for choir & string orchestra by James MacMillan

Also being performed:Miserere Mei, Deus by Gregorio AllegriThe Reproaches by John Sanders

Choir sponsored by AnonymousOrchestra sponsored by Guy and Chiyo Mommaerts

Many believe that James MacMillan is the most significant composer of our day. Written for string orchestra and choir, Seven Last Words from the Cross is a dramatic powerhouse of brilliant musical writing. It was commissioned by BBC Television and first screened in seven nightly episodes during Holy Week 1994. It was performed by Cappella Nova and the BT Scottish Ensemble under Alan Tavener. The traditional text is based on a compilation from all four gospels to form a sequential presentation of the last seven sentences uttered by Christ.

“ […] highly original conception with the composer’s fertile imagination stamped all over it. […] the work is terse, dark and deeply emotional, yet for all its crude depiction of total suffering,…