Page 240 - FINAL_The Sixteen Coverage Book 40th Anniversary Year

22 February 2019

The Sixteen’s 40th anniversary celebrations continue with the US
premiere of Sir James MacMillan’s Stabat mater and a performance

of Handel’s Messiah at Westminster Cathedral

Stabat mater Thursday 7 November 2019, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Centre: commissioned by the Genesis
Foundation for Harry Christophers CBE and The Sixteen, performed together with Britten Sinfonia

Messiah Thursday 5 December 2019, Westminster Cathedral

In this its 40th anniversary year, The Sixteen and Harry Christophers CBE give the US premiere of Sir
James MacMillan’s highly acclaimed Stabat mater at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Centre on Thursday 7
November 2019 as part of the Lincoln Center’s Great Performers 2018/19 season.

Commissioned by the Genesis Foundation for Christophers and the ensemble, it is performed together with
Britten Sinfonia, having premiered it to widespread praise in October 2016. The Sixteen have a longstanding
relationship with the composer whose works are strongly influenced by his Scottish heritage and Catholic
faith. The work was performed by Christophers, The Sixteen and Britten Sinfonia in Rome’s iconic Sistine
Chapel in April 2018, becoming the first concert to ever be live broadcast from there and has also been
released on The Sixteen’s own award-winning label CORO (Catalogue Number: COR16150).

On 5 December 2019, Christophers and The Sixteen perform a cornerstone of the choral repertoire, Handel’s
Messiah at Westminster Cathedral with soloists, countertenor Iestyn Davies, tenor Robert Murray, and bass-
baritone Matthew Brook, soprano still to be announced. A choir renowned for its interpretations of sacred
music, it is the perfect culmination of the 40th anniversary celebrations and The Sixteen's first London
performance of Messiah in seven years. The Sixteen are also joined by alumni from Genesis Sixteen.

Stabat mater is a 13th century Catholic hymn to Mary and has been set to music by many composers over
the last six centuries, from Palestrina in 1590 to Arvo Pärt in 1985 but perhaps surprisingly has received few
new settings over the past 30 years. Only a small number of composers have tackled the Stabat mater in that
time and MacMillan’s setting is the culmination of a collaboration between the composer, John Studzinski
and his Genesis Foundation and The Sixteen, following on from Studzinski’s personal request for
MacMillan to compose a new setting of the poem to provide a serious spiritual interpretation for the 21st
century.

James MacMillan commented: "Conversations with John Studzinski led directly to the composition of my
Stabat mater. A great modern humanitarian, inspired by faith John always has interesting and pertinent
things to say about the arts and the contemporary world. We agreed that the Stabat mater is a text which
captures the sense of grief and anxiety which pervades much of the world today, afflicted as it is by war,
despair and mass migration. I have written a number of shorter works for The Sixteen but it was a delight to
be invited to write this substantial piece for Harry Christophers and his incredible choristers.”

John Studzinski, Founder and Chairman, Genesis Foundation said: “Truly great works of art are rare. Works
that challenge, deeply move and yet are also able to give hope are even rarer. James’s Stabat mater is all that
and more. Those of us who were fortunate enough to be at the premiere performance were conscious that we
were witnessing the birth of a choral masterpiece that will continue to enthrall audiences for centuries to
come. This work was the culmination of the Genesis Foundation’s long partnership with James which has
seen other commissions from him alongside others from younger composers whom James has mentored.
With our new Stabat mater commission, James has created a work that encompasses the timelessness of

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