In the 16^th cen­tu­ry the cos­mopoli­tan city of Venice was the place to be for female artists. As the epi­cen­tre of print­ing and (rel­a­tive) per­son­al free­dom, Venice gave the music world a tremen­dous boost. For women such as Maddalena Casulana, Barbara Strozzi and Antonia Bembo, that free­dom allowed them to com­pose and – in the case of Casulana – even to pub­lish a num­ber of books. Countertenor William Shelton’s trio recount the event­ful life sto­ry of Antonia Bembo. This Venice-born singer and com­pos­er mar­ried, but then lat­er filed for divorce and fled the city. She spent the rest of her life in Paris under the pro­tec­tion of Louis XIV.

Music by Antonia Bembo (1640−1720), Maddalena Casulana (1544−1590), Barbara Strozzi (1619−1677), Francesco Cavalli (1602−1676)