Elaine L. Bearer is an accomplished American composer and neuroscientist, whose career spans the realms of music and science. Her musical journey began at The Manhattan School of Music, where she earned her Bachelor’s of Music in Theory. Prior to this, she studied under the renowned Nadia Boulanger in Paris, laying a strong foundation for her future in composition.

Elaine Bearer’s Stabat Mater forms part of her larger composition The Magdalene Passion, an hour-long oratorio in 12 movements. The Stabat Mater appears in the tenth movement, “Thunder: Perfect Mind,” which integrates both the first stanza of the traditional Stabat Mater text and inspirations from the Gnostic Gospels, as discussed in Elaine Pagel’s book The Gnostic Gospels. Bearer crafted the music and lyrics for this movement, blending the early Christian chant and mystical language of the Gnostic texts.

The Magdalene Passion premiered on May 22, 1999, at the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul in Providence, Rhode Island. The photo has been taken in the Cathedral of San Miguel de Allende in Mexico in fall 2022 by Elaine Bearer.