International Festival of Sacred Music and Art

24th edition — in the name of Palestrina

The 2025 edition of the festival, the twenty-fourth, was held in Rome from November 8 to 12 and was dedicated to Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina on the 500th anniversary of his birth.

On Saturday, November 8, the opening was entrusted to the Regensburger Domspatzen conducted by Christian Heiß in the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola, followed in the evening by The Tallis Scholars directed by Peter Phillips in the Basilica of St. Mary Major, featuring music by Palestrina, Allegri, Festa, and Desprez. On Sunday, November 9, the festival reached the Palazzo della Cancelleria, with works by Mozart and Mendelssohn, and the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. On Monday, November 10, Rossini's Stabat Mater resonated at St. Paul Outside the Walls with the Orchestra and Choir of the Arena di Verona Foundation. On Tuesday, November 11, the Hamburger Knabenchor offered a spiritual elevation with music by Palestrina, Vivaldi, Bach, and Mendelssohn, while on Wednesday, November 12, the Moscow Synodal Choir, conducted by Mikhail Kotelnikov, closed the festival with a program of Russian Orthodox sacred music.

As every year, admission was free subject to availability: several concerts sold out well in advance.