Concert: Vivaldi and his Virtuosa

There is no instrument, however unwieldy, that can frighten them. - Charles de Brosses, describing the musicians at the Ospedale della Pietà A female conductor leading an all-female orchestra was the hottest ticket in 18th-century Venice. The Ospedale della Pietà, a home for abandoned children, trained the boys in crafts and the girls in music. The most talented young women premiered the works of their teacher, Antonio Vivaldi, and became an international sensation.