HISTORY
“Ever since I was a child, music has been my passion and the violin my best friend, always with me wherever I went.
Music was the filter through which I saw the world and imagined the future.I dreamt of bringing it to the places I loved, where I was born.
Growing up I had the good fortune to travel, playing in prestigious Festivals held in marvelous settings.
As a natural next step, and thanks to the energy of four friends, motivated by the same enthusiasm, the Festival Musica sull’Acqua was born in 2005,an unconfined place where we meet and create music, energy and inspiration.
Since then, with the help of many volunteers, every year we work hard to make each edition a unique and unrepeatable experience, which ignites sparks to take home with us while rediscovering our essence, together with the audience.
From the very beginning, world-famous musicians have given life to numerous interpretations of some of the most beautiful works taken from the vast repertory of chamber music, from Monteverdi to John Adams, passing through an assortment of the most diverse genres and styles, capable of touching deep chords in each individual listener.
Thus, throughout the years, we have been experiencing an exciting musical journey with the discovery of unusual repertories to share with our enthusiastic public.
Many friends return to Colico again and again to experience the spirit of comradery and conviviality characteristic of the Festival, its own vital force that drives the desire to make music together.
Among the first to firmly believe in us were people like Bernard Haitink, Velasco Vitali and Guido Barbieri, all members of our Honorary Board of Artistic Advisors..
The project grew very quickly, soon attracting the attention of the institutions. Since 2010 the Festival has been conferred annually the High Patronage of the President of the Republic and in 2019 it was awarded the President’s Gold Medal. .
In 2007 the “Ateliers” were born,providing an opportunity forchildren to meet important artists able to communicate with them and share their expertise through pedagogical, perceptional, and creative artistic workshops.
The enrichment gained in these workshops led very naturally to the creation, in 2018, of the MACH (Music Art Creativity Hub) Project and Orchestra,a meeting place for young musicians from all over the world and the first chairs of some of the most important orchestras worldwide, enabling them to join together and discover a new way to create an orchestra.
Our Hub is made possible through the trust and support of the Hilti Foundation.
In 2019 MACH was conferred the High Patronage of the European Parliament.
When it all began, we would never have believed that we would succeed in creating all that we have. With joy, passion and gratitude we will continue along this magnificent journey.”
Francesco Senese
artistic director
HONORARY BOARD OF ARTISTIC ADVISORS
BERNARD HAITINK
In memoriam
“Chamber music is the great love of my musical life. To have the opportunity to hear it in such beautiful surroundings, played by wonderful young artists, is what the Festival “Musica sull’Acqua” is all about. What could be better?! I am proud to be associated with it, and I hope that the audiences will be able to share the joy which this music gives me.”
GUIDO BARBIERI
“In Colico, during Festival time, you have the impression that anything can happen: that among the ranks of the youth orchestra you can find – as if by miracle – musicians known all over the world, that within the walls of a First World War fort you can meet a mime artist from New York and a famous sculptor who lives on Lake Como, that a local children’s choir can sing with a professional orchestra. “Musica sull’Acqua” has become, over the years, a valuable theatre of invention, experimentation, and creation. It is the demonstration of how a small community of musicians, in an out-of-the-way corner of Italy, guided by the power of ideas, can make its voice heard well beyond the narrow confines of a city, a region, a nation. In one word: everywhere! ”
VELASCO VITALI
“The Musica sull’Acqua Festival manages to blend together two elements that are as important to Man as they are “unseizable”, unless through the senses: water and music. Two things that we can only contemplate and not possess, and that evoke in a very subtle (but direct) way the concept of Beauty. The advice of physician and poet, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., was: “Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons. You will find it is to the soul what a water bath is to the body.” The Musica sull’Acqua Festival, in such evocative locations as can be found on Lake Como, is for me a moment of Beauty: a thermal spa for the soul.”
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