From Royaumont to San Francisco, from Reims to the Netherlands, these women musicians are redrawing the map of Baroque and traditional music. Between rare repertories, creative projects and dazzling virtuosity, they assert distinctive voices on stage — from the lute to spirituals, from “La Follia” to the songs of Latin America. 
By 
Lucile Richardot at Royaumont Abbaye (France)
At Royaumont Abbey, near Paris, Lucile Richardot and the ensemble Correspondances, conducted by Sébastien Daucé, presented Northern Light, a luminous and contemplative programme devoted to Baroque Scandinavia. On the shores of the Baltic Sea, they brought to light a repertoire as beautiful as it is rarely heard: the sacred music of the Stockholm court.
With Lucile Richardot, the ensemble Correspondances and Sébastien Daucé.
Vajra Voices and Shira Kammen in the San Francisco Bay Area
In Palo Alto, Berkeley and San Francisco, the female vocal ensemble Vajra Voices and the multi-instrumentalist and singer Shira Kammen, supported by the San Francisco Early Music Society, presented a strikingly original programme: Notre ancienne appartenance (“Our Ancient Belonging”), a millennium of music from Aquitaine to the Appalachians. Who would have imagined that Appalachian music — rooted in English and Irish folk tunes — could resonate so naturally with sacred and secular French repertories of the eleventh and twelfth centuries?
With Shira Kammen, the Vajra Voices.
Monika Pustilnik: lute and dance in Switzerland
In a video shared on social media between concerts in Geneva and Liestal, the lutenist Monika Pustilnik recalled that “music is to dance what words are to music: the dancer renders music intelligible through the truth of gesture and the vivid expression of the face.” This quotation from Jean-Georges Noverre (1760) is embodied in her interpretation of the eighteenth-century piece Cascade by Ennemond Gaultier le Vieux.
With Monika Pustilnik and Marthe Krummenacher.
Mariana Flores and Alfonsina at the Opéra de Reims
The soprano Mariana Flores and her long-time collaborator, the guitarist Quito Gato, offered audiences at the Opéra de Reims a musical journey to Argentina and its roots. With Alfonsina, they paid tribute to the women of Latin America, portraying in song their loves, sorrows and joys through traditional pieces from Argentina, the wine-growing region of Cuyo and beyond.
With Mariana Flores and Quito Gato.
Dorothée Oberlinger and Follia in the Netherlands
The flautist and conductor Dorothée Oberlinger and her Ensemble 1700 toured Amsterdam, Zeist and Eindhoven with their programme Follia, a genre in which virtuosity — bordering on frenzy — is the hallmark of the many compositions built on this celebrated bass pattern that conquered the Baroque world. Based on the solemn sarabande bass, it gives rise to ever-renewed variations: refined, wild and ecstatic. Composers such as Vivaldi, Corelli, Falconieri and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach all contributed to this tradition. In this friendly duel of rapid-fire notes, the violinist Yves Ytier proves himself not only a violinist but also an impressive dancer.
With Núria Rial, Ensemble 1700 and Dorothee Oberlinger.
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