Sisters, Saints, and Goddesses: Women’s Music for Cecilia’s Day

Name: Sisters, Saints, and Goddesses: Women’s Music for Cecilia’s Day
Start: 2024-11-24T19:30:00-05:00
Location: First Parish Cambridge Unitarian Universalist

Schedule

Sun Nov 24 2024 at 07:30 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

First Parish Cambridge Unitarian Universalist | Cambridge, MA

Eudaimonia, A Purposeful Period Band (Vivian Montgomery, Director) presents a concert honoring female composers past and present who, in turn, honor biblical, mythological, and historical women through their music.
Come at 7:00 for a pre-concert talk by violinist & composer Dana Maiben.
Social Action Partners for this concert are the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC) and Our Bodies Ourselves Today.
Admission is Pay What You Decide ($20 suggested).
Information at eudaimonia-music.org.
Eudaimonia, Artist-in-Residence at First Parish in Cambridge, invites all listeners into music from two far-apart centuries, connecting pieces by 17th century composers Barbara Strozzi, Francesca Caccini, Isabella Leonarda, and Chiara Margarita Cozzolani with works of living composer/performers Dana Maiben, Rebecca Nelson, Vivian Montgomery, and Nancy Prescott.
This unique program highlights trouble and triumph revealed by female figures who live in our collective memory: Venus, the Virgin Mary, St. Cecilia, Alcina, philosopher/poet Sarra Copia Sulam, poet Meena Alexander, and suffragist Inez Milholland.
Performers include soprano Pamela Murray, mezzo soprano Pamela Dellal, Eudaimonia’s stellar string ensemble, harpsichordist Vivian Montgomery, and our vocal ensemble Eudaimonia Voices.
In addition to Eudaimonia’s musical offerings, the ensemble lifts up work by two longstanding local organizations doing the hard work to protect women’s bodies by providing counselling, shelter, support of reproductive rights, education, and advocacy. Representatives from Boston Area Rape Crisis Center and Our Bodies Ourselves Today will speak on their crucial efforts in our region and across women’s lives.

Eudaimonia’s residency at First Parish in Cambridge joins the group with a historically activist church supporting the marginalized and fighting for justice on many fronts. Supported by First Parish as its Harvard Square home base, Eudaimonia promotes an inclusively warm atmosphere, breaking boundaries among musical styles and cultures in a welcoming and accessible venue, while advocating for local service organizations.