Italian women composers of the Seicento

Francesca Caccini, Barbara Strozzi, Francesca Campana, Antonia Bembo, Isabella Leonarda

"A poetic and committed manifesto to restore the voices of History’s forgotten women."

With this program, Les Kapsber’girls paint a musical portrait of five Italian women composers of the 17th century, whose works, long marginalized, are nonetheless deserving of recognition and prominence. The concert is structured as a biographical and emotional journey, alternating vocal pieces (cantatas, villanelles, arias), instrumental works, and narratives about these women’s lives.

The music of Francesca Caccini, the first woman to compose an opera, sits alongside the intimate and sensual works of Barbara Strozzi, the elegant villanelles of Francesca Campana, the dramatic cantatas of Antonia Bembo, and the spiritual rigor of Isabella Leonarda.

Each selected piece reflects a facet of their journey — their relationship to power, to love, to religion, or to creation.

• Musical training 5 musicians (2 voices, viola da gamba, harp, theorbo)
• Timing 75 min without intermission or 80 min with intermission
• Format staged version with readings of biographical texts
• Recording : Vox Feminae, Alpha Classics (2025) – Diapason d’Or,Gramophone Editor’s Choice