To honour the feast of St Francis, the Organ and Music Festival Rhodes has been held on the Greek island of Rhodes for twelve years. Organised by the Latin Catholic Church together with the Terra Sancta Organ Festival. The concerts took place from 1 to 5 October in the church of St Francis, in cooperation with the Italian Cultural Institute of Athens and the Embassy of Hungary in Greece. The festival was inaugurated with a recital by the Hungarian Robert Kovacs, organist of St. Augustine's Church in Vienna and principal organist of the Robert Kovacs (the famous Wiener Philharmoniker) and other prestigious Austrian orchestras. A very moving moment of Robert Kovacs' performance was his improvisation on the theme of the antiphon Salve Regina. The Italian Gianluca Cagnani, professor of organ and improvisation at the Conservatory of Turin, presented a classical programme in which an improvisation on Giacomo Puccini's opera Manon Lescaut emerged, on the centenary of his death. Cagnani himself improvised on the silent film ‘Frate Sole’ from 1918, as when sound did not yet exist and films were accompanied by organ, piano or other instruments. This film has the distinction of being the only one among all the films inspired by the life of St Francis that explicitly shows the gift of the stigmata, the eighth centenary of which is being commemorated this year. The Organ and Music Festival Rhodes also maintains its link with the region by inviting Greek musicians. This year, the choir and instrumental ensemble of Petaludes conducted by Flora Pelikanou were invited, with mandolins and other instruments from the local tradition. The last concert is linked, reluctantly, with a contemporary note: from war-torn Lebanon, after many difficulties, ‘The Beirut Soloists’, the vocal ensemble conducted by maestro Fernando Afara, arrived in Rhodes. The characteristic of this ensemble is to present both choral compositions and solo pieces and duets with the talented Violetta Damaa, Valery Mchàiel , Evelyn Wehbe and Serge Medawar. Concern about the return journey did not prevent the Lebanese singers from offering a beautiful concert with sacred music by Mozart, Vivaldi, Fauré, and the Lebanese composer Khalil Rahme. The Rhodes audience greeted them with great applause and signs of solidarity. Read More