PRESS RELEASE
SAINT REMEMBERED AT THREE-IN-ONE CONCERT, WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL, 3 JUNE 7.00PM

A holy trinity of composers - James MacMillan, Roxanna Panufnik and Will Todd - has been commissioned by the Genesis Foundation to set music to a prayer by one of the most popular saints of the 20th century. The new works will be premiered at Westminster Cathedral in a free concert on 3rd June 2008 by the choir of The Sixteen conducted by Harry Christophers.

Padre Pio, or St Pius of Pietrelcina, Southern Italy, where he was born the son of a shepherd in 1887, died 40 years ago at the age of 82. In 2002 he was canonised by Pope John Paul II who had greatly speeded up the process of creating saints. The new saint's supporters, of whom there are millions around the world, attest to his miracles (more than 1,000 confirmed by the Vatican), his visions and his stigmata - visible wounds in his hands, feet and side matching those of Jesus. His claims were investigated more than once and during the 1920s he was banned from celebrating Mass. This was reversed in the 1930s and his reputation has prospered increasingly ever since. A church in Chicago has as a relic the bloody nightshirt he wore when first stigmatised and YouTube has a short film of him celebrating mass before an adoring congregation. More Italians are believed to pray to him today than to the Virgin Mary and, he is known unofficially as 'the patron saint of stress relief' in accord with his most famous dictum, 'Pray, hope and don't worry.'

In January it was announced that in celebration of the 40th anniversary of his death, Padre Pio's body would be exhumed and put on display for a few months. This is normal practice with new saints. It is an opportunity to check on the condition of the body, or even that it is the right one, and not to remove parts for relics as cynics have claimed. The three new pieces of music are part of Pio's worldwide commemorations and the text chosen is the post-communion prayer which he said every day for more than 50 years, 'Stay with me Lord...'

The commissions come from the Genesis Foundation, a charity headed by John Studzinski CBE who is concerned about the lack of music written today for congregational participation. The brief states that the composers should address this omission.

Of the three composers James MacMillan is the best known. He is outspoken about his Roman Catholic faith and has composed many celebrated sacred works, including The Seven Last Words; O Bone Jesu; Magnificat and Veni veni Emmanuel for the percussionist Evelyn Glennie, his most-performed work. His Mass for choir and organ composed in 2000 for Westminster Cathedral has parts for congregation.

Roxanna Panufnik is most widely known for her Genesis Foundation commissioned Westminster Mass written for the 75th birthday of Cardinal Basil Hume and performed in 1999 by the Westminster Cathedral Choir. She has also composed music for the author Vikram Seth's children’s stories Beastly Tales and an 'interfaith' Violin Concerto Abraham for the violinist Daniel Hope.

Will Todd is a widely performed and broadcast composer with a rapidly blossoming reputation for beautifully crafted works with a social conscience and popular appeal. His oeuvres include the hugely popular, jazz-inspired Mass in Blue, the oratorio St Cuthbert, the cantata The Shining Road based on the Jarrow march, the opera The Blackened Man which took second prize in the 2001 Giuseppe Verdi Competition for Lyric Opera and Among Angels which was commissioned by the Genesis Foundation and performed by Harry Christophers and The Sixteen in Salzburg in 2006.

The Sixteen, founded by Harry Christophers 28 years ago, is recognised as one of the world's finest singing groups. From Good Friday on BBC Four (TV) they are the featured artists in a documentary series entitled Sacred Music with actor and former chorister Simon Russell Beale. The group's current performing schedule includes a 20-concert Choral Pilgrimage to the cathedrals and abbeys of Britain performing the music of Parsons, Tye and White as featured on their latest CD Treasures of Tudor England on the Coro label.

Christophers will borrow from this repertoire in the second half of the Padre Pio concert, when he conducts the Choir of Westminster Cathedral, as the three new works are not expected to last more than half an hour. Their future, after all, is as valedictory pieces performed by choirs and/or congregations sometimes rushing to get away to get dinners on tables.

For further information please contact Simon Millward at Albion Media, simonalbion-media [dot] co [dot] uk, 020 7629 3252.

Read Padre Pio's Prayer...

The three composers: Roxanna Panufnik, Will Todd and James MacMillian.