For the fourth consecutive year, the Autumn Concert Season of the Terra Sancta Organ Festival takes place in Jordan, Israel and Palestine (Holy Land Pipe Organ Season) and in Greece (Organ & Music Festival Rhodes) with 24 concerts from September 24 till October 27. Other concerts are expected in the coming winter and spring in Lebanon (Lebanese Pipe Organ Week), Cyprus (Organ & Music Festival Cyprus), Syria (Damascus Pipe Organ Week and Aleppo) and Egypt (see all the programs on the website www.tsorganfestival.org).
TERRA SANCTA ORGAN FESTIVAL The Terra Sancta Organ Festival is an international music event and a cultural activity produced by the Franciscans of the Custody of the Holy Land in the places where they are present. The festival allows everyone to enjoy the beauty of pipe organs, an asset that would otherwise be restricted mostly to Christians in their liturgies. It is also an opportunity to promote the maintenance of organs and the study of this instrument. In the Middle East, organ music is perceived like a superior artistic contribution, specifically Christian, the pipe organ being present almost exclusively inside churches. Concerts will take place in churches but all are welcome, whatever their religious affiliation. The Terra Sancta Organ Festival is also a way to bear witness to the presence of the Christian communities in the Middle East and the Levant and their activity in the fields of music and culture. In one case—like in Syria—it acts as a sign of solidarity that goes beyond emergency interventions.
This year, the Terra Sancta Organ Festival is part of the Celebrations of the 800th anniversary of the Franciscans’ arrival in the Holy Land. What in 1217 was the “Overseas Mission” of the Franciscan Order, in 1342 it became the Custody of the Holy Land, a special and international mission of the Catholic Church in the Middle East and a diplomatic entity recognized by many countries and institutions.
HOLY LAND PIPE ORGAN SEASON. The opening concert of the Terra Sancta Organ Festival, with the Palestinian organist Yacoub Gazzawi and the Magnificat Vocal Ensemble of Jerusalem will take place in El Qubeibeh, Palestine, on Sunday September 24, at the sanctuary that commemorates the episode from the Gospel known as “the Disciples at Emmaus”. On September 25 the Italian organist Cosimo Prontera, professor of organ and organ composition at the Conservatory “Gesualdo da Venosa” in Potenza, will play in the basilica of the Memorial of Moses on Mount Nebo in Jordan on the occasion of the Seminar “Prophet Moses in Judaism, Christianity and Islam”.
In October concerts are performed at 6:00 pm in Tel Aviv-Yafo (Tuesdays 3, 10, 17, 24 October – St. Peter’s Church, Old Jaffa), Nazareth (Monday, October 2 and Wednesdays 11, 18, 25 October – Basilica of the Annunciation), Jerusalem (Thursdays 5, 12, 19, 26 October – Church of St. Saviour, New Gate), Bethlehem (Fridays 6, 13, 20, 27 October – Church of St. Catherine at Nativity Basilica). The entrance to all concerts is free of charge.
The organists are all internationally renowned musicians: Adriano Falcioni (Italy; 2-6 October), main organist of the Metropolitan Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Perugia, Damin Spritzer (USA; 10-13 October) Artist-in-Residence at the Cathedral Church of Saint Matthew in Dallas, Robert Kovács (Hungary; 17-20 October) principal organist of the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Felician Roşca (Romania; 24-26 October), professor of organ at the Faculty of Music of the West University of Timisoara and director of several national and international festivals.
The Holy Land Pipe Organ Season of Terra Sancta Organ Festival is supported by the Italian Cultural Institute in Haifa, the Italian Cultural Institute in Tel Aviv, the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America, the Embassy of Hungary in Israel, the Representative Office of Hungary in Ramallah, the Romanian Cultural Institute, ATS Pro Terra Sancta.
ORGAN & MUSIC FESTIVAL RHODES. From September 28 to October 7, 2017 the seventh season of the Organ & Music Festival Rhodes will take place with six concerts organized by the Custody of the Holy Land – Catholic Church in Rhodes. The Organ & Music Festival Rhodes for four years has become part of the broader Terra Sancta Organ Festival.
Concerts will be held at 8:30 pm on September 28 and 30, October 4, 6, 7 in St. Francis’ Church and on October 2 in “Santa Maria”: admission free. The program features international, national and local artists. In Greece, opportunities to listen to the sound of the organ are few and rare. The pipe organ installed in the Church of St. Francis in Rhodes, where most of the concerts will be performed, is the largest church organ in all of Greece. The Organ & Music Festival Rhodes is supported by the Italian Cultural Institute in Athens and by ATS Pro Terra Sancta. All information and detailed programs can be found on the website www.catholicchurchrhodes.com and on www.tsorganfestival.org.
The Terra Sancta Organ Festival has already earned the praise of the experts for some of its unique features:
– It is the largest organ festival in the Middle East and Levant.
– It is the only organ festival in the world, taking place in eight countries (Greece, Israel, Palestine, Cyprus, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt) – a festival that is truly “international”.
– In some of these places (Cyprus, Rhodes, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Egypt), it is the only existing organ festival, in other words it represents the only chance to listen to the sound of a pipe organ played by world famous professional organists.
– Some events are broadcasted live on the website www.tsorganfestival.org where they can be freely accessed by anyone online.
– Videos are available on You Tube Channel “Terra Sancta Organ Festival”.
– The festival website www.tsorganfestival.org is in six languages: English, Italian, German, Arabic, Hebrew and Greek.
All the informations -> www.tsorganfestival.org