Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra’s latest program, Hearing Her Voice spotlights women in classical music. The concert series, which takes place from April 30 to May 3, features GRAMMY Award winning soprano Amanda Forsythe.
Forsythe will perform the work of a number of women composers, including Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Barbara Strozzi, and Marianna Martines. The concert also features the world premiere of an intergenerational work by Métis composer Karen Sunabacka and her mother, writer Joyce Clouston.
“What’s so powerful about this program is the dialogue it creates across time, bringing forward extraordinary music by women of the past alongside a new work that speaks from the present,” says Cristina Zacharias, Artistic Co-Director of Tafelmusik in a satement. “It reveals a lineage of creativity that has always existed, even if it hasn’t always been heard.”
Amanda Forsythe performs Tönt in meinen Lobgesang (Arie) from Telemann’s Ino on June 14, 2025 in Boston:
Amanda Forsythe
Soprano Amanda Forsythe recently won a 2026 GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album singing the role of Euridice on the recording of Charpentier’s La descente d’Orphée aux enfers with the Boston Early Music Festival.
She is a light lyric soprano who has been particularly lauded for her interpretations of the music of the Baroque era and the work of Rossini.
She is a native of New York City, and attended Vassar College. She first studied marine biology, and then made the switch to music, graduating with a degree in that subject. She followed up with graduate studied in vocal performance at the New England Conservatory of Music. Surprisingly, she was not accepted into the Conservatory’s opera program, and so looked for opportunities elsewhere.
She ended up performing in a Harvard University opera production, where she met her husband, conductor Edward Ellyn Jones. She also met Martin Pearlman, director of Boston Baroque, who asked her to audition. She has subsequently performed in several of their operas.
She won the George London Foundation Award in 2003, and took second place at the Liederkranz Foundation competition the same year.
Amanda went on to build an international career as a vocalist. She regularly performs as a soloist with notable Baroque ensembles such as Les Talens Lyriques, the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, the Boston Early Music Festival, the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, Tafelmusik, Apollo’s Fire, Opera Prima, Pacific Musicworks, Early Music Vancouver, and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.
The Concert
Performers
The list of performers includes:
- Amanda Forsythe, soprano
- Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra
- Premiering a newly commissioned work by Karen Sunabacka, Métis composer
- Joyce Clouston, Métis writer
- Charlotte Nediger, harpsichord soloist
- Directed by Patricia Ahern, Johanna Novom, Julia Wedman & Cristina Zacharias
Program
The program spotlights the work of rarely performed women composers of the Baroque period, along with Karen Sunabacka’s new work. The pieces include:
- Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre: Suite from Céphale et Procis & Semelé
- Mademoiselle Duval: Suite from Les Génies, ou les Caractères de l’Amour
- Wilhelmine von Bayreuth: Arias from Argenore & Concerto for harpsichord
- Maria Teresa Agnesi: Aria “Deh temprate” from Ulisse in Campagnia & music from L’insubria consolata
- Barbara Strozzi: Che si puo fare
- Maria Margherita Grimani: Aria “Sol fia pago” from La visitazione di Santa Elisabetta·
- Mrs Philarmonica: Sonata quinta
- Marianna Martines: Aria “Sol che un istante” from Il primo amore
- Karen Sunabacka: nitatisipwētānān/We are leaving (world premiere)
Performance Details
Hearing Her Voice by Tafelmusik takes place at Jeanne Lamon Hall at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre from April 30 to May 3, 2026.
- Find concert details and tickets [HERE].
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