The Official Premiere of “Stabat Mater Dolorosa” Music Video

The Official Premiere of
“Stabat Mater Dolorosa”Music Video

Produced by the Macao Catholic Culture Association (ACCM), composed by Dr. Viola Yuen, Resident Composer of the St. Pius X Music Academy in Macao and Council Member of the Hong Kong Composers' Guild, and filmed by Mr. Hong Heng Fai, Macao’s first Golden Horse Award nominated director, the Stabat Mater Dolorosa music video will be premiered during Holy Week, on March 27, 2024 via ACCM’s official website (www.macaucca.org) and social media platforms. This project is sponsored by the Cultural Development Fund of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government.

This Stabat Mater Dolorosa music piece was commissioned by ACCM in 2023 for ACCM’s “A Mystical Rose” Sacred Music Recital and had its world premiere on May 28, 2023. Stabat Mater Dolorosa is considered one of the seven greatest Latin hymns of all time. It is based upon the prophecy of Simeon that a sword was to pierce the heart of Our Lord’s mother, Mary (Luke 2:35). The Latin title of the hymns means “Our Lady of Sorrows was standing”, and it is composed of 20 verses with the message focuses on the spiritual and emotional bond which unites Mary and all Christians to the death of her Son on the Cross.

The Stabat Mater Dolorosa music video was performed by Macao local young artists Ms Wai Hang Vivian Ng (Soprano) and Ms SamIn Lao (Organ). ACCM has the special honor of inviting Mr. Hong Heng Fai, Macao’s first Golden Horse Award nominated director, to conduct the filmography of this music video. The filming venue, St. Joseph’s Seminary Church, one of Macao’s Catholic World Heritage sites, was also chosen because it does not only showcase a magnificent Baroque architectural style but also the rich Catholic cultural history and religious heritage of Macao. The music video skilfully combines sacred music, visual arts and religious belief, allowing the audience to experience the emotions of Our Lady of Sorrows at the foot of the Cross, thus leading one to contemplation of the Passion of Christ.

The Stabat Mater Dolorosa music video can be viewed via ACCM’s official website and social media platforms. Please follow for more news and updates.

Stabat Mater Dolorosa MV

About "Stabat Mater Dolorosa"

Stabat Mater Dolorosa is considered one of the seven greatest Latin hymns of all time. It is based upon the prophecy of Simeon that a sword was to pierce the heart of Our Lord’s mother, Mary (Lk 2:35). The hymn title means “‘Stood the mother, full of grief’.” In Latin, the hymn consists of twenty couplets which describe the Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin at the Cross. The Stabat Mater’s popularity is reflected by its use in the popular devotion of the Stations of the Cross. The message of the Stabat Mater focuses on the spiritual and emotional bond which unites Mary and all Christians to the death of her Son on the Cross.

Composer: Dr. Viola Yuen

Dr. Viola Yuen is an active composer, arranger, conductor and an A Cappella singer who is enthusiastic about the application of human voices in musical compositions of different styles. Her music displays uniqueness, originality and profound emotions.

She is currently the composer-in-residence of the Academia de Música S. Pio X, of the Macao Diocese, an adjunct lecturer of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, the Music Director of the Sregnis Singers, the first contemporary A Cappella group in Hong Kong, the founder of the Coro Allegra and Chummy Choir. She is also a member of the Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong (C.A.S.H.) and the Membership Secretary of the Hong Kong Composers’ Guild. For the period between 1990 and 2017, she was appointed as the conductor of the Diocesan Choir - Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong and the instructor of a choral conducting course under the Sacred Music Commission, the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong. She was the conductor of the choirs of the Hong Kong Music Institute from 2012 to 2019, the conductor and instructor of the Hang Seng University Sinfonietta and A Cappella Ensemble from
2018 to 2022.

With the sponsorship of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, the Hong Kong Composers’ Guild published the music score of her nine-part A Cappella works and the recording of another composition “LAMENTOR”, a three-movement music piece written in 2010 for choir and philharmonic orchestra, in a music CD in 2013. The orchestral piece “LAMENTOR” was also chosen as one of the music pieces broadcast in the International Rostrum of Composers, held in Prague of Czech Republic in May 2013. It was well received by the radio reporters and composers from 28 countries attending the event. Her composition “RITE OF DRAGON”, commissioned by the Handbell Association of Hong Kong and sponsored by the C.A.S.H. Music Fund, had its premiere played by six hundred handbell players in the 16th International Handbell Symposium held in Jeju of Korea in August 2014. This music score was also published by the H’ing Publishing (HK) and the Handbell Association of Hong Kong.

Soprano: Wai Hang Vivian Ng

A native of Macau, Vivian Wai Hang NG is a young conductor, classical soprano and pianist with strong interests in sacred music and advocacy of the arts. Starting her musical training at the age of five at the Academia de Mùsica de S. Pio X in Macau with Ms. Lei Van Han and Ms. Lei Vai Fan, she later continued her piano studies under the tutelage of Prof. Eleanor Wong and studied composition with Ms Poly Ng at The Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts’ Junior Music Programme. Ng’s achievement as a pianist was recognized at the 33rd Macao Young Musicians Competition in 2015, where she was the recipient of the highest honor of the competition, the “Cultural Affairs Bureau Prize”, and made her debut as a piano soloist with the Macao Orchestra later that year.

As a classical soprano, her most recent engagements include a solo voice recital “Sings she of Love!” at the Macau Clube Militar as part of their Young Musicians’ series, and featuring as one of the soloists at the 22nd Macao New Generation Musicians Concert with the Macao Youth Symphony Orchestra. In May 2023, she presented a sacred music recital of Marian vocal works organized by the Macao Catholic Culture Association, during which she performed the world premiere of renowned Hong Kong composer Dr. Viola Yuen’s commissioned setting of Stabat Mater Dolorosa.

Ng is a recent graduate of the University of Oxford. Her enthusiasm as both a solo singer and choral musician has been evident since her undergraduate years, during which she had sung in choirs including Somerville College Choir and Oxford Schola Cantorum, and had served as conductor of Oxford University Chorus. She had also worked as Organ Scholar (Chorister Assistant) of Frideswide’s Voices (girls’ liturgical choir at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford), mainly assisting with the rehearsals of the probational choristers. Her outstanding musical achievements had earned her performance and conducting scholarships at her own college, St Anne’s, during the final year of her undergraduate studies.

Ng is currently pursuing a Master of Sacred Music with a full scholarship at the University of Notre Dame, where she studies choral conducting with Dr. Mark Doerries and voice with Dr. Stephen Lancaster. She is the Artist-of-Residence of Hong Kong-based choral group Vox Antiqua.

Organ: SamIn Lao

SamIn studies piano under the guidance of Mr Leung Kun Liu and Miss Filomena Leung, where she was awarded a Licentiate in piano performance from the the Royal Schools of Music. She was also an organist in the St. Lazarus' Church.

She was later awarded a full scholarship from the Macao Cultural Bureau to pursue her postgraduate education in Creative Industry and Music at London Kingston University, where she studies with pianist Natasa Lipovsek, and graduated with commendation.

Upon her return to Macao, she was engaged in policy research on music and performing arts in the Cultural Affairs Bureau. She is now devoted to piano education and teaches in the Academia de Música S. Pio X. She has frequently won outstanding teacher awards in piano competitions. At the same time, she is also the vice president of Myland Culture, holding a series of collaborative artistic projects.

“A Mystical Rose” Sacred Music Recital

Ave Maria Activities Series

The Official Premiere of “Stabat Mater Dolorosa”Music Video

Stabat Mater Dolorosa MV

The Official Premiere of
“Stabat Mater Dolorosa”Music Video