Stabat Mater in Tapiola Church, the 8th of June, 2018

I have always liked Gioacchino Rossini’s ”Stabat Mater” and when Organ Night and Aria Festival of the city of Espoo informed that they will perform “Stabat Mater” and the tenor role will be sung by Tuomas Katajala, I was ablaze. Unfortunately when I arrived to Tapiola Church and got the programme, I read that Katajala had got ill and the tenor would be Heikki Hattunen instead. And I had so looked forward to hearing “Cujus animam” by Katajala!

Despite the unlucky start “Stabat Mater” showed its power. This time I sat in the church on a row where I could easily hear the orchestra – Tapiola Sinfonietta –, too. In my opinion the conductor Klaus Mäkelä managed rather well with the orchestra. The choir was a combination of EMO Ensemble and VocalEspoo –festival choir and their work was a bit more uneven. They supported the soloists well, but in some parts the tones were not quite balanced.

My favourite soloist was Petri Lindroos. His aria “Pro peccatis” was really great. Tuija Knihtilä’s voice is wonderfully strong and it suited well “Stabat Mater”. She had a bit too much vibrato in her voice, but otherwize it was a pleasure to listen to her. The only thing I can say about Heikki Hattunen, is that he is no Tuomas Katajala. Sigh! It was really nice to hear Aurora Marthens in such a different role compared to her performance in “Casa Naisia” the previous week and “Rita”, where she sung earlier this spring. Marthens can obviously also sing more serious and dramatic music. “Inflammatus” was in places very impressive.

On the whole the performance was good and I can only imagine how stunning it would have been if Katajala had been healthy and signing. But let’s hope I will one day have a chance to hear him singing “Cujus animam”.