Competition To Put the "Pater Noster" to Music

ROME, JULY 23, 2003 (Zenit.org).- The "Fernando Rielo" Foundation is sponsoring the 3rd International Award for Sacred Music; a prize for the winner of this year's competition to put the Pater Noster (Our Father) to music.

The deadline for presenting scores is November 15, 2003. The 5,000-euro prize will be awarded in Rome in January of 2004.

The initiative gives contemporary composers an opportunity to produce new works that interpret the need for values and transcendence expressed by today's world.

The Rielo Foundation, which is convoking the award, is inspired in the living philosopher and poet Fernando Rielo. It currently has its headquarters in Madrid, as well as 53 delegations worldwide. Its objective is to promote culture, art, and thought at the world level, especially mystical poetry and inter-cultural meetings.

According to Fernando Rielo, the poet after whom the award is named, "the sacred character of music is only possible in virtue of the constitutive mystical condition of the human being."

The panel of judges includes Ennio Morricone (Italy), Esperanza Estades (Spain), Paolo Perezzani (Italy), Antonio Poce (Italy), Salvatore Sciarrino (Italy), and Xavier Zoghbi (Spain).

The pieces presented for the award must be written for a baritone and string quartet (1st and 2nd violin, viola, and cello).

The competition is open to composers of any country, with no age limit. The work presented, of a total of 5-10 minute duration, must be original, unpublished, and never performed in public. The manuscript must be clearly legible.

The score, sent in a sealed envelope, must arrive before November 15, 2003 to the competition's headquarters: "Fernando Rielo" International Award for Sacred Music, Viale Romania , 32 -- 00197 Rome, Italy.

To request information on all the conditions, ask for the extract on the convocation at: fundacion@rielo.com.