As part of the program for L’Aquila 2026, Italian Capital of Culture, the L’Aquila Concert Society “B. Barattelli” presents an extraordinarily rare event for the 30th edition of the Organ and Early Music Festival “Music and Architecture – Places of Time and Music”: German virtuoso Martin Sturm —organist, composer, professor, and director of the Department of Sacred Music and Organ atthe Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar — brings the art of real-time organ improvisation to L’Aquila, performing on both of the historic instruments at the Basilica of St. Bernardino of Siena.

In the first part of the concert, Sturm performs his own *Missa per Organo* on the monumental 1726 organ by Feliciano Fedeli, located on the counter-façade and considered one of the largest and best-preserved examples of 18th-century Italian organ architecture. In the second part, he takes his place at the 1939 organ by Vincenzo Mascioni, situated behind the High Altar: two historic voices from one of L’Aquila’s most significant and iconic basilicas, in dialogue with the improvisational creativity of one of the most award-winning performers on the international scene, winner of prestigious competitions and the Kulturpreis Bayern.

The event is organized in collaboration with the Order of Friars Minor, the Archdiocese of L’Aquila, and the Central Directorate for Religious Affairs of the Ministry of the Interior.

FREE ADMISSION UNTIL ALL AVAILABLE SEATS ARE FILLED.