Laudato sii at Auditorium Parco della Musica, November 17, 2026

Laudato sii: practical file. "Laudato sii", a choral concert for the eighth centenary of the death of Saint Francis of Assisi, is on stage on Tuesday, November 17, 2026 at 20:00 in Sala Sinopoli at Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, Viale Pietro de Coubertin 30. It's presented by Federcori Lazio. On stage are 10 choirs from the region, Exsultet, Koob, Il grande Coro di Roma, Note Controvento, Novum Convivium Musicum, Per Vocem Vocal Ensemble, 7 Hills Gospel Choir, Santa Bernadette, Vox Angelorum and Ottava Nota, with the Orchestra Ludi Sonores conducted by Andrea Rossi, the solo voice of Michelangelo Nari and presentation and narration by the actor Michele La Ginestra, and the program also includes compositions by Michele Josia. The price given by the Auditorium starts at 20 euros, and the running time is not published. Tickets are sold at the Auditorium box office or online through the channel indicated on the event page on auditorium.com. To get there the Auditorium suggests metro line A to Flaminio and then tram 2, or buses 910, 53, 982 and 168, and for the route it's best to use the ATAC journey planner.

Laudato sii: 10 choirs for Saint Francis

On October 3, 1226, at the Porziuncola, at the foot of Assisi, Francis died. 800 years later, Federcori Lazio dedicates to the saint a concert event that brings together on the same stage 10 choirs from the region, united in a single ensemble. The Auditorium page describes the evening as a spiritual and cultural journey in which the great choral tradition meets theater and singer-songwriter music, in Sala Sinopoli, which the same page places among the most important venues in Italy.

The word transito, in the Franciscan tradition, means the passage from earthly life to death, lived as a fulfillment. Every year, on the evening of October 3, Franciscan communities celebrate the "beato transito" with a moment of prayer and readings from the Franciscan sources and the Bible. The eighth centenary, in 2026, is also marked in Rome by several initiatives devoted to the saint, and the concert fits into this calendar.

The title

"Laudato sii" recalls the invocation that opens and punctuates the Canticle of the Creatures, the text in which Francis praises God through the sun, the moon, the stars, the wind, water, fire and the earth. It's a title that immediately states the horizon of the concert: praise of creation, entrusted to voices.

An evening of music and words

Alongside the choirs and the orchestra, Michele La Ginestra's narration will guide the audience along the way, and Michelangelo Nari's solo voice will alternate with the choral ensembles. The event page doesn't list the individual pieces: the evening is built as a unified show more than as a sequence of separate performances.

The 10 choirs

The announced choirs represent different genres and traditions of choral singing in Lazio. The names alone suggest it: there are groups with Latin names such as Exsultet, Novum Convivium Musicum, Vox Angelorum and Per Vocem Vocal Ensemble, groups with more modern names such as Koob, Note Controvento and Ottava Nota, a gospel choir, the 7 Hills Gospel Choir, a choir named after a saint, Santa Bernadette, and Il grande Coro di Roma.

A choir of choirs

Bringing 10 ensembles together in a single concert is an organizational and musical challenge: each choir has its own history, repertoire and sound, and the event page speaks of 10 choirs united in a single harmony. That's exactly the point of a choral federation's work: creating occasions in which the individual groups become part of something bigger.

Gospel alongside sacred song

Having a gospel choir alongside groups with a classical and liturgical repertoire broadens the view. Gospel comes from the African American tradition of praise, and its energy finds a point of contact with the spirit of the Canticle: both traditions sing joy in the face of creation. Rome also has its own gospel festival, the Roma Gospel Festival, held at the Auditorium.

The performers

The Orchestra Ludi Sonores, conducted by Andrea Rossi, supports the choirs in the ensemble pieces. Michelangelo Nari is the evening's solo voice. The Auditorium page gives no further biographical details on the musicians.

Michele La Ginestra, the narrator

Michele La Ginestra was born in Rome on November 7, 1964. With a law degree and a career as a lawyer, he came to theater by writing and directing comedies, and the general public got to know him in 1994 thanks to his win on the TV program "Beato tra le donne". Since then he has acted in TV series such as "Nero Wolfe", "I Cesaroni", "Amiche mie" and "Nati ieri", in films such as Paolo Genovese's "Immaturi" and Massimiliano Bruno's "Nessuno mi può giudicare", and has hosted programs on Rai and TV2000.

A man of the theater

La Ginestra remains above all a stage performer: he has taken part as actor, director or author in about a hundred shows, including three editions of "Rugantino" at Teatro Sistina directed by Pietro Garinei. Since 1997 he has been founder and artistic director of Teatro 7 in Rome, and since 2026 artistic director of Teatro Imperiale in Guidonia Montecelio. For TV2000, the channel of the Italian Bishops' Conference, he starred in the series "Canonico", the broadcaster's first series production.

Michele Josia, the composer

The compositions on the program are by Michele Josia, whom the Auditorium page presents as a film composer. According to a profile published on the ChoirPlace platform, Josia is also a choir conductor, was one of the artistic directors of the ensemble Musica Eterna Roma and is a member of the Accademia del Cinema Italiano, which awards the David di Donatello. A press release from the production company Delta Star Pictures credits him with the score of "Joachim and the Apocalypse", a film inspired by the mystical theology of Joachim of Fiore.

Francis of Assisi: his life

Francis was born in Assisi in 1181 with the name Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone. His father was a wealthy cloth merchant, and his mother, Pica, was probably of Provençal origin. His conversion was a gradual process: according to tradition, in 1205, while praying in the church of San Damiano, he heard the Crucifix ask him three times to repair its house, which was in ruins. He gave up his father's possessions and began a life of poverty and preaching.

The Order and Rome

In 1209, or according to other historians the following year, once he had gathered 12 companions around him, Francis went to Rome to obtain from Pope Innocent III approval of his rule of life, which was granted to him orally. In Rome the saint is especially linked to the church of San Francesco a Ripa, in Trastevere, which keeps the Sacra Cella where, according to tradition, he stayed between 1209 and 1223 during his visits to the pope.

Greccio and La Verna

At Christmas 1223, on his way back from Rome, Francis stopped at Greccio, near Rieti, and had the birth of Jesus staged live: the tradition of the nativity scene comes from that episode. In 1224, according to Christian tradition, he received the stigmata on Mount La Verna. In his last years, seriously ill with his eyes, he composed the Canticle of the Creatures.

His death and sainthood

In 1226 he asked to go back to die in the place he loved most, the Porziuncola, where death came to him on the evening of October 3, at 44. Pope Gregory IX canonized him on July 16, 1228, just two years later, in one of the fastest processes in the history of the Church. On June 18, 1939 Pius XII proclaimed him patron saint of Italy together with Saint Catherine of Siena, and his liturgical memorial is celebrated on October 4.

The first companions and the rule

On February 24, 1208, the feast of Saint Matthias, after hearing a passage from the Gospel of Matthew at the Porziuncola, Francis decided to take the Word to the streets. He began preaching around Assisi, and soon his first companions joined him: the first was Bernardo di Quintavalle, his childhood friend. The little church of the Porziuncola, in the middle of a wood, was granted to the friars by the abbot of San Benedetto del Subasio and became the center of the community.

The chapters and Egypt

In 1217 Francis presided at the Porziuncola over the first general chapter of the order, from which missions left for Germany, France and Spain. In 1219 he went to Egypt in an attempt to meet the sultan al-Kamil and put an end to the conflict of the Fifth Crusade. In 1221 he wrote at the Porziuncola the so-called "Regola non bollata", the unconfirmed Rule.

The final will

In June 1226, at the Celle di Cortona, after a very troubled night, Francis dictated his final will, which he always wanted tied to the Rule: an exhortation to the order not to stray from the spirit of its origins. A few months later he asked to be taken back to Assisi.

The legacy of Francis

Today the Porziuncola and the Chapel of the Transitus, the place where the saint died, are inside the basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, at the foot of Assisi. October 4, his memorial day, has also become World Animal Day, and many churches hold ceremonies blessing animals. The feast of the stigmata falls on September 17.

A name around the world

Francis's influence has gone beyond the borders of the Church. The Spanish founded the Mission San Francisco de Asís in California, from which the city of San Francisco grew. He is still one of the most venerated figures in Christianity, and his name remains tied to poverty and respect for creation.

The Canticle of the Creatures

The Canticle of the Creatures, also known as the Canticle of Brother Sun, was composed around 1224, according to the saint's biographies probably at three different times, between San Damiano and the Bishop's Palace of Assisi. It's considered the oldest poetic text in Italian literature whose author is known. It's written in 13th-century Umbrian vernacular, with Tuscan and French influences and several Latinisms.

A prayer with music

There's a precious detail for a choral concert: the Canticle was accompanied by music composed by Francis himself, now lost. The text we know was therefore, originally, a song. Every time a choir sings it, in any modern version, it somehow restores its original nature.

The structure

The scholar Vittore Branca identified the models of the Canticle in Psalm 148 and in the song of the three young men in the furnace from the Book of Daniel. Like those texts, the Canticle is divided into five parts: the praise of God, the firmament, the elements, humankind and the close. The sun, the moon and the stars, the wind, water, fire and the earth are called brothers and sisters: it's from this universal brotherhood that the image of Francis as patron saint of animals and the environment comes.

Language and numbers

Modern criticism has rehabilitated the Canticle as a text built with refined formal devices, not the naive composition imagined in the Romantic era. Each of the four elements comes with four qualities, and the stars are given three adjectives, "clarite, pretiose et belle", and the syntax often proceeds by polysyndeton, piling up coordinate clauses. The text has the form of rhythmic assonant prose, suited to singing. In the manuscript of codex 338, 12 capital letters mark the beginning of as many laisses, that is, stanzas: an internal rhythm that makes the text naturally divisible into sections, like the parts of a choral composition. If you're listening to a concert inspired by the Canticle you can keep this structure in mind, which moves from the sky to the earth and from the universe to humankind.

Francis in Rome in the centenary year

The Auditorium concert isn't the only Roman event tied to the eighth centenary. Among other initiatives the city is hosting the exhibition San Francesco 800 anni at Museo Crocetti and Sulle tracce di Francesco at Museo del Corso. Among the places to visit is also the Museo Francescano, and in the theater the saint returns with Matthias Martelli's Lu santo jullare Francesco at Teatro India.

A Franciscan itinerary

If you want to build a full route you can start from San Francesco a Ripa, with the Sacra Cella, continue with the centenary exhibitions and end the day with the concert at the Auditorium. It's a way to experience the anniversary through places and the arts, from architecture to painting to music.

Practical information

The price given starts at 20 euros. The Auditorium box office, according to the official FAQ, is open every day from 11:00 to 20:00 and until 21:30 on show nights, while the contacts section of the website gives, for the period from October to March, hours from 11:00 to 18:00. The website's sources disagree, so it's best to go in the early afternoon. The FAQ point out that entry to the hall is allowed from 30 minutes before until five minutes before the start, and that you can't enter once the concert has begun.

Discounts and accessibility

Subject to availability, the FAQ provide a 20 percent reduced ticket for people with disabilities, free entry for a companion when needed and a 50 percent discount for blind people. Bookings for wheelchair users are made at 06 8024 1281, every day from 11:00 to 18:00. Discounts are available only at the central box office.

How to get there

From Flaminio station on metro line A take tram 2 to Piazza Mancini, or the Roma-Nord train to Piazza Euclide. Buses 910, 53, 982 and 168 stop in front of the entrance. The Auditorium has two paid parking lots, an outdoor one and a covered multistory one, accessible from Viale Pietro de Coubertin and Viale Maresciallo Pilsudski.

Cancellations

If the event is canceled, the refund method is announced together with the cancellation. Tickets bought in person are refunded at the point of sale, those bought online through the service provider.

A curious fact about Sala Sinopoli

When you enter Sala Sinopoli you walk over a history more than two and a half millennia long. During construction in the 1990s, between Via Flaminia and the Tiber, the remains of a suburban Roman villa came to light: the excavations, covering more than 2,000 square meters, yielded finds dating from the sixth century BC to the second century AD. The oldest phase was a farm, probably lived in by a Roman citizen and destroyed around 500 BC, and a large villa later rose on its remains. The remains can be seen from the terrace, right between Sala Santa Cecilia and Sala Sinopoli.

A project changed by archaeology

The discovery forced Renzo Piano to make substantial changes to the project: two of the three hall volumes were moved west and the space between two auditoriums was widened to keep the excavations in the open air. The Fondazione Renzo Piano compares the presence of the ruins to Piranesi's engravings, a bridge between past and present.

Something nobody tells you about Sala Sinopoli

According to one of the hypotheses reported by the Turismo Roma portal, the villa discovered next to Sala Sinopoli may have been connected to the sanctuary of the nymph Anna Perenna, venerated on March 15, the date of the oldest Roman New Year. A cult tied to the renewal of the year and of nature, in a place that today hosts a concert devoted to the Canticle of the Creatures: the coincidence is curious, though it remains a scholars' hypothesis and not an established fact.

The museum under the cavea

The finds are displayed in a small archaeological museum built under the cavea. In the first section there are wooden models of the farm and the villa, tableware and ritual vessels, and reconstructions of a pantry, a bread oven and an olive press. One highlight is a corner roof tile decorated with the bearded head of a river god, identified as Achelous. From the museum's terrace you can see a wall in opus reticulatum that marked the boundary of the villa.

The museum's second section

The second section of the archaeological museum is devoted to ancient evidence from the area between the Aurelian Walls and the Aniene and Tiber rivers: a picture of Rome's northern suburbs that helps you understand why such an important villa stood right here.

My tip for visiting Sala Sinopoli

My tip is to get to the Auditorium at least an hour early and spend that time on archaeology. Before the concert you can go up to the terrace that runs around the buildings and look at the remains of the villa, and if you find the archaeological museum open you can complete the visit, checking hours and arrangements on the Auditorium website or at 06 8024 1281. Then go into the hall calmly.

Where to sit for a choral concert

With 10 choirs and an orchestra, the stage will be crowded. The gallery seats, which in Sala Sinopoli run along three of the four sides, let you see the whole arrangement of the voices, while the central orchestra seats offer a more enveloping sound. If you want to understand how a choral ensemble sound is built, choose the gallery.

Another well-known fact, yet rarely mentioned

It's well known that the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia is based at the Auditorium. Less often remembered is that the Accademia also brought its Museum of Musical Instruments there, MUSA, opened in its new home in February 2008 to a design by Renzo Piano himself. The gallery displays about 130 instruments and about 50 lutherie accessories, with a workshop on view. Among the most important pieces is the violin known as the "Toscano", built by Antonio Stradivari in 1690 for Grand Prince Ferdinando de' Medici, and one of the mandolins from the collection of Queen Margherita of Savoy, bequeathed to the Accademia.

A congregation of musicians

The Accademia itself has deep Roman and religious roots: it was founded in 1585 with a bull of Pope Sixtus V under the protection of Saint Gregory the Great and Saint Cecilia, and in its first century its members included Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.

The right photo to take at Sala Sinopoli

The photo to take home is of the full stage before the start, with the rows of choirs and the full orchestra. 10 ensembles on the same stage are a rare sight, and from the gallery you can frame them all. During the concert filming is not allowed.

Outside the hall

Outside, before going in, the terrace offers a frame that brings together the remains of the Roman villa and the modern lead-clad hall volumes: two and a half millennia in a single image, fitting for an evening devoted to a saint who lived 800 years ago.

Some important events that happened here in history

The history of the place where Sala Sinopoli stands is much older than the Auditorium.

Sixth century BC: the farm

The oldest finds from the excavations date from the sixth century BC. The archaic farm was destroyed around 500 BC.

Republican and imperial age: the villa

On the remains of the farm a large villa rose, which the Fondazione Renzo Piano dates to the Republican age. The finds go up to the second century AD.

April 21, 2002: the first hall

Sala Sinopoli was the first hall of the Auditorium to open to the public, on April 21, 2002. On opening night the world premiere of the Ouverture da concerto that Goffredo Petrassi had composed in 1931 was performed, in the composer's presence.

2020: the name of Morricone

In 2020 the complex was named after Ennio Morricone, a Roman composer and full member of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia.

Who has passed through Sala Sinopoli

The hall is named after Giuseppe Sinopoli, conductor and composer born in Venice in 1946 who died in Berlin in 2001 while conducting "Aida". Sinopoli was also a passionate archaeologist, and his collection of ancient vases is displayed in the same complex, in the Museo Aristaios: an unusual link with the Roman villa that surfaces next to the hall. Since 2002 Sala Sinopoli, with its movable stage and adjustable ceiling described by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, has hosted very different genres, from chamber music to dance.

Giuseppe Sinopoli, doctor, archaeologist and musician

Born in Venice on November 2, 1946 and raised in Messina, Sinopoli studied organ, harmony and counterpoint, but graduated in medicine and surgery from the University of Padua in 1972. He attended the Darmstadt summer courses with György Ligeti and Karlheinz Stockhausen, was a pupil of Franco Donatoni and studied conducting with Bruno Maderna and Hans Swarowsky. He composed 24 works, the last of which was the opera "Lou Salomé" from 1981, then gave up composing to devote himself to conducting. In 2000 he was the first Italian conductor to lead the "Ring des Nibelungen" at the Bayreuth Festival.

A Roman funeral

After his sudden death in Berlin, on April 20, 2001, his body lay in state on the Campidoglio, in the Protomoteca hall, where a huge crowd paid tribute. The funeral was held in the basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, in the presence of the President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. A year and a day later, the hall bearing his name welcomed the Auditorium's first audience.

Choral music at the Auditorium

The Auditorium is the home of the Chorus of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, one of the best-known symphonic choirs in the world. A concert by 10 choirs from Lazio in the same complex is a recognition of the work that grassroots choral singing does in the region. For the rest of the program there's our page on Auditorium Parco della Musica.

Frequently asked questions about Laudato sii at the Auditorium

When is the Laudato sii concert?

On Tuesday, November 17, 2026 at 20:00, in Sala Sinopoli at Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, Viale Pietro de Coubertin 30. It's a single date, organized by Federcori Lazio to celebrate the eighth centenary of the death of Saint Francis of Assisi, who died at the Porziuncola on October 3, 1226.

How much is a ticket?

The price given on the Auditorium page starts at 20 euros. Tickets are sold at the Auditorium box office or online through the channel indicated on the event page. Discounts for people with disabilities, when available, are only given at the central box office with the required documents.

Which choirs take part?

10 choirs from Lazio take part: Exsultet, Koob, Il grande Coro di Roma, Note Controvento, Novum Convivium Musicum, Per Vocem Vocal Ensemble, 7 Hills Gospel Choir, Santa Bernadette, Vox Angelorum and Ottava Nota. With them play the Orchestra Ludi Sonores conducted by Andrea Rossi and the solo voice Michelangelo Nari.

Who presents the evening?

The presentation and narration are by Michele La Ginestra, a Roman actor, writer and director, founder and artistic director of Teatro 7. Known to TV audiences for series such as I Cesaroni and Nati ieri, he starred in Canonico, the first series produced by TV2000, the channel of the Italian Bishops' Conference.

Which pieces will be performed?

The Auditorium page doesn't publish the detailed program. It only mentions the compositions of Michele Josia, a film composer. The title recalls Saint Francis's Canticle of the Creatures, but it isn't stated if the text will be performed in full or in which musical version. For information you can contact the organizers.

How long is the concert?

The running time isn't given. With 10 choirs, an orchestra, a solo voice and a narration, a full evening can be expected, but there's no official information on the length or on an intermission. If you need to plan your trip home you can ask the Auditorium box office in the days before.

Is it a religious concert?

It's a concert devoted to a religious figure and his spiritual legacy, presented as a spiritual and cultural journey. It isn't a liturgical celebration: it takes place in a concert hall and combines choral singing, theater and singer-songwriter music. It's open to everyone, believers and not, interested in choral music and in the figure of Francis.

How do you get to the Auditorium?

By metro line A to Flaminio and then tram 2 toward Piazza Mancini, or by the Roma-Nord train to Piazza Euclide. Buses 910, 53, 982 and 168 stop in front of the entrance. If you arrive by car you can use the two paid parking lots accessible from Viale Pietro de Coubertin and Viale Maresciallo Pilsudski.

Where are the places of Saint Francis in Rome?

The place most tied to the saint is the church of San Francesco a Ripa, in Trastevere, which keeps the Sacra Cella where according to tradition Francis stayed during his visits to the pope between 1209 and 1223. In the centenary year the city also offers dedicated exhibitions, such as those at Museo Crocetti and Museo del Corso.

The final tip on Laudato sii at the Auditorium

"Laudato sii" is a chance to hear Lazio's choral scene together at a special moment, the year marking 800 years since Francis's death. The value of the evening is in the sum: 10 choirs, an orchestra, a solo voice and a narrator who knows Roman popular theater well, gathered around the first great poetic text of the Italian language. My suggestion is to arrive early to discover the Roman villa next to the hall and, in the days before or after, to complete the experience with a visit to San Francesco a Ripa and the centenary exhibitions. If you love green spaces you can add a walk in Villa Glori, which borders the Auditorium. Since it's a single date on a weekday, it's best to buy tickets a few days in advance and check the Auditorium website for any updates to the program.

Article written by the editorial team of Tour Leader Pro, contact them for Private/Corporate/V.I.P. Tours and Experiences.

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