Conferences and Events Program
CONFERENCE AND ROUND TABLE - What music for liturgy today?
This report aims to explore the relationship between “young people, liturgy, and music,” in light of what has been produced in Italy since the post-conciliar period to the present day, in order to glimpse ways of both formation and liturgical music production capable of opening up the experience of Mystery in the liturgy to younger generations.
Young people, in fact, show that they appreciate melodies of value and quality: the beauty of a piece of music has great appeal.
The round table discussion will feature three well-known Italian composers of liturgical music. During the discussion, the three experts will highlight the elements that characterize both their liturgical compositions and those of composers working abroad.
Session I - Lectio Magistralis
- Sis. Elena Massimi, President of APL - Association of Liturgy Professors
What music for a “fresh, authentic, and joyful” liturgy (Cristus vivit, 224)
Session II - Round Table
Moderator:
- Don Stefano Culiersi, Director of the Liturgical Office of the Diocesee of Bologna
Speakers:
- Gianmartino Maria Durighello, Composer and musician
- Alessandro Ruo Rui, Coordinator of the Composition Department at the “G. Verdi” Conservatory in Turin
- dom Antonio Di Marco OSB, Director of Schola Gregoriana
- Sis. Elena Massimi, President of APL - Association of Liturgy Professors
Questions:
- What music opens up the experience of Mystery?
- What music for the post-conciliar liturgy?
- What experiences in different cathedrals (Paris, Washington, etc.)?
Speakers
Elena Massimi is "daughter" of Mary Help of Christians. After obtaining her diploma in piano from the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia (Rome), she completed her studies with a licentiate in Sacred Liturgy from the Pontifical Liturgical Institute of St. Anselm in Rome and a doctorate in Sacred Theology, specializing in Liturgy for Pastoral Ministry, from the Institute of Pastoral Liturgy of St. Justina in Padua. She is president of the Association of Professors of Liturgy (APL), but also an extraordinary professor of Liturgy and Sacramentary at the Pontifical Salesian University (Rome) and at the Institute of Pastoral Liturgy Santa Giustina (Padua). She is co-director of both “Rivista Liturgica” and the scientific series BEL-Subsidia at Edizioni Liturgiche Vincenziane (CLV). In the National Liturgical Office of the Italian Episcopal Conference, he coordinates the Music for Liturgy section.
She wrote many scientific and popular publications.
Among her most recent works there is L'Ordo Lectionum Missae del Concilio Vaticano II (The Order of the Mass Readings of the Second Vatican Council), CLV-Edizioni Liturgiche, Rome 2023 (co-authored with M. Barba); Sale e pepe nella Liturgia (Salt and Pepper in Liturgy), LDC, Turin 2024; Liturgia e Sinodalità (Liturgy and Synodality), Queriniana, Brescia 2025.
Don Stefano Culiersi is currently the director of the Liturgical Office of the diocese of Bologna. During his studies, he first obtained the Theology Licence, with a specialization in History of Theology at the Faculty of Emilia Romagna. Then he gained the pastoral-liturgical specialisation at the Institute of Santa Giustina of Padova. It has been several years, since he has taught Liturgy at the School of Diocesan Theological Formation.
He is a hermit monk of the diocese of Padua and a retired teacher of choral exercises. He currently collaborates with ULN-CEI and teaches composition for liturgy at Coperlim. As a composer, he has collaborated with many different Italian and foreign institutions and with musicians such as: Ensemble Couleur Vocale and Quatuor Sine Nomine, Lausanne; Kla(N)g Trio, Klagenfurt; J. Gollut, L. Lanzarini, A. Mesirca, A. Nebbiolo, S. Van Elst, B. Rootveld.... His compositions have won both national and international awards. They were broadcasted on RAI Uno TV and Radio Svizzera. In 2015, Choraliter dedicated a study to him, written by M. Da Rold and A. Kirschner, titled Oltre il Minimalismo (Beyond Minimalism). His work - often associated with Minimalism or Neue Einfachheit - initially focused primarily on choral music, later expanding to include chamber and symphonic music (UCEI Award 2017 and participation in Sorgenti di Vita-TV RAI Uno). In 2020, the Cum Sanctis association - choir and orchestra of Lublin dedicated him a monographic concert. In 2022, the Hungarian Triptych was performed at the first edition of the Treviso International Saxophone Festival. In that same year, the XIII Rassegna Corale Compositori viventi (online edition) by A. Calcagni was dedicated to him, and Radio Vaticana dedicated a monographic column to him, edited by L. Picardi, in L'Arpeggio. In 2023, commissioned by Feniarco, the Missa Hebraica for both choir and orchestra was performed at the Festival. It was titled Così è germinato questo fiore, conducted by F.M. Bressan. In 2024, he received the ASAC Lifetime Achievement Award for choral music.
Alessandro Ruo Rui was born in 1959. He currently teaches composition at the Turin Conservatory, where he was a student himself of Ruggero Maghini.
His works, for various instrumental ensembles and especially choirs, published by Suvini Zerboni, Rugginenti, Elledici, EEM, Berben, Caecilia, and Feniarco, are performed and broadcast in various European, American, and Asian countries. Since the 1990s, he has intensified his activity as a conductor, organist, and harpsichord teacher in various vocal and instrumental ensembles (La Camerata, Secolo Decimosesto, Clerici vagantes, Nuova Armonia, Ottetto Carissimi, Coro Eufoné). In this capacity, he has won several awards, recorded albums, and given hundreds of concerts in Italy and abroad, with the first modern performances of unpublished works from the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries and numerous first performances and first recordings of contemporary works.
He is the director of the Turin Cathedral Choir and currently collaborates with the Liturgical Offices of various dioceses, specialized magazines, and the Piedmontese Choirs Association.
He is involved in intensive educational and research activities and is still invited to attedn conferences and seminars, especially regarding analysis on sacred music.
Dom Antonio Di Marco, O.S.B., born in 1991, began studying the piano at the age of nine and graduated with distinction from the ISSM “G. Braga” in Teramo under the guidance of Maestro Tiziana Cosentino. At the same institute, he obtained the experimental Second-Level two-year degree in Chamber Music, graduating with highest honors and distinction. He also holds a diploma in choral training and conducting awarded by the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), having studied with Maestro Marco Berrini.
He studied Organ and Organ Composition at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome with Maestri Roberto Marini, Federico Del Sordo, and G. Russo, and furthered his studies in Composition privately with Maestri E. Vetuschi and S. Piccone-Stella. He deepened his study of Gregorian chant with Maestri F. Rampi, A. L. Corno, R. Spremulli, F. K. Prassl, and G. Frigo. He also attended courses in choral conducting, vocal technique, and choral composition with Maestri M. Berrini, L. Donati, S. Manzo, M. Mungai, S. Woodbury, S. Noschese, R. Paraninfo, and E. Vetuschi.
Between 2007 and 2018, he served as director of the choir and chapel of the Basilica–Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in Teramo, as well as of the choral associations “Insieme Vocale Vox Aurea” and the “G. Verdi” Choral Association of Teramo. In July 2013, he won the competition for collaborative pianists announced by the “A. Belli” Lyric Experimental Theatre in Spoleto, where he attended the specialization course followed by an internship, graduating with distinction. After passing a selective competition, he served as Accompanist Pianist at the “L. D’Annunzio” Conservatory in Pescara during the 2017–2018 academic year.
A Benedictine monk at the Abbey of St. Mary of the Mount in Cesena, he is organist of the basilica and director of the Schola Gregoriana, as well as artistic director of the organ concert series D’Avvento l’organo. He is currently completing a Licentiate in Sacred Liturgy at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute of St. Anselm in Rome. He collaborates with the National Liturgical Office of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) as a lecturer in liturgical organ (CoPerLiM) and choral conducting (MLO), and as a consultant for the music sector. Since 2023, he has been a lecturer for the course Organ Composition and Gregorian Chant: a Possible Dialogue at the AERCO School of Gregorian Chant.
He is actively engaged in study and performance as a conductor, pianist, organist, harpsichordist, and singer, both as a soloist and in chamber and orchestral ensembles.
