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Past Event: Yale Schola Cantorum presents: Haydn's Stabat Mater and Kuzina-Rozhdestvenska’s Agnus Dei

Schola Cantorum performing.

This event has passed.

Free; no registration required
https://ism.yale.edu/events/2024-11-10-yale-schola-cantorum-presents-a-french-requiem-by-mozarts-friend
Woolsey Hall
500 College Street New Haven, CT 06511
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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 Joseph Haydn: Stabat Mater
     

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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.

Contact: Jeff Hazewinkel

View program

About Anna Kuzina-Rozhdestvenska

Even in the darkest times, the courageous “voices” of Ukrainian composers will not be silenced. One of Anna Kuzina-Rozhdestvenska’s most dramatic scores, the Agnus Dei for mixed voices (SSTTB) and tubular bells, was composed in July 2022 in response to the start of the war in Ukraine, and it honors the bright memory of the countless victims of the 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. The esteemed London vocal ensemble Apollo5 commissioned Agnus Dei and premiered it on September 30, 2022, at the Ukrainian Cultural Week in Oxford at Christ Church Cathedral, and recorded it in October on their new album Haven. A new voicing of Agnus Dei (SATTB) and tubular bells was written in January 2023 and premiered on March 15 in New York City by the Choir of Trinity Wall Street at St Paul’s Chapel, with Stefan Parkman conducting. The Ukrainian premiere occurred on May 27, 2023, at the Kyiv Musical Premieres 2023 festival, sung by the Khreshchatyk chamber choir and conducted by Pavlo Struts. 

Notes by Anna Kuzina-Rozhdestvenska, composer, and Marian Dolan, choral conductor (Yale, D.M.A.)

About Franz Joseph Haydn

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He is best known for his numerous symphonies and chamber works as well as large scale choral works such as The Creation, The Seasons, Mass in a Time of War, and Stabat Mater. He was one of the most famous composers of his era and has sometimes been referred to as “father of the symphony” and “father of the string quartet”.