About the Artwork:
The Crucifix of San Domenico, Arezzo c. 1268-1271
(Overall and detail images)
Cimabue
Distemper, with gold leaf on wood
336 x 267 cm
San Domenico, Arezzo, Italy

The Crucifix of San Domenico at Arezzo is a large wooden crucifix painted in distemper, with gold leaf, by the Florentine painter Cimabue. It is the earlier of two large crucifixes attributed to him. The work shows a painted representation of the nearly dead body of Christ on the cross with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and John the Evangelist at either end of the crossbeams. Its importance lies, in part, in its stylistic innovations and departure from some of the prevailing Byzantine conventions of its time. It moves towards greater expressionism, empathy, and humanism in its portrayal of the agonies of death by crucifixion. Commissioned by members of the Dominican Order for the Basilica of San Domenico, Arezzo, Tuscany, the work has hung there since its completion. The plaque on the vertical bar above Christ's head bears the INRI inscription Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum ("Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews"). Above this is a small panel depicting Christ with his hand raised in blessing.

About the Artist:
Cimabue (1240-c.1302) was a Florentine painter and designer of mosaics. He is generally regarded as one of the first great Italian painters to break from the "Italo-Byzantine" style. While medieval art then consisted of scenes and forms that appeared relatively flat and highly stylized, Cimabue's figures were depicted with more-advanced lifelike proportions and shading compared to other artists of his time. During the pontificate of Pope Nicholas IV, the first Franciscan pope, Cimabue worked in Assisi creating a fresco entitled Madonna with Child Enthroned, Four Angels and St Francis. Cimabue spent the last period of his life, 1301 to 1302, in Pisa. There, he was commissioned to finish a mosaic of Christ Enthroned, originally begun by Maestro Francesco, in the apse of the city's cathedral.

About the Music:
“The Spheres from the Sunrise Mass” from the album Sunrise

Lyrics:
Kyrie eleison
Christe eleison

Translation:
Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy

About the Composer:  
Ola Gjeilo (b. 1978) is a Norwegian composer and pianist living in New York. He is one of the most frequently performed composers in the choral world. An accomplished pianist, he is known for his trademark collaborations of improvisations played over his own published choral pieces. Although Norwegian by birth, it is Ola’s adopted country of America that has influenced the composer’s distinctive sound the most, evolving a style that is both contemporary and familiar. His music, with its thick harmonies and rich textures, is often described as cinematic and evocative. Gjeilo has had a special collaborative relationship with the vocal ensemble VOCES8, and during the 2015/16 season was their Composer-in-Residence.

About the Performers:
The Majorstua Kammerkor is a chamber choir founded in 1999. Based in Oslo, today the choir consists of 34 experienced singers who come from a variety of professions and backgrounds, but share the same enthusiasm for creating music. The choir performs primarily in the classical music tradition, but also performs folk tunes or jazz from time to time. The Choir performs regular concerts and performances in the Oslo region, sometimes in collaboration with renowned musicians. To date the choir's concert tours include Scandinavia, Finland, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Italy, Scotland, and Germany. Tore Erik Mohn led the choir from 2005 to 2011.

Tore Erik Mohn (b. 1961) is a Norwegian organist and conductor. Mohn holds a major degree in choir leadership at the Norwegian Academy of Music. He is an associate professor in choir conducting at the Norwegian Academy of Music and is a domorganist and conductor in Norway’s Fredrikstad Cathedral. Over the years, he has conducted a number of large choirs in Norway, including the Oslo Philharmonic Choir, and recently held a temporary position in the Nidaros Cathedral. He is also one of the initiators behind the Egil Hovland Festival. Mohn’s interpretations are characterized by a large degree of closeness to the text and a strong willingness to communicate with the audience.

About the Poet:
Lisa Russ Spaar (b. 1956) received a BA from the University of Virginia in 1978 and an MFA in 1982. She is the author of several poetry collections, including Orexia (2017), Vanitas, Rough (2012), and Glass Town (1999). The Boston Review notes, “Lisa Russ Spaar’s intensely lyrical language—baroque, incantory, provocative—enables her to reinvigorate perennial subject matter: desire, pursuit, and absence; intoxication and ecstasy; the transience of earthly experience; the uncertainties of god and grave; the dialectic between fertility and mortality.” She is also the author of The Hide-and-Seek Muse: Annotations of Contemporary Poetry (2013), a collection of poetry history and criticism, and she was a 2014 finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Citation for Excellence in Reviewing. She has edited multiple poetry anthologies, including Monticello in Mind: Fifty Contemporary Poets on Jefferson (2016). Spaar has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Library of Virginia Award for Poetry, and a Rona Jaffe Award, among other honors and awards. She is a professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Virginia.

About the Devotional Writer:
Joshua Bocanegra
Writer and Educator
Pastoral of Community Life Create Church KC
Kansas City, Missouri
Joshua Bocanegra lives in Kansas City with his wife, Katrina. They have served in inner-healing and pastoral ministry for over ten years and are committed to the health and maturity of Christians within their communities. Joshua is a writer and teacher for his church and for Estuaries, a program dedicated to the reintegration of deep spirituality and intellectual rigor.