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M. biglietteria@festivalmusicasullacqua.org

Edition 2024 → From 5th to 30th July

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The history of the music Festival  

About us 

The origins 

“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

Art Director

ARTISTIC COMMITTEE OF HONOR

BERNARD HAITINK

in memoriam

“Chamber music is the great love of my musical life. Festival Musica sull’Acqua gives you the opportunity to hear it in beautiful places, played by truly wonderful young artists. What could be better! I am proud to be a part of it and I hope the audience will be able to enjoy the joy this music gives me.”

GUIDO BARBIERI

MUSICOLOGIST

“In Colico, during the festival, one has the feeling that anything can happen. That musicians known all over the world appear, as if by a miracle, among the ranks of a children’s orchestra; that a mime from New York and a sculptor who lives on Lake Como meet within the walls of a Great War fortress; that a children’s choir plays together with a professional orchestra. Musica sull’Acqua is a precious place of invention, experimentation, creation. A demonstration of how a small community of musicians, endowed only with the power of ideas, can make its voice reach far beyond the borders of a city, a region, a nation. In a word: everywhere!”

VELASCO VITALI

ARTIST

“Festival Musica sull’Acqua succeeds in bringing together two elements that are as important to man as they are ‘elusive’, except through the senses: water and music. Two entities that we can only contemplate and not possess, and that recall in a very light (but direct) way the concept of Beauty. Physician and poet Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr said: “Take a bath in music once or twice a week for a few seasons, and you will find that it does to the soul what water does to the body.” Festival Musica sull’Acqua, in such evocative locations as the scenery of Lake Como, is for me a moment of Beauty: a thermal bath for the spirit.”