The inaugural concert of the 20th International Festival of Sacred Music and Art, performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra on September 18th, 2021 in the Sagrada Familia, was a huge success.
The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Christian Thielemann, performed Elysium by Samy Moussa and the Symphony No. 4 "Romantica" by Anton Bruckner.
The Auxiliary Bishop of Barcelona, Monsignor Sergi Gordo Rodriguez gave the opening speech of the concert.
The concert, supported by the Fondazione Pro Musica e Arte Sacra, will be broadcast worldwide in the coming months. Exact broadcast dates and times will be published by local stations.
Present at the event were His Most Reverend Eminence Cardinal Lluís Martínez Sistach, Archbishop Emeritus of Barcelona;
Msgr. Sergi Gordo Rodríguez and Msgr. Antoni Vadell Ferrer, auxiliary bishops of Barcelona;
the Founder and General President of the Fondazione Pro Musica e Arte Sacra, Sen. Dr. h.c. mult. Hans-Albert Courtial;
the President of the 20th International Festival of Sacred Music and Art, Ralph Dommermuth;
and Msgr. Valentino Miserachs Grau, Member of the Artistic Committee of the Fondazione Pro Musica e Arte Sacra.
The Foundation Pro Musica e Arte Sacra cultivates a dream "to preserve the unattainable beauty" of which music and sacred art are the refined expression of the man of faith and which the man of faith has been able to realize.
The concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, with the performance of Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 4, is part of the 20th INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF SACRED MUSIC AND ART, under the patronage and presidency of Mr. Ralph Dommermuth, and will continue in Rome and the Vatican from November 13th to 17th, 2021.