Sister Isabella Leonarda (6 September 1620 - 25 February 1704), " the Novara muse ",  she was the most prolific of all the seventeenth-century composers, both inside and outside the convent walls.

She entered the college of S. Orsola at sixteen and remained there for 68 years, serving the monastery as vicar mother, superior and councilor. He published as many as 20 collections of motets and other works, nearly 200 compositions that include practically every genre of sacred music of his time: Masses, Vespers, motets in Latin and Italian for 1-4 voices with and without violins, and a collection of sonatas for 1 and 2 violins, the only complete collection of instrumental music of the time composed by an Italian woman.
The Artemisia Chapel would like to celebrate this exceptional woman, whose vast production remains largely and unfairly unknown.

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Cappella Artemisia is an ensemble of voices and instruments dedicated to the music of the Italian female monasteries of the 16th and 17th centuries .

The repertoire includes both unknown works composed by the nuns themselves, and pieces written by better known composers, but proposed, often for the first time, in their original way, that is, without male voices.

The musicians are all specialized and established performers in the field of early music.

They regularly collaborate with other ensembles such as Il Concerto Italiano , Accademia Bizantina , La Venexiana , L'arte dell'Arco , Mala punica , La Reverdie , La Risonanza , Cantar far , ModoAntiquo , L 'Accademia Strumentale and others.
Since 1991, the ensemble has had flattering results, both for the rarity and originality of its repertoire, and for the high quality of its performances. She has been invited to the most prestigious early music festivals in Europe and North America.

In 2018 he recorded his 9th CD: The Motets of the Pavese nun Bianca Maria Meda (1619).
The name of Cappella Artemisia is inspired by the painter Artemisia Gentileschi, a significant figure in seventeenth-century Italy whose artistic value is finally beginning to earn the recognition it deserves.

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