The foundation "Fondazione pro Musica e Arte Sacra" is a no-profit moral entity whose purpose is to promote and propagate sacred music and art on highest levels.

Its main activities are among the following: the organization of concerts for the diffusion and promotion of sacred music, the organization of exhibitions and art reviews, the organization of festivals, competitions, conventions, workshops, tv and radio broadcasts and any other form of diffusion of culture and sacred music and art , the organization of courses and seminaries in sacred music and art, the granting of scholarships, the promotion of studies and research on the subject, also by supporting and financing religious institutions or organizations of the Holy See , the production and edition of books and audio recordings which help to achieve the Foundation's aims cease the rights over TV, audio and video registrations and pictures of the organized events in Italy and abroad

The Foundation's patrimony can be increased by donations, inheritances, legacies, grants which have been explicitly destinated to it. The Foundation finances its activities for the achievment of its aims through contributions and subscriptions explicitly destinated to it by legal persons, either of public or private law, Italian or from abroad, or by natural persons from Italy or from abroad, through incomes from the activities and events the Foundation organizes, and through what it receives from the "Associazione Internazionale Amici della Musica Sacra", a no-profit organization which includes in its institutional aims explicitly the support of the Foundation.

From November 19 to 24, the Foundation organizes, with DaimlerChrysler Italy as a partner, the second "Festival di Musica e Arte Sacra" in the Roman patriarchal basilicas and in the Loreto Sanctuary near Ancona.

At the same time, the Foundation is bringing forth a vast project bound to the support of sacred art and music. The sacred music concerts organized by the Foundation in the "Festival di Musica e Arte Sacra" in the Roman patriarchal basilicas and in Loreto aim to the promotion of the conservation and restoration of the cultural heritage in the same basilicas. In this way, the Foundation has already financed the restoration of "St. Stephen's Chapel" in the Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls, in the Basilica of St. Mary Major it contributes to the restoration of the "Chapel of Sixtus V" and various other projects of the museum, and in the Basilica of St. John Lateran the two precious Morettini organs, built in 1886, have been renewed. Further projects are the restoration of the library in the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music and of the "Cappella Tedesca" in the famous Loreto Sanctuary.

All those who financially support and sponsor the Foundation and the Festival encourage the propagation of sacred music and help preserve those magnificent works of art which are part of humanity's patrimony.

The Festival

The concert events of the "Festival di Musica e Arte Sacra" are devoted to the union between artistic creation and spiritual experience.

In an entirely extraordinary setting within the Roman patriarchal basilicas St. Paul outside the Walls, St. John Lateran and St. Mary Major and in the Pontifical Sanctuary of the Holy House in Loreto, world famous musicians as the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Symphonic Orchestra, the Hilliard Ensemble and the Chamber Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic will perform superb pieces from the musical literature of all times.

The beauty of sacred works such as Haydn's "Creation", Dvorak's "Stabat Mater", Mozart's "Requiem" or the antique sacred polyphony by Lassus and Palestrina, performed within a setting as unique as these basilicas, allows the listener to savor every possible way of refining the human spirit and turning it away from the commotion of daily life through sacred music and art.

The inspiring project which the "Festival di Musica e Arte Sacra" has brought forth and especially its first edition which took place in November 2002, have received worldwide consent from both musical and ecclesiastical environments.

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra has given its support by confirming their participation as orchestra in residence for the Festival's first five years.

The partner of the "Festival di Musica e Arte Sacra," DaimlerChrysler Italy, has always been sensitive to art and culture, and has given credit to the Foundation's ambitious and innovative project from the very beginning. Wolfgang D. Schrempp, President of Daimler Chrysler Italy, has declared: "The Foundation's idea of 'Art Saving Art' is absolutely innovative and in perfect accordance with our company's philosophy."