The seventh annual International
Festival for Sacred Art and Music concluded in Rome. The theme was the Pauline
year. This year's festival was especially significant to organizers because of a
special guest who attended the first performance.
Dr.
Hans-Albert Courtial President, International Festival of Sacred Music and
Art This was a very special year for us because we had the
Holy Father in attendance. This is the first time the Holy Father has come to
our festival. In past years, he came as Cardinal Ratzinger. Now, we had him come
as Pope.
According to the festival's president and founder,
the setting is a critical element for musicians and the audience to appreciate
the power and beauty of sacred music.
Dr. Hans-Albert
Courtial President, International Festival of Sacred Music and Art The music of Mozart or Schubert or Haydn, sacred music, was not
created for a concert hall, it was created for the Church. This is what we are
doing, bringing this beautiful music back to the papal basilicas. This way, I
guarantee you that people will feel a great joy.
The idea for
an annual festival came about in 2000 when Dr. Hans-Albert Courtial organized an
orchestra and choir performance in St. Peter's Basilica, and witnessed the
powerful effect of hearing the music inside the church.
Dr.
Hans-Albert Courtial President, International Festival of Sacred Music and
Art When we were testing the instruments the night before
the performance, they started to play and I saw some of the musicians crying. So
I asked them, what happened to you? Was it the same thing that happened to me?
Did you feel very emotional? Yes, we were very emotional because in a place so
sacred and so beautiful, hearing this music to us is a great joy. So I said to
myself, this is exactly what we need today, to be touched in our hearts during
these terrible times.
This year's festival is finished, but the theme for
next year has already been chosen: the music of Joseph Haydn, to commemorate the
200th anniversary of his death.
