On Sunday, November 10 at 4 p.m., Yale Schola Cantorum will perform Haydn’s Stabat Mater and Anna Kuzina-Rozhdestvenska’s Agnus Dei.
Stabat Mater is a 1767 setting by Franz Joseph Haydn of a 13th-century Christian hymn to the Virgin Mary that portrays her suffering as a mother during the crucifixion of her son Jesus Christ. Haydn scored his setting for soprano, alto, tenor and bass soloists, choir and orchestra.
The setting of the Agnus Dei by Ukrainian composer Anna Kuzina-Rozjdestvenska was composed in 2022 in response to the start of the war in Ukraine to honor the memories of the countless victims of war. The traditional liturgical text is framed by tubular bells which ring at the opening in memory of the lives lost, and they sound again after the final dona nobis pacem to mark the proclamation of peace throughout the earth.
Free and open to the public.
Repertoire:
Anna Kuzina-Rozhdestvenska: Agnus Dei for Mixed Choir and Tubular Bells
Franz Jospeh Haydn: Stabat Mater
Schola Cantorum is a chamber choir that performs sacred music from the sixteenth century to the present day in concert settings and choral services around the world. It is sponsored by Yale Institute of Sacred Music and led by interim conductor Stefan Parkman. Masaaki Suzuki is the ensemble’s principal guest conductor. Open by audition to students from all departments and professional schools across Yale University, the choir has a special interest in historically informed performance practice, often in collaboration with instrumentalists from Juilliard415.