Parish Choir Festival

A choral festival at the foot of Montevergine

At the beginning of summer, the mother church of Santi Filippo e Giacomo in Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo opens its doors for the Parish Choir Festival, a gathering that brings together liturgical choirs from Irpinia and other parts of Campania. The small town in the province of Avellino, nestled on the slopes of the Partenio massif along the road leading to the sanctuary of Montevergine, becomes for one evening a meeting point for dozens of singers, organists, and instrumentalists who share the same mission: to accompany the life of parish communities through song.

Born in 2024 for the 20th anniversary of the Coro Ave Maris Stella

The festival was born in 2024, on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the Coro Ave Maris Stella of Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo. The initiative was strongly desired by maestro Michelangelo Lomazzo, the choir's director and organist, who turned it into much more than a celebratory evening: an annual event capable of connecting choral groups that are often little known outside their own parishes. Since then, the festival has grown with each edition, both in the number of invited choirs and in the audience present in the church.

Six choirs and over one hundred and ten voices

The June 20, 2026 edition, the third, brought together six choral groups for a total of more than 110 singers and musicians. An ensemble of this size in a village church perfectly captures the spirit of the event: no competition, no rankings, just a long interweaving of different programs following one another in the same nave. The following groups took part in the festival:

• Coro Ave Maris Stella of Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo, the host choir
• Amici in armonia Ensemble
• Adultissimi Choir of Forino
• Mater Misericordiae Choir of Celzi di Forino
• Polifonico Santi Medici Cosma e Damiano Choir of Eboli
• Sant'Alfonso Choir of the San Tommaso parish in Avellino
• Vox Ruach Choir of the Avellino Cathedral

“Let us sing with joy”: polyphony at the service of the liturgy

The motto chosen for the festival, “Let us sing with joy,” summarizes its intention. The organizers declare a precise goal: to emphasize the importance of polyphony as a musical form capable of bringing liturgical texts to the hearts of the faithful. It is therefore not a simple concert, but an evening in which the sacred repertoire — from traditional chants to multi-voice arrangements — is performed in the place for which it was intended, with the organ and instruments supporting the choral sections.

The mother church of Santi Filippo e Giacomo

The festival takes place in the town's mother church, dedicated to the two apostles Filippo and Giacomo, patrons of Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo, whose feast day is May 3rd. The building, which overlooks the central square of the village, is the seat of the local parish and offers the natural acoustics that the polyphonic repertoire requires: a context very different from that of an auditorium, where voices lean against the vaults and the audience sits just a few meters from the singers.

Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo, between Montevergine and the “castagna del prete”

With just over two thousand inhabitants, Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo is one of the smallest municipalities in the Campania Region, but also one of the most visited in Irpinia thanks to its location: the road leading to the sanctuary of Montevergine, one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in Southern Italy, passes through here. The town is also known for the castagna del prete (priest's chestnut), a typical product to which an autumn festival is dedicated, and for its artisanal nougat. Those arriving for the choral festival will find a lively village, about ten kilometers from the provincial capital, Avellino.

Why it is worth attending

The Parish Choir Festival is one of those events that tell the story of a territory better than many large-scale manifestations. It brings together volunteers — because that is what they are, singers who rehearse all year round in their own parishes — and places them in front of an audience that listens to them together, for once, outside the context of Sunday mass. For the visitor, it is also a simple and free way, in spirit, to get in touch with the most authentic dimension of Irpinian community life.