Redemption in Suffering: Pergolesi's Stabat Mater - Monday, February 19th at 5PM
- Past Event
- Location
- Sacred Heart Church, 1707 Bull Street, Savannah
Please join us for Pergolesi's Baroque masterpiece Stabat Mater and works by Vivaldi led by Fr Robert Mehlhart, OP.
The Stabat Mater is a medieval poem that describes Mary's grief as she stands at the foot of the cross and was set to music in the 18th century by the dying, twenty-six-year-old Pergolesi. One of the most emblematic works of the Baroque Period, it is a meditation on the idea of redemption in suffering through the intricate weaving of two female soloist lines, strings, and organ in ground-breaking harmonies.
Fr Dr Mehlhart is the President of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome and the Director of Music at the Theatine Church in Munich, where he leads the Vokalkapelle, founded in 1482 as the choir to the Bavarian Royal Court. He will be joined by soloists, soprano Kristi Bryson and mezzo-soprano Kim Leeds, and local professional instrumentalists, including members of the Savannah Philharmonic.
The concert will begin with a lecture delivered by Fr Dr Mehlhart on Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater that will navigate the inherent spirituality embedded in the composition. With his depth of knowledge, Fr Dr Mehlhart will unravel the intertwining themes of suffering, compassion, and redemption, and explore how the music becomes a vessel for theological exploration, inviting contemplation on the nature of divine mercy and human vulnerability. The Stabat Mater, in its artistic expression, becomes a conduit for participants to reflect on the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. By exploring the intricate theological threads woven into the composition, the talk will help illuminate the transformative power of this sacred music by fostering a deeper connection with the divine and the pursuit of theological truths.
Concert Program:
- Vivaldi: Crucifixus (RV 592) for Soprano, Alto, and strings
- Vivaldi: Cum dederit (RV 608:IV) for Alto and strings
- Pergolesi: Stabat Mater for Soprano, Alto, and strings
Lecture: 5p.m.
Concert: 6:30p.m
Please register here.
About the Conductor and Organist
Fr. Robert Mehlhart OP is Preside of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome. As such, he serves as rector of the Vatican’s University of Music, located in the Pontifical Abbey of St Jerome-in-the-City. The Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music (PIMS) trains church musicians and teachers of sacred music, rendering a service to the Church throughout the world. It offers a wide range of courses and degrees and currently has around 200 students from 42 nations.
In 2012, he was appointed Director of Music at the Theatinerkirche in Munich, where he directs the professional choir and orchestra in both weekly liturgical celebrations as well broadcast and concert performances. The acclaimed Vokalkapelle was founded around 1482 as the choir to the Bavarian Royal Court and has one of the richest musical traditions in Europe.
Educated at Regensburg, Vienna, and Oxford, his career has seen him associated with the Rosary Basilica of Vienna, Blackfriars Oxford, and the Arnold Schoenbergchor in Vienna.
Fr. Robert has appeared in many international Festivals, including the Salzburger Festspiele and Styriarte, where he had the opportunity to work with Nikolaus Harnoncourt. He has recorded on Sony Classical International and broadcasts regularly on Radio Vatican.
About the Soprano
Praised by critics for “an outstanding level of vocal agility” and “an effortless yet vibrant theatricality,” soprano Kristi Bryson has performed with leading ensembles including the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Les Violons du Roy, I Fagiolini, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, and Symphony Nova Scotia.
In 2022–23, Kristi performed Schubert’s Mass in B-flat Major with the Vokalkapelle of the Theatinerkirche in Germany, a solo recital for the University of Public Service in Hungary and was broadcast on CBC radio in a rendition of Sir Roger Scruton’s Lorca Songs. Kristi also performed Mozart's Exsultate, jubilate with Chameleon Ensemble and toured the UK with Douglas Hollick in a programme of Haydn's English Canzonettas.
In 2024, Kristi will release a song album with Toccata Next featuring a newly-commissioned song cycle for her voice by composer Oliver Markson.
Kristi trained at the Royal College of Music in the UK (MMus in vocal performance). She is featured as soloist on the University of King’s College Chapel Choir’s albums, in Allegri’s Miserere and Mozart’s Mass in D Major & G Major, and appears on the Opus nominated ATMA Classique album LUX.
About the Mezzo-Soprano
With her “rich, smooth mezzo soprano”, Kim Leeds engages audiences in her exploration of life’s essence through music. As a soloist, she has appeared with Grammy-winning ensemble Apollo’s Fire, Grammy-nominated True Concord Voices and Orchestra, Gramophone award-winning ensemble Blue Heron, Tafelmusik Baroque Chamber Orchestra and Choir, Les Délices, Cantata Collective, Bach Akademie Charlotte, Chicago Master Singers, Handel Society of Dartmouth, Bach Society of St. Louis, and the Oregon Bach Festival.
Over the years, Ms. Leeds has garnered multiple accolades, including winning the Tafelmusik Vocal Competition in 2016, attending the Carmel Bach Festival as a Virginia Best Adams Fellow in 2017, working with Philippe Herreweghe as a Britten-Pears Young Artist in 2019, and being in 2022 a semi-finalist in the Oratorio Society of New York Solo Competition.
As a choral artist, Ms. Leeds has performed in Europe with the Weimar Bach Academy under the direction of Helmuth Rilling and the Junges Stuttgart Bach Ensemble under Hans Christoph Rademann.
In the US, she has performed with the Oregon Bach Festival, Handel and Haydn Society, Grammy-nominated ensembles Seraphic Fire, True Concord, and Clarion choir, and Grammy-winning ensembles The Crossing and Apollo’s Fire.
Humanities
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