Many London churches provide also some regular programmes of sacred and lay music in their calendar of events. Here is a list of my favourites in Central London. St Paul’s Cathedral is not only the largest church and the seat of a bishop in London, it is also a place where excellent sacred music can be enjoyed with the glorious acoustics of its vast internal … Continue reading Churches as music venues ⛪️🎶💂🏼♀️
Marking the 157th anniversary of Claude Debussy’s birth in 1862 In 1884 a young Claude Debussy won the prestigious composition prize Prix de Rome, which entailed a residence programme at Villa Medici in Rome, where this portrait was painted and is currently exhibited. The stifling environment at the French Academy of Rome was strengthening his resolution to follow his own ways for artistic expression: “I … Continue reading Claude Debussy 🎼🎶🇫🇷
Frédérick Chopin è di gran lunga il musicista a cui mi sento più vicino, per sensibilità musicale ed espressione artistica. Ho adorato studiare e suonare le sue composizioni e mi piace ascoltare la mia collezione delle sue creazioni, interpretata da molti grandi pianisti, da Martha Argerich a Arthur Rubinstein, da Maurizio Pollini a Ivo Pogorelich. Antonio Vivaldi, il prete rosso, qui raffigurato con indosso abiti … Continue reading I miei compositori preferiti 🎹🏛🎶
For more than 20 years I have been following Ludovico Einaudi as one of my favourite musicians, somebody who was expressing through his minimalist compositions emotions and states of mind that resonate so much with my own feelings. Amongst my favourite albums out of his prolific productions are probably his first studio album, Stanze, published in 1992, who was given to me as a gift … Continue reading Ludovico Einaudi 🎹🎼🎶
Originally an eighteenth-century urban villa with a large garden on the edge of the town of Mola di Bari, probably with a plant designed by the same director of the works of the Royal Palace of Caserta, Vincenzo Ruffo da Cassano. Built by the Roberti family and then inhabited by my family until 1810, now a centrally located bed & breakfast to serve growing tourism … Continue reading Palazzo Pesce-Martinelli 🏛🐟🎶
Marking the 278th anniversary of Antonio Vivaldi’s death on 28/7/1741 Antonio Vivavldi’s music is indissolubly associated in my mind with Venice and its amazing views across the lagoon. Indeed Vivaldi spent most of his life in Venice, although his fame spread across Europe during his lifetime and, in a weird twist of fate, he died in Vienna in poverty in 1741 after he failed to … Continue reading Antonio Vivaldi 🖼🎶🇮🇹
Composer of some of the most popular operas put on stage around the world – Tosca, Madame Buttefly, Boheme, Turandot, Manon Lescaut – Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) also had world-wide recognised fame during his life. By the time of Puccini’s death in 1924, he had earned $4 million from his works. Still today, three of his operas (La bohème, Tosca, and Madame Butterfly) are amongst the … Continue reading Puccini’s portrait 🎼🎹🇮🇹
🇬🇧Originally inaugurated in 1903 and almost completely destroyed by a devasting fire in 1991, it took an enormous effort to be reconstructed and restored to its former glory. In 2009 the Teatro Petruzzelli, the cultural gem and largest theatre of Apulia, was re-inaugurated. Since then The Petruzzelli Foundation is managing the venue and its productions that span to opera, ballet, prose, classical and more contemporary … Continue reading Teatro Petruzzelli, Bari 🏛🎶🇮🇹
Originally built in 1732 as Theatre Royal for the performance of ballet, opera and oratorio mssic this has been the main venue for classical music in London for the past 300 years. Theatre buildings were destroyed by devastating fires in 1806 and 1832, while the current third building is the result of a major reconstruction occured during the 1990s, which made the auditorium fit more … Continue reading Royal Opera House 👑🎼🏛
My top 5 music venues in London As a lover of classical music I do love attending live concerts, as much as I can, whichever city I happen to be in, at my favourite venues, which are always a guarantee of quality performances. London is a premier city in the offer of world-class concerts. London has a marvellous concentration of venues with great acoustics for classical … Continue reading Concert venues in London 🎶🏛💂🏼♂️
