Ladurner / Birsak

Maria Theresia Paradis, a pianist, singer and composer renowned in her day, was born in Vienna on 15 May 1759 and lost her sight three and a half years later for reasons that remain unclear. During her major concert tour between 1783 and 1786, she met Valentin Haüy in Paris and encouraged him to found the first educational and training institution for the blind. It was there that Louis Braille later became acquainted with the peg system developed for Maria Theresia – which she used to compose her correspondence and musical scores – and went on to develop it into the modern Braille script. These »composition boards« are now preserved in the Collection of Early Musical Instruments at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, and it is precisely there that soprano Maria Ladurner and Florian Birsak invite you to a matinee featuring works by Paradis and her sighted contemporaries, performed on instruments from the collection. A demonstration of the boards and an explanation of how they work are included!