Genesis Foundation celebrates album release of James MacMillan’s Stabat mater at launch event with performance by Harry Christophers and Genesis Sixteen

6 March 2017

John Studzinski, founder and chairman of the Genesis Foundation, hosted a reception to celebrate the album launch of James MacMillan’s Stabat mater which was commissioned by the Foundation for Harry Christophers and The Sixteen and given its world premiere last October at the Barbican Centre. Guests were treated to a short recital by Harry Christophers and Genesis Sixteen as well as the premiere screening of a specially commissioned film on the work.

This new recording, released on Friday 3 March, features Harry Christophers conducting The Sixteen and Britten Sinfonia in a work many have acclaimed as a contemporary masterpiece. The Times declared: “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 for chorus and string orchestra.” The Financial Times commented: “MacMillan…speaks of a ‘painful world of loss, violence, and spiritual desolation’, and those are the intense feelings packed into his score.”

The Barbican premiere was followed by performances across England; audiences gave these performances standing ovations as a response to the emotional directness of MacMillan’s composition and his belief that ‘beauty is at the heart of our Christian faith.’ The work receives its Scottish premiere in Edinburgh on 23 March and in Glasgow on 24 March.

To purchase copy of James MacMillan’s Stabat mater, click here.

To find out more about the project and watch the film, click here.

To find out about the Scottish premiere, click here.