Giovanni Battista Pergolesi: Stabat mater

Folk music from the Amazon: Mother Earth weeps in the rainforest

Ever since a religious zealot from Austria threw a statue of one into the Tiber, simply because Pope Francis had allegedly prayed to this “heathen idol”, almost everybody has heard of Pachamama, the earth deity from the Amazon region. Ismael Barrios will evoke the “Madre tierra” as the main artery of a continent and symbol of a future filled with hope, with his cuatro guitar, flutes and percussion. As a contrast to Mother Earth, Michael Hell, his brand new baroque ensemble and two wonderful female voices turn to the grieving Mother of God in Pergolesi’s heart-rending “Stabat mater”. Two mourning mother figures.