Music at the Museums: A Spectacular Concert Season in the Heart of Vatican City

Music at the Museums returns, the spectacular concert season in the heart of Vatican City from May 3rd to September 29th, offering the opportunity to visit the Vatican Museums and then attend a concert in two special locations: the New Wing and the Gallery of Statues of the Pio Clementino Museum, with the addition of the Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo. The seventh edition is promoted by the Vatican Museums in collaboration with CIDIM - Italian National Music Committee. "Allowing citizens to visit the works of the Vatican Museums, admiring their beauty and uniqueness, and listen to a classical music concert at the end of the tour: this is the formula we repeat also this year thanks to the consolidated synergy that since 2015 we have found and strengthened over time with CIDIM. The success and appreciation from the public, not only Italian but also foreign, has given us the strength and the conviction to organize the event for the seventh time with great enthusiasm," explains Barbara Jatta, the director of the Vatican Museums. "For CIDIM, it is an honor to carry forward this collaboration for the peculiarity and exceptionality of the spaces where our musicians perform and because it allows us to offer our artists, this year all Italians, to play in front of a contained but selected audience in absolutely exclusive locations," adds the Vice President of CIDIM and President of AIAM, Francescantonio Pollice, artistic director of the series. During the previous editions of Music at the Vatican Museums held at the Courtyard of the Pinecone, the Gregorian Profane, and the New Wing, 184 concerts were held involving 1,749 musicians, 6 military bands, 60 Italian conservatories, and the Music Universities of Vienna and London. The program for the current season is as follows: at the New Wing, two concerts are scheduled: on Friday, May 3rd, the Italian Air Force Band conducted by Maj. Pantaleo Leonfranco Cammarano and the Music Band of the Vatican City State Gendarmerie, conducted by Stefano Iannilli, will perform; on Friday, October 25th, it will be the turn of the Italian Navy Band, conducted by Captain Antonio Barbagallo together with the Music Band of the Gendarmerie SCV, conducted by Iannilli. At the Gallery of Statues of the Pio Clementino Museum, on Friday, May 17th, the inaugural concert is entrusted to the students of the Vecchi-Tonelli State Conservatory of Music in Modena and Carpi; it will be followed on Friday, May 31st by the recital of the pianist Edoardo Riganti Fulginei representing the International Master's Academy Foundation of Imola; on Friday, June 14th, the students of the Giulio Briccialdi State Conservatory of Music in Terni will perform; on Friday, June 28th, another prestigious piano recital with Claudio Berra representing the Music Academy Foundation of Pinerolo; in the subsequent concerts on Friday, September 13th and 27th and Friday, October 4th, respectively, the students of the Luigi Canepa State Conservatories of Music in Sassari, San Pietro a Majella in Naples, and Agostino Steffani in Castelfranco Veneto will perform. The closing on Friday, October 18th with a recital of the guitarist representing the Chigiana Musical Academy Foundation of Siena. New for the 2024 season is the concert that will take place on Sunday, September 29th, on the feast of the Archangels, at the Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo entrusted to the Brass Ensemble of the Music Band of the Gendarmerie SCV. The series is part of the Suono Italiano project and is supported by the Governorate of Vatican City State and the Ministry of Culture - General Directorate for Entertainment.