On Demand re-release: Julia Perry's Stabat Mater

We are thrilled to re-release our September 2020 performance of Julia Perry’s dramatic Stabat Mater into our On Demand library for the rest of the season!

Perry (1924-1979) studied voice, piano, and composition at Westminster Choir College in the mid-1940s, where she earned her Bachelors and Masters degrees. She composed her Stabat Mater while studying at Julliard and with Luigi Dallapiccola at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood. She received two Guggenheim Fellowships and spent a decade in Europe studying with Nadia Boulanger and Dallapiccola. She taught at Florida A&M and Atlanta University, and her work A Short Piece for Orchestra enjoyed success with major American orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic and the Pittsburgh Symphony. Perry died at age 55 in Akron, OH.

Her setting of the 13th century Latin Stabat Mater text, which portrays the suffering mother whose son has died, covers a range of expression, depicting sorrowful depths as well as healing light and consolation. This is a piece and a composer that should be more widely known, and we are honored to share her work with all of you.

Our performance features mezzo-soprano Lucia Bradford (who is also a Westminster Choir College alum!) and a quintet of strings from our Resonance Chamber Orchestra - Sandro Leal-Santiesteban, Maureen Conlon Gutierrez, Si Yu, Elise Feagley, and Jesica Sharp Crewe. Maria Sensi Sellner conducts.

Watch this performance on demand through the end of the season for $5.