A new Passiontide work is being premiered at Great Malvern Priory on Monday 30 March at 3pm called ‘Passia’.
Passia is a reimagining of the story of Good Friday, sung from the perspective of five women at the foot of the cross: Mary, Christ's mother; sisters Martha and Mary; Veronica; and Mary Magdalen.
It has been composed by Liz Dilnot Johnson, who is an award-winning composer and member of Malvern Link with Cowleigh. She has been working with the singers of Papagena and the National Children’s Choir of Great Britain to create a full-length retelling of the Passion, through the eyes of five women.
Passia explores universal themes of motherhood, loss and love as experienced by the women present with music of profound tenderness. The concert, which will also include Lenten music sung by Papagena, begins at 3pm and will last one hour (without interval).
Liz said:
“In Passia I have set words by five female writers to music, including Kassia the 9th century Byzantine Abbess, Julian of Norwich and contemporary writers Sarah Meyrick and Neta Shlain along with my own words. Local priest, Sue Beverly helped me research texts for the work in the early stages of creating the work and I am excited to share this ‘act of faith’ with the Diocese. There will be further performances at St Mary Mags, Oxford, and Christchurch Priory, Dorset also during Holy Week.”
The five female vocalists of Papagena have been working on this groundbreaking piece with Liz since 2024 when the group commissioned the piece. Performing alongside Papagena will be the National Children’s Choir of Great Britain. Also taking on the trebles choir role will be the University of Warwick Upper Voices and the Christchurch Priory choristers. The young voices sing Four Angel Songs - strange, ethereal music that is full of bright light and flutters like angels’ wings, with Kassia’s words in ancient Byzantine ‘gobbledegook', identified by scholars as ’the words of angels’.
Find out more, buy tickets and support the project at www.papagena.co.uk.
