This event was presented in association with TORCH, with support from the Humanities Cultural Programme, and the Ashmolean Museum.
The world-famous Ashmolean Museum was founded in 1683 by Elias Ashmole, an Enlightenment polymath. Within the Festival’s sub-theme of the Enlightenment, Xa Sturgis, the Museum’s Director, discusses the Ashmolean’s past, present and future. Alongside this, we hear songs by Purcell and Haydn, as well as the 17th-century Venetian composer and singer Barbara Strozzi, whose stature in the musical pantheon as a leading Baroque composer is growing steadily. These songs are performed by Anna Cavaliero, who gave stunning performances at Wolfson College and Fairlight Hall earlier this year, having studied with Barbara Bonney at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and at the studio of the Opéra National de Lyon. Anna is joined by acclaimed harpsichordist Julian Perkins, Artistic Director of Cambridge Handel Opera and Sounds Baroque.
