The special evening at the Church of San Fedele on the theme of the Beatitudes, featuring the return of Nicolás Jaar, involves an additional exploration of the Chilean musician’s work within the sacred art context. He will be accompanied by Beatrice Palumbo (voice), NN (piano and harpsichord), Firas Harb (trumpet), and Milena Punzi (cello).

The performance will be introduced by the Duo Ars Discantica, with eight short compositions in succession, each representing one of the eight Beatitudes, each characterized by a particular timbral-harmonic color. Citations from choral works by F. Liszt, A. Bruckner, and O. Messiaen will be used.

Following is μακάριοι by Jaar, in four acts, preceded by a prologue, with the Greek text of the Beatitudes, at the beginning of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, from the Gospel of Matthew. “The Beatitudes represent paradoxes: worldly criteria are overturned as soon as reality is viewed from the correct perspective, that is, from God’s value system, which differs from the world’s. Those who are considered poor and lost by worldly standards are actually the truly fortunate, the blessed, and can rejoice and jubilate despite all their suffering. The Beatitudes are promises in which the new image of the world and of man that Jesus inaugurates shines through—the ‘overturning of values’” (Benedict XVI).

It is worth remembering that the reading of the beginning of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel of Matthew, with the well-known eight Beatitudes, has marked the lives of some great figures in history. The most famous is Mahatma Gandhi. In a speech addressed to European Christians, Gandhi stated: “Although I myself am not a Christian, as a humble student of the Bible, approaching it with faith and reverence, I respectfully wish to present to you the essence of the Sermon on the Mount.”

Gandhi emphasized the importance of living according to the teachings of the Sermon, rather than merely proclaiming them. He used the analogy of a rose to illustrate this concept: “A rose does not need to preach. It simply spreads its fragrance. The fragrance is its sermon.” Furthermore, Gandhi stated that the Sermon on the Mount was meant for everyone, not just Jesus’ disciples: “I believe that the Sermon on the Mount only makes sense if it is of vital usefulness in everyone’s daily life.”

In this perspective—centered on the Gospel and the Word that encapsulates the deepest meaning of human life—Nicolás Jaar immerses himself in a long, seamless electronic fresco in eight parts.