Composers Marianna Martines and Maria Antonia Walpurgis defied 18th-century convention by putting women front and center. GRAMMY-nominated soprano Lauren Snouffer takes the stage in this daring solo performance reawakening Talestri, Queen of the Amazons, and Berenice, Princess of Egypt. Lauren also shines in bravura arias by Gluck and J.C. Bach, written for the era’s fiercest rival to the soprano: the castrato, a castrated male singer.  The storied Opera Lafayette Orchestra completes this program with Haydn’s Symphony 63, “Roxelana,” an instrumental work celebrating the Sultana of the Ottoman Empire.