What began as an impulse has now become a tradition for the cultural circuit driving these two world-cities – Milano and Torino – focal points for new forms, functions and rules for a modern urban project. Here’s the fifth edition of the MITO SettembreMusica music festival, slated for this September. Once again the two northern Italian hubs join forces for an international music jamboree to the delight of audiences hailing from Italy and the world over for new listening itineraries, a passion for the latest developments in musical research and a love for grand traditions. True to its own identity, since its inception the annual festival has gone all out to offer fans new musical experiences in a wide range of venues. MITO SettembreMusica has always sought to pervade the entire dual cityscape, with performance in piazzas, museums, theaters, concert halls, and non-traditional stages for a plethora of musical genres – classical, pop, jazz, world music, avant-garde and beyond. This year is no exception, with music-infused locations that represent a crossroads, a network, a background for an intriguing blend of musical awareness and listening pleasure.

As the modern Republic of Italy celebrates its 150th anniversary, MITO SettembreMusica is attuned to the key role it plays in providing, ever nobly and with finesse in its articulation, a true social service that is music – the ideal bridge connecting a whirlwind of variegated epochs and styles. As Francesco Micheli, president of MITO SettembreMusica, puts it, “Celebrations like those for the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Republic have never run so deep. And this goes beyond all that’s been planned – it’s what people feel. All they needed was to know this was happening. And this despite the at times conflictual nature of our own daily routine. People are genuinely glad to be celebrating this. And events like MITO SettembreMusica really bring Italy together in the spirit of unity.” It’s a triple perspective combining past, present and future, that heralds such a festive commemoration. And MITO SettembreMusica takes the lead in looking ahead with a steadfast commitment to supporting culture and the arts. Thanks to the Committee for the Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Republic of Italy, the fifth edition of MITO SettembreMusica has commissioned pieces by some of the world’s greatest living composers, which are slated to be showcased in world premieres in both Milano and Torino. Proof that Italy remains a solid intellectual and creative benchmark for the world to admire and enjoy. Don’t miss works debuted by Italian composers Salvatore Sciarrino, Fabio Vacchi, Fabio Nieder, Ivan Fedele, Francesco Antonioni and Matteo Franceschini, who have taken up our challenge. From the world scene, this year’s extraordinary edition also features brand-new works by Harrison Birtwistle (UK), Pascal Dusapin (France), Michael Daugherty (USA), Toshio Hosokawa (Japan), Guo Wenjing (China), Louis Andriessen (Netherlands) and Arvo Pärt (Estonia).

Looking to the past and digging up Italian musical tradition that, the world over, has earned itself the status of spirituality, is one more reason behind the inspiration that leads us to pay homage to Italy’s 150th anniversary. Our tribute to Claudio Monteverdi, including a performance of L’incoronazione di Poppea, smacks of true provocation. Here we see an example of the courage it take to focus on a precise and well-defined identity that is cultural, musical and Italian, which arose some three centuries before the founding of modern-day Italy. With an eye on grand tradition, maestro Yuri Temirkanov and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra will be serving up music by the great Russian composers that Italian art has paid tribute to. The From Russia With Love series features four superb concerts of sublime compositions by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev and Stravinsky.

In our celebration of the nineteenth-century unification of Italy, MITO SettembreMusica artistic director Enzo Restagno reminds us that “the patriotic, exhortative, chronicling function of music from that time has, for the most part, yet to be studied. Historical reflection regarding the past 150 years will surely yield results of great importance.” Alongside risorgimento-era choir pieces, anthems and fanfare, there’ll be a performance of the Requiem Mass for King Carlo Alberto, composed by Carlo Coccia, in the Cathedral of San Gaudenzio in Novara, where the piece made its debut in 1849. Not to be missed! The celebration of Italy’s 150 years also pays tribute to Italian folk music and dialects. A presaging of which will be taking place on April 14, following our opening press conference, featuring a magnificent concert in Milano’s Piazza della Scala, with eight groups from eight regions of Italy.

The intense rhythms of black music and the passion-filled culture of black Africa will be firing up MITO SettembreMusica’s annual focus on a single foreign country, as the festival turns the spotlight on Haiti, the Caribbean island devastated by an earthquake on January 12, 2010. With its culture of the Antilles, Africa, and noted for being the first European colony in the Americas, Haiti has always been the focal point of mutations and traumatic experiences. MITO SettembreMusica has honed in on the words of Haitian author Dany Laferrière spoken in the aftermath of the latest disaster: “When all comes tumbling down, when all goes awry, what remains standing is culture.” Thus the yearning to bequeath to future inhabitants a complex tradition that draws upon even the worst of tragedies. The wealth of Haitian musical genres represents the explosive mosaic that seeps from colonialism’s encounter with Africa. This year MITO SettembreMusica serves up a host of diverse styles and expressions with vocal performances, percussion, the art of Beken, the Ensemble Erol Josué and the biting exploits of Moonlight Benjamin. Focus Haiti is buttressed by a film series in Milano entitled The Quaking Earth - cinema from and about Haiti, presenting films that recount the Caribbean island’s culture, rituals and hybrid spirit.

Picking up where the 2010 edition of MITO SettembreMusica left off, the Milano section of the festival will be dedicating an entire day to African music. A full afternoon and evening of world-class artists featuring Lokua Kanza (Congo), Boubacar Traoré (Mali) and the Orchestra National de Barbes, with musicians from Algeria, France and Morocco.

As usual, we’ll also be spotlighting the great names of symphonic music. Quality is the common denominator among a wide range of genres and styles. Two clearly important anniversaries have inspired the festival’s organizers: the bicentennial of the birth of Franz Liszt and the one hundredth anniversary of the death of Gustav Mahler. The great Austrian composer’s Eighth Symphony (the Symphony of a Thousand) opens this year’s festival in Torino on September 3, featuring two orchestras and two choirs: the Orchestra and Choir of Torino’s Teatro Regio and the RAI National Symphonic Orchestra, with the Maggio Fiorentino Choir, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda at the Auditorium Giovanni Agnelli Lingotto. Daniel Barenboim conducts and is featured on piano this September 4 to kick off the Milano performances, with La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra at La Scala, in a program of music by Mozart, Beethoven and Rossini.

Classical music fans will surely not be disappointed by the remainder of the program, rife with performances for all tastes. There’s grand symphonic music at popular prices (thanks to which over 30,000 people attended last year’s symphonic performances) on September 16 in Torino and September 17 in Milano with Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana and Igor Stravinsky Le Sacre du printemps, performed by the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie and the Bamberger Symphoniker Choir, conducted by Vassilis Christopoulos. And for the first time in Milano, a large symphony orchestra performs at the Mediolanum Forum in Assago, taking up the challenge of providing quality sound for a vast arena. For admirers of the great Verdi tradition, here’s a very special evening: on September 13 Torino is host to a theme-based evening of music featuring the Orchestra and Choir of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, conducted by Roberto Abbado, bringing to life some of the very best pages of work by the beloved Italian composer.

Music by composers from the Baltic region mark a truly curious performance in Milano that’s not to be missed, featuring the Baltic Youth Philharmonic, conducted by Kristjan Jarvi.

The music of Gustav Mahler returns to MITO SettembreMusica, performed by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Zubin Mehta, in Milano, while in Torino the Philharmonia Orchestra performs the Sixth Symphony, conducted by Lorin Maazel. This year’s program also features the Budapest Festival Orchestra with Ivan Fischer, Salvatore Accardo and Uto Ughi, and the Prague Orchestra, conducted by Latham Koenig and featuring Turkish pianist Fazil Say. We also pay due homage to composer and educator Sergio Liberovici, this year marking the twentieth anniversary of his death.

A fine line-up of young pianists will be performing a cycle of Franz Liszt compositions, for an extraordinary series of six concerts in both Milano and Torino.

In keeping with the MITO SettembreMusica tradition, there will also be sacred and Baroque music, while contemporary music fans will be treated to Concerto Promenade, featuring music by a host of composers including Berio, Petrassi and Donatoni, performed in the rooms of the Museo del Novecento, as we zoom in on the music and art of the twentieth century.

Always a model for new equilibriums and proposals, MITO SettembreMusica is proud to spotlight a broad range of contributions and genres. The Torino section serves up jazz performances by bands born out of a host of variegated experiences and featuring some of today’s brightest young talents. The Milano section presents Breaks in Jazz starring young piano master Alessandro Lanzoni, as well as living legends like Art Blakey, Benny Golson, Wayne Shorter, Hank Mobley, Valery Ponomarev. There’s also a tribute to Miles Davis marking the twentieth anniversary of his death, with Enrico Rava, Stefano Bollani, John Scofield and Dave Douglas in both host cities. Milano also welcomes Stacey Kent, a rising star on the world jazz scene, who blends American swing with European-influenced styles and languages.

This year’s program also presents a hefty chunk of electronic music, crossover and contaminations of various genres, including Christian Fennesz, who brings his complex and refined music to Torino. Also appearing in Torino will be Omar Souleyman of Syria, with his jihadi-techno, The Emeralds, an electronic trio from Cleveland that blends improvisation with psychedelic sounds, and A Certain Ratio, with explosive concoctions of rock-dance from Manchester. Milano ushers in Alva Noto and Blixa Bargeld with Mimikry, Ólafur Arnalds of Iceland, the electro-pop of The Naked and Famous, and the voice of Diamanda Galas. As usual, the MITO SettembreMusica program also features big names in Italian pop music, this year with Ornella Vanoni and Peppe Servillo in Milano, for performances that blend Milanese and Neapolitan musical traditions, while the Banda Osiris is sure to please concert-goers at the Teatro Franco Parenti. Torino’s massive Palasport Olimpico Isozaki and the Teatro Smeraldo in Milan host concerts by Massimo Ranier. The Palasport Olimpico Isozaki also hosts Franco Battiato as part of his Up Patriots to Arms tour. In short, MITO SettembreMusica remains committed to bringing audiences the very best in musical hybrids and a slew of musical genres.

Another time-tested feature of the program is entertainment dedicated to children and young people. The numbers speak for themselves, with a hearty batch weekend initiatives in both Milano and Torino, including info-sessions, concerts and shows for younger audiences. Various approaches will be taken in our effort to bring the world of music closer to children, such as the Open Trio and their unique presentation of Mozart, Brahms, Donizetti and Stravinsky for kids, alongside Sicilian folk compositions and pizziche from the Salento area of southern Italy.

MITO SettembreMusica continues its dedication to music education. There will be our annual initiatives in local schools based on specific didactic studies, plus an educational series aimed at both young people and adults, at the heart of which will be seminars and concert-lessons presented by some of the top artists on hand. In Milano Alfred Brendel presents one such concert-lesson featuring the sonatas of Beethoven.

The MITOFringe/MITO About Town sections feature, for the third consecutive year in both host cities, a series of free concerts. This year’s big innovation: in Milano the free shows featuring young artists and ensembles begin in late May! The fifth edition of MITO SettembreMusica closes with Pierre Boulez and the Ensemble Intercontemporain, with performances in both Milano and Torino of Pli selon Pli, Boulez’s monumental reflection on the poetics of Stéphane Mallarmé. And a final festive celebration of music and dance in Milano on September 22 to bid all “arrivederci” until the sixth edition of MITO SettembreMusica in 2012.