In October 2015 I visited the Westerkerk in Amsterdam for a really spectacular concert. The famous countertenor Andreas Scholl performed together with the Vavox group a Stabat Mater with projected pictures of Maria, Jesus and the cross. I never heard about Vavox. This is what I found out about them:
Vavox is an international network of artists, composers and filmmakers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines. Members of the group are anonymous and hidden behind masks. This because of their desire for creative freedom. The group has created their own musical style by borrowing aesthetic elements of the avant garde language and mixing them with pop melodies in sophisticated arrangements that are on the frontier of electronic, psychedelic rock.
The combination of the classical voice of Andreas Scholl with the Vavox group was peculiar to put it mildly! As far as I could hear Andreas Scholl sang the Stabat Mater by Marco Rosano. They (Andreas and Marco) often work together. But in the announcements of the concert I could not find out that Rosanos composition was performed. Listen to the last part of the concert in the Westerkerk:
The ultimate Stabat Mater site
a musical journey through the ages...
In 1997 I created the Ultimate Stabat Mater website for Hans with the program FrontPage. At that time he had around 40 Stabat Mater CDs. His notes on the composer, the music, the texts and translations and the different versions all came online. After this he managed the site by adding new composers and translations regularly. At the time of his death in 2005 he had 211 Stabat Maters. After his death I continued collecting the information and managing the site. I wish to thank the Dutch Stabat Mater Foundation which gave me the financial support in 2014 to renew this site!