Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) - The China National Symphony Orchestra (CNSO) will pay tribute to the Holy Father Benedict XVI on May 7, in the Vatican’s Paul VI Audience Hall, where they will perform Mozart’s Requiem, in collaboration with the Shang Hai Opera Theater Choir. This is not the first time the Orchestra performs in Rome. In 2004, the Chinese Orchestra gave a Christmas Concert for the Italian Senate. It has also collaborated with the Milan Opera Theater, in 2006, on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Mozart, performing the Requiem in the Parish Church of St. Joseph, in downtown Beijing. According to a priest from Beijing, interviewed by Agenzia Fides, “it is a great event of friendship and respect for the Pope. We will be spiritually participating in this performance, with the hope that there will be an increase in similar initiatives of cultural- artistic mutual exchange and friendship between China and the Vatican.” (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 30/4/2008; righe 12, parole 157)
