Tomorrow evening at 6:30 p.m., Oscar award-winning composer Ennio Morricone will direct the Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra and the National Academy of Saint Cecilia Chorus for the Second Benefit Concert “with the poor and for the poor” in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall.
The event, sponsored by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization and by the Saint Matthew Foundation in Memory of Card. Van Thuân, is part of the closing of the Jubilee of Mercy and is intended to support Pope Francis’ Sign of Charity for the Jubilee: the construction of a new Cathedral in Moroto in Uganda and an Agricultural School in Burkina Faso.
All the donations collected at the end of the concert will go towards the Jubilee charities.
According to a communique released on the concert, the Maestro will conduct several pieces from the most famous works and soundtracks he has composed during his 60-year career. Along with him, Mons. Marco Frisina will direct the same orchestra and the Diocesan Choir of Rome in two selections of sacred music, and will guide the audience through this musical itinerary with reflections focusing on the Jubilee Year and charity.
Numerous associations are collaborating to make this event possible, and will be present for the evening along with the needy whom they assist: the Great Priory of Rome and the Roman Delegation of the Sovereign Military Order of the Knights of Malta, the Society of Saint Peter, the Diocese of Rome’s Caritas organization, the Sant’Egidio Community, the Astalli Center for Refugees, UNITALSI, the ACLI of Rome, the New Horizions Community, the Mater Mundi Onlus and the Community of Pope John XXIII Association will all unite to make a “seed” of joy and hope “sprout” through the music for our brothers and sisters most in need, who will have seats of honor in the Hall.
As a further concrete gesture of solidarity, at the end of the concert the youth from the Diocesan Choir of Rome and the Jubilee Volunteers will distribute a meal and a small gift as a memento of the evening.
