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The unique feature of the Terra Sancta Organ Festival is that it is being held at the churches and shrines of the Holy Land and in the locations where the Franciscan Friars of the Custody of the Holy Land have been active for centuries: Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria.
The Terra Sancta Organ Festival is one way to bear witness to the presence of the Christian communities in the Middle East and the Levant in the field of music and culture. Here, organ music is a superior artistic contribution perceived as specifically Christian, the pipe organ being present almost exclusively inside churches. The festival is also an opportunity to promote the maintenance of organs and the study of this instrument, necessary for the liturgy.
The concerts take place in churches, but all are welcome, regardless of their religious affiliation: the Terra Sancta Organ Festival represents, in fact, one of the rare occasions in the Middle East and the Levant in which one can listen to the sound of a pipe organ outside of its normal liturgical context.
February 24, 2025. From Vienna we received news of the death of Fr. Stanislaus Bertagnolli, the great promoter of pipe organs in the Custody of the Holy Land. Fr. Stanislaus was Commissioner of the Holy Land from 1976 to 2011. Thanks to him, the Custody of the Holy Land was able to celebrate its liturgies with beautiful organs in Jerusalem (Holy Sepulchre, Church of St. Savior, Basilica of Gethsemane), in Bethlehem (Church of St. Catherine at the Basilica of the Nativity) and in Nazareth (Upper and Lower Basilica of the Annunciation and Church of St. Joseph). Without the work of Fr. Stanislaus, the Terra Sancta Organ Festival would not have been possible. Fr. Stanislaus loved the largest of musical instruments, but he played one of the smallest: the harmonica (see him playing it during the inauguration of the new Rieger organ in the Basilica of Nazareth in 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8MMxM5iFb8 ). We like to imagine that from today Fr. Stanislaus will still play his harmonica to accompany the choir of angels.
San Francesco e il Sultano
St. Francis and the Sultan
القديس فرنسيس والسلطان
Opera in four parts
Libretto: Bartolomeo Pirone
Music: Fr. Khalil Rahme
Orchestration: Fadi Taouk
Produced by the Custody of the Holy Land with the support of the Italian Cultural Institute in Beirut and Pro Terra Sancta.
Technical sponsor: Noursat / Telelumiere.
Watch it on YouTube
Join us to watch the concerts live streaming below:
6 p.m. – Jerusalem, Athens, Rhodes, Cyprus, Damascus, Amman, Beirut
5 p.m. – Roma, Berlin, Wien, Bern and Central European Time
4 p.m. – London, Dublin, Lisbon
12 p.m. – Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires
11 a.m. – EST
10 a.m. – CT
9 a.m. – MT
8 a.m. – PT
WATCH MORE CONCERTS ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL http://www.youtube.com/c/TerraSanctaOrganFestival
OR FACEBOOK PAGE https://www.facebook.com/TerraSanctaOrgan/
Terra Sancta Organ Festival
Custodia Terrae Sanctae
Memorial of Moses
Mount Nebo Siyagha
Faysaliyah – P.O.B. 217196
Madaba JORDAN
e-mail: organfestival@custodia.org
