How many female composers can you name? How about from the 17th century? In this fourth in our series of “Waiting in the Wings: Seen but not heard,” we hear music composed by seven little-known women composers of the 17th century. Listen to the exquisite voices of Musica Spira-- two sopranos with viola da gamba and
harpsichord. These gifted Italian women composed music for their convents, for the courts, and for private academies of learning. Note well their names to remember
them after hearing their compositions: Maria Perucona, Chiara Cozzolani, Francesca Caccini, Maria Perucona, Antonia Bembo, Barbara Strozzi, and Isabella Leonarda.
Our gifted ensemble Musica Spira has been enchanting audiences since 2016 with leaders Paula Maust, harpsichord, and Grace Srinivasan, soprano, and guest
artists Crossley Hawn, soprano, and Amy Dojmingues, viola da gamba. Join us for an inspiring fall program and enjoy tea & sherry at intermission. Children under the age
of 18 accompanied by an adult are admitted free.
Musica Spira (Music Breathes) brings the underrepresented stories of early modern women musicians to life through thought-provoking programs that shed light on women’s multifaceted contributions to music history. Co-Directors Grace Srinivasan and Dr. Paula Maust combine scholarly research with innovative musical programming to create concert themes that “draw musical traditions of the past and present into renewed conversations about the importance of life and values” (The Wilson Center). Founded in 2016 and based in the Baltimore, MD-Washington, D.C. area, Musica Spira’s recent programs include “The Ugly Virtuosa,” “Forth From Her Pen,” and “An Extraordinary Innovation.” They have performed on concert series at the Indianapolis Early Music Festival, the Women Composers Festival at Strathmore Mansion, the Peabody Institute, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Bloomington Early Music Festival, the Walters Art Museum, and the Society of Historically Informed Performance series in Boston.
Praised for her “beautiful vocalism” (San Francisco Gate) and engaging presence, soprano Grace Srinivasan has established herself in the Baltimore-Washington area as a versatile performer of a wide spectrum of repertoire ranging from medieval chant to contemporary compositions. A graduate of Peabody Conservatory and a Washington, D.C. area native, Grace sings professionally as cantor and associate music director at St. Stephen Martyr Catholic Church, cantor at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, section leader at Temple Sinai, and at Washington National Cathedral as a staff soprano. Grace has sung with ensembles throughout the country, including Sound Salon, the Washington Bach Consort, Cathedra, Capitol Early Music, Capriccio Baroque and Chantry, and has performed on concert stages across North America from Seattle to the Dominican Republic. Grace serves as resident music director for the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company in downtown Baltimore and is a co-founder of the early music ensemble Musica Spira, which highlights music by early modern women. An occasional screen actor, she appeared in the PBS docudrama Enemy of the Reich as Noor Inayat Khan.
Paula Maust is a performer, scholar, and educator dedicated to fusing research and creative practice to amplify underrepresented voices and advocate for social change. She is the creator of expandingthemusictheorycanon.com, an open-source collection of more than 500 music theory examples by historical women and/or people of color. A print anthology based on the project was published with SUNY Press in December 2023. Additionally, she is an Early Modern Area Editor for Grove Music Online’s extensive gender and sexuality revision project. Paula’s research has been published in Women and Music and the Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music, and she regularly presents her work in lectures across the United States. As a harpsichordist and organist, Paula has been praised for combining “great power with masterful subtlety” (DC Metro Theater Arts) and as a “refined and elegant performer” (Boston Musical Intelligencer). As the co-director of Musica Spira, she curates provocative lecture- concerts connecting baroque music to contemporary social issues focused on women. Paula performs extensively as a continuo player with numerous ensembles in the region, including the Washington Bach Consort, the Folger Consort, Third Practice, and Pro Musica Rara. Paula is an Assistant Professor of Music Theory at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. She holds degrees in harpsichord from Peabody (DMA ’19, MM ’16) and in organ from the Cleveland Institute of Music (MM ’12) and Valparaiso University (BM ’09).
DC-based soprano Crossley Hawn enjoys an engaging career in various styles of music. She has performed solos with ensembles including The Folger Consort, The City Choir of Washington, Choralis (past winner of the Choralis Young Artist Competition), Washington Bach Consort, Chatham Baroque, Cathedral Choral Society, Cathedra, The Thirteen, The Reston Chorale, Maryland Choral Society, and Maryland Summer Chorus. Crossley has also appeared with Eya Medieval Music, Musica Spira, True Concord, Kinnara, Chorosynthesis, Chantry, The District Eight, Washington Master Chorale, and the U.S. Air Force Singing Sergeants. Crossley has performed various operatic roles, for which she has been honored in DC Metro Theater Arts "Best of" lists. She enjoys employment at The National Shrine and at the Washington National Cathedral. She served as Project Manager and ensemble singer for Experiential Orchestra's GRAMMY-winning premiere recording of Dame Ethel Smyth's The Prison. Crossley is an Artistic Director of Bridge Voices, a professional vocal chamber ensemble specializing in new works for voices.
Amy Domingues is an ardent performer, whether it be on the cello, viola da gamba, baryton or vielle. Her early career honed her ensemble skills as a session cellist, recording and touring with rock and experimental bands in the USA, Europe, and Japan. Later, armed with a relentless interest in music history, Amy turned her focus to the viola da gamba and baroque cello. She holds a master’s degree in Historical Performance (Viola da Gamba) from the Peabody Institute and has performed in masterclasses for Wieland Kuijken, Paolo Pandolfo, and Philippe Pierlot. She appears with groups as varied as The Folger Consort, Musica Spira, Hesperus, The Washington Bach Consort, and the Valencia Baryton Project. Amy is a founding member of Sonnambula (Ensemble in Residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art 2018-2019). She is an avid educator, maintaining a private studio of cello and gamba students, and has served as faculty at the Madison Early Music Festival, Amherst Early Music, and the Viola da Gamba Society of America Conclave, as well as workshops abroad. Amy appears on over 70 albums in multiple genres, most recently Sonnambula’s world premiere of Leonora Duarte’s Sinfonias (Centaur Records). She is a multiple recipient of the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities Fellowship Grant as well as grants from the Viola da Gamba Society of America for teaching and performance. Amy resides in Washington, DC with her husband and two cats.
Location
Setting: In-Person DACOR Bacon House 1801 F Street, NW Washington, DC 20006 UNITED STATES
