According to an old proverb, “Wisdom is better than precious stones, nothing desirable can be equaled.” Thus, five years accumulating experiences in the study and interpretation of sacred music of all times in the diocese of Havana, led by the Week and the Sacred Music Cathedra of the Padre Félix Varela Cultural Center, have an incomparable value for musicians. and the audiences around us.

It has been a time of rediscovery of the sacred Cuban musical heritage and of other latitudes. We have learned more appropriate ways of approaching the interpretation of religious works taking into account the universe that is combined in said repertoires: on the one hand, the knowledge of the technicality to play ancient instruments such as the organ or adequately intoning the Gregorian chant, and on the other, we enter the in the unknown world of ritual gestures and their spiritual meanings, understanding that only in this way is it possible to practice sacred music with skill and excellence.

The institutional support of the Padre Félix Varela Cultural Center as well as the academic tutelage of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music and Musical Pedagogy of Regensburg (Hochschule für katholische Kirchenmusik und Musikpädagogik Regensburg HfKM), have been determining factors in the achievement of this dream and in the scope of ostensible results during the Week of Sacred Music in Havana. Of immense value is considered the sustained support for this project by the bishoprics of Regensburg (Bistum Regensburg) and Havana, and the precious collaboration of important local and foreign institutions such as the Esteban Salas Musical Heritage Cabinet and the Opus Havana magazine of the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana; the Diocesan Institute of Sacred Music of Opole (Diecezjalny Instytut Muzyki Koscielnej w Opolu, Poland); the Baltic Organ Center in Stralsund (Baltisches Orgel Centrum); the Swiss organizer house Orgelbau Stemmer AG; the University of Valladolid (Spain); Morgan State University; the Faith Presbyterian Church of Baltimore; the Goethe Institute; the Provincial Music Center of Santa Clara; the Hermanos Saíz Association; and the cultural sections of the German and Polish embassies in Havana.

The Weeks, organized by the Cathedra of Sacred Music of the Padre Félix Varela Cultural Center, have had in parallel the teaching and management activity carried out by said Cathedra, and which materializes in the academic proposal of a V WEEK OF MUSIC SACRA DE HAVANA March 4 to 11 SMS HABANA 2018, Diploma in Sacred Music and the performance of frequent concerts in ecclesial headquarters and halls of the Historic Center of Old Havana.