Women’s Voices Chorus is excited to announce that we’ve received a $950 grant from the WCPE Education Fund to support the production of a documentary film about our performance of Vivaldi’s Gloria in D, performed during our Winter 2013 concert season. Vivaldi composed his Gloria for the girls and women of the Ospedale della Pietà, a convent, orphanage, and music school in Venice, Italy. Today it’s rare to hear an all-female performance of the Gloria, since not all women’s groups can provide the wide vocal range of the original Ospedale choir’s female tenors and basses. In our Gloria et Pax concert, accompanied by a baroque orchestra, we gave an authentic performance similar to what might have been heard in Venice 300 years ago.
The WCPE grant will help us to produce a documentary about this performance, including footage from the rehearsals and concerts as well as interviews with the Artistic Director and chorus members. The finished project will be made freely available online to audiences worldwide. WCPE’s Education Fund supports classical music education opportunities and educational outreach, and we are proud that they have chosen to help fund this project that will broaden understanding of Vivaldi’s music and female vocal music in general.
The total cost to produce our film will be $1750, so prior to receiving WCPE Education Fund grant we spent $800 for a videographer to capture our rehearsal and performance in January 2013. If you’d like to make a donation to help recover the funds spent from our annual budget, we would welcome your support online through Network for Good.
Check out some photos of Women’s Voices Chorus visiting the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice during our European concert tour in July 2012: