Every year in August, Rocca Massima becomes a special centre for music lovers with the International Organ Show, an important event in the church of San Michele Arcangelo.
The show is divided into 4 events to finish at the end of the month. Initiated in 1999, over the years it has attracted important artists with the participation of national and international renowned organists, from America and Russia. The presence of these names has given prestige to the show, appreciated by the musical academies and it is the pride of the entire community of Rocca Massima.
Rocca Massima dominates the Pontina plain from above and is an enchanting centre on the Lepini Mountains at 800 m above sea level. In the ancient and important Church of San Michele Arcangelo there is a superb organ with mechanical transmission to 1063 pipes that is the true leader of the event.
The organ was built in 1999 by the well-known company in Crema "Inzoli-Bonizzi", and inaugurated in October of the same year with a concert by M° J. E. Goettsche, at the time organist of the Vatican Basilica. In addition, important performers are invited to perform each year, such as Gunther Kaunzinger (Germany) and J. Paradel Solè (Spain).
In each edition the festival offers listening to the organ repertoire of the Baroque period, around which the organ compositions of the nineteenth, twentieth century and contemporary revolve.
Every year the repertoire on offer is varied: from classic to modern. From JS Bach, CM Widor and J. Alain to Frescobaldi and Muffat, and then to composers of different eras and styles: Mayone, B. Storace, T. Susato, LJA Lefebure-Wely, D. Bourgeois, P. Glass, Ballio, Bovet, Galimberti and Yon.
There is no lack of compositions for organ from great musicians of the past such as Handel, Liszt, Verdi, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Berlioz, Schubert, Rossini. The show is always seeking new Italian and foreign performers and in recent years has hosted well-known organists such as: Olga Laudonia, Paolo Oreni, Janos Palur, Roman Hauser, Elisa Teglia, Gerardo Chimini.
During the course of the show, the practice of organ improvisation is a feature, with current symphonies played on themes proposed by the public.
Since 1999, many internationally renowned artists have performed at Rocca Massima, such as Martin Baker, Marco and Eva Brandazza, Claudio Brizi, Fausto Caporali, Luigi Celeghin, Alessio Corti, Pietro Delle Chiaie, Marco Di Lenola, Giampaolo Di Rosa, Josè Enrique Ayarra Jarnè, Martin Kovarik, Jerzy Kukla, Federico Kuster, Alessandro La Ciacera, Jan Lehtola, Gianluca Libertucci, Andrea Macinanti, Roberto Marini, Livia Mazzanti, Sergio Militello, Fabio Nava, Massimo Nosetti, Giancarlo Parodi, Giorgio Parolini, Fulvio Rampi, Giovanna Riboli , Arturo Sacchetti, Klemens Schnorr, Federico Teti, Giovanni Ubertini and others.
As well as being the highest municipality in the province of Latina, Rocca Massima has renowned culinary traditions and splendid views. The brave can launch with Fly in the Sky, a journey suspended on a cable stretched over more than a km. Organ music is like 'icing on the cake' for an original weekend in the Lepini Mountains overlooking the sea.
http://www.prolocoroccamassima.it/category/rassegna-organistica/
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