Program 2024/25

ORGAN & MUSIC FESTIVAL RHODES
1 – 5 October, 2024 – 12^th edition

Church of St. Francis
(28 Dimokratias str., St. Athanasios Gate – Rhodes Town)

All concerts start at 8:00 pm. Admission Free

Presentation: Greek | English | Italian

Program

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Robert Kovács (Hungary), pipe organ recital

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Mixed Choir and Mandolin orchestra of the City of Petaludes

Flora Pelekanou (Greece), conductor

Robert Kovács (Hungary), pipe organ

Thursday, October 3, 2024

Gianluca Cagnani (Italy), pipe organ recital

In collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute in Athens

Friday, October 4, 2024 – Feast of St. Francis

Silent film “Frate Sole” (Brother Sun, 1918)

Musical commentary and organ improvisation by Gianluca Cagnani (Italy)

In collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute in Athens

Saturday, 5 October, 2024

Vocal Ensemble “Les Solistes de Beyrouth”

Fernando Afara (Lebanon), conductor

Gianluca Cagnani (Italy), pipe organ

ORGAN & MUSIC FESTIVAL SYRIA
Damascus | Aleppo | Latakia – 8^th edition

22 – 30 April 2025

BREAKING NEWS: The concerts scheduled for April are postponed to a later date, which will be communicated.

PLEASE, NOTE: You can watch the concerts live-streamed at the Damascus Opera House (time zone UTC +3) here:
https://www.facebook.com/share/WzHQ1zXk41XvaP8V/?mibextid=LQQJ4d 

SOL – SEMAINE DE L’ORGUE AU LIBAN
LEBANESE PIPE ORGAN WEEK 2025
March 27 – April 6 – 10th edition

Thursday, March 27, 8:00 pm

BEIRUT | National Evangelical Church

Wolfgang Reisinger (Austria), pipe organ

In collaboration with the Embassy of Austria

Monday, 31 March, 8:00 pm

ZOUK MOSBEH | Church of Notre Dame de Louaizeh – OMM

Roberto Prosseda (Italy), piano & Eugenio Maria Fagiani (Italy), pipe organ

Concert organized by the Italian Cultural Institute of Beirut in collaboration with the SOL Festival and with the patronage of the Italian Embassy in Lebanon

Tuesday, April 1, 7:00 pm

TRIPOLI (El Mina) | Latin Church of St. Francis – Custody of the Holy Land

Louisa El Khoury (Lebanon), soprano voice & Matteo El Khoder (Lebanon), countertenor voice

Wednesday, April 2, 6:00 pm

HARISSA | Church of St. Anthony of Padua – Custody of the Holy Land

Louisa El Khoury (Lebanon), soprano voice & Matteo El Khoder (Lebanon), countertenor

Thursday, April 3, 8:00 pm

AJALTOUN | Church of Mar Zakhia

Elie Njeim (Lebanon), trumpet & Eugenio Maria Fagiani (Italy), pipe organ

In collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of Beirut and Ajaltoun Centre Culturel

Friday, April 4, 8:00 pm

BEIRUT Gemmaizeh | Collège des Frères, Sacré-Coeur

Nuit française pour les 70 ans de Naji Hakim

Naji Hakim (Lebanon/France), pipe organ

In collaboration with Institut Français Liban and the patronage of the French Embassy

Sunday, April 6, 8:00 pm

BEIRUT | National Evangelical Church

Francisco Javier López García (Spain), pipe organ

In collaboration with the Embassy of Spain

Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU) and Terra Sancta Organ Festival have the pleasure of presenting the tenth edition of the SOL Festival (Semaine de l’Orgue au Liban | Lebanese Pipe Organ Week) from March 27 to April 4, 2025. Admission is free to all concerts.

The Lebanese Pipe Organ Week is the only festival in Lebanon to highlight this monumental instrument, played by renowned international organists and musicians. The festival takes place in different churches and venues in many areas of Lebanon (in this edition the concerts will be in Beirut, Zouk Mosbeh, Ajaltoun, Harissa and Tripoli) allowing the audience to explore different music repertoires. Thanks to the joint venture between Notre Dame University and Terra Sancta Organ Festival, the Lebanese Pipe Organ Week has strong local roots and, at the same time, an international dimension.

This year’s 10th anniversary of the SOL Festival coincides with another anniversary: the 70th birthday of the great Lebanese and French organist and composer Naji Hakim. With him and for him, we have organized a special concert in Beirut on April 4th in the church of the Sacred Heart College (Gemmaizeh) on the French organ “Debierre” (built in 1935, 90 years ago: another anniversary!), the organ on which Naji learned to play. In addition, as a birthday present, all organists will feature a piece by Naji Hakim in their program.

The opening on March 27th is entrusted to the Austrian organist and composer Wolfgang Reisinger, who will play on the Austrian organ “Rieger” of the National Evangelical Church of Beirut.

For the first time, a piano and organ duo will perform at the Sol Festival and in Lebanon since 1973. Two of the top Italian players of these instruments have been invited to this special event: Roberto Prosseda on piano and Eugenio Maria Fagiani on organ (Zouk Mosbeh, Church of Notre Dame de Louaizeh, March 31). Fagiani will also play on April 3 in the church of Mar Zachia in Ajaltoun with the Lebanese trumpeter Elie Njeim.

Soprano voice Louisa El Khoury and countertenor Matteo El Khoder will be the protagonists of the famous cantata by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi “Stabat Mater”, a musical meditation on the sorrows of the Virgin Mary under the cross (April 1, in the church of St. Francis in Tripoli El Mina; April 2, in the church of St. Anthony of Padua, Harissa).

Spanish Francisco Javier López García, titular organist of the Cathedral of Ávila (Spain), will close the SOL Festival 2025 on Sunday, April 6 at the National Evangelical Church of Beirut with the program “The Soul of Spain: Organ Music from the Renaissance to the Present”.

We are sure that Lebanese music lovers will appreciate our artistic proposals.

Website: https://solfestival.org/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/solorganfestival

Concerts in Jordan will be announced

No concerts in Israel and Palestine in  2024

Larnaka (Cyprus)

Church of Our Lady of Graces (Terra Santa street)

8:00 pm free admission.

Larnaca Progressive Movement Choir

Marios Lysandrou (Cyprus), conductor

Joe Daou (Lebanon), pipe organ

Ada Zeniou (Cyprus), piano

Program