I am especially proud of my latest design project for the San Francisco Girls Chorus and Ars Minerva. They provide access to music education to different communities in San Francisco. Music within these communities brings positivity, long lasting and life changing experiences. It breaks down barriers between people and cultures, and helps all girls to have the confidence and skills to be successful leaders of tomorrow.
The project is built around Vivaldi's Juditha Triumphans. Vivaldi wrote this oratorio in 1716 with a libretto in Latin by Giacomo Cassetti. The work was specifically conceived as an all-female oratorio as Vivaldi wrote it for the Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage primarily for girls in Venice.
The story of Juditha's slaying of Holofernes was often represented in baroque visual art and music. The intense drama full of seduction, courage and murder has its origin in the bible. Holofernes is an Assyrian general who invades the City of Bethulia with his army. Juditha is a virtuous widow who seeks him out to strike back, which she does - by cutting his head off. Juditha’s artistic and musical representations always have a political connotation of the oppressed overpowering the oppressor.
In my design, Judith is holding a sword and a Venetian coat of arms shield. She is a strong female leader surrounded by a multiracial group of girls. I read the story of Juditha Triumphans and wondered how she would look like nowadays. My version depicts Juditha as a black girl challenging white supremacy. Black girls are still an underrepresented group in music. They have to fight harder than their peers for equal resources and respect. Although no black girls are in the current cast of Juditha Triumphans, I wanted to empower these girls to follow their love of music and sing in choirs, and encourage the choirs to recruit more black girls into their operatic cast or oratorio ensemble.
The November 20th event will feature a video, highlighting the work the SFGC has accomplished since August 2020. A concept created by SFGC Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe and Ars Minerva Artistic Director Céline Ricci, the project should be presented in a staged version in the future. They will be joined by Corey Jamason, Head of the Early Music Department of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.