STABAT MATER 2014: Spirit, Strength and Sorrow CD launch party

Monday, 27 October 2014

On Monday 20 October, John Studzinski, Founder and Chairman of the Genesis Foundation, hosted a launch party for the CD Spirit, Strength and Sorrow. The CD features the three new Stabat Maters by Alissa Firsova, Matthew Martin and Tõnu Kõrvits, commissioned by the Genesis Foundation, alongside those by Claudio Casciolini and Domenico Scarlatti, all performed by Harry Christophers and The Sixteen. The CD was released on The Sixteen’s CORO label on Monday 3 November.

Guests who attended the launch included the three composers, Harry Christophers and The Sixteen, as well as key members of the UK and International press. During the course of the evening Harry Christophers and twelve members of The Sixteen performed Tõnu Kõrvits’ Stabat Mater from the new CD.

The commissions and the recording were made possible with funding from the Genesis Foundation and form part of a wider project that aims to generate a broader debate about the many meanings of the Stabat Mater. In June this year the commissions received their world premieres at a free sell-out lunch time concert at LSO St Luke’s, with a private evening concert for 250 guests held in the Raphael Gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum and a post-concert reception in the beautiful surroundings of the Hintze Gallery. Click here to read more about these events. They also received their Scottish premiere on 1 October at the opening concert of composer James MacMillan’s new annual music festival, the Cumnock Tryst.

Click here to read more about the new CD.