Summer Festival of Sacred Music at St. Bart's Continues 9/6

The 21st annual Summer Festival of Sacred Music at St. Bartholomew's Church continues on Sunday, September 6, at 11 am with Chiara Margarita Cozzolani's Messa à 4.

Chiara Margarita Cozzolani (1602-1677) was a singer, composer and Benedictine nun. She spent her adult life cloistered in the convent of Santa Radegonda in Milan. There she developed one of the most celebrated ensembles of women's voices, comprised of Benedictine nuns, in all of Catholic Europe. Milan boasted some twenty female musical foundations. Travelers' reports and guidebooks all testify to the renown of the Santa Radegonda sisters. On major feast days, they sang for a public, both local and visiting, in the public part of the nuns' church, which would be crowded to capacity.

Cozzolani's Messa à 4 is scored for women's in four parts with continuo. The Women of St. Bartholomew's Choir and an ensemble of period instruments will be conducted by William K. Trafka.

The Summer Festival of Sacred Music takes place at St. Bartholomew's Church at the corner of Park Avenue and 51st Street. Subway: 6 to 51st Street. For more information, call (212) 378-0222or visit http://stbarts.org/music/summer-festival-of-sacred-music/for the complete schedule.