pietà developed an international reputation for its musical performances, presented exclusively by the young women who were educated there.

Born with only one finger on her left hand, Agatha was abandoned to the Ospedale della Pietà on the day of her birth in 1712. She spent her entire life at the orphanage. Given a thorough musical education, she grew up to become a singer, teacher, composer and finally, the Prioress and Director of Music.

Elizabeth Anderson discovered the surviving manuscripts of Agatha's Cantata in a Venetian library. As some of the manuscript parts had been lost, she immediately began work on a reconstruction, keen to give modern audiences the opportunity to hear the music of a hitherto unknown composer brought to life after a silence of some 300 years. This is, to date, the only surviving composition by an orphan of the Ospedale della Pietà.