I am thrilled about the collaboration between the San Francisco Girls Chorus and Ars Minerva around Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans! The San Francisco Girls Chorus is such a unique and inspiring organization which creates young, talented musicians and provides them with a high quality of education. One thing the performers who created Juditha Triumphans and the SFGC choristers have in common is that they are all young talented ladies who dedicate their life to music.
To me, the story of Judith is a legacy of empowerment, strength, and independence that women have passed to each other since the ancient times. The SFGC performers go through this journey as the young orphans girls of L'Ospedale della Pietà in Venice did 300 years earlier when they created Vivaldi's Juditha Triumphans. The choristers were surprised by the modernity of the story despite it coming from ancient times. The story also provided them with a feminine role model to look at. In their own words, Judith is not a woman who is waiting around for a man to end the war. She is competent and in charge. She is the heroine, not the assistant or lover of a hero.
The choristers have experienced the learning of this piece during the pandemic and its isolation which resonates with the isolations of the choristers of La Pietà who originally created the role in 1716. The orphan girls were cloistered and their life was entirely devoted to music. Times are different today; passion for music is better when coupled with freedom and the choristers are aware that. Music is a big part of their identity but what would it be without freedom?

Céline Ricci.

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The production will be fully staged in the future.