Mark Gresham | 4 JAN 2023
Born January 4, 1710, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi was an Italian Baroque composer, violinist, and organist. He primarily wrote operas and sacred music, and among his best-known works are a Stabat Mater and the opera La serva padrona (“The Mistress Servant”). Unfortunately, his creative life was cut short early. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 26.
In honor of Pergolesi’s birthday, we offer a video of his Stabat Mater, directed by Nathalie Stutzmann, who is now in the midst of her first season as music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Soprano Emöke Barath and countertenor Philippe Jaroussky join her and Orfeo 55 in this April 2014 concert at the Château de Fontainebleau, France.
The creation of the Orfeo 55 ensemble in 2009 was the fulfillment of Stutzmann’s long-time dream of leading her own chamber orchestra. An operatic contralto and promising guest conductor, the Orfeo 55 project synthesized those two facets of her professional career. ■
Orfeo 55
Nathalie Stutzmann, director
Emöke Barath, soprano
Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor
Duration: 39:21
Video: Ozango / ARTE France (2014)
EXTERNAL LINKS
■ Nathalie Stutzmann: nathaliestutzmann.com
Read more by Mark Gresham.
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