Upcoming events not to be missed, from Piazzolla to Berio
25, 26 and 27 November in Spoleto | Palazzo Leti Sansi
The 13th edition of Strumenti&Musica Festival continues with a concert by Pietro Roffi (accordion) and the String Quintet on Friday 25 November. Returning from the 2022 international tour with dozens of concerts in Italy, France, Brazil, Turkey, the Czech Republic and South Africa, Roffi will hold the third last stop in Spoleto. The artist has an intense concert activity that has led him to perform, as soloist, in chamber ensembles and with symphony orchestras, in hundreds of concerts on five continents, with a repertoire ranging from classical to tango, from his own compositions to film music.
The concert will take us through an evocative interpretation of the best-known themes of the famous Argentine bandoneonist Astor Piazzola – from Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas to Adiós Nonino via Oblivion – interspersed with the performance of compositions for accordion and string quintet written by the young and already acclaimed Roman artist.
Another great appointment for accordion lovers is the one with Radu Ratoi on Saturday 26 November. Winner of the 2019 Coupe Mondiale and of many other international competitions, the young Moldavian musician will offer the audience in Spoleto a repertoire of cultured music, which will highlight his extraordinary technical and interpretative skills.
Also on Saturday, at 9.00 a.m., Palazzo Mauri will host the conference, accredited by the Ordine dei Giornalisti dell’Umbria, “Redattori d’orchestra: il giornalismo musicale tra critica e informazione” (“Orchestra editors: music journalism between criticism and information”). The meeting will see representatives of the sector (radio – paper – online) such as Paolo Zecchini (editor of the monthly magazine “Musica”), Pierachille Dolfini (music critic of “Avvenire”, “Radio Inblue” and blogger), Francesco Antonioni (composer, author and presenter of Rai Radio 3). The meeting will be coordinated by Sergio Macedone and Ilaria Bellini, journalists and co-directors of “Strumenti&Musica Magazine”.
At 5 p.m. (Palazzo Mauri) there will be the presentation of the book ‘Ritratto di un Ritratto. Sequenza XIII (Chanson) for accordion by Luciano Berio” by the author Umberto Turchi. In addition to a historical-biographical overview of Luciano Berio, the book offers various analytical insights useful to the interpreter in deepening his knowledge of Sequenza XIII (Chanson), one of the most significant pieces in the accordion repertoire and, at the same time, still so little investigated by musicologists.
Umberto Turchi, born in 1997, completed his academic studies in accordion with top marks, honours and honourable mention in Patrizia Angeloni’s accordion class at the Conservatorio Ottorino Respighi in Latina. He supplemented his education with studies in Composition, Piano and Musicology. Present as a performer in several record albums such as Respighi Suite: antiche arie e danze per liuto, Orchestra del Baraccano, Accordion Waves suona italiano, Accordion for Menotti, Accordion for Beethoven, he is dedicated to early music repertoires and is particularly attentive to contemporary production for his instrument with first performances.
The last concert on the programme, on Sunday 27 November, is that of the winners of the 8th International Piano Competition, during which the works selected by the jury of the 4th ‘Città di Spoleto’ Composition Competition will be premiered.
The auditions for the International Piano Competition will begin on Thursday 24 with talents arriving in large numbers from Italy and abroad. Seventy-one participants from conservatories and academies all over the world: concert pianists and young talents who choose the competition held in Spoleto as a springboard for their careers.
The auditions and concerts take place at Palazzo Leti Sansi, admission is free upon booking.
The event is organised by the Associazione Italia Accordion Culture in collaboration with the Consorzio della Bonificazione Umbra and Ars Spoletium Edizioni Musicali e Discografiche, with contributions from the City of Spoleto, Regione Umbria, the Francesca, Valentina and Luigi Antonini Foundation, the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Spoleto, Acep and Unemia.
