Palestrina500 Concert by the PIMS Choir

On 21 March, a new memorable artistic initiative within the framework of the celebrations for the Palestinian 500th anniversary organised by the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music chaired by Fr. Robert Mehlhart. At the Basilica of St. Apollinaris, the soloists and polyphonic choir of the PIMS, conducted by Maestro Walter Marzilli, animated a complete musical liturgy of rare intensity with the ordinarium of the Missa Beata Virgine by Palestrina, the jewel of the ‘Stile Osservato’, framed by a variegated proprium missae composed of the introit Ave stella matutina by Gaspar van Weerbeke, Sebastian de Felsztyn's Alleluia Felix es, sacra Virgo Maria, Guillaume Bouzignac's Ave Maria for the Offertory, Cristóbal de Morales‘ Communio O sacrum convivium, Thomas Tallis’ Postcommunio If Ye Love Me, and Palestrina's Exitus Vergine chiara. The spiritual concert paid tribute to the cosmopolitan brilliance of Palestrina's style and to the exchange of influences with the great composers of the Renaissance.