Kate Bolton-Porciatti finds magnificent music-making complemented by gorgeous vistas and fine wines at two Tuscan summer festivals
MUSICAL DESTINATIONS
It’s 6am and high summer. A crowd has gathered to watch the sunrise over the dune-like hills of the Val d’Orcia; etched on the horizon is the iconic little chapel of the Madonna di Vitaleta, flanked by flame-like cypress trees. As the milky light of morning reaches the hillcrests, the velvet sounds of Bach’s Cello Suites and Pablo Casals’ Song of the Birds emerge from the silence of the night.
Last August’s Sunrise Concert by Italian cellist Erica Piccotti epitomised the dialogue between music and landscape that lies at the heart of the Paesaggi Musicali Toscani (Musical Landscapes in Tuscany) festival. Based in and around the charming walled town of San Quirico d’Orcia, the Paesaggi is one of the high points of the Tuscan Summer.
The joint artistic directors are two American violinists, both with longstanding connections to Italy: Steven Slade, erstwhile player with the festival’s ensemble in residence, the Milano Classica Chamber Orchestra, and Ariana Kim, whose solo repertoire ranges dazzlingly from Bach to bluegrass, from Elliott Carter to Korean gayageum music. Slade and Kim’s cultural eclecticism is reflected in the festival’s programming: August 2023 promises a typically varied smorgasbord from Bach, Brahms and Boccherini through American classics to Asian music.
Concerts are staged in Romanesque churches and Renaissance palaces in San Quirico and nearby Pienza, or – al fresco – in the hills of the Val d’Orcia, in medieval piazzas or airy urban gardens. Last year, in the leafy Nilde Iotti gardens of San Quirico, rising star Hana Mundiya lit up the night with her violin pyrotechnics, accompanied with flair by American pianist Todd Crow. The collaboration was typical of the festival that brings together prize-winning young artists and seasoned pros in a creative exchange. As Slade explains, ‘Artists who appear on the world’s most prestigious concert stages are happy to perform here in venues of incomparable beauty, in a unique and informal atmosphere.’
On the roster this year? Violinist Amandine Beyer, cellist Mario Brunello, clarinettist Tommaso Lonquich, the Indaco Quartet, Mariangela Vacatello and the Prometeo Quartet, to name just a few. Thanks to tickets that cost no more than a night at the cinema, co
