by Valerio Viale
In order to grasp the scope of the unique musical event, to be hosted at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on January 20th, we need to go back to 16th century in Venice, Italy. Back then, numerous charitable associations, composed of lay men and women alongside religious ones, were formed.
Among those, the oldest one, the Ospedale della Pietà (Hospice of Piety), used to give recovery to the orphans, the sick, the old, the impoverished, in a word "the outcast". The most gifted girls, who showed a clear predisposition for music, trained to become "Figlie di Coro" (Choir Girls), within the former, as well as other institutions alike.
Fonte: L'italo-Americano
