Stabat Mater

Stabat Mater is set in Venice early in the 18th century, at the Ospedale della Pietà. Cecilia, who is seventeen, is one of its orphans. Left there as a baby, she has never known life beyond its walls.

Since childhood she has hidden in a quiet corner at night to write letters to the mother she never knew, as a way of setting down her thoughts and trying to understand the world outside. Like many of the other orphans she is a musician, and plays the violin in the institution’s concerts.