The second edition of the Terra Sancta Organ Festival is taking place as a way to stress the importance of the Christian communities in the Middle East.
In the Middle East, where there is a pipe organ, there is a church. The organ is a sign of the Christian presence here and the Terra Sancta Organ Festival was created on this idea.
Thirty concerts organized by the Custody of the Holy Land: the second season of the Terra Sancta Organ Festival is going on throughout the month of October in Israel and Palestine. Some concerts have already been held in Jordan, Greece and Cyprus.
A winter season that will take place in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria ad Damascus is also being produced, if the conditions are right.
Br. RICCARDO CERIANI, ofm
Delegate for Music – Custody of the Holy Land
“The Terra Sancta Organ Festival is a way to give visibility (and in some cases also solidarity) to the Christian communities spread throughout the Middle East and the Levant.
We are grateful for the opportunity of an international music Festival and for the secular roots of the Custody of the Holy Land in these territories.
In fact, the Terra Sancta Organ Festival is the only festival in the world organized in eight states. ”
The organ music is also part of the artistic excellence that Christians can boast, especially Catholics and Protestants.
Br. RICCARDO CERIANI, ofm
Delegate for Music – Custody of the Holy Land
“With this Festival, we offer the opportunity to all people of all religions who live in these territories to hear the voice, the sound of the organ, which otherwise would be reserved only for the Sunday Christian liturgies.”
The musicians invited to the Festival are world class and are fascinated with the idea of performing in the Holy Land.
PETER LATONA
Music Director of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception – Washington
“It is my great honor to present these four concerts, especially because this is my first time in the Holy Land… and this gives me a sense of spiritual satisfaction.
I am the Music Director of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington: last week we saw Pope Francis and we played our music with the choir during His mass.”
The Festival in Israel and Palestine presents, besides Peter Latona, the young Croatian soloist Pavao Masic, winner of international competitions, the Italian Pier Damiano Peretti, organ professor at the University of Vienna, and the Romanian Marcel Octav Costea, composer, university professor and organist of the Catholic Cathedral of Bucharest.
The concerts take place every week until the end of the month in the Church of St. Peter in Jaffa, in the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, in the Church of St. Savior in Jerusalem and the Church of St. Catherine at the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The local community is invited to participate.