One year's Support for the Chorus "Sonos Ensemble" of the Parish of SS. Trinity of the Pilgrims in Rome
Project location: Italy, Rome
Project start date: February 2016 -
Project end date: December 2016
Project number: 2016-013
Beneficiary: Parrocchia Ss.ma Trinita Dei Pellegrini
This project is dedicated to the preservation of a high standard of musical performances within the context that produced a large proportion of the Western world’s best music over the centuries. Much of the West’s great music was generated in Rome and within the context of the more ancient forms of the Roman rite. It is within this context that this music needs to be preserved. This is because the context aids both the specialist and the amateur understand the ways in which the liturgy determined many of the perimeters governing the composition of sacred music.
In present times the nexus between liturgy and sacred music is being lost to view. This is because the great corpus of serious liturgical music is no longer performed within a liturgical context and has been relegated to rather rare performances in the setting of the concert hall.
The divorce of sacred music from its liturgical setting also represents a marked impoverishment in the lives of the many people who are now no longer exposed to good music within this context.
Another unfortunate trend of our times is the lack of patronage and employment for young professional musicians who have specialized in the area of sacred music. This project aims at correcting and reversing this trend.
This project is therefore in keeping with the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation’s goals. Firstly, because it is aimed at preserving a large patrimony of excellent and historically important music. Secondly, because this patrimony’s preservation within its original context aids its comprehension and study. Thirdly, because it is committed to reversing impoverishment in the cultural sphere. Fourthly, because this project will employ highly specialized, young professionals in a sphere where the current economic crisis is putting their survival at risk.
The project will address the problem by regular, weekly performances of Renaissance and Baroque music by the professional choir, the Sonos Ensemble, directed by Dr Dario Paolini. Our operational procedures consist of establishing in advance a programme of performances over the whole year. Our methodology includes that of organizing rehearsals for each performance in order to ensure a high level of execution.
The music at Ss. Trinity of the Pilgrims is an integral part of the activity of the Parish. Its unique situation and juridical status in Rome, the capital of Christendom, makes it an international point of reference for the restoration of sacred music in the Church. Its program is followed with interest by those responsible for liturgical music throughout the world. It also has a national impact in Italy, by providing a higher standard or music in the capital.
The Parish of Trinity of the Pilgrims is well qualified to undertake this project. Since 2008 the Parish has ensured the regular performance of Renaissance and Baroque liturgical music by young, highly qualified professional musicians. These musicians, most of whom have doctorates in music, banded together twelve years ago to form the Sonos Ensemble under the direction of Dr Dario Paolini. Dr Paolini is well known in Rome as one of the city’s leading young conductors, singers and organists. The Parish and the Sonos Ensemble have worked over the past eight years to ensure an extremely high standard of music on a regular basis. The top professional level of the Sonos Ensemble, matched by the parish’s directors’ competence in the history and rationale of liturgical music means that the team at the Trinity has the necessary competence to ensure the successful outcome of this project.
