Schola Cantorum Jubilate has announced the broadcast on TVM of ‘Crucifixus’ on Good Friday. This concert was held in March 2013 at the Basilica of Xaghra.

‘Crucifixus,’ a concert with the Gozo Choir, Schola Cantorum Jubilate, consists of a combination of art, music and literature, together in one evening.

The musical part performed by the choir includes pieces by Croce, Palestrina, Bartolucci, Stainer and Portelli among others. The masterpiece by Allegri, the ‘Miserere’ is a setting to Psalm 51 and was composed during the reign of Pope Urban VIII, probably during 1630s. It was written for the Papal Sistine Chapel to be sung during the Matins, as part of the tenebræ service on Wednesday and Friday of the Holy Week.

This piece is written for two choirs: one of five and the other of four voices. It is an example of Renaissance polyphony surviving to present day and it is also considered one of the sublime a cappella choral works.

Another two pieces were performed by soprano Marouska Attard, who is also the concert’s conductor and by Bass Albert Buttigieg. The soloists are accompanied by Dr Joseph Camilleri on the church organ.

Special lighting effects helped the audience in the Basilica contemplate the mystery of salvation and at the same time admire the Crucifixus which was brought from Lecce precisely one hundred years ago.

A special devotion for the crucifix started at the Parish of Xaghra since 1718. In 1913, a brand new large scale Crucifix arrived at Xaghra. It is the work of a renowned sculptor Luigi Guacci in papier mâché. Art experts consider this crucifix as a fine execution of deep realism and depicts the Cristo Morto with a life-less body nailed to the cross.

Literature is also included during the concert, between musical pieces, meditations highlighting the cross will be read, penned by Fr. Joseph Bajada, who was inspired from writings by Fr. José Miguel Ibáñez Langlois and Pope Benedict XVI.

Mario Micallef, a well-known Maltese actor will be interpreting the text with his unique expressivity.

‘Crucifixus’ is being broadcast on Good Friday at 5.10pm on TVM.

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