The Chopin University Press publishing house invites you to a meeting devoted to the unique album: "Pergolesi: Stabat Mater / Łukaszewski: Luctus Mariae", which will take place on March 7, 2018 at 5.30 p.m. at the headquarters of the e-Fryderyk Bookshop at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music (2 Okólnik St.).

The 13th-century sequence Stabat Mater, portraying the suffering of Jesus Christ's mother during his crucifixion, has for centuries been an unflagging inspiration for poets, painters and composers. One of them was Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. His work, written for the local community, quickly became the most-published piece in the 18th century and the most popular Stabat Mater of the last three centuries.

In 2010, to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Pergolesi's birth, Paweł Łukaszewski composed Luctus Mariae (The Sorrow of Mary) – a work directly referring to the famous cantata of the Baroque master. The piece is based on a contemporary Latin poem with a similar structure and a similar message, written by prof. Jerzy Wojtczak-Szyszkowski. Łukaszewski, while maintaining similarities in terms of construction (13 parts, division into arias and duets), cast and affective side, uses the contemporary style of expression, wider tonality and demanding vocal textures appropriate to his style. Presented recording is the phonographic premiere of the work.

The album was released in a hardback edition, with a large, nearly 60-page booklet, which contains a description of the programme, biographies of performers and texts in Latin, Polish (translation of Stabat Mater by Seweryna Duchińska) and English. The recording was made in the Great Refectory of the castle of Warmian bishops in Lidzbark Warmiński and was co-financed from the grant of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.