Azio Corghi's new work Madreterra draws its musical substance from the enigmatic scale used by Verdi in the Ave Maria of his Quattro pezzi sacri and combines this material with the deeply-felt verses of Pier Paolo Pasolini's Supplica a mia madre (1964). Madreterra was commissioned by the Teatro Regio di Parma and will have its world premiere in Parma on October 9 as part of the Verdi Festival.