Cappella Artemisia

Cappella Artemisia is an Italian all-female vocal group specializing in the music of the convents of 17th Century Italy.The group was founded by the American, but resident in Italy, singer and musicologist Candace Smith.Smith is also co-publisher, with her husband cornettist Bruce Dickey of editions of this music through Artemisia Editions.The main repertoire of the group focuses on nun composers themselves - including Raphaella Aleotti, the first nun to publish as a composer, Maria Xaveria Perucona and Isabella Leonarda (both Ursulines), Chiara Margarita Cozzolani and Rosa Giacinta Badalla (both from the Milan convent of Santa Radegonda), Sulpitia Cesis (from the Augustinian convent of S. Geminiano in Modena), Alba Tressina, Lucrezia Orsina Vizzana and Caterina Assandra.The ensemble also performs works of the male composers - some monks, some secular, who dedicated works to the covents.