Tempesta Di Mare, Soloists And Chorus To Perform Vivaldi's JUDITHA TRIUMPHANS

Tempesta di Mare, vocal soloists and the chorus of the Penn Collegium Musicum will perform The Triumph of Judith, the biblical story of Judith and Holofernes dramatized through music by Antonio Vivaldi (The Four Seasons, Gloria), on March 16, 2024 at Irvine Auditorium at the University of Pennsylvania. 

The Triumph of Judith (Juditha triumphans, 1716) is considered one Vivaldi's finest compositions and is his only surviving oratorio. This gem-studded work tells the tale of Judith, a Jewish woman who romances the invading Assyrian general Holofernes in order to kill him and free her people. Its arias range from dazzling to tender, its choruses rousing to reverent. Sung in its original Latin with projected English translation.  

The cast of soloists, Meg Bragle, Kirsten Sollek, Gabriela Estephanie Solís and Rebecca Myers portray in turn wiley Judith, grandiose general Holofernes, Judith's maid and accomplice Abra, and Holofernes's perky attendant Vagaus. In true operatic fashion, the chorus, sung by the Penn Collegium Musicum, a vocal ensemble specializing in Renaissance and baroque music and directed by Meg Bragle, represents various assemblies: Assyrian soldiers, banquet attendees and Judith's people. Backing it all is the award-winning Tempesta di Mare baroque orchestra (Fasch Prize, Germany, 2023), performing a score that exceeds the scope of normal baroque scoring to include chalumeau, clarinet, mandolin, solo organ, and consorts both of viola da gamba and theorbos. 

The portrayal of men by women emerges from Judith's original design, which Vivaldi composed for the female-only, conservatory-level music program at the Ospedale della Pietà, the orphanage in Venice where he taught. The soloists and the pageant-like orchestra highlight the talents of specific girls and women at the Pietà, whose names and what they sang and played are known today. All the students were poor, most were orphaned, and many had physical disabilities. Despite that, concerts at the Pietà were of such a high quality that they received acclaim throughout Europe.  

Ticket and performance information follows 

PROGRAM DETAILS 

Antonio Vivaldi: JUDITHA TRIUMPHANS 

Tempesta di Mare | Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra 
Gwyn Roberts & Richard Stone, directors | Emlyn Ngai, concertmaster 

Collegium Musicum | University of Pennsylvania 
Meg Bragle, director 

Meg Bragle | Juditha, a Jewish widow of Bethulia 
Kirsten Sollek | Holofernes, general of the Assyrian army 
Rebecca Myers | Vagaus, servant of Holoferes 
Gabriela Estephanie Solís | Abra, Judith's maidservant 

Saturday, March 16, 2024 at 4:00 | Irvine Auditorium, 3401 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 

Single Tickets for VIVALDI | JUDITHA TRIUMPHANS are on sale now. $55 (Premium), $45 (Preferred), and $35 (General Admission); FREE for full-time students and youth (recommended for ages 12 and older).  

3-concert Season Passes for remainder of season start at $84.  

For further details about Tempesta di Mare, please visit http://tempestadimare.org 

TEMPESTA DI MARE PHILADELPHIA BAROQUE ORCHESTRA  

Fanfare magazine has hailed award-winning Tempesta di Mare for its "abundant energy, immaculate ensemble, and an undeniable sense of purpose." Led by directors Gwyn Roberts and Richard Stone with concertmaster Emlyn Ngai, Tempesta performs baroque music on baroque instruments with a repertoire that ranges from staged opera to chamber music. The group performs all orchestral repertoire without a conductor, as was the practice when this music was new. The ensemble has presented over 350 concerts-projects with music by more than 70 composers, emphasizing a sense of discovery for artists and audiences alike. Their Philadelphia series launched in 2002, and has included over 50 modern world premieres of lost or forgotten baroque masterpieces, leading the Inquirer to describe Tempesta as "an old-music group that acts like a new-music group, by pushing the cutting edge back rather thanforward."  

In June 2023 Tempesta di Mare was awarded the Fasch Prize of the City of Zerbst/Anhalt, Germany for “their outstanding contributions to the performance, recording and promotion of the work of Johann Friedrich Fasch. Its supporters include the William Penn Foundation, the Paul M. Angell Foundation, the Presser Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.   

In a marketplace dominated by European ensembles, Tempesta is the only American baroque music group to record for the prestigious British label, Chandos. Current releases are Weiss: Lute Concerti (2004), Handel: Flaming Rose (2007), Scarlatti: Cantatas and Chamber Music (2010), Fasch: Orchestral Music, vol. 1 (2008), vol. 2 (2011) and vol. 3 (2012), Bach: Trio Sonatas, BWV 525–530 (2014), Mancini: Sonatas for a Flute, (2014), and Comédie et Tragédie: French baroque orchestral music for the theater, vol. 1 (2015), vol. 2 (2016). 2018 saw two additional discs: Janitsch: Rediscoveries from the Sara Levy Collection, and the first complete recording of Georg Philipp Telemann's Concerti-en-Suite. A fourth volume of Fasch premiere recordings is expected in November 2024. National broadcasts of live performances include SymphonyCast, Performance Today, Sunday Baroque and Harmonia. Live concert recordings are distributed worldwide via the European Broadcasting Union, a global alliance of public service media organizations, with members in 56 countries in Europe and beyond.   

International appearances have included the Prague Spring Festival, the Göttingen Handel Festival, the International Telemann Festival Magdeburg, the Mendelssohn-Remise Berlin and the International Fasch Festival in Zerbst. Recent North American appearances have included a return engagement at the Frick Collection and the National Gallery of Art. Other notable presenters have included the Miami Bach Festival, the Oregon Bach Festival, Abbey Bach Festival, Whitman College, Cornell Concerts, the Yale Collection, the Flagler Museum and the Garmany Series, Hartford.  

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