A friend of mine who lives in Cape Town has always been interested in and supportive as for my Stabat Mater website. He told me about a special Pergolesi Stabat Mater performance with dance by Cape Town Opera, Cape Town City Ballet and Camerata Tinta Barocca. This project provides an emotional and artistic response to the COVID-19 pandemic, conceptualized specifically for filming and digital dissemination. I was delighted to buy a ticket and could not wait watching the video! It is fascinating: a baroque orchestra and two opera singers are joined by six dancers in a huge studio, the floor marked in squares to which each performer is confined to enable social distancing. Two dancers, Jan and Nicolas, co-habited during lockdown in South Africa and were therefore the only dancers to touch each other in the show. This wonderful work was choreographed, remotely via video call from London by Mthuthuzeli November (he just won the 2020 Olivier Award!). The performers only came together at the last minute.
I watched the video several times and I love it, it is moving and comforting right now when theaters and concert halls are closed for such a long time! And… I could not help thinking of another dance Stabat Mater by Pergolesi, a pre-covid one!
I got in touch with the artistic director of Cape Town Opera Mr. Matthew Wild and he was kind enough to arrange for Wyrd Films to share a part of the performance for my blog and site. In the video The concept Mr. Wild gives a brief introduction to the performance.The video is abridged to 23 minutes for potential television broadcast. Seven of twelve parts are performed:
I Stabat Mater (soprano and mezzo-soprano)
IV Quae moerebat et dolebat (mezzo-soprano)
V Vidit suum dulcem natum (soprano)
VII Eja mater (soprano and mezzo-soprano)
IX Sancta mater (soprano and mezzo-soprano)
XI Inflammatus et accensus (soprano and mezzo-soprano)
XII Quando corpus (soprano and mezzo-soprano)
You can still book tickets to watch the video till the end of November at: tickets.computicket.com
