Genesis Foundation commissions three Stabat Maters for The Sixteen

The Genesis Foundation has commissioned three young contemporary composers, Alissa Firsova, Tonu Korvits and Matthew Martin to write settings of the Stabat Mater. All three works will be premiered at a lunchtime concert at LSO St Lukes on June 4, with Harry Christophers conducting The Sixteen. The works will be recorded for The Sixteen's own label, Coro. 

The three works promise to be very different in style: Matthew Martin’s work as Organist of Brompton Oratory promising links back to traditional settings of the Stabat Mater, Estonian composer Tonu Korvits uses a modality specific to a South-Eastern region of Estonia as the foundation of his work whilst Alissa Firsova’s intricate harmonic language derives from examples of Russian orthodox music. On Sunday 9 February, each of the new compositions were work-shopped by composer James Macmillan and Genesis Sixteen, The Sixteen’s young artists’ ensemble, conducted by Harry Christophers.