Even the most passionate opera aficionados, who may have seen or heard most operas by Verdi, Puccini, Wagner, and Mozart, probably have never heard of Isabella Colbran, Maria Malibran, Carrie Jacobs-Bond, Alma Mahler or Pauline Viardot.

These little known 19th century pioneers wrote some beautiful operatic music that will be performed June 21 and 22 by three local classical music performers in “Echoes of Elegance: Women Composers of the Victorian Period” at Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion in Germantown.

“This will be an interesting, charming and fun event and will offer music from, and tales about, women creatives during this dynamic time in history,” said Mt. Airy singer Laura Kate Marshall, who will perform in the special presentation.

Marshall will be joined by singer Heather McConnell and pianist Mireia Frutos Fernandez. Organizers say the program “celebrates the musical legacy of women who, in an era dominated by men, crafted stunning works that were often left in the shadows.”

The singers will celebrate women such as soprano Colbran, who was married to composer Gioachino Rossini and wrote music about the royal women that she admired, and mezzo-soprano Pauline Viardot who Franz Liszt called a genius composer.

When Marshall takes the stage she will be paying tribute to women pioneers just like she did as a child actor. Marshall played her first stage role in kindergarten. She portrayed civil rights icon Rosa Parks in a school assembly honoring the lives of great women leaders. Marshall went on to study drama and musical theater at New York University and complete her master’s degree in vocal performance at Bard College, with a focus on early music.

Of her many performances, she describes singing at a fundraiser for disabled veterans in New Jersey as “memorable and deeply rewarding.” Marshall said, “The fact that those on our program managed, through patience, often hardship and just plain grit, to make a larger and valuable musical imprint on the world outside their own drawing rooms is remarkable and worth celebrating.” 

McConnell, who has won numerous awards for her vocal performances, is a co-manager of Opera on Tap Philadelphia, a local chapter of the national nonprofit that promotes and produces opera performances. McConnell earned a master of music degree in voice performance from Temple University and a bachelor of music with the highest honors from Gettysburg College. She has won numerous awards for her vocal performances.

“I will be highlighting pieces by women who would have been the Beyonces of their day… ,” McConnell told the Local. “Without Clara Schumann’s 60-year career, for instance, music history would be completely different, but she often appears in textbooks as a footnote to her husband’s tragically short life. We want to restore these women to their rightful place in music history while also giving our audience an insight into the day-to-day realities of being a Victorian woman.

Mireia Frutos Fernandez, originally from Madrid, will accompany Marshall and McConnell on piano during their concerts. Fernandez earned her master of music at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary. She has performed in Malaysia, Italy, Germany, Austria, France, Hungary, Spain, Israel and the U.S. as a solo pianist, a soloist with orchestras and in collaboration with music ensembles. She is an associate instructor in the collaborative piano department at the Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music and has won awards in contests including the Musical Youth of Spain and the “Marisa Montiel” piano competitions.

In the 19th century, playing piano was closely tied to women’s education, and music-making in the home was a vibrant part of many women’s lives even though opportunities for public performance were limited,” Fernandez said. The works she will be performing are a “powerful reminder” of women’s role in music history, a past that is often overlooked. 

“I think it's a wonderful idea to present this repertoire in a setting that closely resembles the one that these songs were originally intended for and performed on period instruments in an intimate atmosphere,” Fernandez said of the Ebenezer Maxwell, a Victorian mansion that offers educational programming, tours, theater productions and lectures. “Opportunities like this, where we can connect with music in its historically authentic format, are quite rare and deeply enriching. It is also especially meaningful to perform a program entirely by women composers.”

The “Women Composers” concerts are Saturday, June 21, 7 p.m., and Sunday, June 22, 4 p.m. Tickets are  $22.50 - $59.25. The Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion is at 200 W. Tulpehocken St. in Germantown. For more information, call 215-438-1861 or visit ebenezermaxwellmansion.org.

Len Lear can be reached at LenLear@chestnuthilllocal.com.