From Lady Macbeth to Rosalind (in As You Like It), Shakespeare was well ahead of his time in giving women their full due as human beings, writing strong, compelling female characters into his plays.

In a special Library event, Kansas City’s Bach Aria Soloists and performers with the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival meld scenes spotlighting some of the Bard’s most formidable women with the indelible music of trailblazing female composers.

Among the notable musical artists whose works are featured:

• Italy’s prolific Barbara Strozzi, one of the few women in the 17^th century to publish her own compositions.
• Hildegard von Bingen, a German Benedictine abbess who not only composed but also was a philosopher, mystic, visionary, and medical writer and practitioner during the High Middle Ages.
• Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, a Baroque composer, harpsichordist, and singer who was a favorite of King Louis XIV and the first woman to compose an opera in France.