Pergolesi: Stabat Mater
Thursday 27 March, 19:00
(Doors open at 18:30)
Oslo Cathedral
Adult: 500 NOK
Senior/student: 400 NOK
Child: 100 NOK
Duration: 1 hour and 15 minutes
Concert introduction by Mathias Gillebo: To sing reality 18.00
(Doors open at 17.45)
Il Pomo d’Oro
Melissa Petit, soprano
Ann Hallenberg, mezzo-soprano
Experience Pergolesi’s original Stabat Mater
Critically acclaimed Il Pomo d’Oro presents Giovanni Pergolesi’s (1710–1736) Stabat Mater in its original ensemble form from 1736. The work is written for two vocal soloists (soprano and alto), strings, and basso continuo, and is composed in the Neapolitan opera style. Pergolesi died from tuberculosis at 26 years old, and his Stabat Mater was completed in a Franciscan monastery in the city Pozzuoli, likely on the composer’s death-bed. After his death, Pergolesi was elevated to stardom, and Stabat Mater went on a victory tour all over Europe. Unlike church musical works from the same era, this work is more lyrical in character, with melodic elegance and minimal counterpoint. Much of the musical inspiration is drawn from Italian opera music. The work is one of the most performed Stabat Mater works in history. This concert offers a considerably slimmer edition than what is usually performed, keeping with the original chamber musical sound in Pergolesi’s work. The audience can also look forward to two beautiful settings of the Marian hymn Salve Regina by the two Italian Baroque composers Domenico Scarlatti and Leonardo Leo.
Welcome to an Italian Baroque evening with Il Pomo d’Oro and the world-leading soloists Mélissa Petit and Ann Hallenberg, under the direction of concertmaster Zefira Valova.
Concert introduction by Mathias Gillebo: To sing reality
18.00-18.20 (doors open at 17.45)
Duration: 20 minutes
The event requires a concert ticket to Pergolesi: Stabat Mater.
We have invited tenor and theologian Mathias Gillebo to hold a concert introduction following on from his PhD thesis from the Norwegian Academy of Music, where he explores ethical and political implications of singing. Gillebo’s studies are based on the experience that common human fundamental conditions become clear in a unique way by singing to someone: vulnerability, strength and weakness, mutual dependence, power and trust, they all happen in and through the voice when it sounds from one person to another. In this, we find the singer’s ethical-political mandate: to use their singing voice in a concert is to participate in a public discourse about what and who we are and can be for each other.
Il Pomo d’Oro has, since being founded in 2012, received attention for their historical performing practice, with authentic interpretations of operas and instrumental works from the Baroque and Classical eras. The ensemble is known for its performances and recordings of various operas in concert form, and has collaborated with conductors such as Riccardo Minasi, Stefano Monatanari, and George Petrou. Maxim Emelyanychev has been the ensemble’s chief conductor since 2016, and since 2019, Francesco Corti has been their primary guest conductor. Concertmaster Zefira Valova leads the orchestra in different projects. The ensemble is named after the opera Il pomo d’oro (the Golden Apple) by the opera composer Antonio Cesti.
Mélissa Petit started her singing education in her hometown of Saint-Raphaël and in Nice, before becoming a part of the International Opera Studio at Staatsoper Hamburg and Opernhaus Zürich in 2015. Petit is a sought-after soloist and has had several important debuts, among them at Bregenzer Festspiele, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Opéra national de Paris, Salzburger Festspiele, and Theater an der Wien.
Swedish Ann Hallenberg regularly performs at opera houses and festivals such as Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Theater an der Wien, Salzburger Festspiele, and BBC Proms. As a concert singer, she has built an unusually broad repertoire, ranging from music from the early 17th century to modern pieces. She has collaborated with some of our time’s greatest conductors, and has recorded more than 45 CDs and DVDs. Two of her solo CDs have won the award for ‘Best Operatic Recital’ at the International Opera Awards in London.
Mathias Gillebo has his education from the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Academy of Opera in Oslo. He regularly works with leading orchestras and conductors, both in Norway and abroad, with works such as Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, St John and St Matthew Passions, Handel’s Messiah, and Mozart’s Requiem. He is an in-demand Bach Evangelist, and is often engaged in projects with newly written music. On stage, he has played several parts at the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, the Oscarsborg Opera, and a number of regional operas. Gillebo is also educated as a theologian, and has worked as a priest in Oslo Cathedral. He wrote his Master’s thesis on how music affects thinking and language. He has a PhD from the Norwegian Academy of Music, where he wrote about singing, ethics, and politics with the project To Sing Reality, focusing on Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, and Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder.
Photo: Il Pomo d’Oro: Nicola Dalmaso, Mélissa Petit: Christophe Serrano, Ann Hallenberg: Örjan Jakobsson
