Giacomelli, protagonist of the first of the 9 concerts of the 2024 International Organ Festival

With the temple full, the author delighted the public with an interesting tour of sacred, cultured and popular Italian music from the 17th to the 19th centuries. Among the attendees, were the Councilor for Culture, Jaime Jesús Pérez and the artistic directors of the contest, Juan Antonio Espinosa and Benantzi Bilbao.

The program began with the 'Emperor's Retreat. The Dominicans of Spain', by Domenico Zipoli and continued with the 'Sonata in Fa minore K466 and Sonata in Do maggiore K515' by Domenico Scarlatti; the ‘Concerto in Si minore per archi LV 133’, by Antonio Vivaldi; the ‘Minuetto dal Quintetto per archi op. 11', by Luigi Boccherini; the 'Offertorio dai Vespri siciliani', by Giuseppe Verdi; the 'Intermezzo da Cavalleria rusticana', by Pietro Mascagni and, finally, the 'Antidotum tarantulae' by Athasausis Kircher.

Gabriele Giacomelli is an organist and musicologist. He graduated in piano and organ with the highest grades from the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory in Florence, a city where he also graduated with honours in Music History from the University of Florence. Notable musicians such as Mariella Mochi, Stefano Innocenti, Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini and Michael Radulescu have influenced his formation.

Giacomelli has written volumes on the history of sacred organ music in Tuscany and, together with the violinist Salvatore Accardo, authored the Stradivari textbooks. He is a professor of music history at the Giovanni Battista Martini Conservatory in Bologna and has collaborated with the Italian government in the restoration of historic organs throughout the country.

The organ of Sant Jaume i Santa Anna

The instrument found in the church of Sant Jaume i Santa Anna was built in 2012 by the workshop of artisan luthiers Federico Acitores de Torquemada (Palencia). It is a unique instrument with great sonorous possibilities that, considered 'eclectic', fuses the characteristics of these instruments from the Iberian Peninsula, Germany and France, which allows it to reach the greatest amount of musical literature composed by the great masters of the Renaissance or the Baroque.

It is a unique instrument that stands out throughout the Valencian Community for its sound characteristics and interpretation possibilities. It combines three 56-note manual keyboards and another 30-note pedal board, 1,990 sound tubes, 44 registers (36 sounds, two tremolos and six couplings) and has mechanical note transmission and electric register transmission. In short, a unique piece that the City Council, parish and performers value for the enjoyment of citizens every year with the International Organ Festival.