In this wide-ranging program spanning the 12th to 21st centuries, flutist Ginevra Petrucci, soprano Heather O’Donovan, and viola da gambist Oliver Weston present chamber music centered on love and light. From the breaking dawn of Hildegard von Bingen’s O frondens virga to the warmth of sun on a cold winter day (explored in Roger Zare’s Apricity), the quintessential love duet of Monteverdi’s “Pur ti miro” to the resounding compassion of Kaija Saariaho’s Changing Light, enjoy an hour of music
meant to warm us as the days grow shorter.
Program to include:
Hildegard von Bingen, arr. Missy Mazzoli - O frondens virga
Flannery Cunningham - as if my eyes were caught
Claudio Monteverdi - "Pur ti miro" from L'incoronazione di Poppea
Roger Zare - Apricity
Carl Friedrich Abel - Prelude
Warren Benson - selections from Five Lyrics of Louise Bogan
Kaija Saariaho - Changing Light
Bios:
Italian flutist Ginevra Petrucci has an international career spanning solo, chamber, and orchestral performance, contemporary music, recording, research, and artistic production. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, National Sawdust, Teatro La Fenice, the Venice Biennale, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and Tokyo’s Ohji Hall.
She is Principal Flute of the Chamber Orchestra of New York and Fort Greene Orchestra and performs regularly with Parlando, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, and New Haven Symphony Orchestra. Her chamber collaborations include the Dorian Wind Quintet, I Musici di Roma, I Virtuosi Italiani, and Kodály Quartet.
She is the founder of the Flauto d’Amore Project, which has commissioned more than 50 new works and encompasses performance, recording, research, instrument development, education, and publishing. She is also a founder of Rule of Three, a flute-viola-harp trio combining core repertoire with commissions, rediscoveries, and narrative-driven programming. With Pano Hora Ensemble, she serves as Co-Director of Artistic Planning, developing projects centered on eclectic repertoire, unusual instrumentations, and wide-ranging sources of inspiration.
She has recorded more than 20 albums and prepared critical editions spanning repertoire from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century. She earned her Master of Music at Yale University and Doctor of Musical Arts at Stony Brook University. She performs on a 14kt gold Wm. S. Haynes flute and is based in New York City
Heather O’Donovan is a New York-based soprano, writer, and librettist. On stage, she has premiered contemporary works including Andrew Lovett’s The Analysing Engine and Flannery Cunningham’s Weehawken. Additional credits include Nino Rota’s I due timidi; Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea; and a workshop of Julian Wachner’s Rev. 23. Scene work includes Cendrillon; La Fille du Régiment; Così fan tutte; and Die Zauberflöte. Most recently, Heather was a 2026 Professional Artist at SongFest.
As a writer, Heather is the dramaturg and librettist of the award-winning Gilbert & Sullivan adaptation Princess Ida: The Glow Up, premiered by the Manhattan School of Music Undergraduate Opera Theatre, and she is in the process of developing the libretto for her first full-length opera. Heather contributes program notes to various cultural institutions, with recent notes appearing at Carnegie Hall and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Her artist interviews, cultural commentary, and other writings have been featured by WQXR, DACAMERA, Princeton University’s Department of Music, and Maestra Music, as well as in publications from Fast Company to BuzzFeed. A keen contributor to cultural conversations, Heather appeared on the podcast Culture Tasters alongside librettist and mentor Mark Campbell.
Heather graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with a degree in music and received her master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music.
Oliver Weston is a cellist and violist da gamba specializing in historical performance. He began his studies close to home at North Carolina School of the Arts before continuing at The Juilliard School, where he earned a Master of Music in Historical Performance under the guidance of Phoebe Carrai and Sarah Cunningham.
Now based in New York City, his work has taken him throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia, in collaboration with ensembles including Philharmonia Baroque, Opera Lafayette, Science Ficta, The Academy of Sacred Drama, Harmonia Stellarum, and Shanghai Camerata. Recent projects include recording for the 2019 film Joker, performing on both modern and historical instruments. He is a founding member of Ember Ensemble, dedicated to historically informed presentations of Baroque opera and 17th- and 18th-century repertoire.
Mr. Weston performs on a viola da gamba by Guy Derat, an eighteenth-century baroque cello by Samuel Thompson, and a modern cello by James McKean. When not playing, he enjoys photography, cooking elaborate meals, long scenic drives, and seeking out an occasional springtime audience with baby goats.