Abandoned at the age of two months and taken in by the Ospedale della Pietà, Chiara (or Chiaretta) rose – within that enclosed charitable institution in Venice – to become one of the leading European violinists of the middle of the 18th century. No stranger to such acclaim, himself, two-and-a half-centuries later, Fabio Biondi, on his first release for Glossa, devised a CD drawing on the personal diary of this remarkable musician who was taught by Antonio Vivaldi, and later became a virtuoso soloist on the violin, as well as the viola d’amore. The programme consists of concertos and sinfonias by composers who, like the prete rosso, taught at the Pietà: Porta, Porpora, Martinelli, Latilla, Perotti and Bernasconi are all musicians whose compositions charm and delight as much today as they did in the time of Chiara.