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MacMillan’s Stabat Mater

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

Classical Music

Please note this event does not take place at Sydney Opera House.

This concert promises a cathartic experience, tapping into music’s power to communicate heartfelt emotion, from the fervent expression of joy to intense sorrow. The Chamber Singers shine in this intimate but powerful program of music inspired by faith and human experience.

It’s not often that the composer of a new work gets a standing ovation, but then every new work isn’t like James MacMillan’s Stabat Mater

The Times

MacMillan’s Stabat Mater

In this concert Brett Weymark showcases one of the most exquisite combinations in music: the sound of a virtuoso chamber choir with string orchestra. And the program he’s chosen reflects the musical richness of the Christian liturgical tradition and the inspirational vision of faith.

Australian composers Daniel Brinsmead and Andrew Anderson offer fervent and heartfelt expressions of joy, celebration and simple devotion. Arvo Pärt’s signature bell-like style is represented by two of his most popular instrumental meditations.

At the heart of this concert is music by James MacMillan, whose sublime anthem “Who Shall Separate Us?” was heard in the funeral service for Elizabeth II. His setting of the Stabat Mater is a fiercely impassioned evocation of Mary’s grief at the foot of the cross, finding soaring moments of extraordinary beauty and consolation in the heart-breaking drama of this most sorrowful of Christian texts. The Stabat Mater might be a 13th-century litany but in MacMillan’s hands it becomes a deeply personal and devastatingly immediate account of a mother’s anguish.

Program

Andrew ANDERSON
I Sing in My Heart*†

Arvo PÄRT 
Festina lente 

Arvo PÄRT 
Fratres 

Daniel BRINSMEAD 
Cantate Domino*†

James MACMILLAN 
Stabat Mater**

* Premiere
† From 100 Minutes of New Australian Music Project
** Australian premiere

Artists

Conductor
Brett Weymark 

Chamber Singers
Sydney Philharmonia Chamber Orchestra

Presented by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

Other information

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