Heroines of the Seicento

Bellot Ensemble, BBC Radio 3's New Generation Baroque Ensemble, is joined by soprano Mariana Rodrigues for Heroines of the Seicento, a programme centred on women's voices in 17th-century Italy.

Scenes from Francesca Caccini's La liberazione di Ruggiero sit alongside intimate cantatas and rare monody by Barbara Strozzi, Antonia Bembo, Lucia Quinciani, Francesca Campana and Isabella Leonarda. Instrumental sonatas and canzonas by Uccellini, Falconieri, Pandolfi Mealli, Merula and Marini inhabit the same world of character and expression. With soprano, strings and continuo, the programme moves between theatre and chamber music, offering contrast, colour and virtuosity throughout.

Performers:
Mariana Rodrigues soprano
Edmund Taylor violin
Maxim Del Mar violin
Jacob Garside cello, viola da gamba
Daniel Murphy theorbo
Matthew Brown harpsichord