Harpsichordist and actress Elina Mustonen delves into life at the ospedale, the Italian 
orphanages for girls dating back to the Middle Ages, in a work commissioned especially from

composer Eero Hämeenniemi. Towards the end of the 17th century, the Venetian ospedales
became some of the foremost music schools for girls in Europe, with teachers including
such illustrious maestri as Vivaldi, Galuppi, Cavalli, Gasparini, Legrenzi, et al.

The musical drama Laura Maddalena tells the story of two girls who lived at the ospedale
at different times, bringing together history and fiction, Venetian harpsichord music, and
new music and texts by Eero Hämeenniemi. In addition, the performance includes music
by Luigi Rossi, Barbara Strozzi, Domenico Scarlatti, Baldassare Galuppi and Ferdinando
Bertoni. The performance is in Finnish.

Venetian art history is a world unto itself. Vivaldi and the Four Seasons. Monteverdi and the
invention of opera. All those painters and sculptors and their magnificent works. Venice
was also a playground for Mozart’s librettist Lorenzo da Ponte and a certain man named
Casanova. Later on, Venice became a popular destination for artists wishing to take their
last breath.

The chamber music series Veneziana features stories of both the credible and incredible
varieties. Iiro Rantala has ratcheted his overactive imagination to the limit, and tonight he
will tell us stories one more fantastical than the next.

What happens in Venice ... We’ll hear all about it in Kuhmo!
Iiro Rantala (in November 2022)