After 5 days of prayer and singing together, 3,700 young singers returned home filled with impressive moments. Almost 100 choirs from 20 countries took part in the PUERI CANTORES international choir festival in Rome over the turn of the year 2023/24. Due to the pandemic, the last meeting of the association in Rome took place at the turn of the year 2015/16 – so it was high time for a new edition of the congress, which was last held every five years.
The choir festival opened on December 28 in the Vatican’s Audience Hall. The diversity of the Pueri community was already clearly evident as the flag bearers entered the hall. Singers from Brazil, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, South Korea and Mexico could be seen and heard at the opening ceremony. The festival’s theme song, “Et In Terra Pax” (Hector E. Márquez), was also sung for the first time during the opening ceremony.
The Masses for the Nations, each in a different language, took place on December 29 in multiple churches in the city centre. Prayers for peace were held throughout the day in the always full Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere. Many tourists and other interested people also mingled with the festival participants here. In the evening, there was a gala concert by top choirs and the Concert of Nations “Colors of Pueri Cantores”: The latter featured choirs from Lithuania, Venezuela, Canada, Germany, Italy, Rwanda, Mexico and the USA. You could hear the sounds of the rainforest (Brazil), the bell ringers (USA) and typical African rhythms (Rwanda). At the end, all six choirs sang “Adeste fideles” together.
On December 30, almost 4,000 participants gathered for the papal audience. Admission began as early as 7:30 a.m., with long queues forming at times at the security checkpoints. The wait for the Holy Father was bridged outside and in the Aula Paolo VI with communal singing and rehearsals. At the beginning of the audience, of course, they sang for Pope Francis, who immediately praised the young singers for their sound and their service to the church. In the afternoon of the same day, three choirs in a total of three churches were invited to “Carol Singing”. Here, too, each choir was allowed to present itself individually as well as all together.
December 31 offered time for sightseeing and leisure; only in the morning were church services held in various parishes in the city of Rome.
The grand finale of the international choir festival was the New Year’s mass with Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica. The Pueri Cantores gathered there with a total of 8,000 faithful. The great offertory procession was accompanied by “O Magnum Mysterium”: seemingly infinite, floating, ethereal sounds. German Federation President Elisabeth Lehmann-Dronke finds the following words for this – almost indescribable – moment: “There are 8,000 people gathered together, and in the harmony of liturgy and music there is suddenly a calm, inwardness and timelessness that involuntarily illuminates the mystery of Christmas again eight days after Christmas. A moment, so to speak, in which eternity briefly looks at you.”
The Essen Cathedral Boys’ Choir under the direction of Harald Martini was given the special honor of singing in the place of the Cappella Musicale Pontificia Sistina. It was a very special experience for the boys and certainly also for the choirmaster, who himself sang in the international choir competitions as a young singer. At the end of this closing service, the festival’s motto song “Et in terra pax” was heard once again – a thousand-voiced cry and plea for peace in the world.
Text: Anna-Kathrin Dietrich, German Federation of Pueri Cantores
