Dvořák's Stabat Mater

Soprano Erin Wall, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston, tenor Norbert Ernst, bass-baritone Eric Owens and the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus join the Cleveland Orchestra tonight to perform Stabat Mater, a piece Dvořák wrote after he suffered the loss of three of his children. A “profound, masterful setting of the expression of loss and sorrow, Dvořák’s work conveys his sense of deepest emptiness, and documents his personal inner struggle and hard-won hope regained through devotional music.” David J. Rothenberg, chair for the department of music, Case Western Reserve University, delivers the pre-concert talk “Music for the Sorrowful Mother” in Reinberger Chamber Hall an hour before the concert. The orchestra performs the piece again at 8 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets start at $29. (Niesel)