Rome, 21 November 2023
CONCERT WITH THE POOR AND FOR THE POOR
Fourth Edition
Friday 15 December 2023 – 17.30
Paul VI Hall, Vatican City
The Concert with the Poor and for the Poor returns with a renewed celebration of beauty and charity. Guests for the first time will be Orchestra Director Speranza Scappucci with the Orchestra and Choir of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.
It will be, as is customary, the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican to host the fourth edition of the Concert with the Poor and for the Poor, the initiative dedicated to the most disadvantaged people to whom it is intended to offer an experience of Beauty through music combined with a concrete gesture of charity. The event, scheduled for Friday 15 December 2023 at 17.30, will see 3,000 seats reserved for the less fortunate, including the homeless, migrants and those living in situations of social hardship. They will be the 'guests of honour' of the event, invited to participate through the Dicastery for the Service of Charity and the numerous voluntary associations that assist them on a daily basis, and to whom a packed dinner and other comfort items will subsequently be distributed.
Born in 2015 from an idea by Riccardo Rossi and Gualtiero Ventura, and organized by Nova Opera with the artistic director of the Maestro Msgr. Marco Frisina, it will take place under the patronage of the Governorate of Vatican City State and the Dicastery for the Service of Charity.
The three preceding editions involved the participation of some of the most important exponents of the international music scene, including the orchestra director Daniel Oren and the composers Ennio Morricone and Nicola Piovani, as well as prestigious orchestras such as that of the Teatro Verdi of Salerno, the Roma Sinfonietta, the Italian Cinema Orchestra and the Choir of the National Academy of Santa Cecilia.
For 2023, the orchestra direction will be entrusted to the conductor Speranza Scappucci, who will alternate on the podium with Maestro Msgr. Marco Frisina to lead the Orchestra and Choir of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. The presence onstage of the 200 members of the Choir of the Diocese of Rome, present since the first edition, is also confirmed.
This edition of the Concert with the Poor and for the Poor will involve the valuable presence of two exceptional soloists: the soprano Maria Grazia Schiavo, one of the most important voices of her generation in the Baroque, traditional and Bel Canto repertory, and the tenor Levy Sekgapane, a highly regarded South African talent who has already won the “Montserrat Caballé International Singing Competition” and the prestigious “Operalia” contest.
The programme includes a selection of masterpieces by Mozart, Rossini and Tchaikovsky, enriched by famous national and international Christmas songs such as Joy to the World, Quanno nascette Ninno, Tu scendi dalle stelle and Stille Nacht, in new versions specially orchestrated by Maestro Msgr. Frisina.
Audience participation in the Concert with the Poor and for the Poor is completely free of charge upon mandatory completion of the form on the event's official website (www.concertoconipoveri.org). The tickets, sent by e-mail, contain a unique QR code that must be shown in digital or paper form at the access control on the day of the event.
For further information: info@concertoconipoveri.org - www.concertoconipoveri.org
