(ANS - Turin) - To acquire a more rounded knowledge of Don Bosco, in this year of the bicentenary of his birth, on 14 February the International Institute of Don Bosco (Salesian Pontifical University of Turin) held a study conference entitled The power of sound. The educational and spiritual value of music in the bicentenary of Don Bosco.

The conference was attended by scholars from various places to study the cultural and especially the musical message of Don Bosco. It emerged from the conference that music was always for Don Bosco a means of education, personal and social development as well as a powerful channel of moral formation.

The conference began with a lecture by Maestro Fr Massimo Palombella, SDB, Director of the Sistine Chapel Choir and Past Pupil of the Salesian Institute of Turin. He spoke about the ongoing relevance of the message of Don Bosco in the field of music and then left the floor to the other guests.

There were short interludes of chamber music, by the students of the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory, and choral ensembles. Topics such as the musical environment of Valdocco, sacred sound, and music and education were then explored by academics, artists and industry experts.

In the second part of the conference some specific examples were given of the attention of Don Bosco and the first Salesians to the music world, with talks on the organ and orchestra composition of Lingiardi op. 161 (1870) dedicated to Mary Help of Christians, the music of John Cagliero, the saints of Turin and the rebirth of Choral Music, and sacred music in Turin in the late nineteenth century.

Fr Andrea Bozzolo, Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the Institute, brought proceedings to a conclusion.

Published 17/02/2015