Concert: From Ghetto to Cappella

While the Inquisition raged throughout Counter-Reformation Italy, the ghetto walls that separated Gentile from Jew were more porous than impenetrable. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, we explore the cross-fertilization of Jewish and Catholic musical cultures that enriched the music of both synagogue and sanctuary.

 

Works of Benedetto Marcello, Francesco Durante, Barbara Strozzi, Salomone Rossi, and unaccompanied Hebrew chants attest to a lively conversation, as do selections from the 1759 Hebrew libretto of Handel's Esther, commissioned by the Jewish community of Amsterdam in the year of the composer's death.

 

 

From Ghetto to Cappella is co-produced by Salon/Sanctuary Concerts and Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, with assistance from the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di New York, and originated with support from the Archdiocese of Florence, Italy.