Pergolesi Stabat Mater

The Westminster Organ Concert Series begins its 44th season on Sunday, October 27, at 4:00 pm, with a chamber music concert featuring the Stabat Mater of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. Composed in 1736, the Stabat Mater was the last work of the Italian composer, who died of tuberculosis a few weeks later at the age of just 26. The program also includes music by Claudio Monteverdi, Alessandro Grandi and Isabella Leonarda. Local soprano Megan Sharp is joined by British countertenor Charles Humphries, violinists David Sariti and Lauretta Werner, cellist Brady Lanier, and Jonathan Schakel playing organ, harpsichord, and baroque guitar. The concert is free and open to the public.

Westminster Presbyterian Church is located at 400 Rugby Road in Charlottesville. Ample parking is available behind the church, and the sanctuary is wheelchair-accessible.

The Westminster Organ Concert Series was begun in 1980 to share the newly installed all-mechanical baroque-style pipe organ with the community. The organ, built by Taylor & Boody Organbuilders of Staunton, Virginia, has 18 stops and over 1100 pipes.