UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State School of Music in the College of Arts and Architecture will host the North American premiere screening of "Venetian Mysteries: The Lost Music" on Thursday, Sept. 25, at 7 p.m. in Esber Rehearsal Hall, Music Building I, University Park. The event is free and open to the public. This event is co-sponsored by Penn State Consortium for Early Modern and Medieval Studies (CEMMS)”
The program will begin with a brief talk by Marica Tacconi, distinguished professor of musicology and art history at Penn State, who will introduce the music and its historical significance. The 45-minute documentary screening will follow, after which the audience will have the opportunity to participate in a Q&A with Tacconi and soprano Liesl Odenweller, artistic director of the Venice Music Project.
Filmed at Boughton House in England, and in Venice, Italy, the documentary tells the story of newly discovered Baroque manuscripts in the Montagu Music Collection at Boughton House. Preserved in the private archives of the Duke of Buccleuch, these compositions had remained silent for more than two centuries until an international team of musicians and scholars — including Tacconi — brought them back to life through research and performance. Tacconi and her research are prominently featured in the film.
"Venetian Mysteries: The Lost Music" was produced by the Venice Music Project with support from the Regione Veneto, Italian Veneto Region. The film was written and directed by Italian filmmaker Claudia Giammatteo.
A trailer for the documentary is available on YouTube.