Beautiful Music

Today marks two years since this daily Beautiful Music blog series began. The COVID-19 pandemic had begun, and we were being advised to be socially distanced from one another. I initiated this forum as a way to bring us together safely — to share music, and beauty, and discovery, and to celebrate the wealth of […]

Today’s Beautiful Music is a live concert by MuSE (Multicultural Sonic Evolution) from October 2, 2021 in New York City. Directed by Yui Kitamura, they performed a program of serene and uplifting music by Antonio Vivaldi, Giuseppe Tartini, Francesco Durante, Gabriel Faure, Johannes Brahms, and Ludwig van Beethoven.      

Hélène-Louise Demars was a French harpsichordist, violinist and composer who was born in 1736. She composed a variety of cantatas dedicated to various patrons. Today’s Beautiful Music is one of three Cantailles she published in 1752 in Paris, HERCULE & OMPHALE. The performance features soprano Amandine Bontemps.      

Little is known about composer Paola Massarenghi. She was born in 1565 in Parma, and according to the website A MODERN REVEAL [see link below], she is credited for being the second woman ever to have a madrigal published during her lifetime. Only one of her compositions is known to have survived: the madrigal Quando

Claudia Sessa was a singer and lutenist born into an aristocratic family in Milan in the late 16th century. She became a nun, like a number of other notable women musicians of that era. Today’s  Beautiful Music is one of two of her known compositions: Occhi io vissi di voi performed by guitarist Jiji Kim.

Happy INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY! The theme of this year’s observance is BREAK THE BIAS. You can use the link below to learn more about the 2022 celebration. Today’s Beautiful Music features some trailblazing women musicians: composers Barbara Strozzi, Francesca Caccini, and Maddalena Sirmen. https://www.internationalwomensday.com/        

Australian musician Simone Young trained in Sydney, and began her professional conducting career in Germany. She’s held a variety of conducting jobs with prominent ensembles, including the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Bergen Philharmonic, the Hamburg State Opera, and Hamburg Philharmonic. In January 2005, Simone Young became the first woman to conduct the Vienna

Violinist Jennifer Roig-Francoli is an American musician who plays modern and baroque violin. The Indiana University graduate studied with Josef Gingold and Stanley Ritchie, and has performed with a variety of ensembles, including Apollo’s Fire, Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra and Chatham Baroque. Today’s Beautiful Music is from a March 2013 performance in Davidson, North Carolina of

Infusion Baroque is a Montreal-based quartet that specializes in period instrument performances of a variety of music. The ensemble was established in 2013, and frequently highlights music by women composers of the 17th and 18th centuries, and will be performing today (March 5, 2022) in Milwaukee! Today’s Beautiful Music is an introduction to Infusion Baroque

Antonia Padoani Bembo was an Italian musician who lived from approximately 1640 – 1720. She was a composer and singer who was born in Venice, but mainly worked in Paris where King Louis XIV was her patron. Today’s Beautiful Music is Antonio Bembo’s song HA QUE L’ABSENCE, performed by soprano Amanda Majeski with lutenist Brandon