MITO SettembreMusica:
this year the focus is on cities around the world

MITO SettembreMusica, Italy’s premier classical music festival, has been alive and kicking for seventeen years in host cities Torino and Milano. This year the focus is on cities around the world. Means of transport: great music. Low-cost tickets make the trip accessible, with cut-rate prices for kids, including admission to shows conceived especially for younger audiences. You also might want to take advantage of package deals for boundless, borderless, limitless musical thrills and excitement.

Look forward to stops in Gershwin and Bernstein’s New York, Piazzolla’s Buenos Aires, old Vienna where Haydn and Mozart ruled the roost, and Paris, where not only Ravel and Debussy were kings, but where Neapolitan mandolin players once rocked. Then there’s Claudio Monteverdi’s Venice. Take a stroll through Rome with Händel. Visit Asti with Paolo Conte as your guide, Stradella to the strains of an accordion, Aranjuez to the magical sounds of its guitar, and Granada and Madrid, where you’ll meet up with Falla and Rodrigo. Then it’s onto Jerusalem and Dresden. Fly round the world with Amelia Earhart, courtesy of the music of Tõnu Kõrvits. The King’s Singers will catapult you to Cambridge. The world is yours – all yours.
This year artistic director Nicola Campogrande puts the spotlight on cities, creating a sound-bathed journey that’s also a feast for the eyes. Marvel at the fingers of Pogorelich and Tharaud as they play, the faces of the Labèque sisters and the two “brothers” – Bruno Canino and Antonio Ballista. Not to mention the bows of the string sections of the grand orchestras, swaying and bobbing in unison, the trumpets’ valves going up and down, the sticks’ beating of the drums. Visualize – or try to – the voices of a Broadway musical or an eighteenth-century chamber ensemble. With such thoughts in mind, this is a program created with fantasy and a spirit that challenges. Pathways, visions, curves that might prove dangerous or sultry, all lead to beautiful musical landscapes best enjoyed live. Performances that enthrall and appeal out of a commitment to excellence, high quality and great imagination.
Heartfelt thanks go out to Mr. Campogrande, MITO’s spiritual and material guide, and to all the people who have worked so hard and with so much dedication to make this festival, once again, a reality.

After eight years at the helm, this year marks Nicola Campogrande’s last stand as artistic director for MITO SettembreMusica. Eight great years indeed, with festivals whose themes included Fathers and Sons, Nature, Dance, Geographies, Spirits, Futures, Lights, and this year’s Cities. All colors of the musical fabric he’s woven since 2016. Heaps of respect and gratitude go out to you, Nicola Campogrande, from us and most assuredly from the thousands of music lovers who over the years have been enthralled, amazed and enamored thanks to your hard work, vast knowledge and unflagging passion for music and people. Welcome, once again, to the Nicola Campogrande show!


Stefano Lo Russo

Stefano Lo Russo
Mayor of Torino
Honorary Presidents of MITO SettembreMusica

Giuseppe Sala

Giuseppe Sala
Mayor of Milano
Honorary Presidents of MITO SettembreMusica

 

Seventy concerts in host cities Milano and Torino, including Italian and world premieres, as well as “greatest hits” in the realm of classical music

Sometimes I stop and think about how certain flowers come to symbolize epochs and trends. We associate tulips with the Flemish 1600s, the lily with France of Louis XIV, small climbing roses with Marie Antoniette’s 18th century, the iris with Art Deco, hortensia, ivy and violets with the early 20th century, and carnations and white water arums with the 1930s. Just to name a few. In the same sense, this year’s highly original edition of MITO SettembreMusica has for its theme cities and the music they’ve been home to and inspired over the centuries. We’ll be honing in on their dynamics and essences as we follow a flow of styles and trends. Talk about illumination! MITO’s music-symbol bird will be flying straight to the heart of grand cityscapes whose iconic monuments strike chords familiar to us all, from Milano’s Duomo to Torino’s Mole, from the Eiffel Tower in Paris to the Statue of Liberty in New York. Lest we forget stops in Rome, Buenos Aires, Venice, Madrid and Naples.

The originality of this musical voyage leads us to bridges and continuities, while we break from age-old fads and come to appreciate how much various composers’ styles and creativity were so innovative within a continuous and overflowing stream of music. Those roots sink deep in any number of countries, and were born out of interaction and shared emotions and experiences among artists and their works, and the places yesterday’s legends chose or happened upon as backdrops for their creations.

The outline for this year’s festival, which has been so successful in past editions, remains unchanged. Seventy concerts in host cities Milano and Torino, including Italian and world premieres, as well as “greatest hits” in the realm of classical music. Performances feature composers and musicians from Italy and the world over. Look forward to a plethora of stellar pianists this year, a veritable “festival within a festival”. Venues include neighborhood theaters and big-name halls like La Scala and Torino’s Lingotto, besides the host cities’ prestigious conservatories. Count on tickets at popular prices, another legendary MITO tradition. Hey, we’re a highbrow festival with a no-brow profile, proud of our appeal and accessibility. Crowds have always been huge and mixed, the way we like it. Newcomers and seasoned classical music fans can pick and choose from among the many concerts to create their own MITO SettembreMusica agenda, as they do year in, year out. That’s the originality we so unabashedly flaunt.

Venues include neighborhood theaters and big-name halls like La Scala and Torino’s Lingotto, besides the host cities’ prestigious conservatories. Count on tickets at popular prices, another legendary MITO tradition.

Many, many thanks are in order to those that have made this great event possible – our loyal, time-tested sponsors, first and foremost Intesa Sanpaolo, along with the administrations of Milano and Torino. And, of course, our utmost respect and gratitude goes out to artistic director Nicola Campogrande and his team of dedicated professionals hard at work and in perfect sync in both host cities, for yet another successful edition of MITO. We’re chomping at the bit for this musical journey to begin. It promises to be a tour de force like no other. Our bags are packed, brimming with memories, emotions, wonders and soothing sensations. All aboard!

Bon voyage, everybody. MITO SettembreMusica 2023 is about to set sail for all of us to enjoy!


Anna Gastel

Anna Gastel
President of MITO SettembreMusica