MAP Festival. Interview with Sir John Rutter and Maestro Piero Romano in the Cappellone of the Cathedral of San Cataldo
“Look at the world” is the title of the concert that the great Sir John Rutter masterfully conducted in the Great Mother of God Co-Cathedral with the Magna Graecia Orchestra and the LA Chorus, two hundred elements including professors and choristers. On the occasion he presented the exclusive “sound picture” commissioned to him by the Magna Grecia Orchestral Concert Institute and inspired by the spirituality and art of the Cathedral of San Cataldo. Great emotions, great public, great final standing ovation in the sacred architecture designed by Gio Ponti once again so much enhanced by a special, unique and international event.
To understand the meaning and composition of the “sound picture”, before the evening concert, in the chapel of San Cataldo we met Sir John Rutter considered today “the greatest composer and director of living choral music”: “Taranto is a magnificent city, this place exudes great spirituality, I had no difficulty in translating it into a sound painting commissioned from me by the ICO Magna Grecia “.
It is an extraordinary “sound picture” composed by Rutter exclusively for the Cathedral of San Cataldo. Faithful, visitors, tourists, starting from the next few weeks with a normal I-phone, downloading a specific “code” will be able to listen to the composition of the arranger of “Psalm 150”, commissioned for the Golden Jubilee of the Queen of England.
“The orchestral poem I composed – continues Rutter – is declined in three continuous sections:” The journey of St. Cataldo, Irish saint, the mosaics of his cathedral “;” The Crypt “;” Sunshine, splendor and celebration ” This work is my response to this new and intriguing commission, which I hope can be heard with pleasure even in the more traditional context of a concert: before starting to work, I immersed myself in the images of the Cathedral and its extraordinary history. working together with the fabulous Orchestra della Magna Grecia and the LA Chorus is an extraordinary experience; the composition made exclusively for the ICO, will be performed on only two occasions with orchestra and choir, in Taranto and Matera, then people will be able to listen to it only in the Duomo “.
It was a great honor to host Maestro John Rutter in Taranto for the second time – underlined Maestro Piero Romano, promoter of the MAP Festival together with the ICO – For the Magna Grecia Orchestra it represents an even greater satisfaction if we think that the same director has agreed to create an exclusive “sound picture” for the Cathedral of Taranto. From this moment on, in fact, our Cathedral will be able to boast the presence of a composition by the greatest composer of sacred and choral music: his music, combined with the city of Taranto, will accompany visitors in the enjoyment of this extraordinary architectural jewel religious; an added value that the MAP Festival, together with the Magna Grecia Orchestra, wanted to donate to the city “.
Maestro Piero Romano then wanted to announce that on 21 June the Magna Grecia Orchestra will be a guest in the Cloister of Palazzo Valdina in Rome, at the Chamber of Deputies. It will be up to the ICO to accompany also parliamentarians-musicians, ladies and senators, on the occasion of the “Music Festival”, an experience if not unique, certainly extraordinary as they will create majority and opposition political “ensembles”.
The “Music Festival” is an event that every year celebrates music in many Italian cities. This twenty-eighth edition will be dedicated to the memory of David Sassoli, an Italian journalist and politician who died last January. On the program original pieces and, among others, music by Mozart, Vivaldi and Rossini.
Sir John Rutter, the sound picture for Taranto and its Cathedral