SECRETARIAT
Riccardo Moscatelli

Bruno Pavan, Elena Cimitan, Giacomo Dalla Toffola, Gianfranco Ferrara, Piergiorgio Gregolin, Giovanni Portello, Federico Pupo, Ivano Sartor, Clara Sperandio

A HISTORY OF CARE, GOALS AND IDEAS

THE BEGINNING
On the evening of 15th September 1989, the Dutch organist Peter Westerbrink, with a recital dedicated to the Northern German school, opened the first production of the Festival Organistico Internazionale “Città di Treviso”, which came into being on the initiative of a few devotees in collaboration with the Circoscrizione di Santa Bona of the Treviso Municipality.
With that first initiative, the Festival's organizing committee began its activities with the ambition of organizing an organ music festival annually but especially to make corporations and private individuals wake up to the recovery of the considerable heritage of historical mechanical instruments in which the city was particularly rich - enough to be able to consider itself unique in the world.

THE RESTORATIONS
The project was undoubtedly ambitious and not easy to bring about but, thanks to the valuable and determined intervention of the Fondazione Cassamarca and in particular of its Chairman, barr. Dino De Poli, it has been possible over the course of the years to realize the dream of many organists and devotees: today, the city of Treviso has had all its historical instruments perfectly restored and is able to make them available to many students and organists, this priceless heritage that comes from all over the world.

THE DIDACTIC ACTIVITIES
It is for this characteristic that Treviso is visited by many organ classes of the greatest European conservatories, as well as from Corea, Austria and USA, and hosts academies and holds in-depth study courses on Italian organ literature. Moreover, since its first edition the festival proposes many conferences and round-tables with the most important musicologists as Oscar Mischiati and Alberto Basso, and famous organists as Gustav Leonhardt, Luigi F. Tagliavini, Michael Radulescu, Harald Vogel. Since 2001, after the building of the new organ in Salgareda, we organize courses of interpretation of the French organ literature with the most important French organ players.

THE PROMOTING ACTIVITIES
Each year, thank to the collaboration of a local important businessman Mr Arnaldo Compiano, the Promoting Committee realizes a Calendar that has become an important tool for the cataloguing of the heritage. Mr Compiano particular care for the cultural activities has allowed the Festival to record many CDs that, through the performance of different pieces based on the characteristic of each instrument, preserve the sound and the harmony of the organs.

THE EUROPEAN ACTIVITIES
The Festival of Treviso itself was made a promoter in 1997 by a European Committee of the Cities of Historical Organs (ECHO), which was joined by the cities of Alkmaar (Holland), Lisbon (Portugal), Toulouse (France), Saragozza (Spain), Freiberg (Germany), Roskilde (Denmark), Gothenburg (Sweden), Innsbruck (Austria) and later Bruxelles (Belgio), Friburgo (Svizzera) Umago (Croazia) e Trondheim (Norvegia).

In September 1999, the Committee formalized this constitution formally assuming the name “Europae Civitates Historicorum Organorum” (ECHO) and has elected is official base in Treviso with Mr Dino De Poli as Honorary Chairman.

The essential conditions required to join this Committee are:
the presence of one (in the case one is talking about an instrument of European importance) or more historical instruments suitably restored and upgraded, a programme for recovery of the historical instruments not yet restored, a real interest (in the form of the local administrations) in the upgrading of the organ heritage of the various cities, the well-established presence of an international concert performance in each of the twinned cities.
The true spirit of the twinning lies also in increasing and assisting the promotion and the exchange of the organ culture specific to each country and in co-operation: in the promotion and restoration of historical organs; in the co-production of important musical events; in assisting the exchange of students, ideas and public.

During the Annual Meeting 2007 in Toulouse Treviso has been charged also to manage the Organizational Secretariat and the treasury of the network, to confirm the role and the attitude of the Festival into ECHO. This charge has the aim to make easier this complex organization, that has always suffered of linguistic and bureaucratic problems.

The Organ Festival is also participating to the European project Hydraulis to preserve and enhance the historic organs from the Scuola Veneta. This project involves  the Adriatic regions of Italy (Veneto, Friuli, Marche) together with Slovenia, Croatia, Greek and Montenegro that, in particular on the coast, have been historically influenced by the artistic and cultural supremacy of the Venetian Republic. The Adriatic regions have always been lied by a strong commercial and cultural exchange and nowadays are sharing also this interest towards the cultural heritage. This interests has generated, in some Italian regions, the cataloguing of many organs and the restoration of some of the most important, increasing the musical philology and the musicological research about the organ literature. The responsible person of each country have created several meeting opportunities, and in 2004 in Treviso has prepared a document to dispose a partnership for the heritage preservation. All the countries involved into the project Hydraulis have the aim to collaborate, with a systemic approach, in cataloguing and restoring the instruments of this large territory. Moreover they are working to promote studies and researches to increase the knowledge of the Scuola Veneta, organising concerts, exhibitions, conferences and meetings. This cooperation is based on the common goal of an increasing cultural development that can generate new horizons also to the economical sphere.

In June 2007 in the city of Pesaro, all the Associations and the public bodies have meet to dispose the structure of this partnership and to go into the Venetian’s organ heritage subject. The Representatives of the Administration of Pesaro and Treviso, and of their Festivals, the Cultural Representative of Montenegro,  the Representative of the Croatian Government and the Bishop of Corfù have participated to this meeting, taking the commitment to enlarge this partnership involving also Slovenia, Albania and Cipro.