For the first time an Italian orchestra lands in Rhodes, Greece, and for the first time a concert for organ and orchestra and Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's musical and spiritual masterpiece, the Stabat Mater, is performed on the island. The concert was held last Oct. 4, on the Feast of St. Francis, patron saint of Italy, at the very Church of St. Francis of the Custody of the Holy Land during the Organ & Music Festival Rhodes. Br RICCARDO CERIANI, ofm Superintendent of the Terra Sancta Organ Festival "This project was made possible by the collaboration between the Terra Sancta Organ Festival, the Pergolesi Spontini Foundation of Jesi and the Italian Cultural Institute of Athens. Because of its cultural significance, this project is one of 23 proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Italian Cultural Institutes and Italian Embassies around the world." Maestro Marco Attura conducted the Time Machine Ensemble string orchestra with Eugenio Maria Fagiani on organ and the voices of Federica Moi and Nikoletta Hertsak. At the beginning of the evening, the director of the Italian Cultural Institute of Athens, Francesco Neri, greeted the people who came from Italy, including Pergolesi Spontini Foundation general director Lucia Chiatti. Speaking in Greek, Francesco Neri explained the cultural significance of this concert and the Organ & Music Festival Rhodes in which it is included. Jesi is the birthplace of composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. Mayor Lorenzo Fiordelmondo thanked the large audience, presenting the Stabat Mater as a universal message of peace. Gasparo Sborgi's Concerto for Organ and Orchestra in D major also constituted a premiere in modern times as it was being performed for the first time since the 18th century. The festival continued in the following days with organ recitals by Eugenio Maria Fagiani, Greece's Dafni Melanitou and Poland's Vincent De Pol. Read More