A new vision in the review of Ex allievi Sant'Anna "Although life is beautiful. Music in the historical places of Pisa" Project "The song of children"; the exhibition 2024 opens and continues with an articulated exploration of the possible expressions of the Choirs of the young, be they White Voices or school choirs.
The festival is divided into three crucial aspects of the chorus. The first and very important perspective is that of singing that cures and rehabilitates; the second insists on a very popular and practiced aspect also at the educational level, that is, the choirs of children in musical works for children; The third concerns the choirs of white voices in melodrama. This last perspective offers the opportunity to celebrate in an unusual and particularly festive way the centenary of the death of Giacomo Puccini that occurs in 2024.Each event is divided into two distinct moments: a seminar, open to all, dedicated to illustrate and deepen the most important aspects of the three themes identified; a concert scheduled the next day and dedicated to the execution of passages on the same themes.
First appointment: 13-14 April 2024 - Manos Blancas Choirs
- Saturday, April 13 - Museo della Grafica - 10:00 am, seminar: "Manos Blancas choirs: history and experiences". With the participation of Isabelle Binet, director of the choir Manos Blancas of the Popular School of Music of Testaccio in Rome, Gianna Ghiori , director of the choir Manos Blancas "Voceincanto" of Arezzo, moderated by Angelica Ditaranto.
- Sunday, April 14 - Church of Sant'Anna - 5:00 pm, Concert "Hands singing"; Chorus Manos Blancas Voceincanto Association of Arezzo, director Gianna Ghiori; Manos Blancas Music School "G. Bonamici" Pisa, director Angelica Ditao.
Second appointment: 5-6 October 2024 - Opera for children and opera with children, the revolution of Benjamin Britten.
If in traditional opera the presence of the children’s voices has always been a stroke of color - fairy-tale, exotic or playful - in the twentieth century the child who sings, alone or in chorus, acquires the accomplished definition of character and its own specific linguistic and expressive sphere. British composer Benjamin Britten was the first to make this small but very important revolution.
- Saturday, October 5 - Museum of Graphics - 10:00 am, seminar "English tradition, Italian heritage of choirs of children’s voices in opera"; speakers Roberta Vacca, composer, Jonathan Webb, conductor; moderates Flora Gagliardi.
- Sunday, October 6 - Church of San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno - 5:00 pm, Concert "The small chimney sweep" by B. Britten; Show with the school choirs of the Institute including "Toniolo" of Pisa and the Children’s Choir of the Santa Caterina Institute of Pisa; director and narrator Jonathan Webb; string quartet of the School of Music "G. Bonamici"; piano duo Accademia Musicale Strata; percussions Francesco Dell'Omo.
Third appointment: 16-17 November 2024 - "The children’s voices in the works of Giacomo Puccini"
The whole world celebrates the centenary of the death of Giacomo Puccini (29 November 1924). The Association Alumni, wanting to remain within a vision intended for knowledge and promotion, the youth choral practice, pays homage to the great composer by proposing a program entirely dedicated to interventions and choral scenes performed by children in some of his most famous and beloved works: Suor Angelica, La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, Turandot, Tosca.
- Saturday, November 16 - Museo della Grafica - at 10.00, seminar "The world of children in the works of Giacomo Puccini". Alberto Batisti, musicologist, historian, artistic director of Rete Toscana Classica and Camerata Strumentale di Prato, tells through a dramaturgical and historical analysis, the role and importance of children in the works of Puccini, but also the stories and curiosities that their presence determines on stage.
- Sunday, November 17 - Church of San Michele degli Scalzi, 5:00 pm, Concert "Games and stories of small and large voices in Puccini". Children’s Choir of the music school "G. Bonamici" of Pisa, conductor Angelica Ditaranto, pianist Glenda Poggianti, soprano Roberta Salvati, pianist Claudio Proietti
The project and the exhibition "Il canto dei bambini" are entirely dedicated to fundraising and dissemination of the immense work of research and care of the IRCCS Fondazione Stella Maris of Pisa. Within the exhibition the IRCSS organizes the seminar "Fermati, ascolta. Music as a facilitator in adolescent communicative styles" to be held at the State Archives on May 25, 5:00 pm
