Saturday 7pm, 2016 St. Alban’s Episcopal Church 2555 Euclid Heights Blvd. Cleveland Heights, OH 44106 $10-20 suggested donation Malina Rauschenfels and Josefien Stoppelenburg, sopranos Phillip W. Serna, viola da gamba Paula Maust, harpsichord Burning River Baroque presents – Twisted Fate: Famed and Forgotten Female Composers The history of western art music predominantly focuses on the lives and works of male teachers, composers, and performers. In eras when women rarely had access to the same educational and professional opportunities as their male colleagues, it can be easy to presume that women were simply not as productive and successful in the field. A closer look at history, however, reveals that some women in the past were able to rise above the gender restrictions placed on them and achieved great success as professional musicians. Others led more private professional lives cloistered in abbeys and composing for their fellow sisters. Burning River Baroque will present a program that blends works of both the famous and forgotten female composers from antiquity to the present, including Hildegard von Bingen, Jacquet de la Guerre, Princess Anna Amalia, Chiara Margarita Cozzolani, Barbara Strozzi, Isabella Leonarda, and Martha Bishop. “Twisted Fate: Famed and Forgotten Female Composers” will explore the ways in which historical circumstances twisted the lives of some women into the spotlight and others into the shadows as well as their diverse portrayals of female characters. Burning River Baroque Founded in Cleveland in 2012, Burning River Baroque takes its name from the famous incident in which the badly polluted Cuyahoga River caught on fire. This name not only connotes the fiery passion which the ensemble brings to its performances, but also reflects the practice of tying history and social change to music and current issues in a way that feels fresh and relevant to contemporary audiences. While Baroque performance practice informs the group's presentation of historical works, they have evolved its presentation to encourage a participatory concert atmosphere, breaking the fourth wall and involving audiences in the drama that is occurring onstage. Burning River Baroque seeks to throw open the doors of the concert hall to audience members that may never have considered that classical music had something to offer them or could reflect their life experience and concerns. Classical music can be perceived as elitist or stuffy; Burning River Baroque shows that it can be the opposite. It is our mission to create concerts that appeal to all types of audiences. Burning River Baroque has performed in NYC, Boston, Berkeley, California, Canada, and extensively in Ohio. The Boston Musical Intelligencer described them as a group that “...left an indelible imprint on my psyche.” Co-directors Malina Rauschenfels and Paula Maust manage the group and hire outside artists as necessary for a diverse array of programs each concert season. "Burning River Baroque left an indelible imprint on my psyche." -The Boston Musical Intelligencer- http://www.burning-river-baroque.org/