Un giro d'Italia

It is a concert that comes straight from the heart of the Festwochen family. Under Alessandro de Marchi, the Accademia Montis Regalis orchestra shaped the sound of the festival’s opera productions for many years. Now, together with their new musical director, Chiara Cattani – who made her mark as musical director of the Barockoper:Jung production of "La fida ninfa" in 2023 – and soprano Arianna Vendittelli, a Festwochen favourite since winning the Cesti Competition in 2015, they invite audiences on a special Italian journey.

To mark the 300th anniversary of his birth, the ensemble retraces the footsteps of Charles Burney across Italy. Born in 1726, the English intellectual epitomised the spirit of the European Enlightenment: musician, historian, traveller, and critic. His pioneering contribution was to document the development of European music systematically – in a manner remarkably modern for his time. In 1770 and again in 1772, he travelled throughout Europe to gather material first-hand, meet musicians, and observe local musical practices. His travel diaries are cultural documents of the highest order, offering profound insight into the European music scene at the threshold between the Baroque and Classical eras.

"Un giro d’Italia"revisits the stages of Burney’s journey through the musical capitals of Milan, Venice, Bologna, Rome, and Naples. Works by Niccolò Jommelli, Johann Adolph Hasse, Padre Martini, Niccolò Piccinni, and the young W. A. Mozart come to life before the mind’s eye of the English traveller in pursuit of musical enlightenment.