The Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in Chestnut Hill will celebrate Holy Week with a pair of musical performances that shouldn’t be missed by local lovers of sacred choral music. Sir John Stainer’s “The Crucifixion” will be presented Palm Sunday, April 13, at 5 p.m. Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s “Stabat Mater” is scheduled for Tuesday, April 15, at 7 p.m.

 The rendition of Stainer’s “The Crucifixion” will be conducted by Tyrone Whiting,  St. Martin’s director of music and arts, and will bring together the choirs of St. Martin’s Church and Christ Church, at 2nd and Market Streets in Old City. 

 “Old” Christ Church is the first Anglican parish in Philadelphia, founded in 1695. The current structure, a Georgian architectural masterpiece, opened in 1744. Many members of the Second Continental Congress that wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitutional Convention that wrote our cherished United States Constitution worshiped at Christ Church.

  Stainer (1840-1901) composed “The Crucifixion” as a musical meditation on Christ’s Passion in 1887 for choir with tenor and bass-baritone soloists, here featuring Aaron Scarberry and Michael Miller.

 Pergolesi (1710-1736) composed his setting of the Traditional Latin text of the “Stabat Mater,” in 1736. The English translation reads: “At the cross her station keeping, stood the mournful mother weeping, close to Jesus to the last.” This prayer has been offered by Roman Catholics for centuries.

 Pergolesi’s choral work is considered his masterpiece and is counted among the glories of baroque sacred choral music. In this performance, under Whiting’s direction, the Fairmount String Quartet will offer instrumental accompaniment with soloists Marissa Miller and Lauren Cook.

 For more information, visit stmartinec.org.

 Bernstein’s ‘Candide’

 The Curtis Opera Theatre and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra will present Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide” Friday, April 11, at 7 p.m., and Sunday, April 13, at 2 p.m., in the Forrest Theatre, 1114 Walnut Street in Philadelphia. The production will be conducted by David Charles Abell and stage directed by Emma Griffin.

 Bernstein, Curtis Institute of Music class of 1941, was one of the most talented American musicians of the 20th century. Alongside composing classical works, he also wrote Broadway musicals such as “West Side Story,” crossover pieces like “Candide,” and conducted the New York Philharmonic to international acclaim.

 For more information, tickets@curtis.edu.

 Chamber Orchestra Season

 The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia presented its penultimate pair of concerts of the 2024/25 season Friday, March 28, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 30, at 2:30 p.m. in the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater. The program featured selections from Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” as well as several modern works inspired by his masterpiece. 

 I attended the Sunday matinee along with an audience of 600 that virtually packed the Perelman. It would appear that Sunday afternoon matinees have become local favorites. The region’s classical music ensembles should definitely take note.

 Francisco Fullana was the concert’s leader and violin soloist. The Spanish-born virtuoso soared to artistic heights in both roles. As a soloist in the “Spring” and “Summer” movements of Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons,” he played with consummate technical command and stylistic interpretive and sumptuous tonal distinction. 

 He was no less successful in the excerpts from Philip Glass’ “The American Four Seasons,” Max Richter’s recomposed “Four Seasons,” and Astor Piazzolla’s “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.”

 As a conductor, he elicited exquisite yet powerful playing from the strings of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. The musicians played with impressively tight ensemble and a widely conceived and deeply proffered sense of resonation and expression.

 Music Director David Hayes will lead the Chamber Orchestra in its final program of the season Friday, May 16, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, May 18, at 2:30 p.m. in the Perelman. Pianist Mikhail Voskrensensky will be the soloist in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto Nos. 9 in E-flat major, K. 271, (“Jeunehomme”), and 20 in D minor, K. 466. The program will also feature Jennifer Higdon’s “Soliloquy.” 

 The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia has announced its 2025/26 season of six concerts. It opens Oct. 11 & 12 with Hayes conducting Henry Kramer in Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and his Symphony No. 1 in C minor. The season continues Nov. 21 & 23 with violinist Judith Ingolfsson, leader and soloist in Handel’s Concerto Grosso in D minor, Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, Vivaldi’s Concerto Grosso in G minor, and Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso No. 1. 

 Francisco Fullana will return to open the new year conducting and playing Mozart’s Violin Concertos No. 3 & 5 plus his Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major. Hayes will conduct “Baroque Inspirations” Feb. 13 & 15 with music by Bach, Ottorino Respighi and Richard Strauss. 

 Hayes will conduct Igor Stravinsky’s neo-classical masterpiece, “L’Histoire du Soldat” (“A Soldier’s Tale”) March 28 & 29. He will round out the season May 15 & 17 with “Beethoven the Revolutionary.” The scores are the Bonn master’s Triple Concerto in C major and the Symphony No. 3, “Eroica.”

 For more information visit chamberorchestra.org.