UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 17 OCTOBER
Students featured at Cheltenham Literature Festival in an event to mark new releases from bestselling author Tracy Chevalier and debut novelist Harriet Constable.
Aoife Fahey (harpsichord), Daniel Marles (tenor) and Zinnia Smart (Baroque violin) performed music by d’Anglebert, Tromboncino and Vivaldi to bring alive the soundscapes of Venice in Chevalier’s The Glassmaker and Constable’s The Instrumentalist.
Both novels tell the tale of defiant and forgotten artists in the city. The event, Stories of Venice, saw Harriet Constable speaking to Clare Clark, reflecting on why Venice is such an inspiration. Unfortunately, Tracey Chevalier was unable to attend due to illness.
Daniel said: “I was honoured to take part in the launch of Harriet's book, which is such a celebration of the classical music world, and to be able to offer a taste of the sound world for listeners; I can't wait to read it myself.”
The Glassmaker is set in Venice in 1486 and follows a woman working with glass in secret, honing her craft through war and plague, tragedy and triumph, love and loss.
The Instrumentalist is an absorbing story of musical rivalry and ambition set in Venice in 1704. Eight-year-old Anna Maria is one of the three hundred orphan girls growing up in Ospedale della Pietà, but she is on a mission to become Venice’s greatest violinist and composer.
Pictured: Aoife, Dan and Zinnia with Harriet Constable and Clare Clark.