Leonarda Remix

Isabella Leonarda made history as the first woman to compose secular instrumental music with her 1683 collection of 12 Sonatas (Op. 16). Inspired by these groundbreaking works, 5th Wave Artistic Director Ashley Ertz has arranged six of the sonatas for a variety of instruments: some for modern versions of the instruments originally intended to play the piece,  and some for instruments that wouldn't be invented for at least another 200 years. We will  perform some of the sonatas in a more traditional style and some completely remixed — and YOU can join the fun! 

Leonarda was creating music during the Baroque era, a musical period in which the division between composer and performer was less pronounced than it can be today. Many Baroque era composers did not give many specific instructions in their scores, and musicians were expected and encouraged to add their own style and expression to each performance. We're embracing that tradition and inviting YOU, our concert audience, to become an arranger alongside Ashley! Our concert audience will choose the instruments for one of our new arrangements — a world premiere by Ashley Ertz and all of you. Join 5th Wave as we bring this historic music to life today.

Suggested donation at the door: $10

Donations benefit 5th Wave Collective and Heaven Gallery. 

Program

Selections from 12 Sonatas, Op. 16 by Isabella Leonarda (1620-1704)

In *world premiere* arrangements by Ashley Ertz

Anna Isabella Leonarda was one of six children born to Giannantonio, a count and lawyer, and Apollonia Leonardi, in Novara, west of Milan. By the time she was 80, she had written 20 books of music including solo motets, sacred concertos for 2-4 voices, litanies, masses and music for Vespers, primarily in Latin but occasionally in Italian. She is notably credited with being the first woman to write sonatas for violin and basso continuo. In addition to composing more than 200 works, she was a music instructor and a singer while holding positions of authority at the Collegio di Sant' Orsola, a convent in Novara, which she entered in 1636. There, she was deemed “the Novarese Muse par excellence.”

–Notes by A Modern Reveal