The Perosi Festival it doesn’t stop. After the success of the first two appointments on the bill and the unscheduled event on the occasion of the National Convention of the Italian Association of Santa Cecilia, the festival dedicated to the Tortonese priest and composer, in the year of the 150th anniversary of his birth, continues next November 26th at 6pm in the Cathedral of Tortona when you can listen to the Passion according to St. Mark performed by Choir of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music and by the String and Horn Quintet of the Roman Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maestro Walter Marzilli. Singing soloists will be: Rosario Cantone, tenor, David Maria Gentile Prati, baritone, Marcel Bàlint, bass. To the organ David Bucci.
A choir of 50 elements will perform one of Don Lorenzo Perosi’s musical monuments.
“It will be a moment of great music and profound spirituality recalling the Passion of the Christ, the first work written in 1897 with which Don Lorenzo Perosi became famous all over the world – explains the artistic director of the festival, Don Paolo Padrini -. It will be performed in a very particular version for organ, string quintet, solo horn, choir and, of course, with the three soloists featured in the St Mark’s Passion. After very important choral concerts, we finally return to the oratory, the one that made Perosi the great composer of all time. It will be a whole work which, however, is not long because it lasts just over an hour and tells the story of Jesus from the Last Supper to his death on the Cross“.
The Polyphonic Choir of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome is a stable body made up of students of the academic courses of Singing, Gregorian Chant, Composition, Choral Direction, Musicology, Piano and Organ of the pope’s musical institute. At the end of their studies they are destined to hold positions of prestige in the major musical institutions of their own countries and abroad. Through the mobility of students linked both to the achievement of academic degrees and to the continuous renewal of enrollments, the choir acquires fluency and is enriched by international convergences.
The Polyphonic Choir performs in important liturgical events and concerts, and often sings for the Holy Father on particularly important occasions. He has made numerous tours in Italy and abroad, and is present at every academic act of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music.
The Perosi Festival 2022 is organized by the signatories of the Memorandum of Understanding “Perosi 60: Tortona Città della Musica”, with the contribution of the Cassa di Risparmio di Torino Foundation, the Cassa di Risparmio di Alessandria Foundation, the Cassa di Risparmio di Tortona Foundation, the Rotary of Tortona, the Lions Club, together with other prestigious bodies under the patronage of the Province of Alessandria and the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome. This year, the festival’s national media partner is Radio Classica, part of the Class editori group, and Radio Vaticana. Local media partners are Il Popolo and RadioPNR.
Admission will be free but with mandatory booking on the booking platform www.lorenzoperosi.net.
Furthermore, the following day, the choir of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, directed by M° Walter Marzilli, will animate the Holy Mass in the Cathedral of Tortona presided over by the Bishop of Tortona, Mons. Guido Marini, at 10.30. The Celebration will be broadcast live on the diocesan media.