With two hundred musicians and 18 concerts spread across courtyards, churches, squares, cloisters and parks, on Friday 21 June music also celebrates in Modena to celebrate the beginning of summer with a proposal that ranges from rock to opera, from classical music and baroque to contemporary, from pop to blues.
As is tradition, the European Music Festival is back again this year, the event, now in its thirtieth edition, organized with the coordination of the Music Center and the Municipality of Modena in collaboration with many cultural entities in the area.
The music will enter the cloisters and courtyards of the historic city centre, from Palazzo Santa Margherita to the courtyards present for the first time such as those of the Acero and the Clock, in the redeveloped spaces of Palazzo dei Musei, and of San Geminiano, where it takes place the concert organized by UniMoRe. It fills the churches, from the Duomo to Santa Maria delle Assi, and also reaches the green areas outside the historic center such as the XXII Aprile park.
The 2024 edition of the event was presented this morning, Monday 17 June, in the cloister of Palazzo Santa Margherita, with a press conference attended by the mayor of Modena Massimo Mezzetti, the head of the Music Center Francesca Garagnani, the president of the Fondazione from Modena Matteo Tiezzi.
The Music Festival opens the program of concerts in the Cathedral, at 7.30 pm, with an organ performance together with the musical chapel of the Cathedral in which the anthem of the Jubilee 2025 will be presented as a preview, organized by the Amici dell’Organo association ” JS Bach” in collaboration with the Metropolitan Basilica, while the baroque music of Antonio Vivaldi and Tomaso Albinoni, performed by the Ensemble Seicento (curated by Grandezze & Meraviglie) in “Venetian Serenade” resonates in the courtyard of the Cathedral Museums.
For the first time, after the redevelopment of the building, the Music Festival also enters the courtyards of the former Estense hospital: in the Acero courtyard, with the blues of the Doctor Delta quartet (organized by the Muse association) among the sound of the Mississippi and original compositions, and in the courtyard of the Orologio with the rock of “Clockwave”, the concert by the Italians New Candys and the English Ditz preceded and followed by DJ sets by the students of the Inside Live training course of the Music Center.
The cloister of Palazzo Santa Margherita will host “Bach to Beatles”, a journey with the Gazzotti Choir into vocal music that combines cultured tradition with the most popular music (in collaboration with Biblioteca Delfini and Fmav) while in the cloister of the Santa Chiara complex the Ildebrando choir Pizzetti of the University of Parma performs “Languir me fais, i.e. of lost love” with pieces by sixteenth-century composers, including Orazio Vecchi, who give voice to lacerating passions and impossible loves (edited by Gioventù musica d’Italia). Classical music in the cloister of San Geminiano where the orchestra of the Vecchi Tonelli conservatory offers music by Mendelssohn and Beethoven.
Songs of the African-American spiritual and gospel tradition in the church of Santa Maria della Assi with the Serial Singers Gospel Choir in “What a Wonderful Night” while in Piazza XX Settembre pop will be the protagonist with “La notte delle cover” with the artists of San Luca Sound who will perform the great international successes of Italian music.
Music will also fill the city parks: at Amendola park with the Eulidia duo made up of Lucia Dall’Olio, voice and piano, and Grazia Cinquetti, voice and guitars; at the Ferrari park the duo of Daniele Paganelli, vocals, and Davide Mezzanotte, guitar, in a journey through the classics of Italian and foreign rock and pop; at the XXII Aprile park with two events as part of the Altrosuono Festival of the Teatro Comunale: on Friday 21st the Atse Tewodros Project ensemble, a collective of traditional Italian and Ethiopian musicians, presents its second album “Maqeda” on Sunday 23rd the multicultural band will be on stage Ayom with members from Angola, Brazil, Greece and Italy offering “Sa.Li.Va”, the new album. The program is completed by appointments at the Teatro Tempio, with the concert Anime libera by Vivaverba, and in the internal garden of the State Archives of Modena with the theatrical show with live music “Magie nocturne. Im/possible stories in the Archive”.
On the occasion of the Music Festival, at Palazzo dei Musei you can visit the immersive space “Avia Pervia” and the exhibition “Franco Fontana. Modena inside” which will have free entry from 7pm.
All events, unless otherwise specified, are free and open to entry. The complete program is available on the Modena Music Center website (www.musicplus.it) and on the Music Center profiles on Facebook and Instagram.
