6-7 Sept. Following their highly successful first visit to Rome in September 2017, the Bristol-based choir, Harmonia Sacra, under their musical director, Peter Leech, are returning for a second visit in early September 2019.

On Friday, 6 September, at 19.30 at S. Lorenzo in Damaso (Piazza della Cancelleria 1), they are giving a concert entitled Maestri di Polifonia Italiana e Russa dal XVIII – XIX secolo.

Comprising music by Baldassare Galuppi, Giovanni Battista Casali, Sebastiano Bolis, Giuseppe Sarti, Alessandro Scarlatti and Dimitry Bortnyasnsky, this promises to be an exciting concert including the music of Italian composers working at the court of Catherine the Great in St Petersburg.

On Saturday 7 September, at the cathedral in Frascati, Harmonia Sacra are singing at a Mass at 19.00, followed, at 20.00, by a concert entitled La Musica del Cardinale Enrico Stuart. This includes the first modern performance of a range of music for choir and organ composed for Cardinal Henry Benedict Stuart (1725–1807), brother of Bonnie Prince Charlie, during his time as bishop of Frascati from 1761 to 1803.

Entrance to both concerts is free and all are welcome.

On Sunday, 8 September, for a second time, Harmonia Sacra have been invited to sing at the 10.30 Mass in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Unusually, on their first visit in 2017, the choir received a standing ovation at the end of the service in recognition of the outstanding quality of their singing.

For full details see Harmonia Sacra website.