Britain's What's On Event Guide
Dvorák - Stabat Mater
Performed by Mayfield Festival Choir
Conductor: Jeremy Summerly
Orchestra: Ripieno Players
Soloists: Sofia Kirwan-Baez (Soprano), Alexandria Moon (Alto), Francis Melville (Tenor), Ed Birchinall (Bass)
It was the Stabat Mater that alerted British audiences to Antonín Dvorák’s greatness as a composer. The Stabat Mater was performed in London in the early 1880s (in the newly-built Royal Albert Hall), and it had been written sporadically at a difficult point in the Czech composer’s life. Dvorák was in his mid-thirties when he was composing the Stabat Mater – at a time when he lost his first three children within the space of two years. Inevitably, this series of bereavements coloured Dvorák’s approach to the setting of this heartfelt 13th-century text. That said, there is no self-pity in the Stabat Mater. Tune after glorious tune fills a work that portrays every positive emotion on the spectrum: fear, awe, fervour, patriotism, love, and joy; all of which ultimately lead to triumph in the piece’s closing section.
Because Dvorák is so well known for his symphonies, operas, and Slavonic Dances, it is easy to overlook his sacred music. But Dvorák was working as a church musician in Prague while he wrote the Stabat Mater, and his deep religious conviction and unshakeable faith in humanity are evident in every bar of his great oratorio. For this performance, Mayfield Festival Choir will be joined, as usual, by the Ripieno Players and four young vocal soloists, who will be led by the incomparable Soprano, Sofia Kirwan-Baez, whose presence in Mayfield is always greeted with well-deserved high expectations.
Would you like to sing with us? We would love to hear from anyone who has experience of choral music and is keen to be part of a friendly but ambitious choir. Contact the membership secretary through the website www.mayfieldfestivalchoir.org/join-the-choir
Conductor: Jeremy Summerly
Orchestra: Ripieno Players
Soloists: Sofia Kirwan-Baez (Soprano), Alexandria Moon (Alto), Francis Melville (Tenor), Ed Birchinall (Bass)
It was the Stabat Mater that alerted British audiences to Antonín Dvorák’s greatness as a composer. The Stabat Mater was performed in London in the early 1880s (in the newly-built Royal Albert Hall), and it had been written sporadically at a difficult point in the Czech composer’s life. Dvorák was in his mid-thirties when he was composing the Stabat Mater – at a time when he lost his first three children within the space of two years. Inevitably, this series of bereavements coloured Dvorák’s approach to the setting of this heartfelt 13th-century text. That said, there is no self-pity in the Stabat Mater. Tune after glorious tune fills a work that portrays every positive emotion on the spectrum: fear, awe, fervour, patriotism, love, and joy; all of which ultimately lead to triumph in the piece’s closing section.
Because Dvorák is so well known for his symphonies, operas, and Slavonic Dances, it is easy to overlook his sacred music. But Dvorák was working as a church musician in Prague while he wrote the Stabat Mater, and his deep religious conviction and unshakeable faith in humanity are evident in every bar of his great oratorio. For this performance, Mayfield Festival Choir will be joined, as usual, by the Ripieno Players and four young vocal soloists, who will be led by the incomparable Soprano, Sofia Kirwan-Baez, whose presence in Mayfield is always greeted with well-deserved high expectations.
Would you like to sing with us? We would love to hear from anyone who has experience of choral music and is keen to be part of a friendly but ambitious choir. Contact the membership secretary through the website www.mayfieldfestivalchoir.org/join-the-choir
Sunday 16 November
St Dunstans Church, Mayfield, East Sussex TN20 6AB
Sunday 16 November 2025 at 7.30 pm.Tickets cost £30 (centre), £25 (rear), £15 (south side), £8 (north side). Free for under 25s. Available: a/ online at www.ticketsource.co.uk/mayfieldfestivalchoir; b/ in person from Sew Inspired, Mayfield; c/ by phone from 0333 666 3366 (This is a general booking line operated for us by TicketSource. Please be sure to say that you are booking tickets for Mayfield Festival Choir – Stabat Mater. A postage fee of £1.80 will be applied to each order.)
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