30 September, 2 & 4 October “Prelude in Rhodes”, St. Francis Church, 8:30 pm; in collaboration with “Organ & Music Festival Rhodes”

Information

30 September, 2 & 4 October
“Prelude in Rhodes”, St. Francis Church, 8:30 pm;
in collaboration with “Organ & Music Festival Rhodes”

The Terra Sancta Organ Festival (Holy Land Organ Festival ) is a cultural activity in which the Custody of the Holy Land allows everyone to enjoy the beauty of its pipe organs, an asset that would otherwise be restricted to Latin Catholics in their liturgies.

The sound of the organ is, in the Middle East, a sign of the Christian presence: organs are found inside churches and in the churches are found Christians. An international organ festival, taking place here, in this Holy Land, represents not only a recreational, artistic and cultural moment but also the public manifestation of this presence. Our hope is that, starting from Israel, Palestine and Greece, the festival will eventually reach in the next years the other places where the Custody of the Holy Land has a presence: Jordan, Lebanon, Cyprus, Egypt and ….. Syria.
Inshallah.

The Holy Land Organ Festival is the only international music festival that takes place in different nations. In our concerts are all welcome. A special invitation is addressed to the pilgrims and tourists who love music.

The Custody of the Holy Land is a special and international Mission to the Catholic Church, a part of the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans). The Franciscans arrived in the Holy Land in the thirteenth century, and from 1342 have a mandate to preserve and serve the Holy Places on behalf of the Catholic Church. In addition to the care of shrines and assistance to pilgrims, the Franciscans have developed many activities for the benefit of local people, primary in support of the Christian community, but not exclusively. The Custody of the Holy Land is also a diplomatic entity recognized by many countries and institutions.

The first edition of the festival will take place in Israel and Palestine 5 to 28 November 2014, with a "Prelude" on the Greek Island of Rhodes from September 30 to October 4. The organists are all internationally known: American Mark Pacoe (organist and music director of the church of St. Malachy in Times Square in New York), the Germans Ulrich Pakusch (organist and music director of the Basilica of Werl and collaborator of the greatest orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic) and Axel Flierl (the organist and choir director of St. Peter and Paul Basilica in Dillingen an der Donau, Bavaria, that is the co-cathedral of the Diocese of Augsburg) and the Italian Eugenio Maria Fagiani (organist in the Symphony Orchestra "Giuseppe Verdi" of Milan). Chris Paraskevopoulos is a very talented Greek organist, one of the few organists to be found in Greece. He is also the artistic director of the music festival that has taken place since 2009 in the church of St. Francis in Rhodes.

The concerts of the festival will take place November 5-28, 2014
Every Wednesday in Nazareth (November 5, 12, 19, 26)
Basilica of the Annunciation, 6 pm
Every Thusday in Jerusalem, (November 6, 13, 20, 27)
Church of St. Saviour, 6 pm
Every Friday in Bethlehem (November 7, 14, 21, 28)
Church of St. Catherine at the Basilica of the Nativity , 6 pm

30 September, 2 & 4 October, “Prelude in Rhodes”, St. Francis Church, 8:30 pm; in collaboration with “Organ & Music Festival Rhodes”.
Tuesday, November 18 in Jaffa, Church of St. Peter, 7 pm
Sunday, November 23 in Emmaus El-Qubeibeh, 12:00 noon.

Free entrance to all concerts

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Terra Sancta Organ Festival
c/o St. Saviour’s Monastery
New Gate
P.O. Box 186
9100101 Jerusalem

e-mail: organfestival@custodia.org
website: www.holylandorganfestival.org
Tel. +972.2.6266.771

Contact: Fr. Riccardo Ceriani